If you studied or worked at the University of Birmingham, the colours stick with you.
Living in Edgbaston or Selly Oak. Walking up campus in all weathers. Cutting through the Green Heart. Getting the 45 bus into town for your first proper night out in town.
The University of Birmingham Colour Palette is about keeping those memories alive. Not as nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, but as a clean, graphic way to hold onto a place that shaped everyday life for years.
Each colour in the palette comes directly from the campus and its surroundings — places you passed every day, buildings you remember instinctively, and moments that still feel familiar long after you’ve moved on.
A Colour Palette built from campus landmarks
Nettlefold Green is inspired by the gardens at Winterbourne House and Garden. For many students and staff, it’s a quiet escape just off campus — a reminder that Edgbaston isn’t all lecture theatres and deadlines.
Bramall Brass comes from the Bramall Music Building. Whether you studied music, knew someone performing there, or just walked past on the way across campus, it’s part of the everyday rhythm of university life.
Barber Stone references the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. A place many people first encountered serious art, sometimes by accident, sometimes as part of a course, right in the middle of campus.
Great Hall White is taken from the university’s Great Hall. Graduation ceremonies, public talks, concerts, open days, it’s one of the spaces that marks milestones, not just memories.
Old Joe Brick is unmistakable. The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower – Old Joe – dominates the skyline and becomes a reference point for everyone who spends time on campus. You don’t need to explain it to anyone who’s been there.
Allosaurus Grey comes from the Lapworth Museum of Geology. For some it was a field trip, for others a surprise discovery tucked away on campus, fossils, deep time and a reminder that learning isn’t always confined to lecture rooms.
Together, these colours form a palette that feels lived-in rather than idealised; familiar, grounded and very Birmingham.
Designed for homes, studies and workspaces
The University of Birmingham Colour Palette is available as art prints and gifts designed to work in real spaces — rented flats, first homes, studies and offices.
These pieces suit:
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Graduate and alumni homes
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Subtle, modern interiors
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Spaces where design carries meaning
They don’t shout. They sit quietly in the background, doing what good design does — reminding you where you came from.
A proper gift for Brummies, graduates and alumni
As a gift, this palette works because it’s specific. It’s not generic merchandise. It’s rooted in places people actually remember — walking through Edgbaston, living in Selly Oak, commuting into town, finishing exams and starting something new.
It’s particularly suited to:
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Alumni presents
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Parents buying something meaningful
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Anyone who still calls themselves a Brummie
It’s a way of keeping a chapter of life close without turning it into clutter.
Explore the University of Birmingham Colour Palette collection
From Old Joe to the Barber, Winterbourne to the Lapworth, the University of Birmingham Colour Palette brings campus life into the home through colour.
Explore the University of Birmingham Colour Palette Collection to discover art prints and gifts inspired by one of Birmingham’s most recognisable places.