There are three levels to the NHS web-safe colour palette.

Corporate colours

The corporate colours should form the basis for all NHS website design schemes. As a general rule, backgrounds should be white and text should be black. Navigation areas should be white or NHS blue.

Primary colours

The primary colours should be used in conjunction with the corporate colours to highlight key pieces of information. When using the primary colours, make sure they do not overpower or detract from the corporate colours.

Secondary colours

The secondary colours have been developed to support and complement the primary colours. Each secondary colour should only be used with the corresponding primary colour. A secondary colour can also be used to break up a page, which may ensure that the primary colours do not become more prominent than the corporate colours.

Using the colour palette

• Do not combine the colours from the three levels to create new colours - use only the specified colours above.
• Do not use tints of any of the NHS web palette colours.
• Do not use any of the colours to create textures, patterns or images.

Colour and accessibility

• Use a single, solid colour from the NHS colour palette for backgrounds for minor elements, e.g. small tables and graphs.
• Never use patterns, images or textures on your background.
• Ensure there is always excellent contrast between the colours used for the background and foreground or text to maximise legibility.
• Ensure that the chosen colour scheme can be overridden by the user's browser settings.