1. GOAL OF THESE GUIDELINES

  • The Branding Guidelines specify all the rules that must be followed whenever a club wants to use any digital assets from the Brand Portal of Agora Speakers International.
  • Only officially registered clubs that have been assigned a number may use the digital assets of the Foundation.
  • The assets may only be used by the club for purposes directly related to the goals and mission of the Foundation and must always be used in compliance with the Core Principles.
  • All Agora Speakers International assets are protected by copyright. Additionally, the logo and the flame are trademarked symbols.
  • None of these guidelines represent a transfer of intellectual property of any kind. The rules regulating the use of digital assets may change at any time. The permission given to a club to use these assets may be revoked at any time if the Foundation determines that the assets are being misused.

 

2. OUR PURPOSE

Agora Speakers International is a worldwide nonprofit association of passionate volunteers devoted to helping people develop their public speaking, communication, critical thinking, debating, and leadership skills.

 

3. TEXTUAL ELEMENTS

Our Name

Our full name is Agora Speakers International. You may refer to us in any of the following ways:

  • Agora
  • Agora Speakers
  • Agora Speakers International
  • The Agora Speakers International Foundation

Please note, however, that "Agora" is a common word of Greek origin and, as such, if you simply use "Agora," there might be some confusion with other companies or entities that use the same word and are completely unrelated to us.

Our name may not be modified, translated, or transliterated. It is always written in the Latin character set, regardless of the target language. For example, the following are incorrect uses of the name:

  • Агора
  • Ágora Speakers
  • Agoras Foundation

Exceptionally, for languages in which diacritics indicate the accent of the word (such as Spanish), Agora may be accentuated only when it appears alone. For example, Ágora would be valid, but Ágora Speakers - not.

 

Our Mission Statement

Our mission statement is worded as follows:

“Agora empowers you to become a brilliant communicator and a confident leader who will actively build a better world.”


The mission statement may not be modified in any way, except:

  • To translate it to a different language, if there's no official translation
  • To replace “Agora empowers you” exclusively with “We empower you” where appropriate in materials, provided that the Agora Speakers International logo is also displayed. No other replacements are allowed (for example, you may not change it to say "Agora Speakers Madrid empowers you...")

No text may be added to the mission statement.


All parts of Agora Speakers and all affiliate clubs share this single common mission.

 

Our Taglines

We use the following taglines:

Speak Up. Lead. Make History

Speak Brilliantly. Lead Confidently.

All parts of Agora Speakers and all affiliated clubs share these taglines  Clubs may not alter them in any way, except to translate it to a local language if there's no official translation.

Clubs may not have custom taglines.

 

4. VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS

 

Main Color Palette

RED HEX Web safe: CC3300
RGB: 206, 60, 23
CMYK: 13%, 90%, 100%, 3%

 

YELLOW HEX Web safe: FF9900
RGB: 247, 175, 15
CMYK: 2%, 34%, 100%, 0

 

DARK PURPLE HEX Web safe: 660033
RGB: 86,15,59
54%, 99%, 46%, 47%

 

WHITE   BLACK

 

Secondary Color Palette

HEX Web safe: FFCCCC
Hex: F9D7CF
RGB: 249,215,207
CMYK: 1%,17%,13%,0%

   HEX Web safe: FF6666
Hex: F47C60
RGB: 244,124,96
CMYK: 0%,64%,62%,0%		   HEX Web safe: cc3300
Hex: CC3C17
RGB: 204,60,23
CMYK: 14%,90%,100%,4%		   HEX Web safe: 993333
Hex: A0353B
RGB: 160,53,59
CMYK: 26%,90%,75%,19%
 
HEX Web safe: FFFFCC
Hex: F4F2D4
RGB: 244,242,212
CMYK: 4%,2%,19%,0%		   HEX Web safe: FFFF99
Hex: F7E99A
RGB: 247,233,154
CMYK: 4%,4%,49%,0%		   HEX Web safe: CC9933
Hex: D1952A
RGB: 209,149,42
CMYK: 17%,43%,100%,0%		   HEX Web safe: 996633
Hex: 976B1E
RGB: 151,107,30
CMYK: 34%,54%,100%,18%
 
HEX Web safe: CC99CC
Hex: CCB2D6
RGB: 204,178,214
CMYK: 18%,31%,0,0		   HEX Web safe: 666699
Hex: 765285
RGB: 118,82,133
CMYK: 62%,77%,22%,4%		   HEX Web safe: 003366
Hex: 15416E
RGB: 21,65,110
CMYK: 99%,80%,32%,18%		   HEX Web safe: 333366
Hex: 351C4D
RGB: 53,28,77
CMYK: 88%,98%,37%,37%

 

 

Logo Presentations

 

Full Horizontal Format   Square Format
 
Full horizontal format.   The square format may only be used for digital media where a square logo is required (icons, applications, etc.)
Simplified Horizontal Format
 


Only allowed for physical merchandising materials where the size of the logo and the resolution of the target material makes it impracticable to have fine detail. In these cases, the width of the logo must be no greater than 5cm.

Logo Spacing and Sizing

 

Logo Spacing   Minimum Sizes





Always leave a spacing of at least the size of the letter “S” around the logo, as shown.		  

Print

2cm		  
Web

128px

 

Logo Variations

The following variations of the logo are the only ones allowed. All of them can be downloaded from the Brand Portal.


Grayscale over a clear background
Color over dark background
White over dark background

 

Logo Don'ts
 

The logo may not be altered in any way. Especially don’t do the following:



Don’t change any elements		  

Don’t change the colors.		  

Don’t customize the text.
 


Don’t apply effects		  

Don’t change the aspect ratio.		  

Don’t rotate or skew
 


Don’t place on low contrast backgrounds.		  

Don’t place on colors not on the palette.		  

Don’t place elements over or under the logo.
 


Don’t combine the logo with other elements.		  

Don’t use the logo as a background.		  

Don’t separate the components of the logo.
 


Don’t translate the logo.		  

Don’t use low res or scanned versions.		  

Don’t use on photos that hinder legibility.
 


Don’t print in metallic inks.		        

 

 

Combination with other logos

The logo may not appear, without prior written permission, in combination with any non-club logo unless it is in the context of a listing of sponsors, meeting venues, or similar auxiliary meeting-related organizations, and these are clearly labeled as such. In this last case, the logo of the club(s) or events being sponsored must appear as well, and there must be no confusion as to the fact that it is the club/event the one being sponsored and not Agora Speakers International.

 

Allowed Not Allowed

 

Fonts

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRQR
STUVWXYZ		 The main font is CapitalisTypOasis. It consists only of uppercase characters (and only the Latin-1 set), numbers, and punctuation signs.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRQRSTUV
WXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuwxyz
01234567890[]()!?={}*/&%\
áéíóúâêîôûàèìòùñÑäëïöüçÇ		 A secondary font American Garamond BT which is a full UNICODE font

 

5. CUSTOM MATERIALS

Agora Speakers International allows clubs a lot of flexibility in the use of brand material and digital assets to create their own logos, certificates, rewards, stationery, even merchandising, and to produce all the materials locally or order them from the provider the club finds most appropriate.

   

Custom Materials can be created for their use in clubs, events (such as conferences, contests, etc.), geographical areas (e.g., a leaflet of all clubs in a city), language groups (e.g., German Speakers), etc., but may not be created by members for personal use (e.g., a custom-designed business card for the use of one or more unrelated members).
In this guide, for the sake of brevity, we will refer generically to all of them as “club” materials, and the name and logo of the club, event, geographical area, language group, or similar will be referred to as “club name and logo”.

All custom materials need to comply with the following rules:

  • Must comply with the bylaws.
  • May only be created and used by clubs.
  • Must be related to the mission of Agora Speakers International.
  • Affiliation with Agora Speakers International must be displayed.
  • The usage of the Agora logo must comply with the Brand Guidelines.
  • The author of the material will be solely responsible for any IP claims by a third party against it.
  • The club name and/or logo must always be present, must be no smaller than Agora’s, and must always be significantly more prominent than any other logos present.
    (In order to avoid people thinking that a custom material developed by a club is an official Agora Speakers International material).
  • Clubs may produce them locally or order them from any provider they consider appropriate.
  • If the contact information is present, the contact information of the club and the contact information of Agora Speakers International must be clearly separated, and at least the website address of Agora Speakers International must be present (www.agoraspeakers.org)

 

6. DERIVED ASSETS

Derived Materials are items created by modifying the official templates or that incorporate parts of the digital assets of Agora Speakers International (e.g., parts of the logo, parts of the mission statement, the font, and color scheme of Agora’s name, etc.)
For example:

These parts make this logo a «derived» one

All derived assets must, in addition to the rules for custom assets, comply with the following rules:

  • No Intellectual Property rights may be asserted or claimed on any derived material. This means, for example, that if you create some business cards or logos for your club using Agora’s digital assets, you may not copyright or trademark them.
  • They may not be associated with ideologies, religions, political parties, or worldviews.

 

7. DISPLAYING AFFILIATION

All affiliated clubs need to display their affiliation with the Foundation explicitly.  Affiliation with Agora Speakers International can be displayed by including the Agora Speakers logo and optionally a word combination such as “affiliated with” or equivalent. The club name and/or logo must not be smaller than the logo of Agora Speakers (The requirement to display the club logo prominently exists to prevent confusion between club-published documents and officially published documents)

Incorrect Correct

 

8. DERIVED LOGOS

Agora Speakers International encourages clubs to create club logos derived from the official logo.

 

The derived logo may not include any elements from other recognizable logos or symbols of any kind.

Not Allowed Allowed

 

The derived logo may not include any elements from other recognizable logos or symbols of any kind.
(Regardless of the legal situation of the other logo, and even if you’re the legal owner or are authorized to use it. “Symbols” here refers to abstract symbols associated with some sort of worldview (political, ideological, or religious) or associated with a different organization. It does not refer to physical entities that have achieved symbolic status such as the Eiffel tower as a symbol of Paris, or the Eagle as a symbol of the US, or Don Quixote as a symbol of Spain)

Allowed Not Allowed

 

Affiliation with Agora Speakers International must appear in all communications.

Incorrect Correct

 

9. STATIONERY

Club Banner

In order to maintain the worldwide consistency of the brand and club presence, any club that wants to have a banner must use the official design and size. Note that it is not mandatory for a club to have a banner in the first place. This requirement only means that if a club wants to have a banner, it has to use the official one.

Club Banner

Clubs may produce the banner locally or buy it from any provider, as long as the quality and materials are similar.

Other Elements

For all other elements (such as business cards, flyers, leaflets, etc.), clubs have complete flexibility in using the suggested templates in the Brand Portal, tweaking them, or designing new ones altogether, with the following limitations:

  • The design must follow the Brand Guidelines and rules for creating materials.
  • The design must make it clear that it is a communication or stationery created by a club and that is not an official publication by Agora Speakers International.

 

10. PUBLICATIONS

Publications by clubs

Clubs may create all types of publications (books, magazines, brochures, etc.), in any format (digital, print, audio, etc..) provided that:

  • The design must follow the Brand Guidelines and rules for creating materials.
  • The title and design do not cause confusion with any existing official Agora Speakers International publication.
  • No content is reproduced from other publications (including Agora Speakers International publications) without prior written approval.
Allowed Not Allowed

 

Title conflict with an
official publication
Design conflict with an
official publication
Unrelated to our
mission

 

11. AWARDS

Awards are any token of recognition given by a club to a person (not necessarily a member) or other organization.
These include, for example:

Certificates
   Pins
   Ribbons
   Trophies
 
Medals
   Digital Badges
        

 

Official Awards

 

Official Agora Speakers International Awards and Certificates may only be produced and granted by Agora Speakers International.

 

Custom Awards
 

Clubs may create their own certificates, awards, ribbons, and other tokens of recognition, and grant them as they wish, provided that:

  • The award refers to an action or milestone that has actually happened and has been completed (i.e., certificates may not be given for "just trying")
  • The award is given for actions related to the mission of Agora Speakers International and consistent with its bylaws.
  • The outcome of the actions or milestones depend exclusively on the efforts, skills, and knowledge of the award recipient (meaning: awards may not be given for things that depend on luck or on the intervention of third parties)
  • The award is non-discriminatory (meaning that any member can opt for it)
  • The award does not have any economic compensation attached to it.
  • The design complies with the Brand Guide.
  • The award does not replace or overlap an existing official award.
  • There’s no confusion that the grantor of the award is the club and not Agora Speakers International.
  • There may not be any text or design suggesting that Agora Speakers International endorsees these awards or certificates.
  • At least the month and year when the award was earned must be present.  Exceptionally, for awards that are given only once per year, the month may be omitted.

 

 

Examples of Valid Awards

Allowed
(Certificates are used as an example, but the rules apply to all types of awards)

   
 
     

 

Examples of Invalid Awards

Not Allowed
(Certificates are used as an example, but the rules apply to all types of awards)


Unrelated to the mission of Agora
Speakers International		  
Agora Speakers International
appears as if it was a co-grantor		  
Discriminatory		  
Violates neutrality rule
 

Does not follow the Brand Guide
regarding logo usage		  
No affiliation shown		  
Overlaps an existing official award		  
Does not follow the Brand Guide
for custom materials (slide 18)

 

12. MERCHANDISING

Clubs are allowed to create and produce locally their own merchandising materials under the following conditions:

  • The design must always include the club logo as the most prominent feature. Optionally it may include the Agora Speakers International logo in a less prominent position and with a smaller size.
  • The design must follow the Brand Guidelines.
  • Any profit from the sales of merchandising must be used exclusively for the same purposes allowed for club funds.
  • Merchandising may be sold and shipped worldwide

Example of allowed merchandise:

 

 

13. MEMBERSHIP CARDS

Clubs are allowed to create and produce locally their own membership cards, name tags, and similar, provided that:

  • The design must follow the Brand Guidelines.
  • The club name and/or club logo must be present.
  • The design must make clear that it represents membership in the club.
  • The design must not suggest that it is an official membership card of Agora Speakers International.

 

Allowed Not Allowed

 

14. ONLINE CLUB PRESENCE

For the purposes of this section, a club online "resource" is any kind of club online presence, such as EMail addresses, domains, websites, custom-developed mobile apps, Facebook or Meetup groups, Telegram or Youtube channels, etc.

Clubs may create whatever online resources they consider appropriate provided these additional guidelines are followed:

  1. The name of the created resource must meet all the club naming limitations and must be clearly related to the club name. For example, if your club is called Agora Speakers Madrid, EMails or websites such as "[email protected]" or "[email protected]" wouldn't be appropriate.
  2. The club logo and the international logo must be on all pages, and must be used in accordance with these guidelines.
  3. The international logo must always be hyperlinked to point to the Foundation's main site (https://www.agoraspeakers.org).
  4. Agora materials may not be re-hosted or re-uploaded. Please link to them instead.
  5. Club resources may not require user registration, login or any kind of membership in order to access any of the contents, except the ones intrinsic to the platform itself on which the resource is hosted.
  6. Any kind of personal data collection done by the club itself (such as gathering EMail addresses for distributing a newsletter or signing up for an event) must comply with both the local privacy laws and the EU GDPR provisions (regardless of the location of the club).
  7. Nothing in the online resource should induce to confusion that this is a club resource and not an official Agora Speakers International resource.

 

Content Limitations

No part of any club online presence may cointain content that is against the Core Principles of the Agora Foundation or against its bylaws. As always, the distinction between "content by members" and "content by the club" applies. The club as an entity must respect the Neutrality principle, which means that the club cannot publish unsigned editorials, collegiate opinions or official publications taking any kind of political, moral, ideological or religious viewpoint, nor any kind of pseudo-scientific content. However, it's perfectly appropriate if the club publishes content (in any format - audiovisual or merely text articles) signed by individual, identified members, on whatever subjects those members decide to speak, as long as all of the following are met:

  • It's clearly indicated that the published content is the member's individual opinion and not an official opinion of the club.
  • The club doesn't exercise any kind of editorial selection that would bias the set of published content in a particular direction.
  • The content is published in exactly the same way and format as all other content, without additional endorsements or highlights.
  • If the member holds a position within the club or within Agora, that position should not appear in the signature.

As an example, it's ok if the club has a tradition to publish on the club's website all members' speeches, and one of those speeches is for example about a pseudo-scientific subject such as Astrology. However, it wouldn't be correct if there was an article about Astrology on the club's website that didn't have any signature or was signed by the Club's executive committee or by a member acting in their official club role ("Walter Gripp, VP of Education"). Also, it woduln't be correct if the club publishes speeches selectively, and that particular speech was published but not others.

Clubs may host content used to promote third party products, services and organizations only if this is done within the framework of a sponsoring agreement for which the club receives compensation in the form of funds or products or services needed for its operation, and the promoted product, service or organization is clearly indicated as sponsored content.

Corporate or Restricted clubs are allowed to have content (including commercial or promotional) related to the organizations they are embeded in, without restrictions.

Views Expressed Disclaimer

For the club's and other members' own protection, it is recommended that all member-generated content be accompanied by a disclaimer similar to the following one:

"All the views and opinions expressed in the above content are solely those of the its author. They do not necessarily represents the views of the club, other members, or the Agora Speakers International Foundation. The club does not exercise any editorial control or fact- or any other kind of checking on content generated by its members, and we make no representation about the content and its validity, correctness, applicability or suitability for any purpose. The content is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. We decline all responsibility arising from the use of this content"

 

15. CLUB COMMUNICATIONS

To avoid confusion between official Foundation messages and any communications sent on behalf of clubs, the following guidelines must be followed in all club communications, regardless of the channel through which that communication is sent (an EMail, a chat message, a group post, a push notification on a custom mobile app, etc.), and regardless of the number of recipients:

1. The message must use only the club logo and name, and never the Agora Speakers International logo.

2. Club communications may be sent ONLY for official club or Agora business - matters related to club news, membership, meetings, contests, tutorials , etc.

3. The communication signature must always include the line "(club name), club #(xxxx) of Agora Speakers International". For example: "Silent Towns Speakers , club #2005 of Agora Speakers International". If the communication is not in English, the line must be translated without changes or additions to the language of the communication.

4. Club communications must always respect the Core principles. Club communications may be used to promote third party products, services and organizations only if this is done within the framework of a sponsoring agreement for which the club receives compensation in the form of funds or products or services needed for its operation, and the promoted product, service or organization is clearly indicated as sponsored content. However, club communications may never be used to promote a particular religion, moral or political orientation, ideology, or worldview, not even as sponsored content.

Please note that signatures containing such content (in the form of taglines, mottos, etc.) are also considered promotional content and are not allowed.

 

16. GUIDELINE CHANGES

These Guidelines may be updated at any time. Changes are effective immediately, with the following exceptions:

  • Pre-existing physical materials (merchandising, printed brochures, etc.), as well as materials that were ordered and in production at the time of the change may be used as they were intended, for up to one year after the change.
  • Other materials (including online presence) need to be adapted within three months after the change.

Page aliases: brand_guidelines

Last updated - Sep 1, 2024 Viewed 14,516 times.