Logo for influential newly-formed English university research funder

Research England

Research England is a new public body, based in the English higher education (university) sector, which promotes research excellence and the sharing of research information/expertise with businesses and society (a practice known as ‘knowledge exchange’).

We do this by:
• Funding universities to carry out high-quality, world-leading research and knowledge exchange activities, in all subject areas, so they can create a positive impact on the English economy and society and help the country meet national priorities and global challenges
• Working with universities to understand their strategies for research and knowledge exchange
• Analysing the impact of the UK government’s research and knowledge exchange policies on universities in England
• Working with the government to design and deliver policies which encourage English universities to improve and become more effective and efficient in research and knowledge exchange
• Collaborating with devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on UK-wide activity, such as research quality assessment

Four key words which describe our organisation are: rigorous, influential, challenging and dynamic.

Our target audience includes universities in England, the UK government, subject-specific research councils (e.g. the Medical Research Council) and other organisations and advocacy groups in the higher education sector.

Please do not use Pantone 285 (this is the main brand colour of the parent organisation to Research England and we need their visual identities to be different). Please also avoid using a 'red, white and blue' colour palette. Although 'England' is part of our name, it is not the focus of our identity.

We have also attached a sample of an (eventually rejected) logo for the upcoming UK universities' research assessment exercise for reference, as we like the colour combination - however, you are not obligated to use it. Unfortunately we don't have Pantone references for the colours used in the sample.

Please do not use the England flag (St George's cross) or the Union Jack in your design, as the 'England' part of our name is not the focus of our identity.

We have included examples of logos from some of the research councils (who we work closely with) for reference. We are interested in exploring logos which include abstract shapes, like the BBSRC and AHRC logos.

Any logos which use several colours should be designed so they would also work in a mono (black/white) application. Unless the whole logo is enclosed in a shape, please don't present it on a coloured background - the logo should be designed to look good on a plain white background as this is how it will be used most of the time.