AI Qadam — Brand Usage Policy

Version: v1 · 2026-06-19 Contact: brand@aiqadam.org

What this covers

This policy governs the use of the AI Qadam brand identity — separately from the MIT-licensed code in this repository (see LICENSE) and the CC BY 4.0 documentation content (see LICENSE-content).

The following are brand assets and not open source:

The name AI Qadam and the wordmark AI QADAM (any casing).
The footprint mark — the teal silhouette with four dots above it.
The full lockup combining footprint + wordmark.
The four-dot motif as a standalone graphic element.
The brand teal (#3CA29E / oklch(0.58 0.10 192)) when used as a primary brand colour or logo background.
The hashtag #AIQadam.

One rule above the rest

Partners contribute to the community; they do not acquire commercial rights to the brand. Merch is funded as a contribution and distributed free. Open-source projects can carry the brand only through community-lead recognition. The brand is never a product partners can buy.

Spirit

AI Qadam is a community held together by trust, not by structure. The manifesto says it plainly: partners invest in people and community — they don't buy access to an audience. This brand policy exists to keep that promise enforceable. Anything that protects community trust is fine. Anything that turns AI Qadam into an advertising channel for someone else is not.

When the letter and the spirit of this policy disagree, the spirit wins.

Allowed without asking (Community use)

You may use AI Qadam brand assets for the following purposes, provided you follow the visual rules in the guidelines:

Community chapters authorised by the Global Board, in any country. Localise language and partners; keep the mark, wordmark, and brand teal unchanged.
Official AI Qadam events — meetups, hackathons, Fuck-Up Nights, summits produced by or with an authorised chapter.
Participant materials — speaker slides, personal social posts, articles, blog write-ups, retrospectives. Attribution welcome but not required.
Press and editorial coverage of AI Qadam or its events, with accurate representation.
Educational use in non-commercial talks, classes, and university curricula, with attribution.
Your own non-commercial merch — a personal tote with the mark, a notebook for your study group, stickers for your meetup, a t-shirt for yourself. We don't restrict the format; we only ask that the identity stays intact (use the SVG from /brand/; don't redraw, recolour, or AI-generate variants). Paying a vendor for a one-off is fine — selling the result isn't (see Not allowed below).
Open-source projects recognised as part of AI Qadam Build. Recognition is granted by community leads (the council of country leads + Global Board). Recognised projects may carry the AI Qadam Build mark and refer to themselves as "an AI Qadam Build project". Recognition can be revoked if the project diverges from community principles.

For all of the above: please use the SVG files from /brand/ and follow the clear-space and don't rules in brand.html.

Allowed with a partnership agreement

The following require a written partnership agreement signed with the AI Qadam Global Board or the relevant country lead:

Co-branding on shared events, joint publications, or joint research.
Sponsorship recognition on AI Qadam events, where the partner logo appears alongside the AI Qadam mark.
Funding production of community merch — partners cover production cost as a contribution; merch is distributed free at AI Qadam events and never sold.

Partnership agreements are not contracts of audience access, and they are not commercial licenses to the brand. They define mutual contribution to the community. See the Partnership Deck for the canonical models (One-off · Monthly · Annual).

Not allowed

The following uses are not permitted and will be challenged:

Commercial use of brand assets in any product, service, or marketing. A partnership agreement is not a commercial license to the brand — partners contribute to the community, they do not acquire commercial rights to the marks, wordmark, or brand teal.
Selling merch carrying AI Qadam identity — by anyone, including chapters, partners, third-party vendors, or individuals. Whether produced as a chapter give-away or as a personal one-off, items carrying the mark, wordmark, or brand teal are not for sale.
Self-declaring a project as "AI Qadam Build" or "an AI Qadam project" without recognition from community leads.
Implying endorsement by AI Qadam, the Global Board, any chapter, or any community member without that endorsement existing in writing.
Lead generation disguised as an AI Qadam event, course, or community initiative.
Selling access to community members — treating the AI Qadam audience as a sellable data set or marketing list.
Lookalike branding — names, marks, hashtags, or wordmarks that could be confused with AI Qadam (AI-Qadam, AI Kadam, Qadam AI, etc.) used to attach to or compete with the community.
Derivative marks — reworking the footprint, the four dots, or the wordmark for use as another organisation's logo.
Misrepresentation — claiming chapter status, board membership, speaker status, or partnership where none has been granted.
Hateful, deceptive, or unlawful uses of any AI Qadam asset.

Enforcement

If you see a use that violates this policy, email brand@aiqadam.org with a link and a short note. The Global Board reviews complaints and responds in writing. We prefer a private conversation first, a public correction next, and legal action only when neither has worked.

If you're not sure whether your use is allowed, ask. Most cases get a same-week yes.

Changes to this policy

This policy is community-stewarded and may be updated by consent of the Global Board. Updates are versioned at the top of the file. The canonical copy lives at https://brand.aiqadam.org/BRAND-USE.md.