Re: [GNUnet-developers] website and logo rework

[amirouche]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

I will not reply to every single mail and try to summarize the the 
whole thread here.

Le ven. 26 janv. 2018 à 23:44, Marcel Klehr <address@hidden> a écrit :
> Hey everyone,
>
> as a long time lurker, tried-it-once-didn't-work user and
> really-like-to-but-don't-have-time developer I must say it's awesome 
> to
> see people motivated to polish the public appearance of the project,
> which is time-consuming and not very product in the short-term, but 
> very
> valuable long-term. The logo is something that has been especially
> bothering me for some time, without me doing anything about it.
>
> Now, that I see there's interest in a new appearance, an idea for a 
> logo
> hit me that I'd like to share with you guys. It's based on the Guix
> logo, but adds a different touch :)
>
> https://imgur.com/a/BvmbR
>
> Cheers everyone, keep up the great work!

Awesome logo. It is in my plan to experiment with Guix logo. Maybe it's 
not
necessary anymore... There is one issue that might arise with small 
size of
this logo. The edges might disappear... We need to test.

I will contact the person who did the guix logo to get some feedback 
and ask
them to chime in.

Re: Martin, tx for link. It raise a good point ie. the logo must be 
usable
as an icon. The only "rule" I break in the previous iteration is "text
inside the icon". BTW, I considered _refreshing_ the current logo, but 
I don't
think I am up to the task...

I reconsidered "text inside the logo". Text inside the logo
will make the font (confortaa) a permanent choice or something like 
that.
I think that most brands that use text in logo design their own font...

What makes a good logo with some discussion, based on a search on the 
web:

- Good in all size: with little change as possible: for that I think we
 must drop "text in logo" and maybe experiment with a 3x3 grid (3 
vertices
 per 3 vertices grid ie. 9 vertices instead of 16). I used 4x4 to make 
the
 text nicer in the logo and avoid the cross in the logo like suggested 
in a
 thread. Also there is more matter in 4x4 grid to create "networks".

- Memorable: I think it imply that the logo must be simple. The 
affiliation
 with GNU must be as clear as possible: in this regard, the logo from 
Marcel
 I think is the best. It also vote for using GNU with big letters 
inside the
 name GNUnet.

- Not too much colors: in this regard the pink + green + blue version 
disqualify
 itself.

- It must stand the test of time: that's difficult to forsee but again
 the pink + green + blue colors are taken from flat ui color palette.
 That is why the logo might seem current and memorable but when fashion
 will change the colors and logo will seem old. So, using our own color
 palette might be a safer bet.

Other advices I found on the web are somewhat common sens (no stock art,
no pixelated images, don't copy logos).

I did not want to explain the idea behind the logo before to avoid 
spoiling.
The main ideas behind the logo are:

- Keep the academical / mathy background of the project: that's why 
it's based
 on a square grid and is not free-form. It's also inspired from a Go 
board.

- Make it look futuristic: that's why I used metaballs (bubbly nodes) 
instead
 of plain vertex + edges. That said, in Marcel logo the futuristic 
look is there.
 That is also why I used the flat ui colors because they look 
futuristic
 compared to material design colors.

- Look different to express that it's an alternative: in this regard
 the gray + green version of my logo works best, but I don't know
 how much "l33t" GNUnet must look or not.

I will continue to experiment on logos. Here is the current batch: 
https://imgur.com/a/ZOjNU

I am not happy with the current network layout in the logo, which was 
designed
to make it work in "text in logo" thing. So will rework that.

Regarding, the wording.	My understanding based on the feedback and 
taking some
distance is that it's _difficult_ to simplify the message. I guess that 
is why
marketing is a job in itself...

IMHO it's not because "ethic" is not fashionable in commercial setting,
that we must avoid it.

I think we need four things:

- a new logo

- tag line: five words sentence to describe the project

- three or four small sentences to explain further the project features

- Split the target audience into three categories (user, dev, 
researcher)
 and explain what GNUnet can do for them.

guix website does a good job https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/
In terms of webdesign, guix website is particularly good because it 
avoids
the trap of looking mainstream like ipfs or freenet without falling into
the l33t trap.

I also find the following websites interesting:

- https://mediagoblin.org/
- https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/

I will be at guile/guix event before FOSDEM next week if you want to 
meet
in person, I will be giving a (small) talk about guile-wiredtiger
(a database library).

Add you name to https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Guix/FOSDEM2018 if 
you
intend to come because places are limited.