Sunsetting Georgia bold

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Basil Crow

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Mar 7, 2022, 2:20:27 PM3/7/22
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Since at least August 10, 2011, the Jenkins logo has been set in Georgia bold.

To me, this is a throwback to a much earlier era in Internet history, when web typography was essentially limited to Microsoft's core fonts for the web. Since the early 2010s, the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) was standardized and rose to prominence, Adobe Fonts (then Typekit) was launched and rose to prominence, and Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) was launched and rose to prominence. Webfonts have become an important tool for web designers, and as of 2016 a majority of sites use webfonts.

I think the continued use of Georgia bold gives the Jenkins project a dated look. As part of the efforts to modernize the Jenkins user interface, I think it is time to sunset Georgia bold. I think the project's brand would benefit from the use of a modern typeface and modern font technology.

Gavin Mogan

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Mar 7, 2022, 3:14:39 PM3/7/22
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I have no objections to changing the fonts. I don't really notice differences of fonts in general.

The only condition for me would that they have to be distributable, I don't want Jenkins to reach out to typekit or Google every page hit, it should work the same airgapped.

Gavin

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Tim Jacomb

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Mar 7, 2022, 3:22:00 PM3/7/22
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There's a 'modern' header hidden behind the 'jenkins.ui.refresh' system property

You can also enable it by setting 'Functions.UI_REFRESH = true' in the script console:

image.png

We could look at switching over to that?

I think there might have been a second iteration of this somewhere in a Cloudbees design somewhere,
I have a vague memory of seeing the white/blue change have a straight line instead of a diagonal.

Tim

Alex

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Mar 7, 2022, 3:55:09 PM3/7/22
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Is there a specific reason why the header never made it into Jenkins as default? I mean, it doesn't look bad, but according to git blame it's shipped for ~2+ years now.

> I have a vague memory of seeing the white/blue change have a straight line instead of a diagonal.

The slash-like delimiter between the white and blue looks quite nice, actually.

~Alex

Basil Crow

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Mar 7, 2022, 4:09:40 PM3/7/22
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On Mon, Mar 7, 2022 at 12:14 PM 'Gavin Mogan' via Jenkins Developers <jenkin...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
> The only condition for me would that they have to be distributable, I don't want Jenkins to reach out to typekit or Google every page hit, it should work the same airgapped.

I concur. For comparison, GitHub distributes their logo in .ai, .eps, .png, and .psd formats. It is a combination of a logotype (the word "GitHub" set in a distinct typeface) and logomark (the silhouette of the Octocat). The typeface used for the logotype seems similar (but not identical) to Linotype Yalta Sans Pro Extra Bold. I do not know if GitHub had to pay a fee to be able to distribute the logotype.

On Mon, Mar 7, 2022 at 12:21 PM Tim Jacomb <timja...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There's a 'modern' header hidden behind the 'jenkins.ui.refresh' system property
[…]

> We could look at switching over to that?

The current Jenkins logo is a combination of a logotype (the word "Jenkins" set in a distinctive Georgia bold) and logomark (the butler artwork) and is very unique and recognizable. I have seen the combination used in many slide decks.

The design hidden behind jenkins.ui.refresh does not use a distinct font for the Jenkins logo; rather, it merely uses the same sans-serif typeface used to render the rest of the page. That is, it employs a logomark without logotext.

I think that reducing the Jenkins logo to just a logomark (the butler artwork) without logotext (the word "Jenkins" set in a distinct typeface) would result in a reduction of the uniqueness and recognizability provided by the current combination of a logotext and logomark. My vote is for the project to retain the combination of a logotype and logomark, just replacing Georgia bold with a new typeface in the logotext. This matches the strategy used by e.g. GitHub and Pepsi.

Tim Jacomb

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Mar 7, 2022, 4:34:29 PM3/7/22
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Is there a specific reason why the header never made it into Jenkins as default? I mean, it doesn't look bad, but according to git blame it's shipped for ~2+ years now.
It was the first of the UX improvements done a couple of years ago and was put behind a feature 'because', envisaging other improvement would use feature flag.
But this was the only one...
 

Basil Crow

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Mar 7, 2022, 5:50:04 PM3/7/22
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When choosing typefaces, there are two key considerations: How does the type make us feel and how does the type work? Type can often evoke a feeling from a certain era. For example, Georgia Bold takes me back to the late 2000s, when Jenkins (then Hudson) was first conceived.

Now consider a typeface like Source Sans Bold, a grotesque sans-serif with humanist influences designed by Paul Hunt based on the work of Morris Benton. Type the word "Jenkins" into the preview box. Put the butler image next to it in your mind. What feeling does this evoke in you?

To me, the ideal logotype for our project would evoke a feeling of measured evolution that looks confidently toward the future while honoring the past. That is what our community is all about.

I used Source Sans Bold as an example and a starting point for discussion, but it is also open source and available on GitHub.
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