Color
One loud crimson, one warm amber, and a cream that carries more of the page than either. The neutrals are warm-leaning grays, not true grays — they have to sit on cream without looking dirty.
The primary action and the link colour. It carries 5.89:1 on white, so it is safe for 16px body links but not for anything smaller. It is also the section eyebrow and the figure numeral — the only places crimson sets type that is not a link.
The secondary action, in the same keyline block as the crimson. Note what it is not: at 2.34:1 on white it fails as text at any size, and despite looking like a warning colour it is a brand colour here — never use it to signal caution.
The most-used surface in the whole system, and the thing that makes it feel like this college rather than any other. Treat it as the default page ground and reach for white when a section needs to feel brighter or more clinical.
A Gulf greenish-blue, added after review. It is a ground, not an action: the overlay on the beach photograph in the hero and the church band. White type on it clears 5.0:1. It is never a button fill and never sets type on cream — crimson keeps every call to action. The Homepage and Mobile artboards carry an Aqua tweak.
Errors and destructive confirmations. Added, not inherited: the reference site sets error text to the brand crimson, so a failed field looks identical to a call to action. Bordeaux is 19° cooler in hue and much less saturated than the crimson, and clears 9.35:1 on white. On a red-branded site colour cannot be the whole signal, so an error always carries its pale tint behind it — a ground no brand element ever uses — plus the message itself.
Full-bleed image bands
Headings and lead copy
Body copy — note the violet cast
Dividers and card edges
The cool alternate ground
Quill is the one to watch: it is a violet-leaning gray, not a neutral one, which is what stops body copy from looking green against the cream. Substituting a plain gray here is the quickest way to make the whole page look wrong without being able to say why.
The default. Crimson, slate and quill all hold. Amber as type does not, and an amber block loses its edge here — give it white or pitch.
For contrast against a run of cream sections, and for anything with a form in it.
Only ever behind a photograph. Type goes white; the crimson button becomes a white keyline button.