The official Chicago Bulls colors are Bulls red, black and white. The primary color is Bulls red (#CE1141), paired with black (#000000) and white (#FFFFFF). These three appear across the team’s logo, uniforms and merchandise, and the franchise has kept the red-and-black core since its founding in 1966.
Chicago Bulls color codes
| Color | Swatch | HEX | RGB | CMYK | Pantone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulls Red | #CE1141 | 206, 17, 65 | 0, 100, 65, 15 | PMS 200 C | |
| Black | #000000 | 0, 0, 0 | 0, 0, 0, 100 | PMS Black 6 C | |
| White | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 | 0, 0, 0, 0 | Pantone (approx.): no official PMS, printed as unprinted stock |
A quick honesty note, because it matters if you’re sending a job to a printer: the red and black PMS references are the ones circulated in the team’s style guide and repeated across brand databases. White isn’t assigned a Pantone chip. On paper it’s just the stock. On fabric it’s whatever white the manufacturer runs. Nobody publishes a number for it, and any site that gives you one made it up.
Also worth knowing: some color databases list Bulls black as RGB (6, 25, 34) rather than pure zero. That comes from sampling a scanned logo, not from the brand book. Use #000000.
Every color in the Bulls palette, one at a time
Bulls red (#CE1141)
This is the anchor. It fills the bull’s face in the logo, dominates the Icon Edition jersey, and shows up on nearly every piece of merch the team has ever sold.
What surprises people is how specific the shade is. #CE1141 isn’t a generic red. It sits at HSL (346, 85%, 44%), which pushes it slightly toward magenta rather than orange. Hold it next to a true crimson red and you’ll see the Bulls version reads cooler and a touch deeper. That lean is why it photographs so well under arena lighting and why it doesn’t turn muddy on a broadcast feed.
Black (#000000)
Black is the outline color. Bull’s horns, contour lines, jersey trim, drop shadows on the numbers in the 1970s sets. It also carries the Statement Edition uniform, which the Bulls have run in some form since 1995-96.
Flat, pure, no tint. The team never went with a soft charcoal or a warm off-black, and that restraint is part of why the mark still holds up sixty years on.
White (#FFFFFF)
Easy to dismiss as “just the background.” Don’t. White does most of the separation work in this identity. It fills the bull’s face on the shorts logo, it’s the base of the Association Edition uniform, and it keeps the red from crushing into the black wherever the two touch.
Pull white out of the Bulls logo and it stops reading as a bull. Try it in Figma sometime.
Bulls uniform colors: Icon, Association, Statement
Icon (red): red base, white block “BULLS” lettering with black outline, white and black side taping.
Association (white): white base, red lettering trimmed in black. Since 2021-22 the Bulls have worn this set at home, having flipped back after a few seasons of red-at-home.
Statement (black): black base with red and white detailing. Ahead of the 2025-26 season it picked up red pinstripes and reworked striping, a direct callback to the 1995-96 set.
City Edition is where the palette actually breaks. Nike’s 2019-20 Bulls City jersey was a light blue nod to Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. The 2020-21 set went dark gray with gold lettering, pulling from Art Deco architecture downtown. The 2022-23 uniform swapped the bright red for a rusted, muted version meant to echo the river bridges. Those are one-season designs, not brand colors, and they don’t belong in your palette file.
History and rebranding
The Bulls were founded on January 16, 1966 and played their first season in 1966-67. The logo, a charging red bull’s head, was designed by Dean P. Wessel and adopted that same year. It has barely changed since. That’s rare. Most NBA franchises have burned through three or four identities in the same span.
Early uniforms had black drop shadows and heavier side striping. The city name arrived on the red jersey in 1969-70. The mid-1980s brought the cursive Chicago script, which the team still raids for nostalgia sets.
In 1995-96, the Bulls added a black alternate with red pinstripes. That set has been revived repeatedly, including as a throwback in 2012-13 and again in the current Statement look.
When Nike took over NBA uniforms in 2017, the Bulls kept nearly everything. Shoulder striping got truncated and the four Chicago flag stars appeared on the waistband. That’s it. The red never changed.
One oddity from the archive: from 2006 to 2017 the team wore green versions of the red uniform around St. Patrick’s Day, and in 2009 they ran a dark green alternate for the league’s Green Week.
Working with the palette
Screen work gets the HEX or RGB values. Print gets CMYK or the Pantone chips. Merch and apparel almost always get Pantone, because fabric dye matching against a HEX code is a losing game.
The tricky part is red on black. #CE1141 against #000000 has a contrast ratio around 3.4:1, which fails WCAG AA for body text. Fine for a logo. Not fine for paragraph copy on a fan site. Put white between them or bump the red lighter for text use.
“ :root { --bulls-red: #CE1141; --bulls-black: #000000; --bulls-white: #FFFFFF; } `
If you need a tint ramp for UI states, build it from the red rather than reaching for a stock swatch. Lightening #CE1141 keeps that magenta lean intact. Grabbing a generic scarlet from a stock palette does not, and the mismatch is visible the second both sit on the same screen.
Related resources
- NBA team color codes, the full league reference with every franchise’s HEX and Pantone values.
- Staying in Chicago: the Chicago Cubs colors and the Chicago White Sox colors make a useful contrast, one leaning blue, one leaning stark black and silver.
- For a broader cross-sport view, the baseball team color codes collection covers the same ground for MLB.
- Color theory background: black as a design tool, and red color palettes if you’re building something around #CE1141.
FAQ on The Chicago Bulls Colors
What are the Chicago Bulls colors?
The Chicago Bulls colors are Bulls red, black and white. Red (#CE1141) carries the logo and the Icon Edition jersey, black handles outlines and the Statement uniform, white anchors the Association set and the bull’s face.
What are the Chicago Bulls color codes in HEX and RGB?
Bulls red is #CE1141, RGB (206, 17, 65). Black is #000000, RGB (0, 0, 0). White is #FFFFFF, RGB (255, 255, 255). Those three values cover every digital use, from web builds to fan graphics.
What is the Chicago Bulls Pantone color?
Bulls red matches PMS 200 C. Black matches PMS Black 6 C. White has no assigned chip, so printers leave it as unprinted stock. Use these for apparel, signage and anything going through a press.
What is the primary color of the Chicago Bulls?
Red. It fills the charging bull’s head in the logo, dominates the home red jersey, and covers most of the team store apparel. Everything else in the palette exists to make that red read clearly.
When did the Bulls adopt their current colors?
At the start, in 1966. The franchise was founded January 16 that year, and the red-and-black scheme has held ever since. The 2017 Nike changeover adjusted striping and added the Chicago flag stars, not the colors.
What are the Chicago Bulls jersey colors?
Red for Icon, white for Association, black for Statement. Numbers and lettering flip between the three depending on the base. City Edition uniforms sit outside this and have used powder blue, gray and rust in past seasons.
Are the Bulls colors the same as the Miami Heat?
No. Both use red and black, but Miami’s red (#98002E) is a much darker, deeper shade closer to a maroon. Bulls red is brighter and leans slightly toward magenta at HSL (346, 85%, 44%).
Who designed the Chicago Bulls logo and picked the colors?
Dean P. Wessel designed the bull’s head mark, adopted in 1966. The palette came with it. The logo has survived nearly untouched for six decades, which makes it one of the most stable brand identities in the NBA.
What is the CMYK code for Bulls red?
CMYK (0, 100, 65, 15). Black runs (0, 0, 0, 100) and white is (0, 0, 0, 0). Send these to a printer rather than converting the hex yourself, since automatic conversion drifts noticeably on that red.
Do the Bulls use gold anywhere in their branding?
Not in the core palette. Gold has shown up on limited runs, including the 2020-21 City Edition lettering and championship-year detailing on the 2021-22 set. Treat it as a one-off accent, never a brand color.
Conclusion
The Chicago Bulls colors come down to three values: #CE1141, #000000, #FFFFFF. Copy them, save the swatch, move on.
What makes the palette worth studying is the restraint. Sixty years, one logo, one scheme, no rebrand panic.
Grab the Pantone chips for print work and the hex for screen. And if you’re matching merch or building a fan site, check your red-on-black contrast before you ship.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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