Power the digital economy
Bold ideas delivered through critical payments technology and services. Published
The system
Fixed, everywhere
- The Symbol in full color, unaltered, with clear space
- The circle geometry in every mask and control
- One ink on a warm canvas; orange only as a thin accent
- One typeface family
The one thing that varies
Photography and the campaign it serves (sport, travel, partnerships) change; the frame around them does not.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.html
How loud each format gets
Silent
QuietPayment acceptance (checkout, POS)
CalmPartner marketing
WarmLanding page
LoudSonic and haptic
Loudest
Our engine's setting, built from their rules.
Every piece passes 3 checks
Name
Every Mastercard is spelled Mastercard
Symbol
full color, clear space 1/4 circle, at least 24px
Shapes
no rectangular photos
Strategy
A global technology company in the payments industry. Observed
Unlock potential
Unlocking the potential of every individual and business. Published
Force for good
Economic sustainability through people, prosperity and the planet. Published
Trust in every sense
A multisensory brand (sight, sound, touch) that signals a secure payment. Published
Powering economies and empowering people
Unlocking potential for people, businesses and governments, all around the world.
Together the possibilities are priceless
Innovative solutions for a safer, smarter, digital economy.
Full spec
- For Observed
- People, businesses and governments (the homepage hero lead names all three)
- Problem Published
- Shoppers abandon checkout when a payment feels insecure (1 in 5, per the multisensory page)
- Promise Published
- Payments that are secure, simple, smart and accessible, so everyone can take part in the digital economy
- Purpose line Published
- Connecting everyone to priceless possibilities.
Proof behind each pillar
- Power the digital economy. Connects people and organizations in more than 210 countries and territories.
- Power the digital economy. Global network since 1968, when ICA allied with Banco Nacional in Mexico and Eurocard in Europe.
- Unlock potential. Connects people and organizations in more than 210 countries and territories.
- Trust in every sense. 78% of consumers prefer the Checkout Sound and Animation experience (Mastercard-commissioned study).
- Trust in every sense. 3.4x stronger assurance on safety, trust and acceptance with Checkout Sound and Animation.
- Trust in every sense. 81% of consumers recognized the Symbol without the name in 2016 research.
Story Published
Born in 1966 as the Interbank Card Association, renamed MasterCard International, simplified by Pentagram in 2016 and, from 2019, signed by the circles alone.
Values
The Mastercard Way
Create value, grow together, move fast for customers and each other
PublishedCategory. Payments network and technology Observed
Why them
- A Symbol famous enough to drop the name (2019) Published
- A multisensory identity: sonic, haptic and visual cues at checkout Published
- Priceless experiences in sports, travel, food and entertainment Observed
- Reach across 210+ countries and territories Published
Instead of
Other card networks and payment options (the Brand Center requires parity with all other acceptance marks)
Boilerplate Our reading
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry, powering economies and empowering people in more than 210 countries and territories.
Taglines
Priceless Observed
Together the possibilities are priceless Observed
Powering economies and empowering people Observed
They never claim
- No invented numbers: every stat on a page carries its source footnote, as the multisensory page does
- Priceless is an idea, never a promise that something costs nothing
More real lines
Benefits and services that support your ambitions
Find a card that's right for you
Pay your way
Modern ways to pay, home and away
Experiences that ignite your passions
The homepage speaks in promises to three audiences (people, businesses, governments) and threads the word priceless through every section: "Together the possibilities are priceless", Priceless Experiences, priceless.com. Sections are organised by audience (business and government solutions, cards and benefits, experiences), each with an eyebrow naming it.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.htmlmastercard.com/us/en/for-the-world/about-us.htmlmastercard.com/us/en/personal/experience-mastercard/multisensory-branding.html
Personality and voice
Optimisticbut not naiveOur reading
Humanbut not sentimentalOur reading
Assuredbut not boastfulOur reading
A payments brand earns trust by sounding calm: the homepage never hypes, and the partner rules never hedge.
Full spec
- Say “Mastercard”, not “MasterCard” or “Master Card” or “MASTERCARD”
- Set the word Mastercard in the same typeface as the text around it; never swap in the Symbol for the word
- Never translate the Mastercard name; it appears in English except a few authorized versions
- Sentence case headlines
- No exclamation marks
- American spelling
- Write as “we”, to “you”
- Write contactless with a lowercase c as a descriptor; write tap & go in sentence case
- Each section opens with an uppercase eyebrow that names the audience or offer (BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS, CARDS AND BENEFITS)
- One lead sentence under a headline, under 20 words
- Sentences of 22 words or fewer
optimistichumanassured
Warm, assured and plain on marketing pages; legal and exact (must, never, always) in the Brand Center. No exclamation marks, no jargon on the homepage, sentence case throughout.
- Mastercard: capital M, lowercase c, one word, same font as surrounding text
- Never translate the name
- contactless lowercase; tap & go in sentence case
- Sentence-case headlines, no exclamation marks
- Homepage voice (observed 2026-10-31): short sentence-case headlines that read as a promise ("Powering economies and empowering people"), one plain lead sentence under each, eyebrows naming the audience in caps. The word priceless recurs as the brand idea, never as a price claim.
- Brand Center voice (published): the requirements pages are legal and precise (must, never, always); that register is for partners using the marks, not for marketing pages.
- A landing page follows the homepage voice; product names and the Mastercard name follow the published text rules.
Their words
pricelesspossibilitiesconnectempowerunlocktrustsecuretogether
Never
MasterCardMaster Cardcheapfree money
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.htmlmastercard.com/us/en/personal/experience-mastercard/multisensory-branding.html
- Don’t write MasterCard or Master Card
- Don’t use the Symbol as a word inside a headline (read-through)
Source: mastercard.com/brandcenter/us/en/brand-requirements/mastercard.htmlmastercard.com/us/en.html
Logo
The site uses the Symbol only. Brand Mark files (with the word) are on the Brand Center download page under the Artwork Download Agreement.
In 2019 Mastercard dropped the name from the mark for many uses because the circles alone are recognized; the Brand Center history page records the move.
Full spec
- Use the Symbol in full color only
- Clear space: at least 1/4 of one circle's width on every side
- Minimum size on screen: 24 pixels / 48 points; print 8.9mm / 0.35in; decal 16.2mm / 0.63in
- Positive artwork on light grounds, reverse on dark
- Grayscale or solid Brand Mark only when full color is impossible, and always with the word mastercard
- At parity with every other acceptance mark: size, frequency, color, location
- Don’t recolor the Symbol
- Don’t outline the Symbol
- Don’t reproduce it at low resolution or below minimum size
- Don’t make a grayscale Symbol or decal
- Don’t put the word mastercard inside the circles
- Don’t place it on busy patterns or on red where contrast fails
| Clear space | 1/4 of one circle's width |
|---|---|
| Minimum size (screen) | 24 px / 48 pt |
| Minimum size (print) | 8.9 mm / 0.35 in |
| Decal minimum | 16.2 mm / 0.63 in |
| Wordmark | FF Mark, lowercase c (Pentagram) |
The Mastercard Symbol (two interlocking circles, red and yellow with an orange overlap) is used on its own; the word mark appears only in the Brand Mark versions (horizontal and vertical) that pair the circles with a lowercase "mastercard". Grayscale and solid Brand Marks exist for one-color reproduction only, always with the word.
Source: mastercard.com/brandcenter/us/en/brand-requirements/mastercard.htmlmastercard.com/brandcenter/us/en/brand-history.htmlpentagram.com/work/mastercard
Color
Keeping the interface neutral lets the red-yellow circles stay the only saturated brand color, so the Symbol always reads first.
Full spec
- Logo colors: Red #EB001B, Orange #FF5F00, Yellow #F79E1B, only in the Symbol, never altered
- Page ground #F3F0EE, text #141413
- One UI accent: #F37338, in dots, 1px lines and active states
- Dark only at the footer (#141413)
- Grays for one-color marks are CMYK 0/0/0/75, 52 and 28 (no screen hex published)
- Don’t use the logo red or yellow as UI color
- Don’t set text in orange
| Mastercard Red | #EB001B / PANTONE 2035 C |
|---|---|
| Mastercard Orange | #FF5F00 / PANTONE 165 C |
| Mastercard Yellow | #F79E1B / PANTONE 1375 C |
| Dark Gray | CMYK 0/0/0/75 |
| Medium Gray | CMYK 0/0/0/52 |
| Light Gray | CMYK 0/0/0/28 |
Three published logo colors live only in the Symbol. The homepage itself is warm and nearly colorless: a #F3F0EE canvas, one ink #141413 for all text, a lighter #FCFBFA panel, a #141413 footer, and a single UI orange #F37338 for dots, outlines and active states. Color comes from photography.
Not published: UI palette (canvas, ink, UI orange are observed); color proportions; hex values for the grays.
Source: mastercard.com/brandcenter/us/en/brand-requirements/mastercard.htmlmastercard.com/us/en.html
Typography
Priceless
Mark's round letters echo the circles; Pentagram notes each letter contains a portion of the circle.
Full spec
| Their face | Use | License | Open stand-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| FF Mark (served as mccom on mastercard.com) | Headlines and titles at weight 500 (Medium): 120, 64 and 36px, sentence case | Commercial (FontFont, now Monotype); not open, not ours to ship | Kumbh Sans Open (SIL OFL) geometric sans with round bowls, double-storey a and single-storey g like Mark. Rendered against the live face: 500 at 0 tracking sets within 1% of Mark Medium at -0.02em and matches its ink (20.4 vs 20.5). |
| FF Mark Book (mccom 450) | Lead and body at 450 (Book), buttons and nav at 500, eyebrows at 700 Bold uppercase | Commercial (FontFont, now Monotype); not open | Kumbh Sans Same family keeps the one-family system; 400 at +0.02em matches the lead line width (790 vs 789px) and 700 at +0.06em matches the eyebrows. |
- One family, three weights
- Sentence case headlines at weight 500, never bold
- Uppercase only for small eyebrows and footer headings
- Stand-in: Kumbh Sans 500 headlines at 0 tracking, 400 body at +0.02em, 700 eyebrows at +0.06em
| Real face | FF Mark (commercial) |
|---|---|
| Stand-in | Kumbh Sans (SIL OFL) |
| Headline | 120 / 64 / 36px, weight 500 |
| Body | 20px/26px lead, 16px small |
One family does everything: FF Mark, a geometric sans with circular bowls chosen in the 2016 identity (Pentagram), served on the site as the custom web font "mccom". Weights 450 (body), 500 (headlines, nav, buttons) and 700 (uppercase eyebrows). Headlines are huge (120px); the real face runs -0.02em tracking, which the Kumbh Sans stand-in replaces with 0 (it sets about 5% narrower).
Not published: a public type scale; sizes are observed.
Source: pentagram.com/work/mastercardmastercard.com/us/en.html
Graphic elements
Do photos are masked to circles (square sources) or stadiums (radius 999px); panels and the hero frame take 80px corners; buttons and labels are pills; buttons on photos are white circles. The shape language comes from the two interlocking circles of the Symbol.
Circles and stadiums · every photo, panel and control on the homepage
Do 1px #F37338 circle outlines the size of a photo, offset beside it, and 1px orange stadium outlines around row cards; one line weight only.
Thin orange orbits · services zigzag and the Cards and benefits rows
Do 120px sentence-case headline over 3-4 lines, weight 500, left aligned, after an orange-dot eyebrow, then one 20px lead line.
One giant headline per section · section heads
Do the full-color circles with no word mark, at 54x40 in the nav and centered in the hero resting frame; clear space at least a quarter of one circle's width.
The Symbol speaks alone · nav and hero
Specimens use sample copy, not Mastercard’s.
Repeating the Symbol's geometry makes any page recognizable without the logo.
Full spec
- Masks: circle or stadium (radius 999px)
- Lines: 1px only, #F37338
- Panels: 80px corners desktop, 40px phone
- Don’t use square photos
- Don’t mix line weights
The circle is the system: circular and stadium photo masks, pill buttons and labels, 80px-cornered panels, round icon buttons, thin orange orbit circles, and a large circles line drawing in the ground. Pentagram describes the circles being used in infinite arrangements.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.htmlpentagram.com/work/mastercard
Iconography
Icons stay utilitarian so photos and circles carry the brand.
Full spec
- Arrows sit in circles: 42px ringed or 80px white
- External links take a north-east arrow
Small monoline glyphs (arrows, north-east external-link arrow, chevrons, magnifier, play, pause) from an icon font, always in ink or white, often inside a circle.
Not published: icon grid, stroke and library.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.html
Illustration
Not published; our reading is that real people carry the human-centered positioning.
Full spec
- Use photography, not illustration, on marketing pages
The homepage uses no illustration: photography, video and the circle line drawings fill every visual slot.
Not published: an illustration style.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.html
Photography
People-first photography carries "empowering people"; warm hues keep photos in key with the logo colors.
Full spec
- Real people, candid, eye-level
- Warm palette
- Always masked to a circle or stadium
Warm, natural-light photos of real people mid-moment (paying, shopping, working, driving), shallow depth of field, skin tones and warm oranges and yellows echoing the Symbol; cropped into circles and stadiums. Campaign stills (Messi, MrBeast) for partnerships.
Not published: a photography guideline.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.html
Motion
carousel pagination dot grows into the 40px active pill
Mastercard publishes that a recognizable sound and feel increase assurance at checkout (3.4x per its study).
Full spec
- Hover fills grow from the center, 0.5s ease-in-out
- Checkout Sound and Animation only as transaction confirmation, per Mastercard
The brand moves in three senses: a sonic mnemonic (six notes) and the Checkout Sound and Animation at payment, a haptic vibration sequence, and on the site a video loop that opens on the Symbol, autoplaying carousels and fills that grow from the center.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en/personal/experience-mastercard/multisensory-branding.htmlmastercard.com/brandcenter/us/en/brand-requirements/mastercard.htmlmastercard.com/us/en.html
Interface & layout
The page, band by band
Hero video frame
Intro headline
Section head (120px)
Services zigzag
Cards and benefits panel
Priceless experiences
Buttons
Full spec
A 1240px column on a warm canvas, 100px margins, a two-column split at x 837/869, 120px vertical rhythm, one floating pill nav, and full-bleed rounded frames inset 24px.
Measured from mastercard.com/us/en.html's computed styles and bounding boxes read with Playwright (Chrome, 1440x900 and 390x844) on 2026-10-31, plus the published Brand Center requirements.
Spacing
| Measure | Desktop | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Page margin | 100px | 20px |
| Section padding | 120px | 64px |
| Hero text width | max 608px, centered | full width |
| Card gap | 80px | 80px |
| Navigation | 88px | 88px |
Type, at size
Section headline (Together the possibilities..., Benefits and services...); phone line-height 1.1
FF Mark (served as mccom on mastercard.com) · 120px (phone 48) · line 1 · weight 500
Hero H1 and Priceless headline; phone line-height 1.1
FF Mark (served as mccom on mastercard.com) · 64px (phone 48) · line 1 · weight 500
Card and row titles
FF Mark (served as mccom on mastercard.com) · 36px (phone 24) · line 1.2 · weight 500
Carousel title pill
FF Mark (served as mccom on mastercard.com) · 36px (phone 24) · line 2 · weight 500
Lead paragraph
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 20px · line 1.3 · tracking 0.4px · weight 400
Small copy (row descriptions)
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 16px · line 1.4 · tracking 0.32px · weight 400
Button label
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 16px · line 1 · weight 500
Nav label
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 16px · line 1 · weight 500
Eyebrow (uppercase)
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 14px (phone 12) · line 1 · tracking 0.84px · weight 700
Carousel category pill
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 16px (phone 14) · line 1 · weight 500
Footer help line and phone accordion heads
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 20px · line 1.2 · weight 500
Footer links and legal
FF Mark Book (mccom 450) · 14px · line 1 · weight 500
- Motion
- Button hover fills grow from the center over 0.5s ease-in-out; carousel bullets 0.4s cubic-bezier(0.25,0.1,0.25,1)
- Buttons
- pill
Page anatomy
How Mastercard’s own landing pages are built, observed on mastercard.com/us/en.html%20(2026-10-31), 2026-10-31. The full measurements are in spec.md.
- Navigation
- Desktop: a floating white pill bar (80% white over the hero) holding the Symbol at left, five menu labels centered, a round search button at right. Phone: a solid white bar with 20px bottom corners: hamburger left, Symbol centered, search circle right.
- Hero
- A full-width video frame with 80px corners inset 24px from the canvas edges; its resting frame is a nearly empty warm off-white field with the full-color Symbol centered. A soft black gradient fades up from the bottom 120px holding white pause and mute icons at the bottom left. No headline inside the frame: the headline sits below it (next section).
- Intro: headline and lead
- The page's real headline, set under the video on the bare canvas: a 64px three-line headline at left, a 20px two-line lead at right starting at the column split.
- Story carousel
- A centered stadium-shaped photo slide (radius 1000px) with a heavy soft shadow, its neighbours peeking in from both screen edges lower down; two white pill labels overlap the slide's lower middle (a small category pill, a large title pill); round prev/next buttons top right; dots and a pause button below.
- Business and government solutions: section head
- A giant 120px three-line headline with an uppercase eyebrow above (orange dot plus caps label) and a single lead line below; nothing else.
- Services zigzag
- Six offer cards in two staggered columns: tall stadium photos (503x817) and circle photos (503x503) alternate so the columns zigzag; each photo has an 80px white circle arrow button inside its bottom-right; under each photo an eyebrow and a 36px title. Thin 1px orange orbit circles sit beside two of the circles, and large thin orange circles are drawn in the ground image behind the lower half.
- Cards and benefits panel
- A lighter raised panel with 80px corners (the only card-like surface on the page): a 120px four-line headline with eyebrow, a lead and a black pill button, then two wide 1px-orange outlined stadium rows, each pairing a stadium photo with a short title and outline button, the second row mirrored.
- Priceless experiences
- Back on the canvas: an eyebrow and a two-line 64px headline at left, a three-line lead and an outline pill with a north-east arrow at right, then a full-width video poster with 40px corners and a dark round play button.
- Footer
- Full-width #141413 footer: a two-line 20px help line, four link columns with caps headings, a hairline, then a bottom row with copyright, legal links, a pill country selector and four social icons.
Source: mastercard.com/us/en.html
In use
Full spec
How loud the system gets by format.
Our setting for each format
| Format | Loudness | Must appear | What varies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | Build it the way the US homepage is built (kit.spec.page): #F3F0EE canvas, floating white pill nav with the Symbol, an 80px-corner hero frame, 120px sentence-case headlines after orange-dot eyebrows, circle and stadium photos, pill buttons, thin #F37338 outlines, #141413 footer | which sections and photos; how many cards | |
| Payment acceptance (checkout, POS) | full-color Symbol at parity with other marks, minimum 24px, clear space, last four digits beside stored cards | horizontal or vertical Brand Mark | |
| Partner marketing | Mastercard-supplied artwork unaltered; name written Mastercard | layout is the partner's | |
| Sonic and haptic | Checkout Sound and Animation only as confirmation; contact Mastercard to use | none |
Ads
Rules
Do
- Choose the correct configuration for the use
- Always provide sufficient contrast with the background
- Always keep clear space
- Get card artwork from the Card Design Standards
- Never below minimum size
- Write Mastercard with uppercase M, lowercase c, no space
- Show Mastercard at parity with other acceptance marks
- Full-color Symbol and last four digits when showing a stored card digitally
Don’t
- recolor, outline or rebuild the Symbol
- translate the name
Source: mastercard.com/brandcenter/us/en/brand-requirements/mastercard.html
Steal this kit
Your name and logo, Mastercard’s system.
Comes with you
- Color roles and how much of each
- Type pairing, with open fonts
- Voice rules the writing check enforces
- Icon, photo, illustration and motion recipes
- The strategy frame, to fill with yours
Stays yours
- Your name and logo
- Your proof: numbers, customers, quotes
- Your purpose and claims. Theirs aren’t yours to make
Use this kit for my brand Use this brand in Claude
Hand it to a developer
- spec.mdEvery value and rule
- tokens.cssCSS variables
- tokens.jsonDesign tokens (DTCG)
- kit.jsonWhat our engines read
Your brand next
Get your brand audit Put your brand in Claude What goes in a brand book
What Mastercard doesn’t publish
- Typography rules beyond the 2016 Pentagram note: not published (scale observed on the site)
- UI colors (canvas, ink, orange accent): not published, observed
- Grays published in CMYK only; no screen hex
- Icon, illustration and photography guidelines: not published publicly
- Voice guidelines: not published beyond naming rules; voice observed
- Motion durations for the Checkout Animation: not published
- Brand Mark artwork requires agreeing to the Artwork Download Agreement
Each value is marked published, observed, our reading or our recipe, with its source. Checked 2026-10-31. Not affiliated with Mastercard.