U.S. Government Heraldic Colors
(created 22 September 2023)

U.S. National Park Service Signage

The closest thing that NPS has to “heraldry” is the signage at parks and the uniforms its Rangers wear. Fortunately, we have several references available to us for the NPS for various heraldic items:

NPS Sign Manual, 1988 (5.6 MB PDF)
NPS UniGuide Standard: Identification, Wayfinding and Visitor Information for National Parks (1 June 2002) (37.5 MB PDF)
            pages relating to colors extracted from larger document (655 KB PDF)
NPS Graphic Design Standards Technical Series #2: How to use the Arrowhead and other Graphic Elements (482 KB PDF)
NPS Graphic Design Standards Technical Series #4: Routed Arrowhead Standards (532 KB PDF)

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

White

PMS White

#FFFFFF

Black

PMS Black

#000000

Light Warm Grey

PMS WG2 (Warm Gray 2)

#CBC4BC

Dark Green

5605

#22372B

Grey Brown

405

#696158

NPS Brown

1615

#8B4720

Dark Blue

303

#002A3A

Olive Green

5753

#5E6738

Gold

125

#B58500

Light Brown

154

#9B5A1A

Safety Yellow

131

#CC8A00

Safety Red

485

#DA291C

Bright Blue

301

#004B87

Bright Green

341

#007A53

Bright Red

187

#A6192E

US Fee Area Gold

130

#F2A900

US Fee Area Midnight Blue

282

#041E42

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Signage

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Sign Handbook – Signage Policy and Guidance (March 2019) (12.7 MB PDF) (Extracted Portions Relating to Color)

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

FWS Sign Blue

288C

#002D72

FWS Sign Brown

469C

#693F23

FWS Waterfowl Production Sign Green

3308C

#024638

FWS Sign Desert/Prairie

468C

#DDCBA4

FWS Sign Coastal Letters

Pantone Reflex Blue

#001489

FWS Sign Fee

871C

#89764B

FWS Seal Blue

300

#005EB8

FWS Seal Dark Brown

476

#4E3629

FWS Seal Light Brown

467

#D3BC8D

FWS Seal Mountains

138

#DE7C00

FWS Seal Sky

129

#F3D03E

FWS Seal Sun

Pantone Process Yellow

#F4E400

U.S. Forest Service Colors

Sources:
Standard Colors for Forest Service Developed Recreation Sites (5.64 MB PDF)
Forest Service Branding Standards (5.83 MB PDF)
USFS Design Guidelines for Recreation-related Exterior Exhibits (11.7 MB PDF)
USFS Sign and Poster Guidelines for the Forest Service (32.1 MB PDF)

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

USFS Shield Green

N/A

#005838

USFS Shield Gold

N/A

#ffd51d

USFS Shield Brown

N/A

#6a5147

USFS Shield Cream

N/A

#f4e1be

USFS Brown

7596

#5C3D31

USFS Yellow-Cream

1345

#FDD086

USFS Green

16-5924 TPG

#59A085

USFS Light Blue

2183

#0092BD

USFS Black

433

#1D252D

USFS Seminole Brown

7594

#7C3A2D

USFS Tan

7508

#E1B87F

USFS White

12-5201 TPG

#DFE1D3

USFS Trail Sign Gray/White - Hiker

7527C

#D6D2C4

USFS Trail Sign Blue - Ski/Snowshoe

FS-595C #15187

#0098BC

USFS Trail Sign Orange - Snowmobile

166C

#E35205

USFS Snow Trail Marker Green

343C

#115740

USFS Snow Trail Marker Blue

7701

#005776

USFS Snow Trail Marker Black

532C

#1D1F2A

Scenic Byway Signage

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

Scenic Byway Mountain - Light Plum

5135C

#7E5475

Scenic Byway Forest - Teal

330C

#00534C

Scenic Byway Plains - Light Blue Gray

5493C

#7FA9AE

US Federal Highway Signage / Safety Colors

There are several sources / variations for this, and I've included as many as I can find.

MUTCD Colors via US Fish & Wildlife Service / FHA

From U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Sign Handbook – Signage Policy and Guidance (March 2019) (12.7 MB PDF) – but this has an error. It says Pink is 298, when it actually is 198 per (https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-colorspec.htm).

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

MUTCD Brown

469

#693F23

MUTCD Yellow

116

#FFCD00

MUTCD Green

342

#006747

MUTCD Orange

152

#E57200

MUTCD Yellow-Green

382

#C4D600

MUTCD Red

187

#A6192E

MUTCD Purple

259

#6D2077

MUTCD Blue

294

#002F6C

MUTCD Pink

198

#DF4661

Federal Highway Administration Sign Colors (as of 2003)
(from Federal Highway Administration Color Tolerance Charts)

FHA: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (2003) (10.3 MB PDF)
Federal Register Vol 67, No 147 (2002) – Color Specifications for Retroreflective Sign and Pavement Marking Materials (71 KB PDF)
MUTCD Color Specifications (LINK)
EasyRGB.com Color Space Calculator (LINK)

Color

Color Standards
(Luminance is average between min/max values)

HTML Code

Use of Colors For:

Highway White

White (Duh)

White (Duh)

Regulation

Highway Red

FS 11105
or
MUTCD PDF

#9f0102 (FS)
#bf2c37 (MUTCD)

Stop or prohibition

Highway Orange

From MUTCD PDF

#f7921e (MUTCD)

Temporary traffic control

Highway Brown

From MUTCD PDF

#7d4808 (MUTCD)

Recreational and cultural interest area guidance

Highway Yellow

FS 13538
or
MUTCD PDF

#edb402 (FS)
#ffd51d (MUTCD)

Warning

Highway Green

FS 14109
or
MUTCD PDF

#003c20 (FS)
#006f53 (MUTCD)

Indicated movements permitted, direction guidance

Highway Blue

MUTCD PDF

#005a9c (MUTCD)

Road user services guidance, tourist information, and evacuation route

Highway Light Blue

26/0.180/0.260 (Yxy CIE)

#009DC4 (CIE)

UNASSIGNED – Reserved for Future Applications

Highway Purple

6/0.300/0.064 (Yxy CIE)

#BF00D0 (CIE)

UNASSIGNED – Reserved for Future Applications – selected for lanes restricted to use only by vehicles with registered electronic toll collection (ETC) accounts.

Fluorescent Orange

25/0.583/0.416 (Yxy CIE)

#E16500 (CIE)


Fluorescent Yellow

45/0.479/0.520 (Yxy CIE)

#D3B200 (CIE)


Fluorescent Yellow-Green

60/0.387/0.610 (Yxy CIE)

#97E200 (CIE)

Pedestrian warning, bicycle warning, playground warning, school bus and school warning

Fluorescent Green

25/0.210/0.770 (Yxy CIE)

#00AA00 (CIE)


Highway Pink

NOT DEFINED

NOT DEFINED

Incident management

Highway Coral

NOT DEFINED

NOT DEFINED

UNASSIGNED – Reserved for Future Applications

Black

Black (duh)

Black (duh)

Regulation

ANSI Z535 Safety Colors

2011 ANSI Z535 Safety Colors (Image)

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

Safety Red

485C

#DA291C

Safety Orange

152C

#E57200

Safety Yellow

109C

#FFD100

Safety Green

3415C

#007749

Safety Blue

2945C

#004C97

Safety Purple

258C

#8C4799

Safety Brown

168C

#73391D

Safety Grey

430C

#7C878E

Safety White

White

#FFFFFF

Safety Black

Process Black

#211E16

Modern ANSI Z535 Safety Colors (Image)

NOTE: Colors in this scheme are slightly different, as the shades have been harmonized with other systems, and Safety Brown and Safety Grey were eliminated.

Color Name

Pantone #

Hex #

Safety Red

186C

#C8102E

Safety Orange

151C

#FF8200

Safety Yellow

109C

#FFD100

Safety Green

335C

#007B5F

Safety Blue

285C

#0072CE

Safety Purple

259C

#6D2077