I personally prefer the simpler stuff.. (mine as well as Oliver's (@oliver) which is dynamic and puts the "dot" more on the outer level).
I've learned that too many colours, shades and any sort of "complication" isn't always beneficial for a logo. It can make it harder to remember and can shorten the life span of the logo.
IMHO a good logo has no more than 3 flat colours and it's forms are easy to remember.
We should consider the @Mike original requirements.
1) Something that looks fast (bit "edgy" and that pulls you)
2) Zot remembering a thunderbolt (bright and happens quickly)
3) Zot = Zed + Dot (the dot on the image)
4) It shouldn't be nothing geeky, boring, or easily forgotten (as protocols oftently are). It should be something recognizable.
Looking at the @Hanes Barbosa draft (proposal) I can see all this requirements fulfilled.
Please don't take me wrong, but I think we'll get lost if we begin to discuss black-white versus gray versus color thing. This is really a funny discussion for an art designer, because any logo should have all this versions of ONE single CONCEPT.
Look at those apple logos of all colors and shapes. The concept is the same and you can easily recognize them as "Apple logos" even if they're green or purple, (most of t... show more
We should consider the @Mike original requirements.
1) Something that looks fast (bit "edgy" and that pulls you)
2) Zot remembering a thunderbolt (bright and happens quickly)
3) Zot = Zed + Dot (the dot on the image)
4) It shouldn't be nothing geeky, boring, or easily forgotten (as protocols oftently are). It should be something recognizable.
Looking at the @Hanes Barbosa draft (proposal) I can see all this requirements fulfilled.
Please don't take me wrong, but I think we'll get lost if we begin to discuss black-white versus gray versus color thing. This is really a funny discussion for an art designer, because any logo should have all this versions of ONE single CONCEPT.
Look at those apple logos of all colors and shapes. The concept is the same and you can easily recognize them as "Apple logos" even if they're green or purple, (most of the time) it really doesn't matter.
I asked Hanes to do a black-white and a gray preview of this draft "concept" so we could have a feeling of how could them look in these different "flavors".
So, in my humble opinion, we should focus the discussion mainly on the "concept" hidden/showed on the logo.
What kind of feeling/sensation we want people to have when looking to the Zot! logo?
What is the degree of "coolness", "awesomeness" ?
Does it have the "WOW" factor on it?
For us, geeks, we only need a simple and small asciiart or even a funny emoticon. But, for the masses?
We have to think pushing Friendica/Zot to everybody.
Criticism Season Opened (The good criticism) !!! Hanes is waiting more feedback to evolve this first draft.
I agree that the colour of the logo is completely irrelevant right now. Each colour is just "a colour" or "layer", and a logo should have a maximum of 3 colours.
I really appreciate Mike's honesty when it comes to graphic appreciation. I also appreciate that he doesn't consider that his appreciation extends to the others who replied here. "Us geeks etc" is perhaps something you personally feel and that is 100% fine, however that is now how I feel and possibly the same for others. Please don't take it the wrong way, but please don't consider that because an emoticon would suffice for you that it does for others, even if they are indeed a geek.
As for logo by Hanes, my opinion which is shared by a few others that have degrees in art and graphic design is that it is not a logo, it's an icon. It has too many shades, cannot work if you print with just flat colours. I also cannot easily distinguish the "Z". It may seem flashy, but it's not consistent.
Think of it this way, look at the logo... show more
I agree that the colour of the logo is completely irrelevant right now. Each colour is just "a colour" or "layer", and a logo should have a maximum of 3 colours.
I really appreciate Mike's honesty when it comes to graphic appreciation. I also appreciate that he doesn't consider that his appreciation extends to the others who replied here. "Us geeks etc" is perhaps something you personally feel and that is 100% fine, however that is now how I feel and possibly the same for others. Please don't take it the wrong way, but please don't consider that because an emoticon would suffice for you that it does for others, even if they are indeed a geek.
As for logo by Hanes, my opinion which is shared by a few others that have degrees in art and graphic design is that it is not a logo, it's an icon. It has too many shades, cannot work if you print with just flat colours. I also cannot easily distinguish the "Z". It may seem flashy, but it's not consistent.
Think of it this way, look at the logo for a couple of seconds, then take a piece of paper and draw it. See how much of the logo you remember after a very short glimpse. The basis for any successful logo is a form that imprints itself to your memory very easily, for that it must be simple.
I think that Mike's first attempt is, to be honest, no pretty, BUT, it has a strong and simple idea.
@Emmanuel Revah you're right about my "generalization" of the geek taste about art and I should apologize. Not all geeks are "art-handicap".
I'm very far from being a professional artist. (But Hanes, he is.)
So, being a non-professional, I have to trust you more than trust myself if we go deeper in the artistic/technical aspects of a logo (how many colors? details? shapes?).
But... as a normal people I just found the Hanes logo "awsome", yes... it looked to me so "professional" and "appealing" and he's said that was a "draft"... this made me be pretty excited about it. I was finding all the previous suggestions pretty good until I saw the Hanes draft. Perhaps this first impression biased my comments.
But, we can go futher/deeper the discussion while we can choose between the options. We can work together to make a better logo. I think there's no hurry to define the logo, so we can shape it pretty carefully.
Everybody (Hanes himself) makes an integr... show more
@Emmanuel Revah you're right about my "generalization" of the geek taste about art and I should apologize. Not all geeks are "art-handicap".
I'm very far from being a professional artist. (But Hanes, he is.)
So, being a non-professional, I have to trust you more than trust myself if we go deeper in the artistic/technical aspects of a logo (how many colors? details? shapes?).
But... as a normal people I just found the Hanes logo "awsome", yes... it looked to me so "professional" and "appealing" and he's said that was a "draft"... this made me be pretty excited about it. I was finding all the previous suggestions pretty good until I saw the Hanes draft. Perhaps this first impression biased my comments.
But, we can go futher/deeper the discussion while we can choose between the options. We can work together to make a better logo. I think there's no hurry to define the logo, so we can shape it pretty carefully.
Everybody (Hanes himself) makes an integration of all comments and suggestions and we can improve the icons.
Abinoam, thank you for understanding, that is very good to read. Actually, you can also trust your feelings, of course, you should. So take what others say into account but trust yourself as well. : ]
I did ask a few others as I said, and this without telling them anything. I showed my little brother, who is a professional graphic designer and illustrator, and he thought it was something I had done. He tried to tell me very gently the same things I previously said... Which is the same thing another person told me (they don't know each other at all). So all 3 of us agreed precisely.
One thing is clear, this has to please the mother of the protocol, because she needs to love her baby.. . (Mike? :] ).
I truly appreciate Friendica and all that goes with it, I will openly admit that it doesn't look half as good as other platforms, but it's just so well designed that it outweighs the aesthetics of them completely. (Not to mention other aspects... that's another other topic).
It would be nice to get a good logo out, so yeah, let's do it. : ]
I asked a friend of mine to join Friendica and help with the design of Zot logo. He promised me that at the weekend he'll have a draft to show for you appreciation. Let's see all suggestion. Perhaps a contest (if more than one).
Reminds me of a story. A friend and I were at a party in Kentucky and the host was a semi-famous keyboard player, but had grown too shy to play in public. But I knew how to get him to play. I asked if I could play a few pieces on the keyboard. My friend looked at me - "but you're a guitarist, I didn't know you could play keyboard".
"I can't play keyboard worth a darn. Trust me - in less than five minutes our host will be demanding that I step aside so he can show me how it's done."
@Haakon_Meland_Eriksen , I pretty strongly suspect it wouldn't. But also, about the only context I can think of for black and white would be a non-color printer.
This is where I think we need to think carefully and I ask this at the risk of getting bitten later when it turns out that speculation in advance proves wrong: are we concerned about printing this logo?
@Haakon Meland Eriksen - this is why I ask for help. I'm looking for something a bit "edgy" and that pulls you in, and the "concept" of Zot! is a thunderbolt that is bright and happens quickly; and in this example leaving spots in front of your eyes.
Black and white will probably not be used very often, but in a paper about Zot! it might come in handy.
However, there are other reasons for leaving colour out of the picture at the beginning. Shapes become more pronounced, and this helps determine if more contrast is needed.There is some transparency around the dot in the middle that suggest movement, and at the same time it becomes a bit blurry when staring at it after a few seconds.
Transparency is important to think about, because different Friendica themes or Zot! themes will probably require backgrounds with colours that clash with the current high contrast colours in the logo.
Can you do a version without the red and the drop shadow around the Z, and then add a one pixel wide black line on the outside of the yellow in the Z, and finally perhaps try erasing that part of the Z that is underneath the dot as suggested by Abinoam Jr.? I think the current Z font is nicer.
@Haakon , I just found your response about when black and white might be used. Between your response and @Fabio Comuni 's, I have a fairly complete picture.
I take it color designs on mugs, tee shirts, etc., are still more expensive than black and white (surely this is some sort of scam?). Does this also hold for gray-scale?
One clarification, is that this won't be a logo for Friendica itself. This is a logo for communications protocols that can be used by anybody, any project, any network. Friendica could possibly end up as a minority in this larger network.
Otherwise, there's no rush. I've seen some great concepts. Now is the time when I really do wish we had polls, but at the moment I think discussion and ideas may be more valuable than making a decision. We could end up on a different path entirely.
Hi guys, i was reading the messages on this topic and i agree to many point of view here.
I did get the perceptions we're talking about, but sometimes i don't know how the audience feel something and understand some concept.
Because of this diference, i do put ideas that don't fit my own way about logos, mascots, cartoons, etc. I already did works that i shown the right concept, black and white, so forth, and the stakeholder didn't like. So i tried the same draw with the "fancy" look and... wow (at that time i was not thinking in the same way). But, everybody was happy.
What i'm trying to say is, there's a lot of concepts out there, but very often it doesn't prevail. Let's try, warm up and share ideas, contributing like everybody is doing now.
I'm glad to participate in this community with such a good gifted minds! Let's go further.
i like that black/white one, really cool. @Hanes Barbosa Marques de Oliveira did with the coloured one, i was thinking yellow too, for lightning. the blue is ok, and i imagine thinking sky, but i'd either change it to a black, or leave it off completely, to accentuate the Z. maybe incorporating a ! would be cool too if possible (i do grafix too) #zot
