University of Minnesota brand guidelines
The University of Minnesota brand portal offers comprehensive identity standards covering wordmarks, palettes, typography, and channel-specific guidance across digital and physical applications.
Homepage of the University of Minnesota brand center showcasing the core mission and navigation to all identity sections.
Platform guidelines page detailing primary wordmark configurations across vertical, horizontal, and stacked layouts.
Brand colors page featuring maroon and gold primary colors, neutral palettes, and color guardrails.
Typography standards presenting Hanken Grotesk and Open Sans specimen alphabets and sizing guidelines.
Voice and tone guidelines outlining core messaging principles and audience-specific considerations.
Social media guidelines detailing account planning, moderation principles, and accessibility standards.
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I like how pragmatic the University of Minnesota brand portal is. Rather than presenting abstract principles in isolation, it connects each identity decision directly to practical usage. On the colors page, for example, they pair swatches with a clear rule limiting secondary colors to just ten percent of any design, alongside explicit guardrails against pairing white text on gold backgrounds. You will find similar directness on the typography page, where Hanken Grotesk and Open Sans are accompanied by specific sizing rules for documents, signage, and the web.
At a glance
- Sections
- Our Brand · Logos & Marks · Colors, Fonts, and Styles · Applying the Brand · Toolkits & Templates · Support
- Tone
- Direct, structured, and operational guidance tailored for a large collegiate system.
What I noticed
- Primary colors are specified as UMN Maroon and UMN Gold, accompanied by neutral Birch and Sandbar palettes and secondary colors.123
- A 'Rule of 10%' restricts secondary accent colors to no more than 10% of any layout.4
- Hanken Grotesk serves as the official display font, Open Sans handles body text, and Arial is designated as the system alternative.567
- Wordmark guidelines instruct users not to recreate or type the mark and illustrate vertical, horizontal, and stacked configurations.8910
Numbers refer to the screenshots above.
What I could not see
- Could not inspect the full digital asset management platform linked from the mark layout section as direct asset downloads were not visible.
- Several subpages displayed security verification screens during capture, limiting visibility into deeper page content.
Ideas to borrow
- Establishing a strict percentage budget for secondary accent tones, such as a ten percent rule, prevents visual clutter across large decentralized organizations.4
Quick answers
Reviewed on 25 September 2026. Request a correction · I built this