Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

bizartist · 2005-10-12 18:46:00

You should release a hardcopy, U.S. Gov’t style, with that sentence, plus anything about hippies or global warming, marked over in thick black ink ;)

zero · 2005-10-12 19:27:11

I just thought the carver was from olden times but the ancient greek ideas are very interesting, Bizartist. I go along with Destry and ‘working’ although in my words I would say the logos should show energy and activity and not passivity. Hence the reading person would be better if she was making notes at the same time. That sort of thing. Greyscale would definitely not go well with TXG, I just thought colour could be added later but perhaps that’s a bit stupid. Some good ideas coming through.

ian_ep · 2005-10-13 06:42:39

Some of us are simply talking about making it visually clear to new users of this product what the official — no, reliable — resources are for Textpattern, and one excellent way of doing that is by using a consistent theme …

Yes, one way is to use a consistent theme. And that way is what I would call traditional branding (corporate or otherwise).

Let me try and clarify my position: A man may be described variously as a ‘husband’, ‘father’, ‘son’, ‘colleague’, ‘boss’ or ‘friend’ depending on who is doing the describing. The same man may also be described as ‘reticent’, ‘witty’, ‘tiresome’, ‘kind’, ‘boorish’ or ‘magnanimous’ again depending on who is doing the describing and their relationship to the man. Many of the possible descriptions are quite irreconcilable with each other, but such is the nature of human relationships.

One of the consequences of traditional branding is that, for it to work at all, only one point of view can be allowed to dominate: ‘Kind Father’ for example. This undoubtedly simplifies communication and accelerates recognition and identification, but at a cost — the loss of diversity and nuance.

To get back to Texpattern: If each of the different resource sites has its own personality and style that exudes Quality, intelligence, integrity, imagination, originality etc., then there is no need for them to have any visual or stylistic similarity to each other whatsoever. In fact the more diverse the better! As long as the name ‘Textpattern’ appears somewhere on these various sites — which obviously it will — there will be no doubt as to what one is dealing with.

By using a ‘consistent visual theme’ we only present one point of view. The received wisdom. The authorised version. Why limit the possibilities when the possibilities are limitless? …

thebombsite · 2005-10-13 11:42:17

Well I don’t like the idea of having some kind of common theme for the site styles either. What I do like is the idea of having little link logos for each site which have a similar style which can go in the footer or sidebar.

Destry · 2005-10-13 11:43:07

alicson wrote: “side thought: if there’s coordination between the main txp sites, we could make it into sort of a family. Besides the Chiseling and Digging persons, could have a Reading Gal, Kid holding flowers, etc.”

I think it’s pretty clear I’m not opposed to this idea, <strike>and am quite willing to open up logo submissions for TextBook with this idea in mind. I like the reading guy/gal idea so the only criteria (besides size limits) would be that it’s a person with a textbook somehow. I don’t care if it’s in the same style as chisel guy or not, since that’s not likely anyway. I would expect at least three entries for the effort to be worthwhile,</strike> otherwise I’ll probably seek permission to use entry U from this contest, which I think would work just fine too. I’m going to adopt the button idea for TextBook regardless, I’ll make my own buttons from the existing logos of other family sites and will happily change them if a more standardized set of buttons is adopted by the family later. So, should I start a new thread?

EDIT: Actually, as a matter of practicality (and previous opinions) I think it best to just seek permission to use entry U, which is great. If the designer of that logo would be willing to add the word “TextBook” to the logo somehow (spine of the book? front cover?), I’ll use it in TextBook when I upgrade the wiki. Email me. I’m still sticking to the button idea.

Last edited by Destry (2005-10-13 11:56:08)

thebombsite · 2005-10-13 11:51:01

Well I think we have gone off the original subject a bit although we are now getting back to logos.

zero · 2005-10-13 17:51:48

As ian_ep said, a logo is immediately identifiable and can say much more than the word ‘textpattern’ for example. What do you want to communicate? Do you want to get across a unity, community feeling? I kind of thought the main txp sites did, so a logo with similarities could assist this communication. Do you want to say that all the main txp sites concur on similar values of energy, work, reliability and simplicity etc? If so then following the style of the original txp logo can help this, imho.

Each individual site will have its own characteristics and there is about 99% of the web page left to express this even if the logos share similarities. So I don’t think ‘branding’, if you want to call it that, limits, but instead could reinforce and strengthen core values, as well as making them more readily identifiable. But I am speaking as someone who did a course on communication which did not have any theory or practice on logos, branding or style. I would be interested to hear more from people who have studied these about why ‘branding’ might limit the txp sites.

ian_ep · 2005-10-14 05:43:07

As ian_ep said, a logo is immediately identifiable and can say much more than the word ‘textpattern’ for example.

Umm, no. I said pretty much the opposite actually. At least I thought I did.

The elements of visual branding – using a consistent logo, colour scheme, typography, layout, writing style etc. – are all useful communication tools. However, they are only useful if you have a consistent, well-defined and limited set of values to communicate — and some clearly defined, and preferably quantifiable, goals to achieve. I don’t think Texpattern has – or has need of – any of these things. In fact I think much of its popularity is due it not having any clear identity. Every user has to make their mind up as to what TP is and how they will use it. Branding is basically about making people’s minds up for them, so they will Buy More Stuff. Consequently, it can (IMHO) do little to help the Texpattern community and much to harm it.

zero · 2005-10-14 18:07:42

When you wrote “only one point of view can be allowed to dominate: ‘Kind Father’ for example. This undoubtedly simplifies communication and accelerates recognition and identification, but at a cost—the loss of diversity and nuance”, I thought you were referring to the logo. But on re-reading it and reading your last post I see that ‘consistent theme’ and ‘branding’ also refers to colour scheme, typography, layout, writing style etc.

When I said ‘branding’ I was just talking about logo so perhaps our views are not so dissimilar. Do you think a consistent theme of <strong>logos only</strong> would harm the txp community?

ian_ep · 2005-10-14 18:23:48

Do you think a consistent theme of logos only would harm the txp community?

No, probably not as such. But I still think it an unnecessary and ultimately uninteresting excercise.

zero · 2005-11-03 00:21:17

Thank you very much for all the positive comments about the spade and the digging guy. Yes folks, it was me who did it! I am unaccustomed to receiving any feedback or praise, never mind winning anything, so you might well imagine how good I felt when the comments started appearing!

I held back revealing my identity till now so that if you <a href=“http://4-ever.org/”>click this link to 4-Ever</a> you will see my redesign and some articles that may be more relevant to you than the heavy stuff of version 1.

And, milking this for all it’s worth, there is an article on there about the logo and how I did it. Hopefully, it will dispel any notions of the logo being sexist. I could not have done it any other way, Alexandra!

Thanks again for the positive comments, especially from all you talented artists who submitted entries. As I commented earlier in this thread, the TXR crew must have had great difficulty choosing. It’s been my lucky day (now stretched to a month:) Yippeeeee!!!!!

alexandra · 2005-11-03 10:11:04

Ahrgg.. that was you, Peter :)…you ba… ;) … no worries, i do not consider you being a sexist. i just know that symbols, especially on the web, are very important and have a great impact. As TXP´s logo is a guy i did not like the idea textpattern.org´s logo to be a guy again. why not taking a digging woman?

but i am happy, you are so happy. makes everything a bit better for me.

Here is a working link to Peter´s article on the logo: 4-ever.org/logos-r-us.

(Wonder when Rob & Alicson go live with the new design… i am so curious)

Last edited by alexandra (2005-11-03 10:16:28)

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#85 2005-10-12 18:46:00

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#86 2005-10-12 19:27:11

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#87 2005-10-13 06:42:39

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#88 2005-10-13 11:42:17

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#89 2005-10-13 11:43:07

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#90 2005-10-13 11:51:01

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#91 2005-10-13 17:51:48

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#92 2005-10-14 05:43:07

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#93 2005-10-14 18:07:42

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#94 2005-10-14 18:23:48

Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

#95 2005-11-03 00:21:17

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Re: Textpattern Resources Logo & Icons Design Contest

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