SiteMesh logo competition

[Joe Walnes]

I'm just about to create a logo design contest for SiteMesh on www.99designs.com. Below is the proposal - any comments before I go ahead?

cheers
-Joe

Title / Subtitle

Logo for popular open source project

Clean, simple and modern logo for web page layout framework (SiteMesh)

Short summary

SiteMesh is a popular open source framework that allows web site developers to separate content from look and feel, and break their site down into components that can be 'meshed' together. For 10 years it has survived with no logo, but with a major new release on the horizon, the time has come to give it a strong identity.

Brand Name

SiteMesh

What I Want

• Font: Feel free to use whatever font you like, or create your own. Remember that SiteMesh is associated with clean and simple. If you use (or derive from) an existing font, please specify what font this is and where it can be obtained.

• Background: The logo should be on a flat (single color) background, so it is easy to place in different places. If the background is not white, please also supply a variation of the logo that has a white background (e.g. to use in print outs).

• Color scheme: Up to you.

• Theme: Clean, simple, modern.

• Variations: Would like two variations of the logo: 1. The worded logo: This focus of this must be the word 'SiteMesh'. It will typically be used in the header of every page of the website, documentation, etc. 2. The icon based logo: This would typically appear in small square placements (e.g. a desktop icon). It does not need to contain the text 'SiteMesh' but should be easy to recognize as associated with the worded logo. Should look good at small sizes (e.g. 42x42).

• Format: Please supply original high-resolution files of whatever tool you use to create the logo (e.g PSD, EPS...), so I can make modifications and rescale in the future as necessary.

[Joe Walnes]

Contest launched - http://99designs.com/contests/23286 - $400 prize.

Tell your friends :)

[Joe Walnes]

There have been 20 entries already submitted and it hasn't even been
running a day yet. See http://99designs.com/contests/23286

The trick to getting the most out of this is to provide the designers
with plenty of feedback of what works, what doesn't, what to change,
etc. I'm doing my best, but if anyone else has any thoughts, please
get involved (either reply directly on the contest, or let me know and
I can reply).

thanks
-Joe

[Richard L. Burton III]

I was looking at this last night as well.. very nice.

I like item #17, #22, #20, #18 so far. Using the masses to accomplish work is awesome!

--
-Richard L. Burton III

[Joe Walnes]

It's going pretty well :)

A lot of the designs struggle to come up with an icon that represents
the idea of page composition. Does anyone have any suggestions for the
kind of thing we're looking for? (I'm not sure myself)

[Richard L. Burton III]

The images I selected stood out because they had some interesting representation of 'meshing'.  #22 was nice since it had a nice way to saying 'we mesh things together!'.

what things in life represent meshing things together?

[Joe Walnes]

My colleague just pointed out to me that 'mesh' is a misleading name. Maybe we should focus on page composition (like laying out a newspaper?).

I've been astounded by how quickly designers are resubmitting improvements after the feedback. I love this site :).

My current favs are #27, #23 and #17. But I'm expecting loads more submissions.

[Richard L. Burton III]

Joe, I was went back as well and was in shock they added more in the last few minutes!

I think you're right.. we're doing composition vs. meshing.

[Richard Vowles]

I like #15 - the others are OK. I'm surprised no-one has gone with an S&M theme... :-)

(oh for Wave.....)

--
---
Richard Vowles,
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[Joe Walnes]

Okay - the entries are flooding in, over 110 so far, and I've been trying to give feedback for every one of them.

These are the ones I like the best so far: http://99designs.com/contests/23286?orderby=rating&filterby=highrating

Some of the initial designs looked good as logos, but didn't really relate to what the project did. I've been trying to steer the designers to have something that reflects components/decorators on a page.

After seeing a load of logos, I decided I really like the orange themed ones more (not sure why, I just did), so I've requested the designers use this scheme. Also lower case lettering looks way better.

Which of these stand out? Which should be eliminated? Do you think they reflect the project? Any other suggestions I can give to the designers? There are still 5 days left of the contest, so it's possible to suggest radical changes.

cheers

-Joe

[Patrick Lightbody]

Wow, really amazing!

I tend to agree with the 5 star ratings already given... my favorites,
in order, are:

#29
#37
#103
#110
#23

[Mathias Bogaert]

Pretty cool!

I agree as well with the 5 star ratings. Perhaps we should stop the contest earlier?

Mathias

[Richard Vowles]

Methinks there are a few out of work designers.

They are all pretty darn nice.

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Mathias Bogaert <mathias...@gmail.com> wrote:

Pretty cool!

I agree as well with the 5 star ratings. Perhaps we should stop the contest earlier?

[Richard L. Burton III]

Very nice collection being built here.

I agree with Patrick on items: 29, 37 & 103 (not sure which color combo I like more...)

I say let the it continue and see what other designs bubble up. Crowd sourcing is an awesome means to get excellent work!

[Joe Walnes]

On Monday, the design contest finishes and I'd like to pick a winner.

Please join me on IRC to help pick a winner.

Where: irc.codehaus.org #sitemesh

When: This Monday (15th June) at 9:30pm BST

-j

  

[Patrick Lightbody]

Sorry, I couldn't make it (that's 1:30AM local). What'd you guys end up picking?

Patrick

[Mathias Bogaert]

Unbelievable. The amount of stunning designs is mind boggling. I'm glad I wasn't in, I just wouldn't be able to decide.

[Joe Walnes]

I think you're 12 hours out. It hasn't started yet - it's in 1 hours time from now :)

I'm on IRC now and will be for the next 2 hours - #sitemesh irc.codehaus.org

-j

[Joe Walnes]

Chaps.... I'd really like to get your opinion. Hop on to IRC if you're not already there and I'll take you through the final candidates.

cheers

-Joe

[Hani Suleiman]

I'll be on in 10 mins or so, if you're still around

[Richard Vowles]

darn. missed it.

On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:26 AM, Joe Walnes <j...@walnes.com> wrote:

Chaps.... I'd really like to get your opinion. Hop on to IRC if you're not already there and I'll take you through the final candidates.

[Richard L. Burton III]

They're still in the channel Rich.

[Joe Walnes]

we're still around

[Richard Vowles]

No #sitemesh channel on that link. Maybe it just doesn't like me :-)

On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 10:05 AM, Richard L. Burton III <mrbu...@gmail.com> wrote:

They're still in the channel Rich.

[Joe Walnes]

The winner! http://99designs.com/contests/23286