The school colors of the University of Illinois have had many facelifts over the years. Originally, students adopted silver on a cardinal background as the University colors in 1879. While the colors drastically changed a couple more times, the official colors of the UI were established in 1894 as orange and navy blue. The orange and blue color combo didn't just make an impact in Champaign-Urbana; the Chicago Bears' first home was in Decatur, Illinois, not far down the road from Champaign. George "Papa Bear" Halas founded the Bears in 1920 and decided the team colors would be orange and blue, after Illinois, Halas' alma mater.

Today, the colors of orange and blue don't just represent the University, but the state of Illinois. The school colors serve as a tie to the geographic location of the university, representing the sun rising into the blue Midwest sky. The color blue is authoritative and powerful, and navy specifically suggests loyalty and integrity. While orange is associated with the characteristics of creativity, determination and success.

Orange is an identifier for Illinois and makes the brand unique as the only school in the 18-team Big Ten Conference that has it in their color scheme.

Complete University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign brand guidelines