Fedora

For Published

Software developers and community members building solutions for their users, and everyone from home desktop users to enterprise customers (paraphrase of the Mission and First foundation).

Problem Published

Proprietary and patent-encumbered software trades users' control for short-term ease of use; Fedora believes the user should control their computing (paraphrase).

Promise Observed

It's your operating system: the latest free software, stable and robust, with no ads and your data your own (paraphrase).

Mission Published

Fedora creates an innovative platform for hardware, clouds, and containers that lets developers and community members build tailored solutions for their users (paraphrase).

Proof behind each pillar

• Freedom. Releases are predictable and 100% legally redistributable for everyone.
• Freedom. 100% Free & Open Source
• Freedom. A Registered Digital Public Good (Digital Public Goods Alliance badge).
• Friends. The community includes thousands of individuals with different views and approaches (paraphrase).
• Friends. There's a place in Fedora for anyone who wants to help, regardless of technical skill level (paraphrase).
• Friends. Red Hat is the primary sponsor, providing full-time staff, infrastructure, hardware and bandwidth, event funding and legal counsel (paraphrase).
• Features. Features are developed in concert with upstream communities, so all free software users benefit even without Fedora (paraphrase).
• Features. Whatever Linux distribution you use, you rely on code developed within the Fedora Project (paraphrase).
• Features. Each Workstation version is updated for approximately 13 months; upgrades are quick and easy (paraphrase).
• First. The rapid release cycle is a major enabler of Fedora's ability to innovate (paraphrase).
• First. Latest release 44; Fedora Linux 45 Beta released (as of 2026-10-30).
• First. Whatever Linux distribution you use, you rely on code developed within the Fedora Project (paraphrase).
• Yours. It's free, there are no ads, and your data belongs to you.
• Yours. 100% Free & Open Source

Story Published

Fedora is a community project sponsored by Red Hat, which also owns its trademarks. Its features flow upstream and into other distributions, and its fast release cycle keeps it ahead (Fedora Linux 44 is current, 45 in beta as of 2026-10-30). The current identity is the Infinity design logo; the brand booklet was written by Jess Chitas in 2022 and revised in 2024, and the community mascots were redrawn by intern Lauryn Dake in 2021, with Colúr added for Flock in 2022.

Values

Category. Free and open source Linux operating system and its community; a platform, not just a distribution (paraphrase). Published

Why them

1. Completely free: 100% free and open source, legally redistributable, with proprietary and patent-encumbered code kept out. Published
2. First to the future: the latest stable technology on a rapid release cycle, showing where the operating system is heading. Published
3. Upstream-first: features built with upstream projects, then adopted by other Linux distributions. Published
4. Community-built and backed by Red Hat: volunteers and Red Hat staff together; 'Backed by Red Hat' on Workstation. Published
5. Private by default on the desktop: free, no ads, your data belongs to you. Observed

Instead of

Long-term-stability Linux distributions, which Fedora says serve a different need (paraphrase).Proprietary operating systems, which Fedora aims to equal or exceed with free software (paraphrase).Distributions that bundle proprietary or patent-encumbered components for short-term ease of use (paraphrase).Non-free tooling in how-tos, such as VirtualBox where libvirt/KVM is the Fedora platform choice.

Boilerplate Published

The Fedora Project is a community of people working together to build a free and open source software platform and to share user-focused solutions built on it. In plain English: Fedora makes an operating system, Fedora Linux, and makes it easy to do useful things with it. The community shares four values, the Four Foundations: Freedom, Friends, Features and First. Fedora is sponsored by Red Hat.

Taglines

They never claim

• Never imply sponsorship, endorsement or affiliation by the Fedora Project or Red Hat where none exists. Published
• Never imply Fedora or Red Hat is responsible for a third party's products or services. Published
• Don't promise community support beyond what every user gets (OEM and appliance rules). Published
• 'Fedora Remix' only for remixes that include modified or non-Fedora materials, with the remixer's brand more prominent. Published
• Merchandise and swag with Fedora Trademarks need Council permission. Published
• Copr builds are not official; say so whenever you mention them. Published

More real lines

The Four Foundations are the message architecture: Freedom, Friends, Features, First. The homepage adds ownership ('It's Your Operating System', 'built with love by you') and proof badges (100% free and open source, Digital Public Good, latest release number).

Source: guide.pdf p.4-5docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/projectfedoraproject.org

• Sentence case headlines
• American spelling
• Write as “we”, to “you”
• Say “allowlist / denylist”, not “whitelist” or “blacklist”
• Say “primary / secondary (or primary / replica, active / standby)”, not “master / slave”
• Say “Red Hat”, not “Redhat” or “RedHat”
• Say “Copr, NVIDIA, Perl, ThinkPad”, not “COPR” or “Nvidia” or “nVidia” or “PERL” or “Thinkpad”
• Use active voice and the imperative for instructions; watch -ing words, which usually signal passive voice
• Present tense unless describing actual future plans ('your program starts', not 'will start')
• Write clearly and use shorter sentences; cut weak forms of 'to be'. Clarity beats brevity when a longer sentence reads easier
• Italics for commands, package names and UI labels inside a sentence; never mix monospace into a proportional sentence; bold only for an extremely important phrase
• Use 'Fedora' in its exact form: never abbreviate, hyphenate, pluralize, make an acronym of, or combine it with other words or designs
• Third parties use the mark as an adjective ('Fedora Linux', 'Fedora Workstation'), never as a verb or possessive
• Third-party uses: the first or most prominent mention carries ®, plus the trademark attribution statement. Fedora's own homepage shows neither (observed 2026-10-31).
• 'Fedora Linux' for the operating system, 'the Fedora Project' for the community, edition names as 'Fedora Workstation', 'Fedora Server' and so on
• Software from Copr always carries a caveat that it isn't officially supported by Fedora infrastructure
• Prefer free software and officially packaged software in examples; use libvirt/KVM rather than VirtualBox, and Fedora-family distributions unless the point is cross-distribution

Plain-spokenWelcomingPrincipledPlayful

No voice guide, but a consistent voice in the published copy: formal definition then plain English, 'we' to 'you', warm, inclusive, a little funny, firm on free software. Editorial rules come from the Fedora Magazine writing guidelines: sentence case, short sentences, active voice, present tense, US English, inclusive terms, exact third-party names. Trademark rules govern how anyone writes the name.

• Explain simply first: 'in plain English' (p.4)
• Write as we, to you (p.4)
• Sentence case headings; US English (Magazine)
• Active voice, present tense, imperative instructions (Magazine)
• Inclusive terms: allowlist/denylist, primary/secondary (Magazine)
• 'Fedora Linux' for the OS; 'the Fedora Project' for the community (observed)
• For third-party uses: ® on first prominent mention plus the attribution statement (trademark guidelines); Fedora's homepage carries neither

• Say what it is in plain words first: the guide's own 'What is Fedora?' gives the formal definition, then 'in plain English' it makes an operating system and makes it easy to use (p.4, paraphrase).
• Write as 'we' to 'you'. The community speaks as we; the reader is you (p.4, p.26).
• Lead with the people: Fedora 'is our people', not bits and bytes (Mission page, paraphrase). Contributors of any skill level are invited in.
• Freedom is a principle, stated plainly, but practical: the Magazine still covers popular non-free software where useful (Chrome is its example).
• Warm and a little funny where it helps the point: the purple DVDs story (p.14), no hats (p.13), Beefy's mustard progress bar (p.23).
• Short sentences, active voice, present tense, imperative instructions (Fedora Magazine writing guidelines).
• Fedora Linux is the operating system; the Fedora Project is the community (observed: homepage and docs use the names this way).
• Trademark rules govern how others write about Fedora: adjective use, exact spelling, no plurals or abbreviations. Fedora's own pages do use the possessive ("Fedora's mission").

Not published: brand voice or tone guide; word list for marketing copy.

Source: guide.pdf p.4-5, p.14, p.26docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-magazine/writing-guidelinesdocs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/legal/trademarksdocs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project

One logo family: the Infinity f (a single infinity-stroke lowercase f) knocked out of the bubble, beside or above a rounded lowercase 'fedora' wordmark. Default is horizontal in New Fedora Blue on white. Variants: one-color black and white, vertical, vertical gradient mask, one-color vertical, and four dark-background versions shown on black tiles. Secondary marks: Fedora Remix (nine colorways), edition logos, Magazine logo, and app/team sub-logo templates.

Not published: clear space; minimum size; gradient-mask color stops; logo construction grid.

Source: guide.pdf p.6-13docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/branddocs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/legal/trademarks

Seven named main colors with RGB, CMYK, hex and Pantone: three blues (Dark Fedora Blue, Fedora Blue, New Fedora Blue) and four Foundation hues (Freedom Purple, Friends Magenta, Features Orange, First Green). Each, plus a neutral ramp from black to white, comes as a five-step ramp (p.16). A separate color-blind safe set of twelve is shown with protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia renderings (p.17). In use: blue leads (logo, text, cover), white is the page, and each chapter takes one hue.

Not published: color proportions; contrast pairings or ratios; names for ramp steps; CMYK/Pantone for ramp steps and the color-blind set.

Source: guide.pdf p.14-17docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/brand

Two open faces: Montserrat for titling and headlines (also the Editions logos), Open Sans for body copy, each shown in Light, Normal, Semi-Bold, Bold and Ultra-Bold with italics. The booklet sets titles in white or Dark Fedora Blue Montserrat SemiBold and running text in Montserrat Light, justified. fedoraproject.org uses Montserrat 600 for the 60px hero and Open Sans 400 for copy (observed).

Not published: type scale; line height; tracking; monospace face.

Source: guide.pdf p.18-19fedoraproject.org/%20(observed%202026-10-30)

Three recurring elements: the bubble shape (badges, swatches, tabs, markers), the tinted 3D render of floating logos (full-bleed openers, header bands), and pill-shaped hex labels nested under bubble tabs on the ramp pages. Chapter openers are full-bleed renders; content pages are white with a render band across the top.

Source: guide.pdf p.1-26

Only the Four Foundations pictograms: solid white glyphs (open hands for Freedom, two figures for Friends, gears for Features, a trophy for First) in their bubbles, labelled in bold uppercase with a full stop. The website uses Bootstrap Icons and Font Awesome (observed).

Not published: icon grid; stroke; sizes; icon library.

Source: guide.pdf p.5fedoraproject.org/%20(observed%202026-10-30)

The community characters, mostly from the 2021 Fedora Characters Revamp: Panda (general mascot, once the 404/500 helper), Badger (Fedora Badges mascot), Beefy (general mascot, Fedora 17 release name, mustard as progress) and Colúr (Flock mascot, 2022, a pink-necked green pigeon). Loose hand-drawn line, flat fills, many poses.

Source: guide.pdf p.20-24docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/brand

The guide publishes no photography direction and contains no photographs; its imagery is 3D renders and drawings. The homepage uses edition marks and product imagery, no people photography in the fold (observed).

Not published: photography style; subjects; treatment.

Source: guide.pdf p.1-26