TurboGears visuals for 0.9/1.0

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Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 8, 2005, 10:38:55 AM12/8/05
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The TurboGears community has grown by leaps and bounds over what it
was when Sebastian did the inner templates for the current site. I
have a bunch of ideas for what should go into the site now, and it's
time to think about what the site should look like for 0.9/1.0.

Karl Guertin has an opening salvo: a revised logo:
Black/White full size:
http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/TurboGears.png

Site header:
http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/TurboGears-header.png

I'd be interested in hearing about logo redesigns, but there's one
thing I think needs to be kept: the G-gear (as Karl has done).
TurboGears has already built up some branding, and I think tossing the
G-gear would be a mistake. But, I'm interested in seeing ideas that
people have.

I know that most people on the list are programmers... but some of you
are also good designers or know good designers. Let's see what we can
do.

Ronald Jaramillo also sent me an idea he had for a new site header. It
was very spiffy (maybe he'll send a link to the list?).

So, if you've got an idea for a change to the logo or site template,
now's the time!

Kevin

--
Kevin Dangoor
Author of the Zesty News RSS newsreader

email: k...@blazingthings.com
company: http://www.BlazingThings.com
blog: http://www.BlueSkyOnMars.com

Jonathan LaCour

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Dec 8, 2005, 11:21:48 AM12/8/05
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> The TurboGears community has grown by leaps and bounds over what it
> was when Sebastian did the inner templates for the current site. I
> have a bunch of ideas for what should go into the site now, and it's
> time to think about what the site should look like for 0.9/1.0.

The images you sent are certainly an improvement, but I share the
sentiment with several others that I have heard that think
TurboGears's branding isn't very good. I think Django and Rails both
have better logos, color schemes, websites, and general branding.
This isn't to knock the hard work of those who worked on the current
site and branding, just an observation. Its not even the information
on the site, its mostly the presentation.

I think that Rails has evidenced how important branding is,
especially when it comes to web development. I would love to see
TurboGears do what Rails did, and have a branding campaign as part of
the push towards 1.0. Pay a really, genuinely good designer (like
Jon Hicks, in the case of Rails) to help us lowly programmers brand
TurboGears. This is an investment in the future of the project and
would draw in more users, and contributers.

Am I alone here?

-- Jonathan

--
Jonathan LaCour
http://cleverdevil.org

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 8, 2005, 11:31:51 AM12/8/05
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Jonathan LaCour <jonatha...@cleverdevil.org> writes:

> I think that Rails has evidenced how important branding is, especially when
> it comes to web development. I would love to see TurboGears do what Rails
> did, and have a branding campaign as part of the push towards 1.0. Pay a
> really, genuinely good designer (like Jon Hicks, in the case of Rails) to
> help us lowly programmers brand TurboGears. This is an investment in the
> future of the project and would draw in more users, and contributers.

Also there's a nice amount of information right on the first page of
http://www.rubyonrails.org/ that makes a lot of things clear. And there's the
"flowing on the rails" diagram -- TG already has it, but a bit buried in the
docs -- that shows how things (will) work. "The big picture" shouldn't be
only on the "Getting Started", inside the "Docs" area.

Someone has to dig a bit more to see what TG has to offer than to see what
Rails has to offer.

--
Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com>

Karl Guertin

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Dec 8, 2005, 11:50:52 AM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, Kevin Dangoor <dan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> So, if you've got an idea for a change to the logo or site template,
> now's the time!

Woot! The site is up for redesign as well!

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 8, 2005, 12:42:56 PM12/8/05
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On 08 Dec 2005 14:31:51 -0200, Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Someone has to dig a bit more to see what TG has to offer than to see what
> Rails has to offer.

Let's keep this discussion focused on the overall visuals, as opposed
to the content. I have plenty of ideas on improvements to make there.

Kevin

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 8, 2005, 12:49:31 PM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, Jonathan LaCour <jonatha...@cleverdevil.org> wrote:
> The images you sent are certainly an improvement, but I share the
> sentiment with several others that I have heard that think
> TurboGears's branding isn't very good. I think Django and Rails both
> have better logos, color schemes, websites, and general branding.
> This isn't to knock the hard work of those who worked on the current
> site and branding, just an observation. Its not even the information
> on the site, its mostly the presentation.

Agreed.

> I think that Rails has evidenced how important branding is,
> especially when it comes to web development. I would love to see
> TurboGears do what Rails did, and have a branding campaign as part of
> the push towards 1.0. Pay a really, genuinely good designer (like
> Jon Hicks, in the case of Rails) to help us lowly programmers brand
> TurboGears. This is an investment in the future of the project and
> would draw in more users, and contributers.

I agree again that this is very important. I wanted to start with a
call to the 800+ people in this google group to see what resources
might be available here. I have an idea how much it costs to get a
good designer, but I'm fairly leveraged as it is.

Stepping up a level: if we had unlimited resources here, who would you
go to for logo and site design? I'm fond of the work done for
Firefox/Thunderbird for the Mozilla Foundation, but I don't know who
did that. (I'm sure I can find out...) Does anyone else have some
particularly inspiring designers to consider?

Kevin

Jared Kuolt

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Dec 8, 2005, 12:56:25 PM12/8/05
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> Stepping up a level: if we had unlimited resources here, who would you
> go to for logo and site design? I'm fond of the work done for
> Firefox/Thunderbird for the Mozilla Foundation, but I don't know who
> did that. (I'm sure I can find out...) Does anyone else have some
> particularly inspiring designers to consider?
>
> Kevin
>

I almost worked with this designer named Miguel Vega. At $80/hr, his
work speaks for itself:

http://www.shikakufx.com/portfolio/pages/vj.htm


--
jared...@gmail.com

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 8, 2005, 1:09:33 PM12/8/05
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That looks quite nice!
Cheers
Ronald

________________________________
Ronald Jaramillo
mail: ronald AT checkandshare DOT com
blog: http://www.checkandshare.com/blog

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 8, 2005, 1:13:03 PM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, Kevin Dangoor <dan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12/8/05, Jonathan LaCour <jonatha...@cleverdevil.org> wrote:
> > I think that Rails has evidenced how important branding is,
> > especially when it comes to web development. I would love to see
> > TurboGears do what Rails did, and have a branding campaign as part of
> > the push towards 1.0. Pay a really, genuinely good designer (like
> > Jon Hicks, in the case of Rails) to help us lowly programmers brand
> > TurboGears. This is an investment in the future of the project and
> > would draw in more users, and contributers.

> Stepping up a level: if we had unlimited resources here, who would you


> go to for logo and site design? I'm fond of the work done for
> Firefox/Thunderbird for the Mozilla Foundation, but I don't know who
> did that. (I'm sure I can find out...) Does anyone else have some
> particularly inspiring designers to consider?

Err... the designer who did the Firefox logo was, in fact, Jon Hicks.

David Guaraglia

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Dec 8, 2005, 1:36:16 PM12/8/05
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Well, now that we are on the topic, I think that something that would
make a big difference is making the front page more accesible. In fact,
those are not the correct words, what I mean is "make the content more
accesible to the user". For example, the trac page can only be found
after you navigated inside a few links, and that, for someone with the
attention span of a mosquito (my case) is too much.

Besides that, I like the new logo. In fact I think that the 'G' there is
enough as logo, because using the whole 'TurboGears" thing seems
overkill (and in my opinion a tad skinny, logos now come in
extra-extra-bold). Of course, I'm just a mere mortal more akin to
programming than design, so any designer's view on this should
automatically override my opinion.

And last (but not least) I think that a little demo application, even
the 20mn wiki, running on the server would make a lot of difference.
Static pages are nice when you don't have something like TG to make them
dynamic ;)

David

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 8, 2005, 1:42:52 PM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, David Guaraglia <dguar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, now that we are on the topic, I think that something that would
> make a big difference is making the front page more accesible. In fact,
> those are not the correct words, what I mean is "make the content more
> accesible to the user". For example, the trac page can only be found
> after you navigated inside a few links, and that, for someone with the
> attention span of a mosquito (my case) is too much.

But we're not on that topic :)

We could start a separate thread for bouncing ideas around for the
website contents.

> Besides that, I like the new logo. In fact I think that the 'G' there is
> enough as logo, because using the whole 'TurboGears" thing seems
> overkill (and in my opinion a tad skinny, logos now come in
> extra-extra-bold). Of course, I'm just a mere mortal more akin to
> programming than design, so any designer's view on this should
> automatically override my opinion.

Ahh... we *are* on this topic. The Planet site makes use of just the
G. I do like having the G in the context of the whole word as well
(Ronald has used it to good effect as well.)

> And last (but not least) I think that a little demo application, even
> the 20mn wiki, running on the server would make a lot of difference.
> Static pages are nice when you don't have something like TG to make them
> dynamic ;)

Most of the pages will continue to be static, because they work just
fine. But, putting useful dynamic stuff up seems like a good idea and
is something I'm thinking about.

Kevin

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 8, 2005, 2:10:16 PM12/8/05
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What about financing the designers wage by asking him to do artwork
for a t-shirt as part of the assigment?
I for one will love to buy a nice t-shirt to support the project!
Ronald

________________________________

Jared Kuolt

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Dec 8, 2005, 2:16:29 PM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, Ronald Jaramillo <ron...@checkandshare.com> wrote:
>
> What about financing the designers wage by asking him to do artwork
> for a t-shirt as part of the assigment?
> I for one will love to buy a nice t-shirt to support the project!
> Ronald

Jared looks left, turns right.

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 8, 2005, 2:19:41 PM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, Ronald Jaramillo <ron...@checkandshare.com> wrote:
>
> What about financing the designers wage by asking him to do artwork
> for a t-shirt as part of the assigment?
> I for one will love to buy a nice t-shirt to support the project!
> Ronald

I was planning to start with the ideal and see where things go from
there. Most people will negotiate something, particularly for an open
source project (and one that is gaining a fair bit of attention).

That said, I'm still open to ideas from the list. I do like the header
layout you showed me earlier, and Karl's ideas are good, too.

Kevin

p.s. Jon Hicks is busy until April.

Jeff Grimmett

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Dec 8, 2005, 8:14:30 PM12/8/05
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On 12/8/05, Jonathan LaCour <jonatha...@cleverdevil.org> wrote:

the push towards 1.0.  Pay a really, genuinely good designer (like
Jon Hicks, in the case of Rails) to help us lowly programmers brand
TurboGears.  This is an investment in the future of the project and
would draw in more users, and contributers.

I agree; coding geeks are really lousy graphic artists for the most part. I have a contact I am going to pursue before I say anything. He's done excellent work in the past, but judging from his website he may be well beyond freelancing these days (good for him, not so good for us). But maybe he'll have some ideas about someone that would be good for this sorta thing.

Just contingency, of course - other avenues are far more desireable, but it never hurts to have a pro on standby if needed :-)

--
"Things fall apart. The Center cannot hold."
                  - Life as a QA geek, in a nutshell.

Best,

    Jeff

koorb

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Dec 8, 2005, 9:30:41 PM12/8/05
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Hi,

It's good this topic has been brought up, although an apparently
trivial thing the look and brand can have a big impact on how something
is perceived. I rather liked the "turbogears under the hood" badges,
and the newer templates on the site are nice and clean but it would be
good to get some continuity.

I work as a web developer/designer, I certainly don't have the artistic
dexterity as many popular names on the web at the moment but I thought
I would have a go at a logo design.

I'd love to help if I can.

koorb

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Dec 8, 2005, 9:31:55 PM12/8/05
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I'm guessing you can't read my mind, so here's the link to
http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/ (it's 2:30am I need sleep ...)

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 8, 2005, 9:39:37 PM12/8/05
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"koorb" <ric...@koorb.co.uk> writes:

> I'm guessing you can't read my mind, so here's the link to
> http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/ (it's 2:30am I need sleep ...)

I liked your brown logo
(http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/big/tglogo-brown.jpg) and the
buttons (http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/big/tglogo-buttons.jpg).
Specially the G-gear with other gears. I'm more for the fisrt version of the
under the hood button (the one with green background) than the second one.


Be seeing you,
--
Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com>

haj

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Dec 8, 2005, 10:17:11 PM12/8/05
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I personally prefer the original 'G' shape... TurboGears will likely be
often written as TG for short, why not put a T with the G. Say, a T
hanging on a G or something. (pretty font please...)

Mike Pirnat

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Dec 8, 2005, 11:46:50 PM12/8/05
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Nice; I've been wanting to see the G meshing or overlapping the O for
quite some time.


--
Mike Pirnat
mpi...@gmail.com

Lee McFadden

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Dec 9, 2005, 5:02:59 AM12/9/05
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Those all look great. I particularly like the buttons and both the
entirely brown and entirely green versions of the logo.

Great work.

Lee

qvx

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Dec 9, 2005, 5:04:44 AM12/9/05
to TurboGears
I know I'm little off the topic, but I felt that I should say it.

I'm developing an in-house solution here at my company using TG, and
all I've told to my boss is that it is using a Python web framework. I
omitted the TurboGears part, because the name doesn't sound serious or
"professional". Personally, I like the name, and it is somewhat in
the spirit of Python, but it doesn't compete well with all those
other mouthful "Enterprise" names. Just by saying it to other
colleagues, who are using Oracle AS, J2EE, WebSphere and others, they
think: where does he just find those "things/toys"?

I ment no offence :)

Michele Cella

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Dec 9, 2005, 8:11:57 AM12/9/05
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Agreed.
The 3D gear gives a dynamic feeling to the whole logo.
Really nice work.

Ciao
Michele

Arnar Birgisson

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Dec 9, 2005, 8:14:23 AM12/9/05
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2005/12/9, koorb <ric...@koorb.co.uk>:

> I'm guessing you can't read my mind, so here's the link to
> http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/ (it's 2:30am I need sleep ...)

I like those..

Arnar

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 9, 2005, 9:26:33 AM12/9/05
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On 12/8/05, koorb <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> It's good this topic has been brought up, although an apparently
> trivial thing the look and brand can have a big impact on how something
> is perceived. I rather liked the "turbogears under the hood" badges,
> and the newer templates on the site are nice and clean but it would be
> good to get some continuity.

Very nice work. The G looks like a superhero emblem :)

I was looking at this company which has done some surprisingly nice
logos for surprisingly little money:
http://thelogocompany.net/logo-design-example10.htm

But, your logo idea seems as good as what we'd get from there.

Kevin

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 9, 2005, 9:34:39 AM12/9/05
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On 12/9/05, qvx <qvx...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm developing an in-house solution here at my company using TG, and
> all I've told to my boss is that it is using a Python web framework. I
> omitted the TurboGears part, because the name doesn't sound serious or
> "professional". Personally, I like the name, and it is somewhat in
> the spirit of Python, but it doesn't compete well with all those
> other mouthful "Enterprise" names. Just by saying it to other
> colleagues, who are using Oracle AS, J2EE, WebSphere and others, they
> think: where does he just find those "things/toys"?
>
> I ment no offence :)

None taken.

Naming is an interesting thing (and particularly hard these days,
given what it takes to find an available domain name). Domain name
issues aside, finding a name that conveys the right image and has the
right "feel" is very difficult.

I don't think "Yahoo!" and "Google" are serious sounding, but these
are both well-respected multibillion dollar businesses. What company
would want to place a job posting on "Monster"? Lots, actually.

Sounding like "Oracle AS", "J2EE" and even "WebSphere" is not what we
want. TurboGears is the anti-J2EE. It's for a shop that's ready to
take the plunge and do agile development. We've got an "agile,
AJAX-enabled, Web 2.0-compliant, lightweight framework", so I think
we're plenty buzzword compliant. The TurboGears name is just not fully
established yet, but articles and books and the like will help over
time. I doubt "Ruby On Rails" sounded particularly serious to many
folks when David first introduced it.

Karl Guertin

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Dec 9, 2005, 9:57:07 AM12/9/05
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On 12/8/05, koorb <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> I'm guessing you can't read my mind, so here's the link to
> http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/ (it's 2:30am I need sleep ...)

Nice work, I wanted to do an upward slanted G crossbar but that
doesn't fit with my text while it does with yours. I prefer the flat
design to the 3d variations, but my tastes in design tend to run to
the austere.

As for colors, deeper greens and all browns tend to be the worst on
computer monitors, as different calibrations on different monitors
have the greatest effect on those colors. Green is sort of the
signature django color and I assume rails will go with red. It's
certainly possible to use these colors (green, brown, red), but those
are the issues I have with them.

Sean De La Torre

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Dec 9, 2005, 10:27:44 AM12/9/05
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I recently used logoworks.com for my business logo. After seeing what
they did for me, my dad also used them for his company's logo. Their
service was excellent, however, they are a little more expensive than
thelogocompany.

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 9, 2005, 10:45:12 AM12/9/05
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Interesting. I looked at their site as well, but I was little more
impressed by thelogocompany's samples. As I said, though, I'm not sure
that we'd get anything better than koorb's logo from either of those
places. (Different, I'm sure... but better is unknown, and subjective
anyway.)

What you get from someone like Jon Hicks is an incredible level of
detail. Look at the Firefox, Thunderbird or even the Rails logo and
you'll see what I mean. Or check out his samples:
http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/

His logos have very interesting texture and detail to them. (I guess I
don't tend toward the austere...)

One thing about koorb's logo idea that just hit me (bringing in the
other message that wondered about our branding vs. J2EE, for example):
it is a more "fun" logo than the current one. It may actually skew a
little too "fun". (Not that I'm, in general, an opponent of fun, but
we *are* competing for real attention as an application platform.)

Consider koorb's logo:
http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/variations.html

and the "under the hood" in use today (look on the far right):
http://www.diggdot.us/

Kevin

Tim Lesher

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Dec 9, 2005, 10:56:37 AM12/9/05
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On 12/9/05, Sean De La Torre <sdela...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I recently used logoworks.com for my business logo. After seeing what
> they did for me, my dad also used them for his company's logo. Their
> service was excellent, however, they are a little more expensive than
> thelogocompany.

I don't have any direct contact with LogoWorks, but I've been
less-than-impressed with some things I've read about them:
http://www.baddesignkills.com/logoworks/

Apparently, this sort of this is not uncommon among the "low price"
logo design companies.

--
Tim Lesher <tle...@gmail.com>

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 9, 2005, 11:03:13 AM12/9/05
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On 12/9/05, Tim Lesher <tle...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't have any direct contact with LogoWorks, but I've been
> less-than-impressed with some things I've read about them:
> http://www.baddesignkills.com/logoworks/
>
> Apparently, this sort of this is not uncommon among the "low price"
> logo design companies.

That explains a lot. I was wondering how they managed those quick
turnarounds and low prices. Claiming the Xerox logo is a bold move, if
you ask me.

Kevin

Mark Ramm

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Dec 9, 2005, 11:11:17 AM12/9/05
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> Consider koorb's logo:
> http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/variations.html
>
> and the "under the hood" in use today (look on the far right):
> http://www.diggdot.us/

Personally I think the issue is not so much fun vs serious, but
armature vs professional. And even that isn't quite what I want to
say, because I think a lot of time armature means better rather than
worse -- because armatures actually care about what they are doing ;)
I just think the Under the Hood logo looks has more classical design
elements, and looks more solid/static/focused, while Korb's logo seems
very active, and seems to be going in a couple of different directions
at once. I think Korb's logo might benefit from a font with less
diagonals, which might make it seem more stable and less frenetic.

We have some designers where I work, and I will take them out to lunch
and get their input on the various logo's out there, and see if there
is anything they can add to the discussion.

Sean De La Torre

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Dec 9, 2005, 11:19:08 AM12/9/05
to TurboGears
I had never seen that before. That's pretty bad. I never even
considered that they would copy a logo from someone else. That Beaver
Brewery logo used to be on the main page as one of their example logos.

Erik Smartt

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Dec 9, 2005, 11:36:04 AM12/9/05
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> 2005/12/9, koorb <ric...@koorb.co.uk>:
> > I'm guessing you can't read my mind, so here's the link to
> > http://koorb.co.uk/turbogears/ (it's 2:30am I need sleep ...)

I like the direction these are going. Have you tried squeezing the
logo into a micro-button size? (I'm partial to the 80x15 or 100x15
banners... maybe a 100x25.)

For reference, I think the Django guys have done a good job offering a
variety of sizes:
http://www.djangoproject.com/community/badges/

Cheers,
Erik

Karl Guertin

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Dec 9, 2005, 12:05:05 PM12/9/05
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On 12/9/05, Kevin Dangoor <dan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What you get from someone like Jon Hicks is an incredible level of
> detail. Look at the Firefox, Thunderbird or even the Rails logo and
> you'll see what I mean. Or check out his samples:
> http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/

When I did the logo I was told to keep the 'G-gear-ball-thing' and to
adjust the color and font. I thought I was pushing it by redesigning
the G. A logo as complex as one of the ones cited is a much larger
departure from the original. I'll do a complex design over the next
day or two since that seems to be what everybody's looking for.

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 9, 2005, 12:13:56 PM12/9/05
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On 12/9/05, Karl Guertin <gray...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> When I did the logo I was told to keep the 'G-gear-ball-thing' and to
> adjust the color and font. I thought I was pushing it by redesigning
> the G. A logo as complex as one of the ones cited is a much larger
> departure from the original. I'll do a complex design over the next
> day or two since that seems to be what everybody's looking for.

You're right. In fact, you was your changed G that made me think that
it's worth opening up the design for further possibilities.

While we're opening it up: if you've got a fabulous idea that doesn't
involve the G-gear, we may as well see that too. It's early enough
that we can get away with a dramatic shift. I like the G-gear, but
that's not to say that there aren't other good things that can come
up.

koorb

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Dec 10, 2005, 6:34:26 PM12/10/05
to TurboGears
Hey guys, this certainly is a hot topic. Nice to have a generally
positive feedback.

I had a play with some other ideas
http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/logo-sheet.png, someone on my
web site suggested a metallic look. I don't think I pulled it off
particularly well.

I agree that it would do with being more serious, like it or otherwise
there is competition. Simple is good, but so is good detail. I reckon
my favourite of mine so far may be the bottom left most (first 1 under
"section 3" - sorry I couldn't be bothered to split them into different
files so I just numbered vague areas of the image :-)

I changed the G-gear a bit, don't know what you think. If anyone has
some constructive ideas that they can convey to me, I'd be willing to
try and put it on screen. I tend to be inspirationally challenged,
which is why I don't do *this* for a living! However my brother is a
talented illustrator and I may see if he would be willing to give some
input.

On the subject of colour, does anyone have a preference? Im not a
massive fan of the greens used on the site at the moment (or on my
logos), but like the current logo, it has kind of grown on me. I often
lean toward blue's and red's myself.

On the subject of pros. Just by the fact that everyone knows who Jon
Hicks is is proof enough of his talent, good designers are normally
know by reputation rather than promotion. If we are really serious
about a *really* good, professional look for tg then we will need a
*really* good professional!
I enjoy playing about with design and such, which is why I have put the
time into these, but the fact is, the talent and inspiration of
designers such as Hicks is something I could only dream of all I offer
is doodles of an enthusiastic wanna-be. Sometimes though maybe that's
enough and one of us here can come up with something, or better yet
collaborate to come up with something. Either way I'm going to bed now
as it's 11:30pm and I was up the other night till 2pm with this (see
enthusiastic eh!). Notte.

- wow, long post!

koorb

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 10, 2005, 9:28:04 PM12/10/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Hi Koorb,
I really like the metallic gear (the flat one, not the quicksilver one), 
Color wise I think green is not that good, it tend's to get muggy and heavy. 
The dark red in the circle inside the gear of the existing logo is better, it looks good on white,
conveys warm, passion and  is classy in a royal kind of way.
One problem with the current logo is that, even if I like the idea of a 'G' as a gear (and I'm shure grafically
we can make it work) it's still 'wrong'.
I mean there is no much turbo in a gear missing 18% of it's teeth? 
That was not an attempt to be funny, people do react to such things without thinking. (hm, broken gear?)
Anyway, I play a bit with the metallic gear:

I like the combination og white, gray and the deep red. Spend some time working with the typography and ended with a 
heavy spaced ITC Officina Serif. It has an industrial look over it, and due to the serifs seams pretty solid/stable.
Just my 2.c.
Ronald
  




Henriksvej 15

2400 København NV

+45 22 27 85 11

ron...@manoamano.dk


Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 10, 2005, 11:14:32 PM12/10/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/10/05, Ronald Jaramillo <ron...@manoamano.dk> wrote:
> Hi Koorb,
> I really like the metallic gear (the flat one, not the quicksilver one),
> Color wise I think green is not that good, it tend's to get muggy and heavy.
> The dark red in the circle inside the gear of the existing logo is better, it looks good on white,
> conveys warm, passion and is classy in a royal kind of way.
> One problem with the current logo is that, even if I like the idea of a 'G' as a gear (and I'm shure grafically
> we can make it work) it's still 'wrong'.
> I mean there is no much turbo in a gear missing 18% of it's teeth?

Our gears are so fast, you don't even need to go all the way around!

>
> That was not an attempt to be funny, people do react to such things without thinking. (hm, broken gear?)
> Anyway, I play a bit with the metallic gear:
> http://www.checkandshare.com/images/tg_logo_2.png
>
>
> I like the combination og white, gray and the deep red. Spend some time working with the typography and ended with a
> heavy spaced ITC Officina Serif. It has an industrial look over it, and due to the serifs seams pretty solid/stable.

I agree with your choice of colors, but I'm not as certain about
extending the "crossbar" of the G all the way across. Yes, it may be
more mechanically stable that way, but it looks less like a G.

Also, it's TurboGears and not Turbo Gears -- having a space in the
logo could really throw people off.

Unless someone has a specific designer (other than Jon Hicks) in mind,
I think the new logo and site template will come from people on this
list (or people that people on this list know). Luckily, the designs
you're coming up with are much better than what we've got now. So,
this is a great discussion!

Kevin

koorb

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Dec 11, 2005, 12:44:30 PM12/11/05
to TurboGears
Kay, different approach this time - chance to see it in some kind of
context.

http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layout.png

comment away

Tracy Ruggles

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Dec 11, 2005, 1:24:03 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com

The 'O' in turbo is just begging to be cog-ified, too...
http://reinventnow.com/turbogears/

I don't have the time at all to contribute much to the logo/design
work, but if anyone likes the o-g tandem gears... you can run with it.

--Tracy

Angel Luis Jimenez Martinez

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Dec 11, 2005, 2:52:30 PM12/11/05
to TurboGears
Wow, really nice design!!

I like this white-based designs with some touches of color.

Great work

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 11, 2005, 3:42:55 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
I've got a bug report: the "download" button doesn't work! I was
hoping to download 0.9 from there and save a bunch of time :)

A couple of comments:

- I also like the mostly white page look. It's certainly "cleaner"
than the current.
- I'd like to use more metallic colors for the accents: they're
dfferent from our competition and they go along with the gear theme
- I like using the G-gear as a stand out logo (somewhat akin to
Ronald's suggestion)
- My wife had the suggestion that we write TurboGears on the gear
itself. I like it, because it can go along with the machined look.
This is not to say that we wouldn't also write TurboGears nearby, but
this can make the logo stand on its own more. I roughed this up in a
few minutes to show the idea, but it's not a serious implementation:

http://www.blazingthings.com/logo-beveled.png

my wife actually suggested making a bronze colored gear (not unlike
the current G, color-wise) and using silverly letters. That *may* look
good, I'm not sure. Gears more often come in steel (but a bronze or
golden gear could be striking, hard to say).

- the front page *will* have more useful stuff on it than it does now.
keep that in mind when doing layouts (imagine things like: latest
news, recent tickets, recent commits, etc). Lorem ipsum away!

Kevin

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 11, 2005, 4:11:02 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Really nice and clean.
Ronald

________________________________
Ronald Jaramillo
mail: ronald AT checkandshare DOT com
blog: http://www.checkandshare.com/blog

Dave Warnock

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Dec 11, 2005, 4:17:47 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Kevin,

> - My wife had the suggestion that we write TurboGears on the gear
> itself. I like it, because it can go along with the machined look.
> This is not to say that we wouldn't also write TurboGears nearby, but
> this can make the logo stand on its own more. I roughed this up in a
> few minutes to show the idea, but it's not a serious implementation:

+1

> my wife actually suggested making a bronze colored gear (not unlike
> the current G, color-wise) and using silverly letters. That *may* look
> good, I'm not sure. Gears more often come in steel (but a bronze or
> golden gear could be striking, hard to say).

+1 to have a look. As a Ubuntu fan I am into browns etc.

Dave

koorb

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Dec 11, 2005, 5:20:23 PM12/11/05
to TurboGears
Hey,

> The 'O' in turbo is just begging to be cog-ified, too

I'm a little wary of over complicating this one, to many fancy-fied
letters in a logo like this loose the focus.

- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/og-red.png
- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/og-blue.png
- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/og-green.png
- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/og-orange.png

I also did some mini buttons - which are surprisingly hard to do!

- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/buttons-blue.png
- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/buttons-red.png

So these were done before I read the latest comments though

> write TurboGears on the gear

> bronze colored gear

I will give that a go this week.

I am leaning toward simple more. I'm told that a rule of thumb for a
good logo is that it is recognisable in silhouette. Ruby on rails isn't
strictly but the basic shapes are. Django certainly is. Firefox,
different thing cos it's an application icon. I did a wonderful
analysis of their logo for you guys:

- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/firefox-analysis.png

The simpler it is, the easier it is to use everywhere and the quicker
people will recognise it. I did a couple of *minor* tweaks to the
layout also. everything so far is here:

- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/

Lee McFadden

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Dec 11, 2005, 5:20:44 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/11/05, koorb <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layout.png
>
> comment away

Awesome work.

+1 on the idea of the O being 'cogified' too. The O and G meshing
together giving a feeling of... well, meshing ;)

I also like the idea of a bronze-ish G-gear, especially for standalone stuff.

All in all, top stuff.

--
Lee

Blog: http://www.splee.co.uk

koorb

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Dec 11, 2005, 5:28:38 PM12/11/05
to TurboGears
> http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layout.png

> I've got a bug report: the "download" button doesn't work! I was
> hoping to download 0.9 from there and save a bunch of time :)

Just a sec, I think I have the e-mail for the guy in charge of that ...

Mike Pirnat

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Dec 11, 2005, 5:47:41 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/11/05, Lee McFadden <sple...@gmail.com> wrote:
> +1 on the idea of the O being 'cogified' too. The O and G meshing
> together giving a feeling of... well, meshing ;)

I see my nefarious mind control ray has finally worked on Lee...
(http://tinyurl.com/8djne)

One down, 6 billion to go! ;-)


--
Mike Pirnat
mpi...@gmail.com

Michele Cella

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Dec 11, 2005, 6:01:53 PM12/11/05
to TurboGears
koorb wrote:
> Hey guys, this certainly is a hot topic. Nice to have a generally
> positive feedback.

Hi koorb,

>
> I had a play with some other ideas
> http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/logo-sheet.png, someone on my
> web site suggested a metallic look.

Yes, it was me.

I really like (as the others it seems) the gray one in the section
number 1 here:

http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/logo-sheet.png

I also like your layout mockup (and in particular the white
background).

>From your initial ideas, I personally like how the "G" gear stands out,
for example on the under the hood badges here:

http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/big/tglogo-buttons.jpg

It's quite characteristic IMHO.

>
> On the subject of colour, does anyone have a preference? Im not a
> massive fan of the greens used on the site at the moment (or on my
> logos), but like the current logo, it has kind of grown on me. I often
> lean toward blue's and red's myself.
>

I'm personally in favor of using some (dep)red here and there (as you
already done on your layout template) and as suggested by Ronald.

Great work, really!

Ciao
Michele

Simon Belak

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Dec 11, 2005, 6:07:13 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
+1 for "cogification" of O, but I would keep colours flat and simple.
Perhaps just move the "Gear" part a bit lower to create the impression
of a stereotypical cog join.

Simon


--
Simon Belak
vodja projektnih skupin

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s: http://akademija.hruska.si (izobrazevalni portal)
s: http://www.elor.si (kadrovski sistem letnih razgovorov)
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To elektronsko sporocilo in vse morebitne priloge so poslovna skrivnost
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Vas prosimo, da obvestite posiljatelja, sporocilo pa takoj unicite.
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please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any
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this e-mail, or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on
it, is strictly prohibited.

koorb

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Dec 11, 2005, 6:32:16 PM12/11/05
to TurboGears
nother post :-)

Hi Simon,

> Perhaps just move the "Gear" part a bit lower to create the impression
> of a stereotypical cog join.

could you elaborate? not entirely sure what you mean.

Hi Michele,

> From your initial ideas, I personally like how the "G" gear stands out,

> (...) on the under the hood badges

I agree, though I do not like that type face anymore. Having the G
larger than the rest of the type does make it more distinctive but
increases the possibility of reading it as "Turbo Ears" as has been
mentioned on a previous topic. But I don't think happens so much here.

> I'm personally in favor of using some (dep)red

I rather like the reds too. It was mentioned that ROR uses red, and
yeah there RAILS logo is red, but their site is not.

But now to followup on Kevin's request here is the stand-alone gear -
with inscription.

- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gold-1.png

and another for good measure

- http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gold-2.png

Simon Belak

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Dec 11, 2005, 6:44:14 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
hi koorb,

something like this:
http://www.ceeo.tufts.edu/ldaps/htdocs/curriculum/images/lego/gearmath/gears.jpg

Perhaps a bad example since the gears depicted are differently sized but
the basic idea is to have axles in different horizontal plains
(different Y coordinate if you will).

Simon

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 11, 2005, 7:00:32 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
"koorb" <ric...@koorb.co.uk> writes:

Very good! Specially the second! :-) Congratulations!

--
Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com>

Karl Guertin

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Dec 11, 2005, 8:02:56 PM12/11/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/11/05, koorb <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> > Perhaps just move the "Gear" part a bit lower to create the impression
> > of a stereotypical cog join.
>
> could you elaborate? not entirely sure what you mean.

He means basically to move the 'TURBO' part in [1] up by about an
x-height. I would not recommend this because it splits the words and
makes it look like it's supposed to be 'Turbo Gears' when it is not.

[1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/og-red.png


> But now to followup on Kevin's request here is the stand-alone gear -
> with inscription.
>

> - http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gold-2.png

The second is a much better layout but (directed to everybody else)
'TurboGears' stops being legible when the dimensions get smaller than
72x72. I also think the gear has enough visual noise without extra
text on it, so I'm -1 on the text on the gear.

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 12, 2005, 1:39:55 AM12/12/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com

I want a T-Shirt! Black, medium size and with 'Under The Hood' on
the back' please =)
>
> - http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gold-2.png
>

Cheers
Ronald

Michele Cella

unread,
Dec 12, 2005, 2:28:31 AM12/12/05
to TurboGears
koorb wrote:
> - http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gold-2.png

I really like this, but as Kevin already said "TurboGears" should be
written in only a word not two.

Regarding the text that's not legible under 72x72, what about red text
on the same gray/silver gear? How will it look?

Ciao
Michele

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 12, 2005, 3:07:52 AM12/12/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
Here is a jerky logo animation:

Cheers
Ronald

Richard (koorb)

unread,
Dec 12, 2005, 5:59:09 AM12/12/05
to TurboGears
> as Kevin already said "TurboGears" should be
> written in only a word

I completely agree, which is why this particular idea may not work too
well, but as it happens I was copying Kevin's idea:

> I roughed this up in a
> few minutes to show the idea, but it's not a serious implementation:

> http://www.blazingthings.com/logo-beveled.png

> 'TurboGears' stops being legible when the dimensions get smaller than 72x72

If you just shrunk the image there down then I'm not surprised, as the
text is meant to be kind of subtle as it is, I think these gold gears
are kind of pretty artwork, they wouldn't work as a 'logo' per-say.

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 12, 2005, 11:09:54 AM12/12/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/12/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > as Kevin already said "TurboGears" should be
> > written in only a word
>
> I completely agree, which is why this particular idea may not work too
> well, but as it happens I was copying Kevin's idea:

Yep. But, in this case, it's more balanced to break it up (and koorb's
other example shows this).

http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gold-1.png

The point where I said it needed to be one word was where TurboGears
was written out in actual plain text like this:

TURBO GEARS

I'm less concerned about that in this logo (more below).

> > 'TurboGears' stops being legible when the dimensions get smaller than 72x72
>
> If you just shrunk the image there down then I'm not surprised, as the
> text is meant to be kind of subtle as it is, I think these gold gears
> are kind of pretty artwork, they wouldn't work as a 'logo' per-say.

I agree about the words being somewhat subtle. I'm not anticipating
that the G-gear would be alone on the site without the word
"TurboGears" nearby.

When it comes to it being "pretty artwork", the distinctive G-gear
*is* the logo, imho. Consider the Firefox example: the logo is the fox
wrapped around the world. Usually, you'll see the word "Firefox"
appear nearby. Many logos have an image that can be used independently
of the text of the company's name, right? (Like the AT&T
eyeball/death-star thing)

As koorb pointed out, you just have to have a consistent text style to
go with the actual name of the thing.

The part where I'm torn, though, is that I do like the O-G meshed gear
idea as well, and using both might be too much (unless, as koorb says,
the gold G is just decoration). I do think that the G in the O-G
sample should be the gear rather than just a modified G as it is now.
(But, it should be the same color as the rest of the word.)

I think my vote at this point would be:

- in a "square space" use the gold G, beveled letter emblem
- when writing the text "TurboGears", use the style with the cog O-G,
but be sure to the same G shape as the emblem
- use metal accents as differentiation from the others out there

I'm not certain if point 1 and 2 work together or not. I'd have to see
it more in context to know for sure...

Thanks for the terrific work!

Kevin

Tracy Ruggles

unread,
Dec 12, 2005, 12:09:10 PM12/12/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com

On Dec 12, 2005, at 10:09 AM, Kevin Dangoor wrote:

> I think my vote at this point would be:
>
> - in a "square space" use the gold G, beveled letter emblem
> - when writing the text "TurboGears", use the style with the cog O-G,
> but be sure to the same G shape as the emblem
> - use metal accents as differentiation from the others out there
>
> I'm not certain if point 1 and 2 work together or not. I'd have to see
> it more in context to know for sure...

I think it does even though the styles of the bigger, "more serious"
companies don't ever show their emblem without the text version. In
most cases, the text version of their company name *is* or is the
major part of the logo (fedex, att, dell, adm, google) [1] -- with
the notable exceptions being apple, mcdonalds, firefox and others [2].

> Thanks for the terrific work!

Yes! This is all very good!

--Tracy


[1] < http://www.fedex.com/ag/ebusiness/brand/guidelines.html?link=4 >
< http://www.att.com/brand/ >
< http://www.dell.com >
< http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:xCoLs7OlXw0J:admworld.com/
pdf/logo_guidelines.pdf >
< http://www.google.com/press/images.html >

[2] < http://www.apple.com >
< http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/news/media/multi/logos.html >
< http://www.mozilla.com/firefox >


Richard (koorb)

unread,
Dec 15, 2005, 4:47:02 PM12/15/05
to TurboGears
A quick play with an idea [1]. The yellow on blue reminds me of
something else, but I can't think what right now - just so you know I
didn't intentionally rip of someone else's colour scheme.

I'm also a little unsure about the lack of colour generally - seen as
the gear and blue splash bar wouldn't appear on every page. But see
what you think. the first layout is here [2]

[1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layout-2.png
[2] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layout.png

Karl Guertin

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Dec 15, 2005, 4:57:54 PM12/15/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/15/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> [1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layout-2.png

Could I get a vector outline of the g-gear you're using? I'm +1 on the
logotype but I want to do some work on the 3d gear and I'd like to be
working from the same base.

Kevin Dangoor

unread,
Dec 15, 2005, 5:10:45 PM12/15/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Your color scheme looks like that of my alma mater (University of
Michigan), though a bit brighter than the ole maize and blue.

I think this looks terrific. The real challenge here is going to be
keeping myself from updating the site to use this look until the 0.9
release ;)

We'll see what other folks think of this new layout. If there's no
violent objections, would you be able to get the HTML together for
this? There's *a lot* of content work to do on the site, and I'd like
to play around with hanging the content off of something that looks
real.

Kevin

On 12/15/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
>

Michele Cella

unread,
Dec 15, 2005, 5:11:14 PM12/15/05
to TurboGears
Hi Richard,

Great work again, but my personal preference goes to the first layout,
I find it really nice, professional and easy on the eyes.

Ciao
Michele

PS
Can I have a gear like the gold one but gray/silver (the one that
you've already done) and with the TurboGears text (and
front-to-back...) in red/light blue? :D
I'm just wondering how it will fit inside the first layout (nicely
IMHO).

Kevin Dangoor

unread,
Dec 15, 2005, 5:17:45 PM12/15/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/15/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
>
> A quick play with an idea [1]. The yellow on blue reminds me of
> something else, but I can't think what right now - just so you know I
> didn't intentionally rip of someone else's colour scheme.

I should say that one plus to this color scheme is that it's distinct
from our competitors.

Kevin

Jonathan LaCour

unread,
Dec 15, 2005, 5:25:08 PM12/15/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
> We'll see what other folks think of this new layout. If there's no
> violent objections, would you be able to get the HTML together for
> this? There's *a lot* of content work to do on the site, and I'd like
> to play around with hanging the content off of something that looks
> real.

I think this looks fantastic. However, I do find the logo a little
large and distracting. I can't read the content because all I see is
a giant bright-yellow gear! If it were scaled down 30-40% I think it
would be great.

However, it is clear to me that Richard is really onto something
here, and is extremely qualified to create a great new look for
TurboGears!

--
Jonathan LaCour
http://cleverdevil.org

Jonathan LaCour

unread,
Dec 15, 2005, 5:30:04 PM12/15/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
> We'll see what other folks think of this new layout. If there's no
> violent objections, would you be able to get the HTML together for
> this? There's *a lot* of content work to do on the site, and I'd like
> to play around with hanging the content off of something that looks
> real.

I should add that I also think the new layout is great, but I think
that the top bar is far too easy to ignore, being gray, and would
probably look better as a brighter color (the original layout used
red, maybe a yellow would work here and make the logo less distracting?)

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 15, 2005, 5:31:07 PM12/15/05
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Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 15, 2005, 8:08:16 PM12/15/05
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On 12/15/05, Jonathan LaCour <jonatha...@cleverdevil.org> wrote:
>
> > We'll see what other folks think of this new layout. If there's no
> > violent objections, would you be able to get the HTML together for
> > this? There's *a lot* of content work to do on the site, and I'd like
> > to play around with hanging the content off of something that looks
> > real.
>
> I think this looks fantastic. However, I do find the logo a little
> large and distracting. I can't read the content because all I see is
> a giant bright-yellow gear! If it were scaled down 30-40% I think it
> would be great.

Agreed. It is a bit overwhelming.

> However, it is clear to me that Richard is really onto something
> here, and is extremely qualified to create a great new look for
> TurboGears!

Indeed!

Kevin

Richard (koorb)

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Dec 16, 2005, 4:40:25 AM12/16/05
to TurboGears
> I do find the logo a little
> large and distracting. I can't read the content because all I see is
> a giant bright-yellow gear! If it were scaled down 30-40% I think it
> would be great.

agreed

> I think that the top bar is far too easy to ignore, being gray, and would
> probably look better as a brighter color

also agree

> Could I get a vector outline of the g-gear you're using?

...


> Can I have a gear like the gold one but gray/silver (the one that
> you've already done) and with the TurboGears text (and
> front-to-back...) in red/light blue? :D

I will put up some of the original artwork files so others can have a
play. Regarding different size gears interconnecting (I have some ideas
for 3d animations - trying to get to grips with Blender[1]) it's tricky
because the teeth on the gears have to be same size and spaces - not
easy.

I will try and refine the design a bit and but together some test
templates

Mike Orr

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Dec 18, 2005, 1:03:05 AM12/18/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
+1 for shiny metallic colors, especially since we're talking about gears.


--
Mike Orr <slugg...@gmail.com>
(m...@oz.net address is semi-reliable)

Richard (koorb)

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Dec 19, 2005, 5:07:15 PM12/19/05
to TurboGears

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 19, 2005, 5:22:24 PM12/19/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
"Richard (koorb)" <ric...@koorb.co.uk> writes:

> Silverness abounds with the latest incarnations [1,2,3,4] also some
> vector artwork for playing with[5]
>
> [1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gear+silver+3up.png

Is it too hard to have a version of the lower one but with the letters
shinier? As if made of stainless steel and very polished? :-) I think it
would be more readable...


How I wished I could do things like that... *sigh* But then, I'm an engineer
not a designer... One can't do all things :-)

--
Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com>

Ronald Jaramillo

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Dec 19, 2005, 5:31:20 PM12/19/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Great, silver is good. I think the engraved gear work great as an
emblem for TG. I less enthusiastic about the cogified 'o' and the
characters overlapping when TG is written out.

This is how my desktop looks like right now:
http://www.checkandshare.com/images/desktop.png

I'm still waiting for my t-shirt =)
Ronald

________________________________

Michele Cella

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Dec 19, 2005, 5:35:15 PM12/19/05
to TurboGears
Richard you simply rock!

I really like all of those gears (I can't choose one in particular),
way more than the gold one, but I know that's only a matter of personal
taste (silver vs gold).

As Jorge said, the silver-engraved one with a really slightly more
darker text could probably be the best (at least for me, along with a
light-blue TurboGears text only as firefox does here:
http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/firefox-analysis.png).

Ciao
Michele

PS
Yes, I'm a blue/silver lover.

Karl Guertin

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Dec 19, 2005, 10:38:21 PM12/19/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/19/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> also some vector artwork for playing with[5]

Thanks muchly. This is my take on the 3d gear [1]. I'll have a website
design coming up in not too long.

[1] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/turbogears3d.jpg

Karl Guertin

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Dec 20, 2005, 2:55:59 AM12/20/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
First pass at a site design is [1]. I did orange because it's
different and I don't really want to have the TG site look like the
Mozilla site any more than it looks like ruby or django. The basic
idea is that the left column is the news. Center is a 'community'
section with features on sites using TG, new tutorials for the current
revision, community blog articles, etc. The right column is a "what's
coming up" and features the devcasts, components in svn only, etc.

[1] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite.png

Caveats

I'm currently substituting a mix of Futura and Trebuchet MS for the
title fonts (I don't know what the TG logo font is, it's close to
Futura but not quite the same) and plan on replacing them with sifr'd
text in the same font as the logo. I'm not quite happy with the main
body appearance and will be redoing that in the future. The gears
graphic isn't done correctly (the gear teeth lining up and the same
size) and there is no navigation on the front page.

Richard (koorb)

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Dec 20, 2005, 5:39:53 PM12/20/05
to TurboGears
Karl Guertin wrote:
> I'm currently substituting a mix of Futura and Trebuchet MS for the
> title fonts (I don't know what the TG logo font is, it's close to
> Futura but not quite the same)

Actually Futura is the typeface I used for the logo. I only use it in
uppercase because I don't like the lowercase letters (on this typeface
- I have nothing against them in general!)

> The gears
> graphic isn't done correctly (the gear teeth lining up and the same
> size) and there is no navigation on the front page.

This is actually really hard, I have managed to create two gears of
different sizes that do lock together correctly (done using the letter
V and much adjusting of stretch and tracking to get them to sit right,
I will upload those at some point)

I did another gear [1], a bit darker with more intense reflection, too
dark for what we need I think but it looks pretty :-)

And another layout [2] not sure weather I'm moving forward or back
here, let me know what you think. I don't know why I keep putting this
area at the top of the home page (in layout-3 it's the yellow section)
I haven't put much thought into position of content or indeed what
content will appear on the page at all, so if you would all be so kind
as to make some suggestions as to what you want to see I can better
think about the actual structure of the page and what needs to be most
prominent.

For example, is this mostly for the *use* of the community, getting
latest updates, devcasts etc? or do we need something that is more
aimed at grabbing the attention of passers-by and get people excited
about turbogears as opposed to the competition?

Anyway it's almost Christmas so I probably wont be spending much time
on this until next year. Thank you all for your feedback.

> This is how my desktop looks like right now:
> http://www.checkandshare.com/images/desktop.png
> I'm still waiting for my t-shirt =)

Could be a nice marketing strategy, wallpapers, t-shirts and the like,
what about the turbogears desk calendar and mouse-mat (does anyone
still use them?) ;-)

[1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gears/grey.png
[2] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-3.png

Richard (koorb)

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Dec 20, 2005, 5:47:21 PM12/20/05
to TurboGears
Just to mention that the gear needs some attention to work at this size
(in layout-3), you loose much detail because it's so subtle and it
gains a much more pronounced outline which gives it something of a
cartoonish look (more like my first attempts ;-)

Karl Guertin

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Dec 20, 2005, 6:03:37 PM12/20/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/20/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> And another layout [2] not sure weather I'm moving forward or back
> here, let me know what you think.

I think your second layout was stronger, this one lacks contrast. I
also think that the 3d gear hanging off the left in v2 adds visual
interest and probably should be kept as a layout element. For me, at
least, the 3d gear catches the eye and the blue background and
logotype draw the eye to the download button. I don't get as strong of
a visual draw with v3.

> I don't know why I keep putting this
> area at the top of the home page (in layout-3 it's the yellow section)

So far your design grids seem to have been based off the firefox
product page. If you chose a different grid and started over, I
suspect you wouldn't have a problem dropping that box. As is, it
rounds out the grid you've based your design upon.

> I haven't put much thought into position of content or indeed what
> content will appear on the page at all, so if you would all be so kind
> as to make some suggestions as to what you want to see I can better
> think about the actual structure of the page and what needs to be most
> prominent.

I'm wondering this myself. I can make guesses based on what I'd like
to see, but I would be interested in hearing what people would like.

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 20, 2005, 6:04:49 PM12/20/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
"Richard (koorb)" <ric...@koorb.co.uk> writes:

> Could be a nice marketing strategy, wallpapers, t-shirts and the like,
> what about the turbogears desk calendar and mouse-mat (does anyone
> still use them?) ;-)

I do. Specially because using an optical mouse over transparent glass isn't
the best thing to make the pointer move ;-)

> [1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gears/grey.png

I liked that. ;-) This is not what I envisioned -- lighter gear even lighter
and shinier letters -- but I believe it is better this way :-)

> [2] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-3.png

I felt that something is missing here... Dunno what. But it looks like there
could be more things on this main page.

--
Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com>

Greg Dean

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Dec 20, 2005, 7:18:15 PM12/20/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Hello all,

> [2] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-3.png

I felt that something is missing here...  Dunno what.  But it looks like there
could be more things on this main page.

I agree with this. I think the page may be a little sparse and I'm not real sure about the yellow as the color of the big box at the top. I liked the blue used in your second layout along with the yellow/golden gears.That's just my thoughts.

--greg



Evan Monroig

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Dec 20, 2005, 7:54:06 PM12/20/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/21/05, Greg Dean <eiff...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > [2]
> http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-3.png
> >
> > I felt that something is missing here... Dunno what. But it looks like
> there
> > could be more things on this main page.
>
> I agree with this. I think the page may be a little sparse and [snip]


What is important is that there is just enough content on the front
page to know what we are talking about, and that it takes no more than
one or two clicks to go to the information (a longer feature
presentation, a wiki, the tutorials, download, trac, etc.)

Evan

Karl Guertin

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Dec 21, 2005, 1:47:00 AM12/21/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Second verse [2], same as the first [1]. Now with 300% more gradients!

Iteration:
[1] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite.png
[2] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite2.png

Greg Dean

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Dec 21, 2005, 10:19:16 AM12/21/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
What is important is that there is just enough content on the front
page to know what we are talking about, and that it takes no more than
one or two clicks to go to the information (a longer feature
presentation, a wiki, the tutorials, download, trac, etc.)

Evan

Oh yes, this is absolutely true. There just seemed to be too much white on the page. I like the amount of stuff on Karl's pages [1]. Another feature of those pages I like is the image with all the different gears. OTOH, I'm not a big fan of the colors.

--greg

[1] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite2.png


Richard (koorb)

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Dec 21, 2005, 12:07:31 PM12/21/05
to TurboGears
> I felt that something is missing here... Dunno what. But it looks like there
> could be more things on this main page.

> There just seemed to be too much white on the page

Just to make the point none of the layouts I did are meant to resemble
the finished home page, I only put some text on to give an idea. As I
said if I can get a feel for what kind of things people are looking for
on the home page I will add more detail to help with the over all
effect. I think I will work on the ideas from layout [1] and [2] that I
did before.

> So far your design grids seem to have been based off the firefox
> product page

What specifically do you think is like the Firefox page, I do have a
habit of drawing inspiration from things I've seen! are you talking
about this page [3] or this one [4]?

[1] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-1.png
[2] http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-2.png
[3] http://www.mozilla.com/products/
[4] http://www.mozilla.com/

Karl Guertin

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Dec 21, 2005, 1:04:53 PM12/21/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/21/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
> What specifically do you think is like the Firefox page, I do have a
> habit of drawing inspiration from things I've seen!

I've blocked out your page [1] and the firefox product page [2]
(http://mozilla.com/firefox). Your grid is (consciously or not)
derived from the firefox product page. It's not an uncommon grid
layout, but that's why you keep putting a block at the top of the
screen

[1] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/turbogears/koorb_grid.png
[2] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/turbogears/hicks_grid.png

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 21, 2005, 1:42:59 PM12/21/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
As of now, these are my two favorites of the choices I've seen thus far:

http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-2.png
http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite2.png

What I wonder about for Karl's layout is what the interior pages would
look like. I'm generally a fan of light background/dark text when
doing a lot of reading, and the front page text background is a bit
darker than I'd imagine on the inner pages.

Overall, though, these are both layouts that I'd be proud to hang up
on turbogears.org.

By the way, Karl's got the right idea in terms of the kinds of things
I was thinking of having on the front page. There would be a dynamic
part for people who are regular visitors to get an "at a glance" idea
of what's going on, the rest of the page would largely be to

1) let newcomers know why they're here
2) provide easy access to the major destinations on the site

Kevin

Michele Cella

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Dec 21, 2005, 8:37:22 PM12/21/05
to TurboGears
I think Karl's layout is original and nice, but (personally) I don't
find it quite usable.
For example, I think the front page exposes to many things packed in a
small spaces and it's hard to find what you are looking for.

Most probably my impression it's only related to the relatively dark
(and not too much contrasted) colors used.

Dunno, but maybe after collecting enough layout ideas you should launch
a pool?

Ciao
Michele

Mike Orr

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Dec 21, 2005, 11:28:34 PM12/21/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com, Richard (koorb)
On 12/19/05, Richard (koorb) <ric...@koorb.co.uk> wrote:
>

Hooray for these and also the "mirror" one.
http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/gears/grey.png

I like the text curved in the gear rather than in a line outside it.
It makes the logo nice and compact. I can see a couple possibilities
for this:

- An animated image that changes the text color from none to a
sequence of colors and back.

- Three interlocking gears, each with different color text,
symbolizing the MVC components of TG.

If Kevin doesn't choose these, I'd definitely want to see them
available for "powered by TG" buttons and the like, or the TG pizza
pan.

Karl Guertin

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Dec 22, 2005, 1:21:27 AM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/21/05, Michele Cella <michel...@gmail.com> wrote:
> For example, I think the front page exposes to many things packed in a
> small spaces and it's hard to find what you are looking for.

The problem is basically that I've got more information than is
comfortable to put on a single page. In this iteration [1] I shifted
from a 800px width to 1000px, but I gained a column, so the overall
density is the same. After reading this, I re-counted my character
columns and I'm under by 10-15 characters, so it looks like I need to
drop a column. I'll get around to that, but it'll be post-Christmas
since I'll be away from my graphics computer.

[1] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite3.png

> Most probably my impression it's only related to the relatively dark
> (and not too much contrasted) colors used.

Since the feedback I get is negative about colors, I've re-spun the
site in crowd pleasing blue [2].

[2] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite3-blue.png

Kevin sez:
> What I wonder about for Karl's layout is what the interior pages would
look like.

A very quick sub page example[3].

[3] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite3-blue-docpage.png

Jorge Godoy

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Dec 22, 2005, 11:56:56 AM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Karl Guertin <gray...@gmail.com> writes:

> Since the feedback I get is negative about colors, I've re-spun the
> site in crowd pleasing blue [2].
>
> [2] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite3-blue.png

Can I +5? If not, +1 on this! ;-)

> A very quick sub page example[3].
>
> [3] http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite3-blue-docpage.png

I liked it. ;-)

--
Jorge Godoy <jgo...@gmail.com>

Jonathan LaCour

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Dec 22, 2005, 12:05:28 PM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
> I think Karl's layout is original and nice, but (personally) I don't
> find it quite usable.
> For example, I think the front page exposes to many things packed in a
> small spaces and it's hard to find what you are looking for.
>
> Most probably my impression it's only related to the relatively dark
> (and not too much contrasted) colors used.
>
> Dunno, but maybe after collecting enough layout ideas you should
> launch
> a pool?

I would have to agree here that I think Karl's layout would be better
for a brochure, magazine, or any medium other than a website. Its
just plain too crowded for the web.

I think Richard's latest layout is perfect, both in terms of color
and whitespace. Its easy to read, attractive, and not too full of
graphics.

I would be highly disappointed if Richard's was not selected, and I
believe most of the other ideas presented are not an improvement on
the current website (which is the whole point, right?).

This is not meant to knock the work that Karl has done. Like I said,
its very attractive, but just doesn't work for the web, in my opinion.

--
Jonathan LaCour
http://cleverdevil.org


Jared Kuolt

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Dec 22, 2005, 12:47:41 PM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Ha! "widgets.py deleted"... am I the only one that caught that?

:D


--
jared...@gmail.com

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 22, 2005, 12:55:20 PM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com

Jared Kuolt

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Dec 22, 2005, 12:56:40 PM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
Okay, now I get it.

*looks left, turns right*


--
jared...@gmail.com

Kevin Dangoor

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Dec 22, 2005, 1:10:00 PM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
On 12/22/05, Jonathan LaCour <jonatha...@cleverdevil.org> wrote:
> I would have to agree here that I think Karl's layout would be better
> for a brochure, magazine, or any medium other than a website. Its
> just plain too crowded for the web.

The move to blue was a good one, but the move from 2 columns to 3 was not:
http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite2.png
http://gr.ayre.st/~grayrest/tgwebsite3-blue.png

Taking a look at the post-1.0 Rails site, you can see that it's about
as un-crowded as it gets, and yet it's pretty effective. I do think
that having a dynamic page that shows what's going on in the project
at a glance is a good thing, and I also think that screen real estate
can be used a little better to highlight special things (like the
current turbogears.org's sidebar, which is not always used to
full-effect).

> I think Richard's latest layout is perfect, both in terms of color
> and whitespace. Its easy to read, attractive, and not too full of
> graphics.

Can you be more specific when you say "Richard's latest layout"?

http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-1.png
http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-2.png
http://koorb.co.uk/static/images/tglogos/layouts/layout-3.png

layout 3 has a gray band at the right that is screaming out for
*something* to happen there. I like the bottom half of layout 3, but
prefer the top half of layout 2.

Kevin

Greg Dean

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Dec 22, 2005, 2:03:55 PM12/22/05
to turbo...@googlegroups.com
layout 3 has a gray band at the right that is screaming out for
*something* to happen there. I like the bottom half of layout 3, but
prefer the top half of layout 2.

Kevin

One thing I really liked about Karl's designs is the the Recent Tickets and Checkins boxes on the left side of his designs. Maybe this is what the gray band needs.

--greg
 


qvx

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Dec 22, 2005, 2:14:51 PM12/22/05
to TurboGears
I agree. Often, other people express my thoughts better than I can do
myself :)

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