🎨 Setting up your Ethnio account: subdomain, logo, and accent color

Welcome to Ethnio! To start using the platform, the first step is to customize how your default brand should appear to participants. This setup ensures that your research experience feels branded, professional, and aligned with your organization. You can white-label everything with no mention of your brand, or have it reflect your brand. Either way, it should be clear to participants. There are three essential elements in this process:

There are three things we need to get your brand new Ethnio account working, and here is more information on all three:

1️⃣ Subdomain 🌐

Your subdomain is the unique word address where your screeners, study links, incentive redeem links, and scheduling pages and participant interactions will take place.

Why is this required?

✅ Branding & Recognition – A custom subdomain (e.g., research.yourcompany.ethn.io) makes it clear to participants that they are engaging with an official part of your company.

✅ Trust & Credibility – People are more likely to complete research when they recognize the domain as part of your organization.

✅ Consistency – All links to studies, scheduling pages, and incentives will have a consistent, professional look.

🔹 Example: If your company is Cyberdyne Systems, you might choose cyberdyne.ethn.io as your subdomain.

Subdomain Restrictions – What’s NOT Allowed

🚫 Special Characters – Your subdomain can only include letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers (0-9), and hyphens (-). It cannot include spaces, underscores (_), slashes (/), or symbols like !@#$%^&*() .

🚫 Offensive Words & Inappropriate Language – Any explicit, derogatory, or offensive words will be rejected.

🚫 Trademarked or Registered Brands that you don't have permission to use – You cannot use a subdomain that belongs to a brand already registered on Ethnio. If a company like Nike has already claimed nike.ethn.io, it will not be available for use.

🚫 Generic or Misleading Terms – Subdomains like “ethnio”, “research”, “test” alone are not allowed. Your subdomain should be unique to your organization. If we find it to be misleading, your account can be suspended.

🚫 Too Long or Too Short – The subdomain should be between 3-30 characters for readability and usability.

2️⃣ Logo 🖼️

Your logo is the visual representation of your brand that will be participant-facing. Even if you want to white label your research, you might consider what kind of logo you could add to brand the whole research process to build credibility with participants.

Why add a logo?

✅ Familiarity & Trust – Seeing a recognizable logo reassures participants that they are in the right place.

✅ Professionalism – A branded experience makes your research look polished and credible.

✅ Cohesion – Your logo ties in with your other branding elements to create a seamless experience.

🔹 Tip: Upload a high-resolution PNG or SVG with a transparent background for the best appearance across devices.

🚨 Logo Restrictions – What’s NOT Allowed 🚨

🚫 Low-Quality Images – Blurry, pixelated, or stretched images should be avoided.

🚫 Unrelated Images – Your logo must represent your organization, not random pictures, stock icons, or memes.

🚫 Offensive or Inappropriate Content – Any logo containing explicit, offensive, or misleading content will not be accepted and could lead the same AI that wrote this to suspend your account.

3️⃣ Accent color 🎨

Your accent color is used for buttons, highlights, and other key participant-facing visual elements.

Why is this required?

✅ Visual Consistency – Keeps all participant touchpoints aligned with your brand’s colors.

✅ Better Engagement – A well-chosen color makes call-to-action buttons (like "Next" or "Submit") more noticeable.

✅ Aesthetic Appeal – A clean and cohesive color scheme enhances the overall experience.

🔹 Tip: Use your company’s primary brand color or a secondary color that complements your logo.

🚨 Accent Color Restrictions – What’s NOT Allowed 🚨

🚫 Too Light or Too Dark Colors – If the color is too bright (like neon yellow) or too dark (like pure black), it may affect text readability.

🚫 Clashing Colors – Avoid colors that don’t contrast well with your logo or text, making buttons hard to read.

🚫 Overuse of Red 🔴 – Since red is often used for error messages, it’s best to avoid making it the primary accent color to prevent confusion.

🎯 Final Thoughts: Why This Matters

Setting up these three elements—subdomain, logo, and accent color—ensures that your Ethnio experience is branded, professional, and engaging for research participants. A cohesive look builds trust, improves response rates, and makes your research process seamless.