Proposed Logo

[Jeremy Hogan]

I can vouch for the designer as a true artist, neither grim nor dumb -- who 
BTW, are easily mastered with or without art, just look at M$ user base. 

What is lacking from just looking at the logos posted on the wiki is the 
progression of thought into building the logo. It has meaning. It is well 
informed by the core tenets of the project. I'm not sure if you clicked 
through the explanation, but to get where we are, from where we were is 
something. He got most of what folks seemed drawn to throughout the 
conversation. 

If you look at established brands and logos, and you get warmth you are 
actually getting a pavlovian response that is rooted in what the company 
does for you. This is a pass at visual identity, which is one piece of what 
some call the "brand promise" -- what you say. The rest, the most important 
part, is made up of what some call the "brand experience" -- what you do. 
There are rules about logos, and it may seem "flat" or 2D to you, but you 
can't translate Cingular's 3D dancing avatar to print. It works for them b/c 
they use TV, a lot. You may see "plain", where others see "elegant". 

For example: no one could look at the Nike swoop and get *anything* from it 
at face value. The name itself has a broad, and not so original inferred 
meaning, but still not too telling of the company. Yet, you look at the 
swoop and you think "Just do it." or "lemme go crush my competitors with 
glee and impunity" Or you see the logo and you say "filthy sweat shop 
mongerers". Why? b/c that's what Nike puts *behind* the logo. Neither 
feeling comes from the logo, per se. 

What does that chick on a Starbucks cup mean? She doesn't scream 
over-roasted beans and death to local roasters to me. Nor does she say "this 
is damned fine coffee". I had to get that opinion from Starbuck's actions. 
How many people thought of Battlestar Galactica when they first heard the 
name? What do you think of it today? 

Think of Apple. An Apple with a bite out of it is incredibly un-original 
considering what you know of Apple, but yet when you see it, you are infused 
with either a cult-like longing to buy whatever they want you to, or a sense 
of lifestyle affirmation -- or you don't get it, and they don't care b/c the 
right people *will* get it, and if you're not into joing the tribe, they're 
not into having you as a customer. That's [art of their "promise". Anyone in 
the Cult of Apple can attest, it's core to the "experience".

I see the Windows logo, or those crappy "touchy feely" commercials they have 
been running, and I want to fling myself out a plate glass window and grind 
my face around in the dirt. I'll bet you $1 the color scheme or four wavy 
panes isn't triggering that response in me.

Where is the warmth? It's in the Fedora experience, in the community, in the 
roots of the movement. This is a jumping off point, and merely a way for 
people to always know what the logo means *to them*.

I don't mean to rant, but this logo -- or whatever logo wins the day -- will 
only mean what we make it mean, no matter how cleverly we dream up 
subliminal meaning. We will either deliver an experience that more people 
like than hate, or we won't.

--jeremy

On 9/20/05, Stanton Finley <stanfinley at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> My final twopence on the matter then. Mcluhan was right. In the absence
> of an artist's sensibilities and his brush (even though the brush may be
> digital) the machine easily masters the grim and the dumb.
> 
> Stanton Finley
> http://stanton-finley.net/
> 
> On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 14:10 -0400, Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
> > On Tue, 20 Sep 2005, Stanton Finley wrote:
> >
> > > I believe it has already been established that there will be no hat.
> > > However there should be some art. The logo should not appear to have
> > > been created using a vector based 2D CAD application with color fill.
> > > And where is the warmth?
> >
> > You forgot to add "my $0.02." :)
> >
> > See, here's the deal: *every* logo that is *any* good will simply fail 
> to
> > appeal to some segment of the audience. Period.
> >
> > Anyway... we've entrusted the design of this logo to Matt, who can take
> > this feedback as he sees fit.
> >
> > --g
> >
> > _____________________ ____________________________________________
> > Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
> > Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent. the
> > Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the
> > ] [ dumb. --mcluhan
> >
> > --
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> > Fedora-marketing-list at redhat.com
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
> 
> --
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>
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