I echo what Michael says here. Another consideration is that logos are often shrunk (when used on slides) and need to work at lower resolution (think: printing swag, stitching socks, etc) and so whatever logo we come up with needs to not be too fiddly in the level of detail - something that I think both the current proposed options will fall foul of IMHO.
On Wed, 19 Aug 2020 at 15:33, Michael Noll <mich...@confluent.io> wrote: > Hi all! > > Great to see we are in the process of creating a cool logo for Kafka > Streams. First, I apologize for sharing feedback so late -- I just learned > about it today. :-) > > Here's my *personal, subjective* opinion on the currently two logo > candidates for Kafka Streams. > > TL;DR: Sorry, but I really don't like either of the proposed "otter" logos. > Let me try to explain why. > > - The choice to use an animal, regardless of which specific animal, > seems random and doesn't fit Kafka. (What's the purpose? To show that > KStreams is 'cute'?) In comparison, the O’Reilly books always have an > animal cover, that’s their style, and it is very recognizable. Kafka > however has its own, different style. The Kafka logo has clear, simple > lines to achieve an abstract and ‘techy’ look, which also alludes > nicely to > its architectural simplicity. Its logo is also a smart play on the > Kafka-identifying letter “K” and alluding to it being a distributed > system > (the circles and links that make the K). > - The proposed logos, however, make it appear as if KStreams is a > third-party technology that was bolted onto Kafka. They certainly, for > me, > do not convey the message "Kafka Streams is an official part of Apache > Kafka". > - I, too, don't like the way the main Kafka logo is obscured (a concern > already voiced in this thread). Also, the Kafka 'logo' embedded in the > proposed KStreams logos is not the original one. > - None of the proposed KStreams logos visually match the Kafka logo. > They have a totally different style, font, line art, and color scheme. > - Execution-wise, the main Kafka logo looks great at all sizes. The > style of the otter logos, in comparison, becomes undecipherable at > smaller > sizes. > > What I would suggest is to first agree on what the KStreams logo is > supposed to convey to the reader. Here's my personal take: > > Objective 1: First and foremost, the KStreams logo should make it clear and > obvious that KStreams is an official and integral part of Apache Kafka. > This applies to both what is depicted and how it is depicted (like font, > line art, colors). > Objective 2: The logo should allude to the role of KStreams in the Kafka > project, which is the processing part. That is, "doing something useful to > the data in Kafka". > > The "circling arrow" aspect of the current otter logos does allude to > "continuous processing", which is going in the direction of (2), but the > logos do not meet (1) in my opinion. > > -Michael > > > > > On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 10:34 PM Matthias J. Sax <mj...@apache.org> wrote: > > > Adding the user mailing list -- I think we should accepts votes on both > > lists for this special case, as it's not a technical decision. > > > > @Boyang: as mentioned by Bruno, can we maybe add black/white options for > > both proposals, too? > > > > I also agree that Design B is not ideal with regard to the Kafka logo. > > Would it be possible to change Design B accordingly? > > > > I am not a font expert, but the fonts in both design are different and I > > am wondering if there is an official Apache Kafka font that we should > > reuse to make sure that the logos align -- I would expect that both > > logos (including "Apache Kafka" and "Kafka Streams" names) will be used > > next to each other and it would look awkward if the font differs. > > > > > > -Matthias > > > > On 8/18/20 11:28 AM, Navinder Brar wrote: > > > Hi, > > > Thanks for the KIP, really like the idea. I am +1(non-binding) on A > > mainly because I felt like you have to tilt your head to realize the > > otter's head in B. > > > Regards,Navinder > > > > > > On Tuesday, 18 August, 2020, 11:44:20 pm IST, Guozhang Wang < > > wangg...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > I'm leaning towards design B primarily because it reminds me of the > > Firefox > > > logo which I like a lot. But I also share Adam's concern that it should > > > better not obscure the Kafka logo --- so if we can tweak a bit to fix > it > > my > > > vote goes to B, otherwise A :) > > > > > > > > > Guozhang > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 9:48 AM Bruno Cadonna <br...@confluent.io> > > wrote: > > > > > >> Thanks for the KIP! > > >> > > >> I am +1 (non-binding) for A. > > >> > > >> I would also like to hear opinions whether the logo should be > colorized > > >> or just black and white. > > >> > > >> Best, > > >> Bruno > > >> > > >> > > >> On 15.08.20 16:05, Adam Bellemare wrote: > > >>> I prefer Design B, but given that I missed the discussion thread, I > > think > > >>> it would be better without the Otter obscuring any part of the Kafka > > >> logo. > > >>> > > >>> On Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 6:31 PM Boyang Chen < > > reluctanthero...@gmail.com> > > >>> wrote: > > >>> > > >>>> Hello everyone, > > >>>> > > >>>> I would like to start a vote thread for KIP-657: > > >>>> > > >>>> > > >> > > > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-657%3A+Add+Customized+Kafka+Streams+Logo > > >>>> > > >>>> This KIP is aiming to add a new logo for the Kafka Streams library. > > And > > >> we > > >>>> prepared two candidates with a cute otter. You could look up the KIP > > to > > >>>> find those logos. > > >>>> > > >>>> > > >>>> Please post your vote against these two customized logos. For > > example, I > > >>>> would vote for *design-A (binding)*. > > >>>> > > >>>> This vote thread shall be open for one week to collect enough votes > to > > >> call > > >>>> for a winner. Still, feel free to post any question you may have > > >> regarding > > >>>> this KIP, thanks! > > >>>> > > >>> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > >
