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Communicating Prosper

Whether you’re looking to run a workshop drawing on a specific Prosper resource, running a full-blown cohort, or simply wanting to signpost Prosper to postdocs at your institution, communication is key.

Here you can find guidance on using the Prosper branding, including branded materials, as well as guidance how to talk about Prosper both to postdocs and other stakeholders and decision-makers within your organisation. You can also find information on communications strategies for your postdoc career development initiatives more broadly – drawing on our own experiences recruiting and running our pilot cohorts. 

Prosper branding

Here you can find the basics of the Prosper branding, together with links to high-res artwork and branded materials for you to repurpose. 

a. Logos

There are three variants of the Prosper logo – suited to different formats and contexts:  

The hi-res and .ai artwork for all these can be downloaded here.

Logo with strapline: 

Logo without strapline: 

Circular logo (ideal for things where the logo needs to be less prominent, or for usage such as social media profile pictures): 

b. Fonts

We use two fonts for all of our collateral and materials: 

The official Prosper font – for use in our designed-up materials and in our logo – is the LL Circular family, specifically LL Circular Bold for headings and subheadings, and LL Circular Book for main body text. 

However, this is a paid-for font, and we appreciate not everyone has it on their system. Therefore, for the bulk of our communications – we use the similarly-styled Arial font (Bold and Regular). 

Both these fonts are clear and simple, in keeping with our commitment to accessibility. 

In both cases we typically (on word documents and similar) use 16px for headers/subheadings, and 12px for main body text. However, in the modern multiple-format and web-heavy world, appropriate sizes are often dictated by the format – we generally aim for what looks clear and sensible in the context at hand.

c. Prosper portal QR code

This is our QR code for the Portal. While you’re free to use your own, using this one allows us to track (anonymously!) hit rates. 

Download the code here.

d. Iconography

At the heart of the Prosper brand are a set of abstract icon tiles that can be combined as you wish. 

We use 84 tiles in total, and these can be downloaded as .ai files here

However, it is likely more convenient for you to use some of the tile sets we’ve already created and used ourselves, such as the one shown here. You can download the full set here.

As well as our abstract icon tiles, we also have three icons that carry specific meaning – they represent our Reflect, Explore and Act resources respectively: 

The colours of these icons are fixed (see section on colour).

Decorative image of the Reflect logo consisting of a blue droplet with ripples below.
Decorative image of the Explore logo consisting of a teal direction sign pointing in two different directions.
Decorative image of the Act logo consisting of a purple flag on top of a mountain.

e. Colours

With the exception of our iconography, Prosper’s main brand colours are monochrome and greyscale. More precisely, the following shades: 

Primary colourPrimary colourSupporting colourSupporting colour
NameBlackWhiteDark greyMid grey
RGB0/0/0250/250/25089/89/90 288/232/229 
Hex#000000#FFFFFF #59595a #e4e8e5 

We also have three specific coloured shades that we use to theme our Reflect, Explore and Act sections/resources, respectively. The Reflect, Explore and Act icons should always be in the correct shade, and the shade can be used to theme resources more broadly. 

Additionally, in the same vein, we have distinct thematic shades for our Managers of Researchers and Institutions sections/resources. 

We also use pastel versions of each where appropriate. The RGB and Hex values for all of these are: 

ReflectExploreAct
NameReflect blueReflect background Explore tealExplore backgroundAct purpleAct background
RGB38/104/173 222/232/243 59/166/166 225/242/242 131/81/160 242/237/245 
Hex#2668AD#DEE8F3#3BA6A6#E1F2F2#8351A0 #F2EDF5

Managers of researchersInstitutions
NameMoRs greenMoRs backgroundInstitutions organgeInstitutions background
RGB202/208/79 244/246/219 234/182/84 251/240/220 
Hex#CAD04F #F4F6DB #EAB654 #FBF0DC 

f. Branded document templates

We have branded document templates ready-made for you to use within your organisation. 

Our branded Powerpoint slide template can be found here

Our branded Word documents can be found here (portrait) and here (landscape).

g. Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ . ​  

Guidance for talking about Prosper and postdoc career development 

While we certainly wouldn’t want to dictate how other organisations choose to talk about postdoc career development, here are some principles that underpinned our approach during our pilots, and in the creation of the resources here on the portal: 

Avoid binaries like ‘academia or industry’ – this binary is too reductive of the options postdocs have. There are many non-academic career pathways available to postdocs that don’t neatly fall under the label of ‘industry’ (for example, many NGOs, third sector, Government roles, academia-adjacent roles, and more). It also shows a bias towards certain predominant pathways (such as Life Sciences à the Pharmaceutical Industry). We generally use the phraseology of ‘within or beyond academia’ or just ‘beyond academia’. This aligns with the term used in the Researcher Development Concordat

Prosper is for all postdocs of any discipline – we have resources for postdocs whose field of study falls within the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, just as we have materials of relevance for postdocs in STEM fields. 

Prosper is not about pushing postdocs out of academia – rather, it is about furnishing postdocs with the information, skills and resources they need to take control of their careers, and thrive wherever their career may take them. Many of our resources are about non-academic career pathways, as we’ve found this to be a common gap in career development provision – but the point is for postdocs to make more informed and proactive choices and plans about their career. Furthermore, it is increasingly common for individuals to chart career pathways that take them in and out of traditional academia at any given point, and the lines between the two are increasingly blurry given the importance of collaboration and partnership in the modern world. At its heart Prosper is about research culture change, encouraging postdocs to not narrowly define their career success as securing an academic position but value the breadth of career possibilities available to them. 

Prosper is not a ‘project’ or a ‘programme’ – it is a model for postdoc career development, and set of interrelated resources for enhancing postdoc career development (which is not to say, of course, that you cannot use Prosper as part of one of your own programmes or projects!). 

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