Catalyst 2030 Branding and Communication

dark blue (hex code: #003862)

• All headings/titles are Roboto Condensed
• The font is available in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
• Font can be downloaded from Google Fonts or Font Squirrel

• All body text on websites and graphics is Quicksand
• The font is available in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
• Font can be downloaded from Google Fonts or Font Squirrel

• This font has neater italics than Quicksand, so we use it for reports. (From July 2021)
• The font is available in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
• Font can be downloaded from Google Fonts or Font Squirrel

Calibri

This is a system font on most devices.

Catalyst 2030’s vibrant colours reflect the four social entrepreneur fellowship organisations which supported the founding of the network – Ashoka, Echoing Green, Schwab Foundation and Skoll Foundation – plus the UN blue to signify cooperation and harmony. The dominant green represents nature and the environment.

Remember to keep good contrast between text and background colour, so that text is easy to read.

 White background

A white background is always clean looking, the text is easy to read on white, and the logo shows up well.

Light Backgrounds

Catalyst 2030 does not use grey backgrounds. Light blue is preferred, but depending on the design, you may want to use other light colours derived from the Catalyst 2030 logo colours. The light backgrounds below are logo colours which have had white added to them to lighten them without changing the core colour.

Dark backgrounds

Dark backgrounds can create interest when alternated with white backgrounds. Good options for dark backgrounds are Catalyst colours: 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10.

Ideas for tables

• To ensure that text is easily readable for all, have good contrast between background and foreground colours.
• If using white text on a colour background, choose a dark background colour. From the above swatches, choose the darker background colours from 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10.
• Yellow is a light colour and is not a good choice to use for text as it is difficult to read.

• Catalyst 2030 officially uses British English – English (UK) – for documents, website and communications.
• Local Chapters may post in their language of choice, if the communications are for their local chapter/audience only. Members in the USA writing for an American-only audience may use English (US). If a publication will have a broader audience, then British English rules should be followed.
• English (UK) applies to all spelling and punctuation.
• Proper nouns that contain English (US) spelling, like the Australian Labor Party or The Carter Center, must not be changed. Keep proper nouns in their original spelling.

• Humble audacity is one of our values and our written communication reflects this. The tone, voice and style of all content should be written in a way that is both professional and conversational. Make your sentences short and avoid jargon, flowery language and confusing words
• Use non-discriminatory, gender neutral, inoffensive, inclusive language, or a disclaimer if the use of such language is unavoidable in the context. Refer to the Progressive Style Guide for more information.

• Set Catalyst 2030 documents to English (UK) so that spelling and grammar are checked as you work. If working with an English (UK) document, and your software is not be set to UK spelling, ignore the underlines for UK spelled words like colour, centre and programme, among others.
• Here’s a helpful link to a guide that shows some of the differences between British and American English: https://albionlanguages.com/complete-guide-uk-us-english/
• We recommend that you download Grammarly and set the dictionary to British English.

Since the Catalyst 2030 Secretariat is based in Amsterdam, all times are quoted in Central European Time (CET).

• Local Chapters may use their time zone in addition to CET.
• Use CET (Central European Time) for meetings or events open to all members and add time zones as relevant to your audience.
• During Daylight Savings Time (end March to end October), you can state CET as CEST (Central European Summer Time).
• You can note other time zones, but state in CET first.
• This is a helpful time and date converter – https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

• Catalyst uses a 12-hour clock and not a 24-hour clock, so add am or pm after the time.
• Time Format: 9:00 am, 11:30 am, 1:00 pm, 6:00 pm.
• Use a colon and not a full stop between hours and minutes.

• Catalyst 2030 officially uses A4 (210 x 297 mm) paper size for documents and reports.
• A4 paper is used by most countries as the official or unofficial standard. If you are located in a country that uses letter size as the standard, and your audience is in those countries only, then choose letter size.

Set Catalyst 2030 documents to English (UK) so that the spell checker keeps spelling and grammar in line with English (UK) standards.

See the document/report templates folder for preformatted starter documents.

All Documents should have structured text styling, showing a hierarchy of headings and paragraphs, each with their own styling.

Using text styles to create hierarchy vs manually setting the styles for each heading or paragraph

Text styles have several functions and benefits you won’t get by manually styling your text:

1. A text style gives your selected text a value/function. This means that you can mark text as being a main heading (heading 1), or a section title (heading 2) or a paragraph.
2. Text styling can be applied to different types of text. In other words, you can set the font type, size, font-weight and colour for titles and paragraphs. That way, when you assign text a style value, it will take on the styling for that type of text. This is useful if you decide to change styling later. Instead of making manual changes throughout the document, you would only need to update your text styles, which will automatically affect the changes for you in rest of the document.
3. A table of contents can be auto generated using your headings.

How to set text styling

By default, all text will be normal/body text style.

Headings are not simply set by making fonts bigger or bolder. The heading text should be selected and assigned a value (heading 1, heading 2 or whatever is required).

The styles can be selected using the ‘style type’ dropdown list in the Google Docs toolbar, or the styles scroll bar in Microsoft Word.

Setting text style with Google Docs

Setting text style with Microsoft Word

Headings should always be hierarchical. H1 is always followed by an H2 heading. You wouldn’t have H4 following H2. Sometimes people select text styles based on the size of font they require and forget that this will prevent them from being able to auto generate a logical Table of Contents from their style mark-up later.

• The name of your document should be short and clear. The reader should easily be able to identify what it is about and not be confused.
• Include the date the document was saved in day, month, year order.
• Use a clean title for a final document.

• Footnotes and endnotes perform the same function. They differ only in their placement within a document.
• Footnotes are placed at the bottom of a page (the footer), while endnotes are placed at the end of a document, chapter or section.
• Footnotes are good for short citations. Endnotes are better for longer citations with lots of words that would break the flow and layout of the document.

Justifying your text gives it a more formal feel and is highly recommended, except for lists. Lists, even those that are full sentences, should not be justified but rather left aligned.

• Bulleted or numbered lists are an effective way to break down complicated information.
• Bullet points should be brief.
• If the items in your list are short, no punctuation is required, although the first letter of the sentence should still be capitalised.
• If the items in your list are full sentences, punctuate them as sentences, with a capital letter and a full stop/period.
• List items should be left-aligned and not fully justified.
• Bullets and numbers should not be larger than 100% of the text.
• Indent lists so that they stand out, as can be seen in the examples below.

We use three styles for formatting bullet and number lists:

Style 1 – a list of short points

Style 2 – A list in which each point is a complete sentence

Style 3- A list which is a continuous sentence and makes up a complete sentence

Use a colon after the heading, a semicolon after each point and a full stop at the end to make it a complete sentence.

In Google Docs:

1. Check that your headings are in order and have been set with correct text styles (see ‘Headings and body text (text styles and hierarchy)’ section above)
2. Place the cursor where you want the table of contents to go
3. Go to the ‘insert’ tab and select ‘table of contents’

In Microsoft Word:

1. Check that your headings are in order and have been set with correct text styles (see section above)
2. Place your cursor where you want the table of contents to go
3. Go to the ‘references’ tab and select ‘table of contents’

When a Chapter/Collaboration wants to set up its own social media account(s), the following steps need to be taken:

1. Select a Communications Manager

Appoint a communications person from within your group to be in charge of social media and introduce them to the Catalyst 2030 Social Media Intern at comms@catalyst2030.net.

2. Define protocols and strategy

Who is allowed to post; how quickly you will react to comments; who must approve posts and the procedure for replying to controversial comments and trolls. This document must be shared with comms@catalyst2030.net

3. Language Policy

Catalyst 2030 uses English (UK) officially, but local Chapters may post in their language of choice.

4. Adhere to Catalyst 2030 Style

View the social media channel examples in this section of the guide, that demonstrate how Chapter/Collaboration social media channels should be set up according to the below guidelines.

1. Naming the profile – For consistency across social media channels and within the Catalyst 2030 network, name your channels in the following way:
   • For Chapters: Catalyst_2030_[country/region]
   • For Collaborations: Catalyst_2030_[collaboration name]
2. Profile picture – The full-colour Catalyst 2030 social media logo must be used as the profile picture for all Catalyst 2030 social media channels. It can be downloaded here.
3. Cover images – Ensure that the banner/cover image is in the Catalyst 2030 style if preparing your own graphic. Be sure to size your banner/image correctly, so parts of your image don’t get cropped off. You can search for ‘social media cover image sizes’ to get most current sizes. For example, the Facebook cover image size is currently set to 851 x 315 px. The use of different, temporary banners for special events is also encouraged. It is not necessary to have the Catalyst 2030 logo in the banner image as the logo will already be visible as the profile picture.
4. Channel description – Add the following description to all your social media channels. Replace the brackets with the name of your Chapter’s country or region. (The description can be translated into the language your Chapter/Collaboration uses for social media):
   • For Chapters: Official Catalyst 2030 Chapter collaborating to progress the SDGs in [country/region]
   • For Collaborations: Catalyst 2030 Collaboration [description of what your collaboration has set about to achieve]
5. Website link – Link to the global Catalyst 2030 website or to your Chapter/Collaboration website (if applicable).
6. Sharing your channels – Remember to share your new social media channels with the Catalyst 2030 network:
   • Share your new social media handles and links with comms@catalyst2030.net
   • Update your Chapter/Collaboration details through the Catalyst 2030 Member portal: https://catalyst2030.net/my-profile/
   • Request website support to add your new profiles to a Chapter website, chapter website page or collaboration: comms@catalyst2030.net
   • Tag Catalyst 2030 in your posts, and include the #catalyst2030 hashtag for wider visiblity and interact with fellow Catalyst 2030 members on social media.

Practical points for posting

• Check spelling and grammar before posting.
• The Catalyst 2030 Communications team will produce graphics that mark upcoming international campaign days for your translation and use at the beginning of each month.
• Remember to tag Catalyst 2030 @C2030 in all your posts so that they will be amplified to the global audience. You can also use the #catalyst2030 hashtag.
• Follow the analytics for each channel to find out what types of posts are working best and gaining the most engagement online. A correct understanding and use of analytics data is essential to help you to amplify your social media presence.

1. Avoid political commentary or discussion about potentially controversial topics unless they are directly related to the SDGs and your members. In some countries being critical of the government is not problematic, in others, it can get into trouble.
2. What you say in your social media reaches an international audience. Before you post or comment, think about whether it could have an adverse implication for other members or Chapters/Collaborations.
3. Be culturally and socially sensitive. What is funny or permissible in one culture may be taboo in another. Be aware of religious, racial and gender sensitivities.
4. Anything negative or critical that you say about an individual or an organisation can have legal and financial consequences for the person who posted the comment, the Chapter/Collaboration and Catalyst 2030. Individuals and organisations globally have been sued for millions of dollars in various defamation/libel suits and it is best to learn from their mistakes. If you do need to post negative or critical comments, ensure that these are true and that you have evidence to back up your claims and that it is in the public interest to expose the negative information or publish the fair comment. If you have any doubt regarding these types of comments, seek advice from the Secretariat before posting online.

• Examples to be added soon.

Do’s

• Follow Catalyst 2030 style guidelines (correct colours, fonts, date format etc.)
• Make the graphics/tiles visually appealing
• Use good quality images and logos that you have permission to use, and that don’t require attribution
• Use the Catalyst 2030 logo on all Catalyst 2030 graphics
• Place logos that have a white background on a white background
• Use the white Catalyst 2030 logo on dark backgrounds
• Use the colour Catalyst 2030 logo on white backgrounds
• Check that you have the correct URL (can copy and paste directly from website browser to be sure, or use correct bit.ly link)
• Be sure that the graphic is easy to read on mobile
• Pay attention to the spacing of elements on the canvas/page and in relation to other elements (For example, if you have a row of speaker images, make sure the space between each image is the same)
• Make use of ‘alignment’ tools to make sure all text that should be centred is in fact in the middle of the canvas
• If you have more than one logo displayed side by side, keep them the same height

Dont’s

• Don’t crowd the graphic with too much text. Graphics should only contain essential text if any is required, with additional information/text being added to the post description.
• Don’t add long links to a graphic, rather add links in the post description, or use a short bitly link if you think people will take the time to type the link out in their browser search bar
• Don’t use copyrighted images
• Don’t use pixelated or fuzzy images
• Don’t use light text on light backgrounds because this is too difficult to read

Checklist

• Is the information on the graphic correct?
• Is the spelling of text English UK for official Catalyst 2030 graphics?
• Have you used the correct date format?
• Are the colours correct?
• Are the fonts correct?
• Is the spacing between elements and the page edge neat, and not crowded?
• Is all text easy to read on mobile?
• Does the text have to be on the graphic, rather than in the post description?
• Will people stop scrolling through their feed to read this graphic and description?

Catalyst 2030 social media handles

Instagram: catalyst_2030

https://www.instagram.com/catalyst_2030/

Facebook: Catalyst 2030

https://www.facebook.com/Catalyst2030/

LinkedIn: Catalyst 2030

https://www.linkedin.com/company/catalyst-2030

Twitter: catalyst_2030

https://twitter.com/Catalyst_2030

YouTube: Catalyst 2030

https://www.youtube.com/c/catalyst2030

Common hashtags

#SDGs
#CatalysingChange #CCW
#Catalyst2030
#socent
#changemakers
#sustainabledevelopment
#socialinnovation
#socialchange
#systemschange
#C2030
#SDG1 #nopoverty (or the particular SDG being addressed)

Please tag C2030 in all your social media content and we will share it with our audiences where appropriate.

All graphics should align with Catalyst 2030 Branding (colours, fonts etc.)

Respect the rights of image creators by honouring their copyright licence and wishes. Using images without permission is theft.

Only use photographs and graphics:

• that you have permission from the creator to use, or
• that you have attributed exactly as set out in the licence requirements (e.g for Creative Commons images)
• that you hold a commercial-use, ‘no attribution required’ licence to
• If using images of minors, there needs to be a model release form for the graphic (reputable stock image sites will have organised this)

Remember that you are responsible for checking the license of any photo, graphic or vector that you use and that Catalyst 2030 will not be held liable if you break copyright laws.

We strongly recommend sourcing images that can be used for commercial projects, that don’t require permission from the creator to make changes, or for attribution to be visible with the images.

Using images that require attribution (such as Creative Commons licensed images found on openverse.org) should be a last resort. Apart from attribution looking untidy or distracting, the required attribution and link can get lost in the design and editing process when there are multiple collaborators. If the attribution isn’t 100% accurate for some licences, legal action can be taken against the user/organisation. If using a creative commons license, use CC BY 4.0 and never CC BY 2.0.

Free commercial-use, non-attribution required images

These websites provide free, commercial-use, no attribution required images:

• Unsplash – Their website says: Unsplash photos are made to be used freely. All photos can be downloaded and used for free, for commercial and non-commercial purposes. No permission needed (though attribution is appreciated!)
  See the Unsplash licence.
• Pixabay – Their website says: Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music. All contents are released under the Pixabay Licence, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist – even for commercial purposes.
  See the Pixabay licence.
• Nappy – Their website says: All photos posted on Nappy are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license so feel free to do your thing. That means you can download these photos, modify them, share them, distribute them, or use them for whatever you want for free. Although giving the photographer credit would be nice, it is not required.
  See the Nappy licence.

Affordable commercial-use, non-attribution required images

Freepik – Their subscriptions offer great value for money. They have both photos and vectors (which means images can be recoloured and developed according to Catalyst 2030 style requirements). We recommend that you download the pro-license/s at the same time as you download your image/s to keep on file.

Website image sizes

It is important to size website graphics exactly as stated below so that the site looks neat and uniform. Large images slow websites down and harm search engine optimisation ranking, so all images should be sized at the maximum size they will be viewed at on PC and then be compressed too.

• Blog/page feature images – Ratio 2:3 / Size 1024 x 683 px
• Profile pictures (e.g. Chapter Representative/Chair/Co-chair images) – 1:1 square ratio/ 300 x 300 px
• Chapters Collages – Ratio 1:1 square / Size 600 x 600 px
• In-post (or page) images – never larger than 1024 px on the largest side. For an image that appears in the post alongside text, we recommend 600 px on the longest side. For images that need to fill the entire space to the left of sidebars, 1024 px on the longest side would be best.
• Events page marketing graphics/tile – Ratio 1:1 square/ Size 600 x 600 px
• Full-width images – these are images that extend the full-width of the screen and are used in a header for example – 1920 px on the largest side
• Useful links page – category images – Ratio 2:3 / Size 600 x 400 px
• Country and Regional Chapter thumbnails: 150 x 150 px (Region) / 100 x 100 px (Country)
• Report covers for Resources>Reports section: 347 x 490 px
• Report thumbnail images for Resources>Reports section: 312 x 450 px

Website ‘feature images’ (for blog posts and pages)

• Feature images show up at the top of blog posts. They are displayed in blog post previews and feeds. When the post/page is shared on social media or when it is shown in a search result, the feature image will also be displayed.
• All C2030 website feature images must be 2:3 ratio and 1024 x 683 px in size. If creating a new graphic, use C2030 style guides for colours and fonts.

Naming images and files for website use

The importance of naming images correctly cannot be underestimated. Reasons to name images properly before sending them to the web developer:

• A meaningful name looks more professional, especially for images/files that will be downloaded.
• An accurate filename helps website developers/managers, especially when they are working with batches of images. The image title can be copied and pasted into the ‘alt tag’, ‘title’ field or for website page headings and captions (so the web developer doesn’t need to look for the correct titles and type them all out.)
• Screen readers and search engines rely on ‘alt tags’ to provide information on the information in search results and for reading back to visually impaired website visitors. So it is important that the web developer knows exactly what each image is.
• Spelling is important, because if the web designer copies incorrectly spelled words into alt tags and image captions, search engines won’t be able to find the content because it will have been incorrectly indexed.

Examples of good naming habits:

• JaneDoe.jpg
• Jane Doe Catalyst 2030 Country Coordinator.jpg
• Jane_Doe.jpg
• Catalyst 2030 Report – January 2022.pdf

Examples of bad naming habits:

• IMG_DSC2345909z.jpg
• Our Report – version 3_FINAL VERSION.pdf
• copy of_Our Approach.png

• Do you have permission to use images/graphics you have included?
• Are images sharp and not fuzzy or pixelated?
• Did you follow the Catalyst 2030 branding guidelines?
• Are the colours correct?
• Are the fonts correct?
• Is the spelling of text English UK for official Catalyst 2030 graphics?
• Have you used the correct date format?
• Is the spacing between elements and the page edge neat, and not crowded?
• Is the information on the graphic correct?
• Is all text easy to read on mobile?
• Does the text have to be on the graphic, rather than in the post description?
• Will people stop scrolling through their feed to read this graphic and description?
• Did you name the graphic well?
• Did you size/compress the image where appropriate so the file size is not too big?

It is best practice to run all graphics through compression software before uploading them to a website or using them in a WhatsApp group. Compressing the image will reduce file size as much as 80-90% at times, without adversely affecting image quality. This makes website pages load more quickly for visitors and also uses less of the viewer’s data.

NOTE: Compression takes place after the image has been cropped and edited.

We recommend using TinyPNG.com

How to use Tinypng

1. Drop the graphic needing size-reduction/compression in the TinyPNG window.
2. The image will automatically start to compress.
3. Once complete, the display will show the file size saving made and a download link will be provided.
   Download the image.
4. The downloaded image is now ready to be used on a website or for WhatsApp groups.