hi i'm really sorry for replying so late, i've been completely absent from the mailing list for the last days.
> Your comments were addressed to Bernhard, but you mentioned my proposal > so I hope you don't mind me interjecting here? > Forewarning: My Emails are long. I rant. I'm sorry. Really! =( > np :) > On 5/27/2011 3:32 AM, Tobias Bernard wrote: > >> I like the way you reused the triangle for the "A" - and the rest of the > >> line fits very well with the triangle due to the special font you used. > >> > >> Together with the large triangle at the upper right and the tight > >> connection among the lines of text it provides an impression of compact > >> power and strength. > >> > >> I like this kind of logos - but what they convey is different from the > >> feeling I get when looking at the LibreOffice logo and branding. > >> > >> For me LibreOffice is light and open. It wants to be inclusive and > >> really "libre". I don't know if you understand what I mean. > > sorry, but not really :) > > i guess "light" means "big spacee between objects" and maybe "light > > backgrounds" or "thin fonts", but i don't really understand what you > > mean with "inclusive and really libre". > > > I can understand your stance too, because having a "Design language / > Visual culture" described in words is rarely effective. > People (aka: us) will use words like "open" and "libre" which are more > /concepts/ than /physical attributes/. > That leaves things up to interpretation, and as a result of that, > misinterpretation. > Usually you can look over the existing material to understand a visual > culture, but sadly we don't have much of that. > So I guess right now we all have an idea of how the brand will manifest, > but because we all have different tastes, > the idea will vary from person to person. Obviously for a brand, that is > counter-productive. A single vision is required. > It took some time, but we reached a vision and have been rolling with it > unenunciated. More on that in a sec... > > I don't have a solution really, I'm just whistling-dixie and hoping > /you/ understand that /I/ understand our dilemma. > But I've been meaning to clarify our "Design language" for quite some > time so everyone can see, via example, what we said we were aiming for. > This is even more important now that we have so many new members. I will > make time for that soon! I promise. > (Bernhard: what I envisage for this is a book/pdf, explaining our > Design-approach, values and aesthetic. Will that work?) > > I can understand your qualms because I went through it for > OpenOffice.org where I struggled, for what seemed like years, to > understand their visual culture. > And it took along time before I got it. That could have been eased by > some sort of "style guide" (which is what I propose). > +1 for a style guide!! > But in the mean time, I can only use words to describe what I mean, but > I find it helpful to look at it this way; > We agreed some time ago that we wanted to cast off the "shiny, > artificial, techy look" in favour of something more honest and friendly; > PAPER gave us the "feeling" we wanted to convey, it is natural/organic, > simple and friendly. > It has warmth:texture/earthly feel > It is welcoming:open space > It has possibilities/promise:empty contents, room to create > It is familiar:affordable/non-discriminant of wealth > It is part of the world:sustainable/organic > >> Our branding - the logo with bold green and regular grey letters, the > >> document symbol and icons with rounded corners and small borders as well > >> as the Scatter motif - creates a certain branding language. I'd like to > >> see this language and the "look-and-feel" it provides be consistent > >> among all the official design being used to represent LibreOffice. > >> > >> Even if you used the colors and the font of our branding, your design > >> doesn't match exactly what I think is important to keep our design > >> consistent. > >> > > what i don't understand too, is why other proposals for this logo fit > > the branding better, e.g. nik's proposal doesn't use the same colors the > > logo uses, and also a different font. > > > You're quite right here =S, I used a different typeface than our > LogoType (even the name of which escapes me at the moment). > I see too many deficiencies in that typeface to use it for body text. Or > promotional material. > I think using it because it is open-source is too much of a compromise > to the visual quality of our work. > > I found another public-domain free-for-distribution typeface to use for > my Design. > The difference between the typefaces we chose was that my typeface is a > simple sans-serif typeface with no exceptional character other than > refined geometric shape. > Your typeface choice has a very strong character, and while it looks > GREAT, it suggests techy-savvy-futuristic-stylistic. > Using it would fundamentally shift the way we look to the public, geeks > might love it, moms might hate it, CEOs might dismiss it, Linotype might > buy it! uhmm... i guess you're right ;) the main reason i used it is because it looked good with the libo triangle as "A" > > I think we should aim for something neutral rather than something cool. > That cool thing might age faster than expensive cheese > and leave us with > dated looking collateral, and a bad smell. =) ... =( good one ^^ > So while I like the typeface you used, I don't think it fits well with > the non-techy look we're going for. > That isn't a criticism, it's just clarification and I hope it was > helpful. ? =) yes :) however, i still think it would be cool to use the triangle as part of the word, not just for conferences but in general for libo designs... > I've been meaning to raise the issue of Type for ages but it never looks > like a good time. > But that time is coming soon. Stay tuned. I believe a thread occurred > not too long ago about this that I couldn't join at the time =( > > > concerning the eiffel tower, i think it is really overused. EVERYTIME > > something takes place in paris or even in france, you can be sure there > > will be he eiffel tower somewhere. > > i would like to go for something new instead, such as the libo triangle > > in the word "paris" or another idea. > Yeah I know it's predictable, =) > But I think it's used because it easily communicates the location at a > glance to everyone. > It's iconic. It doesn't matter that we are tired of it, it matters > whether it is clear. btw have you seen the logo for the G8 conference in france: http://www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g8/english/home.18.html just what i said^^ > I smile a smile so wide it could open portals whenever I see the Sydney > Opera House on overseas materials, maybe that's just me =) > > it could be an idea for future conferences to always use the triangle > > instead of one letter. > > > > generally, i would use that triangle more often in libreoffce-designs. > > the motif was a good start, but this would be a great occasion to > > establish it even more. > > > > another thing i think is important is that we have one general logo for > > conferences ("libreoffice conference") and then a "localized" part of > > logo ("paris 2011") that changes for every conference. > Totally agree with you amigo! > > > > tobias > > > > > > > > > I genuinely hope I came off sounding helpful rather than smug above, > because I really want to clarify this so we can all be on the same page. > It wasn't so much of an issue before because all the people that > participated in the early discussions were doing most of the work ('twas > a small team). But many poeple have joined since and we haven't got > anything ready to give everyone new a run-down on what we discussed. I > anticipated that we hadn't done a good enough job articulating what the > LibO "style" was and that it would bite us in the posterior. But that is > largely a result of lack-of-time rather than lack-of-care! > > A solution, (pending both approval and demand), is coming! > ... If I WASN'T helpful, well, just delete this and pretend I didn't say > squat! =) > > -Nik since we now have a logo for the 2011 conference, we have time to discuss a general logo for conferences and for example the "triangle-letter"-idea or the font stuff. tobias -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@libreoffice.org Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/www/design/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
