> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.deandesk.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# School branding
> Customize your school's logo, colors, and login page so it matches your brand identity.
**School-level feature** — managed within your school portal at `yourschool.deandesk.com`. For institution-wide branding defaults, see [Institution settings](/institution/settings).
Each school can have its own logo, color palette, and visual identity. Settings live under **Admin Dashboard → School Configuration → Branding**.
## Logo and favicon
| Asset | Where it appears |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- |
| **Primary logo (light)** | Top-left of the school portal in light mode |
| **Primary logo (dark)** | Top-left of the school portal in dark mode |
| **Favicon** | Browser tab icon |
Upload PNG or SVG files. SVG is recommended for crisp rendering at all sizes.
## Color palette
Set the colors that DeanDesk uses across the portal:
| Color | Where it's used |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Primary color** | Buttons, links, highlights |
| **Header color** | Top navigation bar background |
| **Header link color** | Color of nav links in the top bar (must be a valid hex value like `#1565C0`) |
| **Footer color** | Bottom site footer background |
| **Footer text color** | Footer text and link color; leave unset for automatic contrast |
| **Accent color** | Secondary highlights, badges, callouts |
### Top bar link size
In addition to color, you can control the size of the navigation links in the top bar. Set **Top Bar Link Size** to any value between 8 and 48 pixels. Larger sizes work well for schools with short menu labels; smaller sizes are best when you have many nav items or nested dropdowns.
## Top bar navigation
The top bar links shown to public visitors and signed-in users are configured under **Branding → Top Bar Navigation**.
Each item has:
| Field | What it does |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Label** | The visible link text |
| **Type** | `Link` (single URL) or `Dropdown` (group of child links) |
| **URL** | For link-type items, the destination |
| **Children** | For dropdown-type items, a nested list of items |
Dropdowns can be nested up to **five levels deep**, so you can build hierarchical menus like *Programs → Summer Camps → Sports → Soccer*.
Use nested dropdowns sparingly. Two or three levels is usually enough for a school's public site — deeper menus can be hard for visitors to navigate.
## Login and signup branding
Your color palette automatically drives the look of your login and signup pages. The **Auth Branding Pane** is a decorative left-side panel on the login and signup screens that displays a gradient generated from your **Primary** and **Header** colors, along with your logo.
You don't need to upload anything separately — DeanDesk derives the gradient from your color palette every time you change it.
Go to **Branding** and update the Primary and Header colors.
Open your school's `/login` page in another tab. The branding pane reflects the new colors immediately.
Use distinct Primary and Header colors to give the gradient visual interest. Two near-identical colors produce a flat-looking pane.
## Apply Now intent through login
When a visitor clicks **Apply Now** on your public site without being signed in, DeanDesk preserves their cycle/track choice and routes them through the login or signup screen. After authenticating, they land directly inside the application workspace they were trying to enter — they don't have to re-pick the cycle.
This is automatic; no configuration is required. See [Admissions](/sis/admissions#apply-now-flow) for details.
## Custom page theme
If your school uses the [Pages](/lms/pages) module to build public landing pages, program pages, or staff pages, you can set a **school-wide page theme** that applies to every page.
Go to **Admin Dashboard → Pages → Page Theme** to configure:
| Setting | What it does |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Custom fonts** | Upload one or more font files (WOFF2, WOFF, TTF, or OTF — 10 MB max each) to use across all pages |
| **Heading font** | Pick an uploaded font to apply to headings on every page |
| **Body font** | Pick an uploaded font to apply to body text on every page |
| **Custom CSS** | Add CSS rules that apply to every published page |
Per-page typography (set inside the page editor) overrides the school-wide theme for that page only. See [Pages](/lms/pages#custom-typography) for details.
## Custom domain
Schools can be served on a custom domain (e.g. `enroll.yourschool.org`) instead of the default `yourschool.deandesk.com`. Configure this under **School Configuration → Custom Domain**. DeanDesk validates the hostname format and checks DNS availability before activating the custom domain.
Setup is guided end to end:
Type the domain you want to use. DeanDesk validates the hostname format and checks that the domain is available.
School Configuration shows the exact DNS records to create at your DNS provider. Add them in your provider's DNS settings.
Click the provision button. DeanDesk verifies your DNS records and starts provisioning automatically. If the records haven't propagated yet, use the re-check button to try again.
Custom domains require a CNAME or A record pointed at DeanDesk. DNS changes can take time to propagate — if verification fails right after you add the records, wait a few minutes and re-check.