# Sierra Faculty Brand

> Apply Sierra College's black, gray, and cardinal visual theme to any faculty-facing materials. Use this skill whenever you are creating, styling, or recoloring content that Sierra College faculty will see, including Word documents, PowerPoint or slide decks, handouts, one-pagers, guides, training materials, RSI review and mentor materials, norming tools, rubric explainers, and any presentation or document tied to the college. Trigger this even when the user does not name the colors explicitly, as long as the deliverable is Sierra College faculty-facing content. Do not use for student-facing course content unless the user asks, and do not use for non-Sierra work.

- Skill: `macfarlanem-cloud/sierra-faculty-brand` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add macfarlanem-cloud/sierra-faculty-brand`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/macfarlanem-cloud/sierra-faculty-brand/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- Author: macfarlanem-cloud (https://skillmd.com/u/macfarlanem-cloud)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/macfarlanem-cloud/sierra-faculty-brand

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# Sierra College Faculty-Facing Brand Theme

Faculty-facing Sierra College materials use a restrained palette of black, gray, and cardinal. Cardinal is the signature accent, never the background flood. Black and gray do the structural work; cardinal marks what matters.

## The palette

| Role | Name | Hex |
|------|------|-----|
| Primary accent | Cardinal | `A6192E` |
| Deep accent (large cardinal fills, dark elements) | Deep cardinal | `7E1320` |
| Muted accent (mid-step on scales) | Muted cardinal | `C16B76` |
| Primary dark (dark slide backgrounds, table headers) | Near-black | `1A1A1A` |
| Charcoal (secondary dark, dark fills) | Charcoal | `333333` |
| Body text | Gray | `4D4D4D` |
| Mid gray (scale steps, secondary bars) | Mid gray | `808080` |
| Light fill (cards, label cells, alternating rows) | Light gray | `F2F2F2` |
| Lighter row fill | Off-white gray | `F7F7F7` |
| Borders, hairlines | Border gray | `D9D9D9` |
| Text on dark backgrounds | Light gray | `CFCFCF` |
| Reversed text | White | `FFFFFF` |

## Dominance rule

Keep it roughly 70% neutral (black and gray), 15% white space, and only 10 to 15% cardinal. If swapping cardinal out would not noticeably change the page, you have used it correctly as an accent. Cardinal should land on headings, key accents, signature chips, the sharpest scale step, and emphasis, not on every element.

## Applying it in Word documents (docx)

- Heading 1 text: cardinal `A6192E`. Heading 2 text: near-black `1A1A1A`.
- Document title: cardinal. Small overline label (for example "Sierra College"): charcoal `333333`. Accent rule under the title block: cardinal, about 1pt.
- Table header rows: near-black `1A1A1A` fill with white text. This is where black earns its place.
- Label or first-column cells: light gray `F2F2F2` fill, near-black text.
- Alternating body rows: white and `F7F7F7`.
- Inline emphasis and "toward / next step" callouts: cardinal text.
- Body copy: gray `4D4D4D`. Borders and hairlines: `D9D9D9`.
- Default font Calibri for body, with a serif (Georgia or Cambria) acceptable for display titles.

## Applying it in slide decks (pptx)

- Title and section-break and closing slides: near-black `1A1A1A` background, white display text, cardinal kicker and accent line, light-gray `CFCFCF` supporting text.
- Content slides: white background, cardinal kicker (small caps, letter-spaced), near-black title.
- Cards and panels: light gray `F2F2F2` fill or white with a `D9D9D9` hairline and a soft shadow.
- Icon circles and numbered chips: cardinal `A6192E` with white icons or numerals. A second chip color, when two are needed, is near-black.
- Four-step scales (for example a quality continuum): ascend light gray `C4C4C4`, mid gray `808080`, muted cardinal `C16B76`, cardinal `A6192E`. The gray-to-cardinal gradient itself signals increasing depth.
- Equation or callout boxes on dark slides: charcoal `2E2E2E` operands, cardinal connectors and result box.
- Decorative shapes: large cardinal and gray ovals at low opacity (70 to 85% transparency).

## House rules

- Never use em dashes. Use commas, parentheses, colons, or separate sentences.
- Do not introduce other accent hues (no green, gold, blue, teal). Black, gray, and cardinal only.
- Do not flood backgrounds with cardinal. Reserve full cardinal for accents and one or two hero elements per layout.
- Keep contrast high: white or near-black text on cardinal, never gray on cardinal.
- Never put accent rules under every heading in slides; use whitespace. A single cardinal rule in a title block is fine.

## Quick check before finishing

- Is cardinal an accent (about 10 to 15%), not the dominant fill?
- Are table headers and dark slides carrying the black, with gray doing the structural fills?
- Is all text legible against its background?
- Are em dashes absent and other accent colors absent?