[Nix-dev] Logo improvement ideas

[Charles Strahan]

Wow, these logos look really nice! I agree that any of these would be an
improvement.

-Charles

On Fri, Aug 28, 2015, at 04:32 AM, Cillian de Róiste wrote:
> Woops! ... I sent this directly to Tim rather than to the list:
> 
> 
> 2015-08-26 2:09 GMT+02:00 Tim Cuthbertson <tim at gfxmonk.net>:
> > On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 2:16 AM, Cillian de Róiste
> > <cillian.deroiste at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Hi Tim,
> >>
> >> Very interesting designs! There was some talk at FOSDEM this year
> >> about brushing up the design/branding in general. I was really hoping
> >> we could get a designer on board to help with that although it fell
> >> through (but maybe you are a designer?).
> >
> > Unfortunately not, I just played one in high school ;).
> 
> Ah, well that may be the closest we've got :D ... although I think
> kmicu on IRC has some design experience too.
> 
> >> Before updating the logo, I
> >> wonder if we should step back a bit and think about what the logo
> >> should communicate. I added a stub of a page to the wiki to develop a
> >> style guide, but I haven't done much with it since:
> >> https://nixos.org/wiki/Style_Guide . Would something like that be a
> >> good place to start?
> >
> > It certainly might be, but I'm not really sure of the composition of
> > folks working on Nix / NixOS - are there designer types that could
> > help with this? Personally I do a bit of graphic design as a hobbyist
> > (thus my interest in the logo), but don't have much to contribute
> > outside that in terms of branding / figuring out style guides. So this
> > is a good idea, but will only go somewhere if there are enough people
> > wanting to contribute to it.
> 
> Ah, fair enough. I think we could get help from the
> opensourcedesigners gang, but we don't have anyone at the moment. It
> would be awesome to get someone on board for this. One thing they
> suggest is to add a github ticket and label it "design". Perhaps you
> could kick this off with your work on the logo and see if it catches
> anyone's interest?
> 
> >> BTW, The issues with the overlapping lambdas in the current logo
> >> should be solved in this version:
> >> https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-artwork/blob/master/logo/nix-snowflake.svg
> >
> > I'm afraid I don't see it - this looks identical to the current logo
> > to me. Maybe that's the point (I'm not sure what "overlapping" you're
> > referring to),...
> 
> Yeah, they look identical, but in the original each lambda overlaps,
> and there's an extra shape which masks the first lambda. In this
> version they are cut at the intersections. If you open the file in
> inkscape and ungroup the lambdas and move one, I think it will be
> clear ... at any rate it's just a detail.
> 
> > but I find it hard to spot the lambdas in this version
> > for two reasons:
> >
> >  - they're not separate enough. Aside from being different colours,
> > there is no gap or other obvious distinction between each
> >
> >  - (I think) the lack of any upright lambda makes it less likely you'd
> > notice, as well.
> >
> >> I'm pretty sure we can get help with the colors from
> >> http://opensourcedesign.net (I've asked them about it before, but
> >> figured we should work on the style guide first).
> >>
> >> Personally, I'm really fond of the current logo, although I would
> >> really like if we decided on a standard font (I'm a fan of Varela
> >> Round, to go with the current logo). Most of all I'd love if we could
> >> have a style guide, and have templates everyone could use for flyers,
> >> posters, t-shirts etc. I'd really love if NixOS could be themeable
> >> from configuration.nix too, but that's another story :D
> >
> > Yes, fonts are important too, and I haven't done too much work there
> > other than flipping through my installed fonts to pick one which
> > didn't look awful ;)
> > Varela Round certainly matches the current logo's style well, although
> > I suspect it might be better to have a font which doesn't match the
> > logo's form quite so well (if the whole logo is made of rounded
> > sticks, that could get a little bland).
> 
> That makes perfect sense, thanks! I'm sure your sense of what doesn't
> look awful would already be a great improvement on what we have at the
> moment :D ... Myriad Pro is used a bit, and is nice but it's not Free,
> so that's a problem.
> 
> >> What do you think? Perhaps we could have some kind of a video
> >> conferencing session with anyone who's interested to get the ball
> >> rolling?
> >
> > Yeah, collecting interested parties is certainly a good idea (although
> > video conference might be hard to organise timezone-wise). I'm not
> > entirely sure how to solicit that - anyone else on the mailing list
> > interested?
> 
> FWIW, I'm free on Sunday (except early morning, UTC). I could see if
> anyone from the opensourcedesigners would be interested in helping out
> too. Would that suit anyone? Naturally, it will be entirely up to the
> foundation to decide whether or not they are interested in adopting
> any suggestions we might come up with.
> 
> Cheers,
> Cillian
> 
> 2015-08-26 2:09 GMT+02:00 Tim Cuthbertson <tim at gfxmonk.net>:
> > On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 2:16 AM, Cillian de Róiste
> > <cillian.deroiste at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Hi Tim,
> >>
> >> Very interesting designs! There was some talk at FOSDEM this year
> >> about brushing up the design/branding in general. I was really hoping
> >> we could get a designer on board to help with that although it fell
> >> through (but maybe you are a designer?).
> >
> > Unfortunately not, I just played one in high school ;).
> >
> >> Before updating the logo, I
> >> wonder if we should step back a bit and think about what the logo
> >> should communicate. I added a stub of a page to the wiki to develop a
> >> style guide, but I haven't done much with it since:
> >> https://nixos.org/wiki/Style_Guide . Would something like that be a
> >> good place to start?
> >
> > It certainly might be, but I'm not really sure of the composition of
> > folks working on Nix / NixOS - are there designer types that could
> > help with this? Personally I do a bit of graphic design as a hobbyist
> > (thus my interest in the logo), but don't have much to contribute
> > outside that in terms of branding / figuring out style guides. So this
> > is a good idea, but will only go somewhere if there are enough people
> > wanting to contribute to it.
> >
> >> BTW, The issues with the overlapping lambdas in the current logo
> >> should be solved in this version:
> >> https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-artwork/blob/master/logo/nix-snowflake.svg
> >
> > I'm afraid I don't see it - this looks identical to the current logo
> > to me. Maybe that's the point (I'm not sure what "overlapping" you're
> > referring to), but I find it hard to spot the lambdas in this version
> > for two reasons:
> >
> >  - they're not separate enough. Aside from being different colours,
> > there is no gap or other obvious distinction between each
> >
> >  - (I think) the lack of any upright lambda makes it less likely you'd
> > notice, as well.
> >
> >> I'm pretty sure we can get help with the colors from
> >> http://opensourcedesign.net (I've asked them about it before, but
> >> figured we should work on the style guide first).
> >>
> >> Personally, I'm really fond of the current logo, although I would
> >> really like if we decided on a standard font (I'm a fan of Varela
> >> Round, to go with the current logo). Most of all I'd love if we could
> >> have a style guide, and have templates everyone could use for flyers,
> >> posters, t-shirts etc. I'd really love if NixOS could be themeable
> >> from configuration.nix too, but that's another story :D
> >
> > Yes, fonts are important too, and I haven't done too much work there
> > other than flipping through my installed fonts to pick one which
> > didn't look awful ;)
> > Varela Round certainly matches the current logo's style well, although
> > I suspect it might be better to have a font which doesn't match the
> > logo's form quite so well (if the whole logo is made of rounded
> > sticks, that could get a little bland).
> >
> >> What do you think? Perhaps we could have some kind of a video
> >> conferencing session with anyone who's interested to get the ball
> >> rolling?
> >
> > Yeah, collecting interested parties is certainly a good idea (although
> > video conference might be hard to organise timezone-wise). I'm not
> > entirely sure how to solicit that - anyone else on the mailing list
> > interested?
> >
> > Cheers,
> >  - Tim.
> >
> >> 2015-08-25 7:25 GMT+02:00 Tim Cuthbertson <tim at gfxmonk.net>:
> >>> Nicolas,
> >>>
> >>> You raise a very good point about the print-appropriate colours. On
> >>> reflection, I think the blues I've chosen are possibly among the worst
> >>> for print reproduction ;)
> >>>
> >>> Regarding the gradient, I think it's common enough to have a
> >>> full-color digital logo (including gradients / shading), with a flat
> >>> colour version for print.
> >>>
> >>> So I've added a "print options" file, with what I think are more
> >>> print-appropriate colours. TBH I don't have much experience here - I
> >>> used CMYK colour selector, but outside that I'm not quite sure how to
> >>> make sure a colour is good for printers - should I be looking at
> >>> pantone colours or something?
> >>>
> >>> It's also testing against different backgrounds, and in different
> >>> shapes (i.e circular sticker, popular for laptops). I'm not sure if
> >>> it's bad form to put your wordmark inside your logo, but it's
> >>> otherwise quite awkward to put a big circular thing _and_ some
> >>> additional text into an outer circle.
> >>>
> >>> https://github.com/gfxmonk/nixos-logo-ideas/blob/master/exports/logo-print-options.png
> >>>
> >>> To be honest, the print works well enough we could drop the gradient
> >>> version if we want to keep it simple. But I do still prefer it myself.
> >>>
> >>> Cheers,
> >>>  - Tim.
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 5:36 AM, Nicolas Pierron
> >>> <nicolas.b.pierron at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> Thanks Tim,
> >>>>
> >>>> I think we definitely need a new logo, for at least 2 reasons:
> >>>>  - The overlap of the lambda does not render correctly in all software.
> >>>>  - The colors are not industrial printers friendly.
> >>>>
> >>>> All your proposal are well addressing the first issue, by removing the
> >>>> overlap and adding extra transparency between the lambdas.
> >>>>
> >>>> On the other hand, the gradient might be worse than the current status
> >>>> about making the image easy to print (CYMK).  I think we would be
> >>>> printing more and more t-shirts / goodies in the future, and this is a
> >>>> critical issue that we have to solve with the current logo.
> >>>>
> >>>> Also, a-part from the shape of the logo, I think it would be
> >>>> interesting to see how well the colors of the lambda might render with
> >>>> various background colors.  The goal is not to choose a different
> >>>> background color, but to make sure that the lambda's color are still
> >>>> good, even if printed on black t-shirts.
> >>>>
> >>>> Personal opinion:
> >>>> shape:
> >>>>  - "slant" does not feels good and straight, as I would expect from our image.
> >>>>  - "hex", "circle", "straight" are fine.
> >>>>  - "straight" lambdas' left arm seems to be too-long.
> >>>>
> >>>> color:
> >>>>  - "none" removes the charm, of having something a bit different.
> >>>>  - "half" and "feature" sound both good.
> >>>>  - "feature" sounds interesting, and makes the lambda too obvious, but
> >>>> "half" sounds warmer/more solid than "feature".
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 7:58 PM, Joachim Schiele <js at lastlog.de> wrote:
> >>>>> looks great!
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 24.08.2015 05:14, Tim Cuthbertson wrote:
> >>>>>> Hello all,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I'm a big fan of Nix / NixOS, but I've long felt that the logo could
> >>>>>> do with a bit of work. So I toyed about a bit with inkscape, and came
> >>>>>> up with a few ideas:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> https://github.com/gfxmonk/nixos-logo-ideas/tree/master/exports
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> They mostly keep to the existing logo structure, but with some changes:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>  - Make the lines wider, and remove the rounded caps. The existing
> >>>>>> logo feels too thin, as if it's made of lines rather than shapes. This
> >>>>>> feels fragile, particularly when scaled down.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>  - Made the lambda structure more obvious. To be honest, it wasn't
> >>>>>> until fairly recently that I noticed that the logo was made of
> >>>>>> lambdas. I've added gaps between each one so they don't run into a
> >>>>>> single shape as much. I've also added some subtle gradients at the top
> >>>>>> of each, to turn it into more of a woven structure, rather than a
> >>>>>> snowflake.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>  - Rotated the shape so that there's an upright lambda, and the shape
> >>>>>> fits better into a restricted-height context (e.g a header bar).
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> # Shape variants:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "straight": More or less equivalent to the current logo, but with
> >>>>>> straight (not rounded) edges
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "hex": Blockier in general, and gives the short foot of the lambda a
> >>>>>> triangular edge. This aligns all outer points to a hexagon shape,
> >>>>>> mirroring the inner hexagon.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "slant": The lambdas in this one have a fatter head and thinner feet.
> >>>>>> This makes the overall structure look more dynamic and organic, but
> >>>>>> de-emphasizes the clean lambda shape somewhat. The shapes on this one
> >>>>>> may need some tweaking, as the outer shape (made by the feet) still
> >>>>>> seems a little disorganized still.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> # Highlight variants:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "none": every lambda has the same shading
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "half": every second shape is darker (as in the current logo)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "feature": the right-way-up lambda is the only darker shape. This
> >>>>>> makes the repeating lambda structure more obvious, but obviously
> >>>>>> affects symmetry.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I haven't done too much experimentation with the colours, but feel
> >>>>>> free to crack open the svgs (in the parent directory) and try whatever
> >>>>>> you like.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Let me know what you think!
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Cheers,
> >>>>>>  - Tim.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> nix-dev mailing list
> >>>>> nix-dev at lists.science.uu.nl
> >>>>> http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Nicolas Pierron
> >>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasbpierron - http://nbp.name/
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> nix-dev mailing list
> >>>> nix-dev at lists.science.uu.nl
> >>>> http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> nix-dev mailing list
> >>> nix-dev at lists.science.uu.nl
> >>> http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> NixOS: The Purely Functional Linux Distribution
> >> http://nixos.org
> 
> 
> 
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> NixOS: The Purely Functional Linux Distribution
> http://nixos.org
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