Colors¶

MSUthemes provides access to Michigan State University's official brand colors and all Big Ten Conference institution colors.

MSU Colors¶

Primary Colors¶

The core MSU brand colors are green and white:

from msuthemes import MSU_GREEN, MSU_WHITE

print(MSU_GREEN)  # '#18453b'
print(MSU_WHITE)  # '#ffffff'

Secondary Colors¶

MSU's secondary color palette includes additional colors for accents and emphasis:

from msuthemes import MSU_BLACK, MSU_ORANGE, MSU_TEAL

print(MSU_BLACK)   # '#000000'
print(MSU_ORANGE)  # '#ff6e1b'
print(MSU_TEAL)    # '#008183'

Color Usage Example¶

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from msuthemes import MSU_GREEN, MSU_WHITE, MSU_ORANGE

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 6))
ax.bar(['Category A', 'Category B', 'Category C'],
       [25, 40, 30],
       color=[MSU_GREEN, MSU_ORANGE, MSU_TEAL])
ax.set_facecolor(MSU_WHITE)
plt.show()

Big Ten Colors¶

MSUthemes includes official primary and secondary colors for all 18 Big Ten Conference institutions.

Accessing Big Ten Colors¶

Use the get_bigten_colors() function to retrieve colors for any Big Ten institution:

from msuthemes import get_bigten_colors

# Get MSU colors
msu_colors = get_bigten_colors('Michigan State')
print(msu_colors)
# {'primary': '#18453b', 'secondary': '#ffffff'}

# Get Michigan colors
um_colors = get_bigten_colors('Michigan')
print(um_colors)
# {'primary': '#00274c', 'secondary': '#ffcb05'}

# Get Ohio State colors
osu_colors = get_bigten_colors('Ohio State')
print(osu_colors)
# {'primary': '#bb0000', 'secondary': '#666666'}

Institution Name Flexibility¶

The function accepts various name formats and aliases:

# All of these work for Michigan State:
get_bigten_colors('Michigan State')
get_bigten_colors('MSU')
get_bigten_colors('Spartans')
get_bigten_colors('michigan state')  # case-insensitive

# All of these work for Northwestern:
get_bigten_colors('Northwestern')
get_bigten_colors('NU')
get_bigten_colors('Wildcats')

All Big Ten Institutions¶

You can list all available institutions:

from msuthemes import list_bigten_institutions

institutions = list_bigten_institutions()
print(institutions)
# ['Illinois', 'Indiana', 'Iowa', 'Maryland', 'Michigan',
#  'Michigan State', 'Minnesota', 'Nebraska', 'Northwestern',
#  'Ohio State', 'Oregon', 'Penn State', 'Purdue', 'Rutgers',
#  'UCLA', 'USC', 'Washington', 'Wisconsin']

Color Dictionary Access¶

For advanced usage, you can access the color dictionaries directly:

from msuthemes.colors import BIGTEN_COLORS_PRIMARY, BIGTEN_COLORS_SECONDARY

# Get all primary colors
for institution, color in BIGTEN_COLORS_PRIMARY.items():
    print(f"{institution}: {color}")

# Get all secondary colors
for institution, color in BIGTEN_COLORS_SECONDARY.items():
    print(f"{institution}: {color}")

Color Utilities¶

MSUthemes includes utility functions for working with colors:

from msuthemes.utils import hex_to_rgb, rgb_to_hex, validate_hex_color

# Convert hex to RGB
rgb = hex_to_rgb('#18453b')
print(rgb)  # (24, 69, 59)

# Convert RGB to hex
hex_color = rgb_to_hex(24, 69, 59)
print(hex_color)  # '#18453b'

# Validate hex colors
is_valid = validate_hex_color('#18453b')
print(is_valid)  # True

Direct Color Imports¶

All MSU colors can be imported directly from the main package:

from msuthemes import (
    MSU_GREEN,
    MSU_WHITE,
    MSU_BLACK,
    MSU_ORANGE,
    MSU_TEAL
)

Or from the colors module:

from msuthemes.colors import (
    MSU_GREEN,
    MSU_WHITE,
    MSU_BLACK,
    MSU_ORANGE,
    MSU_TEAL,
    BIGTEN_COLORS_PRIMARY,
    BIGTEN_COLORS_SECONDARY
)

Color Values Reference¶

MSU Color Palette¶

Color Name	Hex Code	RGB
MSU Green	`#18453b`	(24, 69, 59)
MSU White	`#ffffff`	(255, 255, 255)
MSU Black	`#000000`	(0, 0, 0)
MSU Orange	`#ff6e1b`	(255, 110, 27)
MSU Teal	`#008183`	(0, 129, 131)

Big Ten Primary Colors¶

Institution	Primary Color
Illinois	`#e84a27`
Indiana	`#990000`
Iowa	`#000000`
Maryland	`#e03a3e`
Michigan	`#00274c`
Michigan State	`#18453b`
Minnesota	`#7a0019`
Nebraska	`#e41c38`
Northwestern	`#4e2a84`
Ohio State	`#bb0000`
Oregon	`#004f00`
Penn State	`#041e42`
Purdue	`#9d9795`
Rutgers	`#cc0033`
UCLA	`#2d68c4`
USC	`#990000`
Washington	`#4b2e83`
Wisconsin	`#c5050c`

See the Big Ten guide for more information on working with Big Ten colors and creating comparative visualizations.