Motivation
R-Ladies has always existed to support minority genders in the R community — cis and trans women, trans men, non-binary, genderqueer, and agender folks, and more. That’s been our mission since the beginning. But we heard from community members that the name made them feel unseen and not included.
We listened and started working to fix that problem. We can’t accomplish our mission if the people the organization was explicitly built to serve don’t feel like they belong.
Process: how the community shaped this decision
This wasn’t a top-down decision. We took our time, and we brought the community into the conversation at every stage. In March of 2025, we announced the rebranding from R-Ladies to RLadies+ .
The + in RLadies+ is a small change to the name that allows us to maintain the well-known brand we built over 10 years of RLadies Global’s existence, while making the implicit explicit.
In a worldwide context where DEI initiatives and trans rights are under active attack, we believe it’s more important than ever to be clear about who we are and who we serve.
The discussion (April–November 2024)
In April 2024, the Global Leadership Team opened a public discussion on GitHub , inviting everyone to weigh in on a proposed rebrand from R-Ladies to R-Ladies+. The issue stayed open through November 2024. Seven months of structured conversation, facilitated by moderators from our global community to keep things productive, inclusive, and in line with our Code of Conduct.
The discussion was rich. There was broad consensus that the name needed to change, but not everyone agreed on how. Some community members proposed entirely new names. Others preferred keeping something close to the original. The Leadership Team considered two paths: RLadies+ or a complete name change.
We landed on RLadies+ for several practical reasons:
- No consensus on an alternative. Many proposed names didn’t translate well across languages. As a global organization with 200+ chapters in 60+ countries, a name needs to work everywhere.
- Recognition matters. R-Ladies has been building community and name recognition for over a decade. A complete rebrand risked fragmenting that identity, especially with today’s fractured social media landscape.
- We’re volunteer-run. A full name change across 200+ chapters, each with their own web presence and local infrastructure, would require resources we simply don’t have.
- The + does real work. It signals broader inclusivity while keeping the identity our chapters and members have built together.
The decision was unanimous on the Board of Directors meeting, and was announced in March 2025 .
The design process (2025–2026)
Once we made the decision, the next step was to start the process of creating the visual identity of RLadies+ We put out a Call for Proposals and commissioned Science Graphic Design to develop a full visual identity — logo, brand manual, templates, and imagery.
The design process began, and we actively sought feedback throughout. We set up a feedback form and reached out to all our chapters, chapter organizers, and community members who had engaged in the GitHub discussion. We also directly contacted community members with diverse gender expressions to make sure the new branding felt right to the people it’s meant to represent.
That feedback shaped the final result: a new visual identity designed with the community for the community.
What does this mean on a day-to-day basis for chapter organizers and community members?
For most community members, things will feel familiar — with a few visible changes.
The name and branding are updated. You’ll see RLadies+ across our website, social media, slide templates, event graphics, and communications. The new visual identity is designed to signal inclusivity more clearly than before.
Chapters move at their own pace. We’re a volunteer and decentralized organization, and we respect and understand that. Chapter organizers are encouraged to adopt the new name and visual identity when they’re ready, with end of 2026 as the target. We’ve provided a full branding package — including logos, templates, social media assets, manuals to streamline the transition for chapter organizers.
Safety comes first. We recognize that chapters in countries where LGBTQ+ rights are criminalized may not be able to fully adopt the new branding for safety reasons. Local organizers know their context best, and we trust them to make the right call for their community. Those chapters are encouraged to reach out to the Leadership Team to discuss how to move forward.
Programs and infrastructure carry on. The mentoring program, Rotating Curation on Bluesky, abstract review, community Slack, blog — all of it continues as before, now under the RLadies+ banner.
The mission hasn’t changed — the name just caught up. We still do what we’ve always done: encourage, inspire, and empower people of underrepresented genders in the R community. The + doesn’t change our direction. It makes our direction visible.
You can watch the RLadies+ Leadership Team and designers from Science Graphic Designs walk through the logo development and decision making, and the new branding materials they have provided us in the following video:
Resources
The new branding, with all the files and documents, is available in our organizational guidance on branding .
R-packages and templates
Additionally, we have setup a series of witch-themed repositories and R packages to help implement RLadies+ branding with R.
What’s next
This process has been a long one, but every step we took was necessary to ensure that our new identity broadly captured an unmet need in our global community.
Now the process continues; we’ve reached the stage where our new name and visual identity will reach every corner where RLadies+ is present.
We know it’s a lot of work, and that along the way, questions will arise and opportunities will emerge to improve what we’ve built so far.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated in this process: to those who brought the issue to our attention, to those who engaged in the discussion with honesty and genuine interest, to those who moderated it, to those who provided feedback at every stage of the process, and to those who will be using this new brand.
