Our Brand defines us and makes us unique

The SKAO Brand Book is one of the foundational documents of the SKA Observatory, providing a high-level view of the Observatory’s mission, values, and associated identity. It conveys the SKAO’s brand vision and its underlying principles in a public-friendly format, describing who we are, what we aim to achieve and how, what we stand for and what makes us unique. The SKAO Brand Book also aims to ensure the correct application of the brand and provides guidance for implementing the brand in the most consistent and compelling way, featuring the SKAO’s visual identity ‘system’, such as official colours, official typography, elements of iconography, brand architecture, etc. and provides a few examples. The visual identity is by design flexible and expandable, and will further evolve over time.

Our identity

Who we are

The SKAO will be one observatory, operating two telescopes, across three continents, on behalf of our Member States and partners. The Observatory has a global footprint and will consist of the SKAO Global Headquarters in the UK, the SKAO’s two telescopes at radio-quiet sites in South Africa and Australia, and associated facilities to support the operations of the telescopes. Constructing and operating these telescopes will position the SKAO as the leading research infrastructure for radio astronomy globally, providing science capabilities to the international astronomical community for decades to come. Established as an intergovernmental organisation, the SKAO is achieved through the committed collaboration of its participating Member States and institutions. Only through this combined capacity in resources, knowledge, and experience (industrial, technical, scientific and at policy level) will the SKA Project be realised.

Style guide notes

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, SKAO should always be pronounced S.K.A.O - pronouncing every letter - and not
“skao” as a single word. Note that it is natural to pronounce SKAO as “skao” in other languages such as French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, among others.

Translations

Official translations of the name “SKA Observatory” will be agreed with partners and provided in our upcoming style guide to ensure consistency in in-country communication.

The SKAO vs SKAO

In English, an acronym that cannot be pronounced as a word is called an initialism. Traditionally, it uses ‘the’ in front. (eg. the FBI, the UN, the USA, but Esa, Nasa, Cern, etc.)

When writing, write the SKAO.

When speaking, it is acceptable to refer to either the SKAO or SKAO.

What we are delivering

Discussions are underway with each host country to name the telescopes, which currently bear technical names

SKAO Antennas

An array of 131,072 2m-tall antennas -called log-periodic antennas- grouped in 512 stations, with up to 65km maximum separation between the most distant stations, will be built in Western Australia, covering low radio frequencies between 50 MHz and 350 MHz.

Technical name: SKA-Low (SKA-LOW in technical documents)

SKAO Dishes

An array of 197 dishes, each 15m in diameter, with a 150km maximum separation between the most distant dishes, will be built in South Africa, covering mid radio frequencies between 350 MHz and 15.4 GHz (with a goal of 24 GHz).

Technical name: SKA-Mid (SKA-MID in technical documents)

The sheer number of receptors (antennas and dishes) means the SKAO’s telescopes require significant data processing both on and off-site to manage the extremely large volume of information they will collect. This deluge of data will be distributed to the user community via a global network of data centres called SKA Regional Centres (SRCs) located in Member States. The SRCs will act as windows to the Observatory for the scientists to collect and analyse their data, enabling the world-leading science it promises.

Style guide notes

The SKAO vs the SKA 

“SKA” should never be used on its own and should always be qualified by saying “The SKA Project”, while “SKAO” refers to the organisation overseeing the construction and operation of its telescopes. For example: I work on the SKA Project, I work for the SKAO.

Square Kilometre Array

We are retiring the use of the full name Square Kilometre Array. A legacy from the initial collecting array believed to be needed to achieve the telescope’s original ambition, it no longer reflects today’s SKA Project. Its use should be avoided wherever possible and restricted to boilerplate statements and official or legal documents.\

The SKAO telescopes vs the SKA telescope 

The SKAO will be building and operating two radio telescopes. The correct usage is therefore to refer to the SKAO’s telescopes, the SKAO’s Mid telescope or the SKAO’s Low telescope, and not the SKA telescopes.

SKA1 and SKA2

The use of SKA1 and SKA2 and all related quantifiers is to be retired in all public communications. The SKAO is delivering the SKA Project, consisting of the current baseline design for the SKAO telescopes, to which there may be a future expansion. That expansion should not be quantified in any way, as exact scope is still to be defined, and engineering and cost-analysis is yet to be conducted.

Our vision in detail

The SKA Observatory is a next-generation radio astronomy-driven Big Data facility that will revolutionise our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics. Enabled by cutting-edge technology, it promises to have a major impact on society, in science and beyond.

As the world’s largest science facility, with a truly global membership, we take our responsibilities seriously: to help to educate the next generation and strengthen STEM; to ensure that innovations developed for the SKA Project deliver impact and benefit society; to minimise our impact on the environment and contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals; and to work so that the history and culture of Indigenous communities at the telescope sites are acknowledged, understood and protected.

Underpinning it all are our values. The SKAO is a place where everyone is treated with fairness and respect, where Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is embedded within the DNA of the Observatory and its staff, where new ideas are allowed to thrive, and collaborations with global partners, local stakeholders, and other scientific facilities are embraced.

Our mission

Our mission in less than 140 characters

When space or time is limited, our short mission statement can come in handy. Short and punchy, it is designed to be used on social media platforms, or if you find yourself in an elevator with Elon Musk.

As SKAO

"We build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform our understanding of the Universe and deliver benefits to society"

As funders

"[Country/Institution] is funding the SKAO to build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform humanity’s understanding of the Universe and deliver benefits to society."

As partners

"[Organisation/Institution/Company] is helping the SKAO build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform humanity’s understanding of the Universe and deliver benefits to society."

Our boiler plate for press

“The SKAO, formally known as the SKA Observatory, is a global collaboration of Member States whose mission is to build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform our understanding of the Universe, and deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation.

Headquartered in the UK, its two telescope arrays will be constructed in Australia and South Africa and be the two most advanced radio telescope networks on Earth. A later expansion is envisioned in both countries and other African partner countries. Together with other state-of-the-art research facilities, the SKAO’s telescopes will explore the unknown frontiers of science and deepen our understanding of key processes, including the formation and evolution of galaxies, fundamental physics in extreme environments and the origins of life. Through the development of innovative technologies and its contribution to addressing societal challenges, the SKAO will play its part to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and deliver significant benefits across its membership and beyond.

The SKAO recognises and acknowledges the Indigenous peoples and cultures that have traditionally lived on the lands on which the SKAO facilities are located.”

To be used in formal settings, for example at the bottom of press releases, the SKAO boiler plate is meant to provide all the essential information to someone who is not familiar with the SKAO or the SKA project. It cannot be altered or modified without prior approval from the SKAO Communications team.

Our values

Our values are at the heart of who we are and what we stand for. They define our standard of conduct. Every SKAO employee is expected to embody these values in their professional relationships. They were defined through extensive consultation with both internal and external stakeholders and are backed by high-level statements in the Preamble to the SKAO Convention, to which every Member State adheres.

Diversity & Inclusion

We aim to create a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong, there is fairness and respect for everyone as an individual, and diverse perspectives and ideas thrive.

Extract from the SKAO Convention

COMMITTED to an organisation where diversity and equality are promoted and respected.

Excellence

We value professional excellence in the delivery of world class transformational science. This is founded on ways of working where leadership, integrity, personal responsibility and safety are at the heart of everything we do.

Extract from the SKAO Convention

DESIRING to deliver one of the most visionary and ambitious science projects of the 21st century involving significant international cooperation.

COMMITTED to testing the limits of engineering and scientific endeavour and to exploring fundamental questions in astronomy and physics.

NOTING that the Square Kilometre Array will be a next generation radio telescope facility that has a discovery potential far greater than any previous instrument.

DEDICATED to realising the full ambition of the Square Kilometre Array Project. 

Creativity & Innovation

We will foster a culture of creativity and innovation where we take time to seek innovative, better solutions and problem-solving, focusing on delivering value to our user’s community.

Extract from the SKAO Convention

EMBRACING the potential for scientific discovery to contribute to advances in technology and innovation and to deliver a broader benefit for industry and society.

Sustainability

We take a long-term view and ensure sustainability is integrated into everything we do, taking into account social, financial, ecological and environmental responsibilities, both globally and locally. In doing this we demonstrate care towards the people, places and resources on which we rely and seek to build long-term sustainable relationships. 

Collaboration

We are aligned around common goals and actively create and promote collaborative working across cultural and geographical, functional and specialist boundaries.

In doing this we will communicate appropriately and in an open manner, delivering on commitments and building long term supportive, trusting and professional relationships.

Extract from the SKAO Convention

RECOGNISING that the scale and ambition of the Square Kilometre Array demand a global effort with long-term investment.

Our design approach

The "wow" factor

First and foremost, we want to convey that “wow” factor, and instil in people a sense of wonder and infinite possibility that reflects the SKA Project’s scope and ambition to explore the Universe. Our brand should always be simple, clear and modern and above all, inspiring, reflecting an ambitious 21st century global science project. Science, Technology and Sites are at its heart, and should appear throughout the brand. It should also be future proof and able to grow over time as we embark on new ambitious projects and initiatives.

Inspiring. Innovative. Modern. Futuristic... Compelling.

Sustainability by design

Our visual identity has been developed with environmental sustainability in mind.

We believe good design should not only be attractive and effective, but it should also be responsible. The graphic design of our visual identity considers both printing and digital forms to reduce and minimise carbon.

For materials that are more likely to be printed, we have adopted a ‘light ink’ strategy where the designed items should use less ink, meaning less pigment use for commercial printing and less energy and ink cartridge use for consumer / desktop printing. Wherever possible, our printing is already FSC compliant, and/or recycled.

SKAO Primary Logo

The carefully crafted SKAO logo is at the heart of our brand identity. The combination of a lettermark and pictorial mark distills the essence of our organisation and its values while creating a unique symbol. It is important for our logo to have a clear link to astronomy and radio astronomy and to reflect our global nature but also our connection to the sites from which we will operate, while being simple, modern and inspiring. In line with our global footprint, the SKAO logo has been registered with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), and is trademarked in WIPO’s 193 member states.

Use of flags

The SKAO is an exemplar of the international nature of science in the 21st century and the power of science diplomacy.

Once membership of the SKAO has stabilised, we will display the flags of our Member States on some material and apparel to reinforce the international and global nature of our organisation.

Examples of use of the flags of the SKAO’s Member States.

Typography

Noto font family

When text is rendered by a computer, sometimes characters are displayed as “tofu”, little rectangular boxes to indicate your device doesn’t have a font to display the text. Noto has been developed by the famous foundry Monotype to address this and achieve “no more tofu”.

It is an open source font that is widely available across computers and devices as part of standard font libraries. Designed to eventually support all languages - it already spans more than 800 of them - with a harmonious look and feel, it is particularly suited to writing in languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Noto was also used to digitise and preserve rare and endangered languages, thus fulfilling a cultural and heritage custodianship role closely aligned with our values.

A comprehensive set of Noto fonts and tools will be made available on the SKAO website for rare cases where users do not have it.

Verdana font family

In scenarios where it is not possible to use the SKAO primary fonts (Noto family), the system font Verdana font should be used as a fall back solution. We have selected Verdana as it has similar visual characteristics to the Noto typeface family and should be available on all popular desktop computer operating systems for PC, Mac and Linux.

Brand architecture

The brand architecture is a critical element of a brand, consisting of a hierarchy of sub-brands to make sure they form a coherent whole and are part of a single brand family with common elements such as colours, fonts, themes, etc. Simplicity and consistency are at its core.

Our brand architecture is based around key principles:

• The whole is more important than the sum of its parts, meaning consistency is key
• It supports the goal of a long-lasting, sustainable and professional brand and as such is forward-looking to be as future-proof as possible
• It is user-centric, and serves partners and associates so they can visually promote their association with the SKAO

SKAO Facilities

SKAO facilities are branded using the main SKAO logo and include two distinctive factors: the function the facilities fill, and their location. These logos identify the SKAO-owned spaces and as such should feature prominently at these facilities, e.g. on signage.

SKA Regional Centres

All SKA Regional Centres (SRCs) will be part of a global network. Each SRC is able to use this dedicated logo, providing them high-level visibility and recognition as a part of the SKA Project.

Localised versions including the name of the country are available to anchor the global network in a national context of relevance to funders

Special collaborations

Spinoffs
The spinoff logos allow any company or product stemming from work on the SKA Project to claim their association with the SKAO brand in their marketing.

Projects

Joint projects or initiatives that the SKAO is leading or involved in, with defined goals and generally time-limited.

External

A unique SKAO partner logo to be used by trusted partners providing expertise, technology or products to the observatory. The SKAO favours having a single, inclusive denomination for all types of partnerships, including institutes, organisations and companies.

Teams

‘Team’ logos serve to identify specialised teams within the SKAO or in collaboration with other institutes. For consistency, all team logos should respect this format, and the SKAO Communications Team will determine whether a team is eligible or not and if so, will produce the logo in consultation with the team.

Co-branding

Co-branding is key to an international endeavour like the SKA Project with many partners. While the SKAO logo is protected and reserved for official SKAO use, we are keen to make sure that official partners can use the SKAO brand where relevant. This should always be done in co-branding with their own institution, and the SKAO logo should never be used on its own without prior approval from the SKAO Communications team. As a fundamental principle, stakeholders who’ve been authorised to use the SKAO logo or one of its derivatives should always use their own brand as the primary communication and follow its guidelines, and should use the SKAO logo as described in the brand guidelines.

Co-branding - Examples

Logo use policy principles

• The SKAO logo is fully protected under the WIPO legislation and no blanket approvals exist for its use. This also applies for any use of the SKAO sub-brands that are part of the brand architecture.
• Permission to use the SKAO logo or any of its sub-brands shall be granted by the SKAO Communications team supported by an internal Brand Committee, is time- and purpose-specific, subject to performance and will require renewal.
• The use of the SKAO brand, including its master logo, pictorial mark and visual identity is reserved to the SKAO and joint activities with partners where the SKAO is involved. Initiatives that sit outside of SKAO’s scope, do not involve or are not endorsed by the Observatory, cannot use the SKAO brand.
• SKAO projects or collaborations or those making use of the SKA or the SKAO name may not develop their own logo, visual identity or brand without consulting the SKAO Communications team first to ensure consistency and compliance with the SKAO Brand principles.
• All requests to use the SKAO logo and its derivatives shall be made via web-form providing information on use and will require acceptance of SKAO Brand’s Terms & Conditions. Non-compliance with these T&Cs will result in immediate withdrawal of the permission to use the SKAO brand.

Logo tree

I want to use the SKAO Logo!

The SKAO brand, including our master logo, all sub-brands and visual identity are governed by a brand architecture and brand guidelines to ensure consistency in the use of the brand. This logic tree is meant to help anyone understand whether they can use the SKAO brand and how.

Any request should be made using the SKAO logo request web form to allow us to log and keep track of all requests for monitoring and reporting purposes.

Where there is a case to use the SKAO logo or one of its derivatives, a Brand committee composed of representatives from the relevant SKAO departments (Programme, Operations, Procurement, Legal, Communications) will make a decision whether to grant use. This decision will be informed by whether the requestor is fulfilling their legal obligations to the SKAO, whether the use adheres with the SKAO’s Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for meetings, and whether the use of the logo might bring the SKAO into disrepute.

As a fundamental principle, stakeholders who’ve been authorised to use the SKAO logo or one of its derivatives should always use their own brand as the primary communication, and should use the SKAO logo under the co-branding rules as described in the brand guidelines. If you have any questions or have a request that doesn’t fit in any of these categories, please get in touch with the SKAO Communications team at: brand@skao.int

Colour palette

Our visual identity features a number of carefully selected colours and tones. We have chosen colours based on concepts that are important to the SKAO and using colour theory we have then curated these into complimentary colour swatch themes.

Brand Primary Colours

Two main colours make up our primary colour swatch. These should be used as a priority over all other colours and make up the majority of use in all communications. 

Blueshift Navy and Redshift Magenta are the colour tones used in our logo. These two colours symbolise the accelerated expansion of the Universe that the SKAO will study by mapping the position of billions of galaxies.

Brand Accent Colours

These are a diverse set of colour swatches based on themes and sampled from photography that is relevant to the SKAO. Colour theory has then been applied to ensure these colours complement each other.

Science (vibrant colours)

Colours representative of 21st century radio astronomy, modern imaging and cosmic structures revealed by SKA pathfinder and precursor telescopes and multi-wavelength images, symbolising our synergies with other observatories.

Technology (metallic colours) 

Colours representative of the cutting-edge technologies at the heart of SKAO hardware, such as the metals used in antennas, processing boards, and optical fibre.

Sites (earthy colours)

Colours representative of the sites from which SKAO will operate, their ancient geology, as well as the human endeavour and the Indigenous culture and heritage synonymous with them.

SKAO brand guidelines

SKAO Secondary Logo (monotone)

Whilst the SKAO Primary Logo is the main full colour version and should always be the first choice, there will be situations or occasions where it may not be possible to use it.

For example, where a white background is not available to place it on, or the full colours within the SKAO Primary logo cannot sit well or compliment with other elements within a design layout.

For these cases or similar we have developed a single colour version of the logo that can be used as a substitute. Most implementations of this would be in white, reversed out of a darker toned background, but the primary brand colours of Blueshift Navy, Redshift Magenta or neutral tones such as black or grey may also be used when applying to restrictive media.

SKAO Logo metrics

Exclusion zone

An area of isolation should be established to ensure the correct use and legibility of the logo. A space at least the size of a 1/2 of the logo must always be left around the logo.

The 1/2 of the height of the logo is used as a unit of measurement to calculate the area of isolation around the logo.

SKAO Logo dos and don'ts

SKAO Logo use on backgrounds

Fonts (brand typefaces)

Noto Sans - Light

Our main font and used for all typographical messaging where necessary. Use for headlines, body text and long paragraphs, use on white backgrounds and toned backgrounds (but for the latter only if legible).

Noto Sans - Regular

Use over backgrounds or for small type when Noto Sans - Light is becoming non-legible.

Noto Sans - Bold

Use to emphasise a messaging point in normal body copy or bold headline.

Noto Mono

A mono-spaced font so spacing is not proportional to character. It lends itself to technical text, metrics and footnotes. Do not use for long body-copy. Use sparingly to add a sense of scientific modernism.

Brand accent colours – Science colour palette

Colours representative of 21st century radio astronomy, modern imaging and cosmic structures revealed by SKAO pathfinder and precursor telescopes and multi-wavelength images, symbolising our synergies with other observatories. This colour palette is primarily used in SKAO’s science-related products and material.

Brand accent colours – Technology colour palette

Colours representative of the cutting-edge technologies at the heart of SKAO hardware, such as the metals used in antennas, processing boards, and optical fibre. This colour palette is primarily used in SKAO’s products and material related to engineering activities, big data, software, technology, etc.

Brand accent colours – Sites colour palette

Colours representative of the sites from which SKAO will operate, their ancient geology, as well as the human endeavour and Indigenous culture and heritage synonymous with them. This colour palette is primarily used in SKAO’s products and material referring to the telescope sites, local Heritage, local communities, etc.