CivicTheme is an open-source, technology-agnostic, inclusive, and component-based design system.

Initially designed for government use cases, CivicTheme aims to align with government and Enterprise grade digital policies, standards, frameworks, and guidelines. This ensures the quick development of modern, cohesive, and compliant digital experiences for not only governments but also for universities, nonprofits, and corporations.

Why open source?

CivicTheme is open source to help empower communities to adopt, adapt, or customise the design system to meet the specific needs of their audiences.

It's open source to foster, promote, and ignite collaborative creation with communities, by communities, which encourages a culture of continuous improvement.

Licensing overview

As CivicTheme's custodians, we want to provide the CivicTheme community clear and transparent licensing policies.

Our goal is to provide clear and accessible information to equip you with a thorough understanding of the terms and conditions required when using CivicTheme. This commitment to transparency aims to foster trust and also underscores our dedication to upholding users' rights and ensuring they possess a comprehensive awareness of the legal framework that governs CivicTheme.

Additionally, the inclusion of licensing information may serve as an educational resource for community members who may be unfamiliar with open-source licensing concepts. This can help empower you to make an informed decision about using CivicTheme and may also promote a deeper understanding of the broader principles of open-source development and collaboration.

If you choose to use CivicTheme, you must use it under the same licences.

CivicTheme attribution

Through our licensing policies, you will see that attribution to CivicTheme is required in many cases.

As we've invested a lot of time and effort into CivicTheme over the years, we do not want others to take the work and do whatever they want with it without providing proper attribution back to the project. In the true open source way, rather than fork or diverge from the project, we want people to join the CivicTheme community and collaborate with us on making CivicTheme even better.

Attribution guidelines are:

  • CivicTheme attribution must be included in customised Figma designs.
  • CivicTheme attribution must be included in customised Storybooks.
  • CivicTheme attribution must be included when reusing our documentation.
  • CivicTheme attribution must be included when reusing or adapting the UI Kit code base.
  • CivicTheme attribution should be included when reusing or adapting the Drupal theme code base.
  • CivicTheme attribution should be included when reusing or adapting the GovCMS theme code base.
  • CivicTheme attribution should be included within the meta tags of any website using CivicTheme if possible. Alternatively, a dedicated page with attribution could be used.

If you have questions or need help with attribution, please contact us and we'll be happy to help.

Design (Figma) license

CivicTheme is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International)(Opens in a new tab/window). 

Under this licence you are free to:

  • Share: Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
  • Adapt: Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the CivicTheme project, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable visual manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • ShareAlike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same licence as the original.
  • No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the licence permits.

Font license

CivicTheme uses Lexend(Opens in a new tab/window). Lexend is a digital font owned by Google. It includes free and open source font families.

Lexend is distributed under the SIL Open Font Licence (OFL)(Opens in a new tab/window). CivicTheme adopts this licence for this font.

  • Permission: The OFL allows fonts to be freely used, modified, and distributed, both commercially and non-commercially.
  • Font Embedding: Users are permitted to embed the fonts in documents, websites, and applications, ensuring that the fonts can be used across various platforms.
  • Derivative Works: Users can modify the fonts or create derivative works based on them. However, any derivative works must be distributed under the same licence terms as the original font.
  • No reserved rights: The OFL does not allow for any rights to be reserved by the font creator or copyright holder. Once a font is released under the OFL, it remains open and freely available to the public.
  • Attribution: While not required, it's considered good practice to acknowledge the original creator of the font when using or distributing it.

Overall, the SIL Open Font License promotes the freedom to use, share, and modify fonts while ensuring that the fonts remain open and accessible to everyone.

Photography license

CivicTheme uses proprietary stock photos from Unsplash, as such, we adopt the Unsplash License(Opens in a new tab/window) for use of its photography.

Unsplash photos are made to be used freely. The licence reflects that: 

  • All photos can be downloaded and used for free for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
  • No permission needed (though attribution is appreciated!).
  • Photos can't be sold without significant modification. 

Does the CivicTheme community need to attribute the photographer?

No, but we do anyway. The Unsplash licence agreement explicitly states "even though attribution isn’t required, Unsplash photographers appreciate it as it provides exposure to their work and encourages them to continue sharing”.

Documentation license

CivicTheme documentation is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)(Opens in a new tab/window). 

This licence serves as a form of copyleft specifically designed for manuals, textbooks, or other documents. Its purpose is to ensure that everyone has the essential freedom to copy and distribute the material, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, with or without modifications. This License ensures the author and publisher can get credit for their work.

Key features of the GFDL are: 

  • Freedom to copy and redistribute: The licence ensures that everyone has the freedom to copy and redistribute the work, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
  • Freedom to modify: Users are granted the freedom to modify the work as they see fit, provided they also distribute any modified versions under the same licence terms.
  • Invariant sections: Authors can designate certain sections of the work as "invariant," meaning they cannot be altered or removed by subsequent users or distributors.
  • Cover texts and back-cover texts: The licence allows authors to include cover texts or back-cover texts that provide additional information or context about the work.
  • Preservation of licence and copyright notices: Distributors must ensure that the licence and copyright notices are included with all copies of the work, whether in original or modified form.
  • Compatibility with other licences: The GFDL is designed to be compatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL) and other copyleft licences, allowing works licensed under different copyleft licences to be combined or integrated.

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the CivicTheme project, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. Review the full license for details.

Overall, the GNU Free Documentation License promotes the principles of openness, collaboration, and sharing by providing a legal framework that ensures the freedom to access, modify, and distribute creative works while protecting the rights of authors and maintaining the integrity of the work.

UI Kit license

The CivicTheme UI Kit is licensed under GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later(Opens in a new tab/window). 

The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a widely-used open-source software licence that grants users the freedom to use, modify, and distribute software. This licence is used by more than half of all free software packages. 

Key features include: 

  • Freedom to use: Users have the freedom to run the software for any purpose. 
  • Freedom to study: Users can examine how the software works and adapt it to their needs. 
  • Freedom to modify: Users are allowed to modify the software and distribute the modified
  • Copyleft: The GPL ensures that any derivative works or modifications are also distributed under the GPL, preserving the freedoms for future users. 
  • Distribution of source code: When distributing the software, users must provide access to the corresponding source code, enabling others to understand and modify the software.
  • Preservation of licence and copyright notices: Users must include the GPL licence and copyright notices with any distributions of the software, ensuring that recipients are aware of their rights under the GPL.

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the CivicTheme project, include the licence, and indicate if changes were made. Review the full license for details.

Overall, the GPL promotes collaboration, innovation, and the principles of free software by providing a legal framework that guarantees the freedoms of users while preserving the rights of developers. 

See the full licence details in the link above, or in the CivicTheme UI Kit(Opens in a new tab/window) in GitHub.

Storybook license

The UI Kit is integrated with Storybook(Opens in a new tab/window). Storybook is distributed under the MIT License(Opens in a new tab/window).

  • The CivicTheme project has not modified the Storybook codebase, but uses it to display the CivicTheme components.
  • If you reuse or modify Storybook without any CivicTheme components, then you are subject to the MIT License.
  • If you reuse or modify Storybook with any CivicTheme components, the reuse and modification of those components are subject to the same license as the UI Kit license and subject to attribution back to the CivicTheme project.

CivicTheme implementations

As of June 2024, CivicTheme’s only implementations are for Drupal and GovCMS. As additional implementations are built, we will update our licensing terms to include them here.

Drupal theme license

The CivicTheme Drupal theme is licensed under Drupal's license which is GNU General Public License, version 2 or later(Opens in a new tab/window). The features of this license are as highlighted above for the UI Kit license.

See the full licence details in the link above, or Drupal.org's licensing page(Opens in a new tab/window).

GovCMS theme license

The CivicTheme GovCMS theme is licensed under the same license as the Drupal theme. The features of this license are as highlighted above as well as links to the relevant documentation.

Dos and don'ts

As of early June 2024, this section is still being drafted, but aims to provide a list of what you can and cannot do with CivicTheme's designs, code, content, documentation, etc.

Dos

  • Read and understand these licenses. Contact us with questions or concerns.
  • Rather than forking or diverging from the CivicTheme project, work with us to make CivicTheme better. If you are considering forking, contact us to discuss.
  • Provide proper attribution to CivicTheme when reusing and adapting our designs, content, code, documentation, etc. If you are unclear how to attribute or need help, contact us to discuss.

Dont's

  • Remove attribution from any CivicTheme Figma designs, Storybooks, content, documentation, and code then try to pass off these off as your own.

 

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