Debian Logo *Idea* Contest! (Delay for painting contest required)
Martin Schulze
> First Andreas Tille writes:
>
> > Once more: let us delay the painting work. Its time for thinking
> > first. If we could cope with this (or any better idea) then we
> > have one aim -- as well as we have one aim in developing the
> > operating system.
>
> Next he says:
>
> > to support my idea of "Orca for Debian" I would like to point to
> > some very nice pictures which can be found under
>
> So pretty pictures are important after all? You want to convince people
> to use an orca logo with pretty pictures?
I guess that I'm responsible for this. Andreas and myself have discussed
this issue since yesterday. We conclude that we have to think about
what kind of logo we want to use. Coming up with perfect artwork isn't
needed at the first stage. There it is more important to sort out ideas.
The second stage needs artwork and/or paintings etc. However to find out
how a particular idea would look like it is very helpful if one is able
to take a look at a preview. That's why Andreas appended the url with
orca pix.
> I find the idea of of using some animal bad, unless it appears that
> there actually exist `debians'. Debian is software, so the logo should
Hmm, are you a genetic expert?
> reflect that. The important things about the software are that is is
> free, and that it is shared among people. In 10 minutes I could come
> up with two logo designs reflecting this. Please give me a few days to
> work this out. What debian needs is a logo, not a discussion about an
> idea for a subject of a logo.
Please provide us with your ideas. You seem to have a strong mind so
I hope your ideas regarding the logo are as good.
> As it was formulated, the logo contest is about an idea anyway. Your
> idea would be `use an orca' with some reasons. That's fine. Submit
> it, and let others submit their ideas.
Exactly!
Regards,
Joey
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E.L. Meijer (Eric)
> Last time I asked what a good open source logo would look like (or some
> related question) irc got pretty quiet. This seems to be the thing no one
> knows. Wasn't there an open source logo contest? I think of things like
> an open box or open book. I also like this poster of a light house I have
> which seems appropriate. If we get some good ideas, maybe some gimp'ers
> would be willing to draw them up before this contest is over. Our request
> to the gimp contest team was too vague and directionless. Without
> direction, all they can do is lots of different fonts and modifications of
> the word debian.
As I said before, I think gimp is not the tool to create logos with.
It would be a tool to make a really fancy version. I think a vector
based drawing program is what you want to start with, so you can easily
get a scalable version, and translate nicely to postscript, which can
be included in most word processors / TeX, and which can be easily
converted to any odd format. The only vector based drawing program I
know on linux is xfig, which is rather rusty to say the least. Are
there any others (mostly interested in free software here)?
Eric Meijer
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Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032
Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
Richard Harran
spout out all sorts of ideas, until someone comes up with the perfect
solution incorporating the best bits from everywhere, right?
I like the orca idea (it's the black and white one that eats seal, isn't
it?). I also like the lighthouse, open 'soure' <-> light source, so
maybe on that theme, the orca could be spurting from its blow hole
(water source- might all be a bit tenuous). I think a problem with the
lighthouse might be that some movie studio (Touchstone?) already has it.
My sort of original contribution is: I thought of putting the 'd' and
'b' of debian (OK someone said no letters, but 90% of logos have letters
in them, and I'm not just thinking of 'debian' writen in an unusual
font, although I think it is a bit silly to rule this out completely)
together to form an arch, with the tail of the d arching over to almost
meet the tail of the b. The idea is that an arch is always open. In
the middle of the arch is the top half of the sun poking over the
ground, and spraying rays (someone artistic could have fun making the
lighting look good), for that open source theme again. There is also a
glimmer coming from the gap between the tail of the d, and that of the
b. I don't know if this description is very clear.
This is just something I came up with, and I am very happy for anyone to
develop any bits of it they like, or totally ignore it if they like.
Unfortunately, my drawing ability is too crappy for me to show you how I
envision this idea.
Rich
Brandon Mitchell wrote:
>
> On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, Andreas Tille wrote:
>
> > So let us define first, *what* we want to show on our logo.
> > This is always the first step in software related things. Wy did
> > we step over it??
>
> Last time I asked what a good open source logo would look like (or some
> related question) irc got pretty quiet. This seems to be the thing no one
> knows. Wasn't there an open source logo contest? I think of things like
> an open box or open book. I also like this poster of a light house I have
> which seems appropriate. If we get some good ideas, maybe some gimp'ers
> would be willing to draw them up before this contest is over. Our request
> to the gimp contest team was too vague and directionless. Without
> direction, all they can do is lots of different fonts and modifications of
> the word debian.
>
> Thanks for starting this thread,
> Brandon
>
> +--- ---+
> | Brandon Mitchell bmi...@atdot.org http://bmitch.nws.net/ ICQ 30631197 |
> | Throughout history, UNIX systems have regulary been broken into, beaten, |
> | brutalized, corrupted, commandeered, compromised, and illegally fscked. |
> | -- UNIX System Administration Handbook |
E.L. Meijer (Eric)
>
>
> There DOES exist, however, an animal called a Gnu--I always thought
> GNU/Hurd was actually a pun on that idea: so why not do the simple task
> and use a gnu head for the icon?
Because the head of the gnu already is the logo the FSF uses most of the
time (http://www.gnu.org/). The gnu is the FSF mascotte. Debian is not
identical to the FSF, so it needs a different logo. If there is going to
be a gnu in the logo, it should not be the main object.
HTH,
Eric
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E.L. Meijer (tga...@chem.tue.nl) | tel. office +31 40 2472189
Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032
Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
E.L. Meijer (Eric)
> So the remaining question for me is, why we can't bring it to an end.
> The Debian leader ship election was comming to an end. Set up new
> voting pages with the most discussed animals, lets choose the mascot and
> give the artists a chance to work to this topic.
Why are you so persistent in wanting an animal? I just started thinking
about it and came up with several ideas that reflect what debian is
about: building a system of free software that can be shared by a lot
of people. I am sure others are capable to come up with such ideas as
well. Here's another one:
Debian is, more than other distros, a _global_ distribution.
Developpers from all over the planet contribute. I can picture a logo
of a globe surrounded by a ring of bits.
Keep thinking. This email list is so crowded that there must be some
creative people around with good ideas.
Mark Phillips
penguin --- the linux mascot. We already have a gnu as well. Having
yet another animal for Debian is IMHO really not the answer.
As far as marketing goes, I reckon RedHat have got it perfect. They
have a simple, bright, easily identifiable object. It's easy to draw.
It's bright. It's easy to combine with other things --- for example
you could easily draw a penguin wearing a red hat --- easily drawing
the connection between RedHat and Linux. It's simple yet powerful.
If only Debian could do something similar. My suggestion is that we
come up with some simple, yet powerful, visual object that could
easily be connected with a penguin, or with a gnu, or with a variety
of other themes.
As for some ideas of what this object should be. Some suggestions:
* some sort of flower --- visions of a penguin holding a flower, or a
gnu holding a flower in it's teeth --- etc etc. A flower is a simple,
yet powerful object.
* a fob watch --- visions of a penguin with a fob watch. It is a
powerful visual object and gives out vibes of precision and quality.
* a paper aeroplane --- simple yet powerful visual object --- vibes of
freedom, beauty, precision etc.
And I'm sure there are many more possibilities.
Mark.
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