NIST Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card 

Topography

June 2007

U.S. Department of Commerce

Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary

.

I N F O R M A T I O N S E C U R I T Y

National Institute of Standards and Technology

William Jeffrey, Director 

William MacGregor

Teresa Schwarzhoff

Ketan Mehta

Information Technology Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-8930

Technology Administration

Robert C. Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for 

Technology

NIST Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card 

Topography

June 2007

U.S. Department of Commerce

Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary

.

I N F O R M A T I O N S E C U R I T Y

National Institute of Standards and Technology

William Jeffrey, Director 

William MacGregor

Teresa Schwarzhoff

Ketan Mehta

Information Technology Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-8930

Technology Administration

Robert C. Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for 

Technology
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

REPORTS ON COMPUTER SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 

promotes the U.S. economy and public welfare by providing technical leadership for the Nation’s measurement 

and standards infrastructure. ITL develops tests, test methods, reference data, proof of concept 

implementations, and technical analyses to advance the development and productive use of information 

technology. ITL’s responsibilities include the development of management, administrative, technical, and 

physical standards and guidelines for the cost-effective security and privacy of non-national security-related 

information in Federal information systems. This special publication 800-series reports on ITL’s research, 

guidelines, and outreach efforts in information system security, and its collaborative activities with industry, 

government, and academic organizations. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-104, 11 pages 

(June 2007) 

 ii 
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

Acknowledgements 

The authors, William MacGregor and Teresa Schwarzhoff of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) and Ketan Mehta of Mehta, Inc., wish to thank their colleagues who reviewed drafts of this document 

and contributed to its development. Special thanks to Jeff Cua and Tanya Brewer for their contributions to the 

color specification and card topography. The authors gratefully acknowledge and appreciate the support 

received from the US Government Printing Office (GPO), US Department of Defense (DoD), Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), General Services Administration (GSA), US Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), Federal Identity Credentialing Committee (FICC), and Interagency Security Committee (ISC) in 

developing this document. 

 iii 
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

Table of Contents 

1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Authority...................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Purpose and Scope .................................................................................................... 1

2. Color-coding for Employee Affiliation .............................................................................. 2

2.1 Zones 15 and 12 ......................................................................................................... 2

2.2 Zones 13, 14, and 16 .................................................................................................. 6

2.3 Zones 18, 19, and 20 .................................................................................................. 6

2.4 Color Representation .................................................................................................. 6

3. References .......................................................................................................................... 7

List of Figures 

Figure 1. Employee Affiliation Color-coding................................................................................. 2

Figure 2. Foreign National Color-coding...................................................................................... 3

Figure 3. SP 800-104 Configurations .......................................................................................... 4

Figure 4. SP 800-104 Configuration Description ......................................................................... 5

List of Tables 

Table 1. Color Representation..................................................................................................... 6

 

 iv 
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

1. Introduction 

1.1 Authority 

This document has been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in furtherance 

of its statutory responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, 

Public Law 107-347. 

NIST is responsible for developing standards and guidelines, including minimum requirements, for providing 

adequate information security for all agency operations and assets, but such standards and guidelines shall not 

apply to national security systems. This recommendation is consistent with the requirements of the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, Section 8b(3), Securing Agency Information Systems, as 

analyzed in A-130, Appendix IV: Analysis of Key Sections. Supplemental information is provided in A-130, 

Appendix III. 

This recommendation has been prepared for use by Federal agencies. It may be used by non-governmental 

organizations on a voluntary basis and is not subject to copyright. Nothing in this document should be taken to 

contradict standards and guidelines made mandatory and binding on Federal agencies by the Secretary of 

Commerce under statutory authority. Nor should this recommendation be interpreted as altering or superseding 

the existing authorities of the Secretary of Commerce, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, or any 

other Federal official. 

1.2 Purpose and Scope 

The purpose of this document is to provide additional recommendations on the Personal Identity Verification 

(PIV) Card color-coding for designating employee affiliation. Compliance with this document is voluntary; 

however, a department or agency shall not claim compliance unless it adheres to all requirements of this 

document. This document is not intended to contradict requirements specifically identified in the Federal 

Information Processing Standard 201 (FIPS 201) or its associated documents, nor to limit options permitted by 

FIPS 201 except as explicitly stated herein. The recommendations in this document complement FIPS 201 in 

order to increase the reliability of PIV card visual verification. 

 1 
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

2. Color-coding for Employee Affiliation 

This section provides a background color-coding scheme for Zones 15 and 12 to describe employee affiliation 

using FIPS 201 color designations. It also defines additional requirements for Zones 18 and 19. 

2.1 Zones 15 and 12 

All letterings on the PIV card shall be printed in black except as explicitly stated herein. Figure 1 illustrates use 

of Zones 15 and 12 to color-code employee affiliation. 

4.5

8

14.5

18

Zone 15 – Colorcoding for employee 

affiliation

Zone 12 – Footer 51.5

Arial 7pt Bold

(Emergency Response example shown)

Zone 18 –

Affiliation Color 

Code

Arial 10pt Bold

B-Blue or G-Green

Zone 19 –

Expiration Date

Arial 12pt Bold

Format: MMMYYYY

Zone 20 –

Organizational 

Affiliation 

Abbreviation

Arial 12pt Bold

4.5

8

14.5

18

Zone 15 – Colorcoding for employee 

affiliation

Zone 12 – Footer 51.5

Arial 7pt Bold

(Emergency Response example shown)

Zone 18 –

Affiliation Color 

Code

Arial 10pt Bold

B-Blue or G-Green

Zone 19 –

Expiration Date

Arial 12pt Bold

Format: MMMYYYY

Zone 20 –

Organizational 

Affiliation 

Abbreviation

Arial 12pt Bold

Figure 1. Employee Affiliation Color-coding 

Zone 15 shall be color-coded using one of the following colors: 

+ Blue—Foreign National 

+ White1

—Government Employee 

+ Green—Contractor 

 

1

 Note that the card body shall be white. 

 2 
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

Foreign National color-coding has precedence over Government Employee and Contractor color-coding. 

Foreign National, Government Employee, and Contractor color-coding have precedence over Emergency 

Response Official color-coding (this implies that Red will never be visible in Zone 15). 

The color-coding for Emergency Response Official (ERO) is optional. The ERO color-coding, when used, shall 

be depicted at the footer location of Zone 12 and must print “Emergency Response Official” with white lettering 

on a red background. No other color-coding is permitted in Zone 12 when implementing SP 800-104. 

When Zone 15 indicates Foreign National affiliation and the department or agency does not need to highlight 

ERO status, the footer location of Zone 12 may be used to denote the country or countries of citizenship. If so 

used, the department or agency shall print the country name or the three letter country abbreviation (alpha-3 

format) in accordance with ISO 3166-1, Country Codes [ISO 3166]. Figure 2 illustrates an example of Foreign 

National color-coding using country abbreviations. 

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

GBR AUS

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

GBR AUS

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

Figure 2. Foreign National Color-coding 

Figure 3 provides all the possible card configurations defined in this document. 

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Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

Configuration 1 Configuration 2 

Configuration 3 Configuration 4 

Configuration 5 Configuration 6 Configuration 7 

DOE,

JOHN H.

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

FEB2010

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Expires

2010FEB24

DOE,

JOHN H.

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

FEB2010

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Expires

2010FEB24

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Emergency Response Official

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H.

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Emergency Response Official

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H.

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Contractor

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. G

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Contractor

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. G

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Contractor

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Emergency Response Official

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. G

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Contractor

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Emergency Response Official

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. G

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

GBR AUS

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

GBR AUS

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Emergency Response Official

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

United States Government

Color

Photograph

Contact 

Chip

Affiliation

Employee

Agency/Department

Department of 

Homeland Security

Emergency Response Official

Expires

2010FEB24

FEB2010

DOE,

JOHN H. B

Figure 3. SP 800-104 Configurations 

 4 
Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

Configuration 1 

- Government Employee 

Configuration 2 

- Government Employee 

- Optional Emergency Response 

Official displayed 

Configuration 3 

- Contractor 

Configuration 4 

- Contractor 

- Optional Emergency Reponse 

Official displayed 

Configuration 5 

- Foreign National 

- Government Employee or a 

Contractor 

Configuration 6 

- Foreign National 

- Government Employee or a 

Contractor 

- Optional country of citizenship 

displayed 

Configuration 7 

- Foreign National 

- Government Employee or a 

Contractor 

- Optional Emergency Response 

Official displayed 

Figure 4. SP 800-104 Configuration Description 

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Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

2.2 Zones 13, 14, and 16 

The use of Zones 13, 14, and 16 is not restricted nor altered from [FIPS 201] in this document. 

2.3 Zones 18, 19, and 20 

Zone 18—Affiliation Color Code. The affiliation color code “B” for Blue or “G” for Green shall be printed in a 

white circle in Zone 15. The diameter of the circle shall not be more than 5 mm. Note that the lettering shall 

correspond to the printed color in Zone 15. 

Zone 19—Expiration Date. The card expiration date shall be printed in a MMMYYYY format in the upper right 

hand corner. The expiration date shall be printed in Arial 12pt Bold. 

Zone 20—Organizational Affiliation Abbreviation. The organizational affiliation abbreviation may be printed in 

the upper right hand corner below the date as shown in Figure 1. If printed, the organizational affiliation 

abbreviation shall be printed in Arial 12pt Bold. 

2.4 Color Representation 

Table 1 provides quantitative specifications for colors in three color systems. The colors are specified in the 

sRGB Tristimulus, sRGB ([IEC 61966], Color management – default RGB color space), and CMYK (Cyan, 

Magenta, Yellow and Key or ‘blacK’) systems. Since the card body is white, the white color-coding is achieved 

by the absence of printing. Note that [FIPS 201] requires the presence of at least one security feature which may 

overlap colored or printed regions, thus modifying the perceived color. In the case of colored regions, the effect 

of overlap shall not prevent the recognition of the principal color by a person with normal vision (corrected or 

uncorrected) at a working distance of 50 cm to 200 cm. 

Table 1. Color Representation 

Color Zone sRGB Tristimulus 

Value (IEC 61966-2-1) 

sRGB Value 

(IEC 61966-2-1) 

CMYK Value 

{C,M,Y,K} 

White 15 {255, 255, 255} {255, 255, 255} {0, 0, 0, 0} 

Green 15 {153, 255, 153} {203, 255, 203} {40, 0, 40, 0} 

Blue 15 {0, 255, 255} {0, 255, 255} {100, 0, 0, 0} 

Red 12 {253, 27, 20} {254, 92, 79} {0, 90, 86, 0} 

The colors in Table 1 can be mapped to the Pantone2

 color cue; however, note that this will not produce an exact 

match. An agency or department may use the following Pantone mappings in cases where Table 1 scales are not 

available. 

+ Blue—630C 

+ White—White 

+ Green—359C 

+ Red—032C 

 

2

 Pantone is a registered name protected by law. 

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Special Publication 800-104 A Scheme for PIV Visual Card Topography

3. References 

[FIPS 201] Federal Information Processing Standard 201-1, Change Notice 1, Personal Identity Verification 

(PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors, March 2006. (See http://csrc.nist.gov) 

[IEC 61966] IEC 61966-2-1:1999. Multimedia systems and equipment - Colour measurement and 

management - Part 2-1: Colour management - Default RGB colour space - sRGB 

[ISO 3166] ISO 3166-1:2006. Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- 

Part 1: Country codes. 

 7