If you are a Member or Fellow of the ISTC, you are entitled and encouraged to identify yourself as such. This will demonstrate that you are a committed professional, and further both your standing and that of the ISTC.
Other members of the ISTC can indicate their association with the ISTC but cannot use the logo without specific permission. There are no post-nominals associated with other grades. Our full Brand Policy covers all uses of our logo and name.
There are several ways you can do this, outlined below.
Use post-nominals (Members and Fellows only)
Post-nominals are a great way to show your status. They are useful on business cards (where space is short), on LinkedIn (where a recruiter may have ISTC membership as a recruitment criterion) and in many other situations where you share your name professionally.
- As a Fellow you can use FISTC after your name.
- As a Member you can use MISTC after your name.
These letters are placed after any academic qualifications you wish to share (for example, John Smith MSc MISTC or Mary Brown FISTC).
Use the logo
Versions of the ISTC logo for use by Fellows and Members of the ISTC are available in a number of file formats.
The minimum size you should use depends on the medium. However, it must be possible to clearly identify the letters ISTC and for the accompanying text to be legible.
You are encouraged to use the logo corresponding to your grade of membership as part of your email signature, on your website, business cards and correspondence.
Members and Fellows can download these logos in a zip file (you must be logged on).
You can only use the files provided – you must not alter them (crop them or change their colours) and although you can resize them, the ratio of height to width must remain the same.
Display a short written statement
You can prepare a short written statement for your website and promotional literature. If a statement is accompanied by the logo, it must meet the criteria for using the logo.
This statement should:
- Be factual
You can base your statement on information available on the ISTC website.
For example, “As a Fellow of the ISTC, I am committed to my professional development as a technical communicator and have to provide evidence that I have complied with the ISTC’s Continuous Professional Development (CPD) policy” or “I am an Associate member of the ISTC and regularly attend local events they organise” - Imply professionalism, but not endorsement
- Describe the ISTC with the definite article
For example, “the ISTC is the professional body for technical communicators in the UK”
Note that ‘Member’ with a capital M refers to the Member grade and must not be used in any statement relating to other grades.
Update your LinkedIn profile
If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add the ISTC as an organisation. If you do voluntary work (coordinate an area group, for example) you can add that to a special volunteering section – the ISTC logo appears when you add volunteer work.