[cgiapp] Logos, herding rats

[John Walker]

Hi guys,

 

I'm a long time lurker, sometimes user of CGI::APP. Awsome stuff. Thank
you guys a million. I have learned a ton about programming reading this
list. As I read the recent thread about the new logo proposal, I was
reminded fondly of my professor from art school who said words like "One
cannot teach how to make a design the right way. It is more like chasing
rats around in a maze screaming at them when they go the wrong way." I
think he was screaming at me about some horrible design mistake I had
made.

 

Thanks to Ron Savage for having the courage and initiative to present
his idea to the group and to start the discussion.

 

Logo's are a very important part of branding as a whole, and I think I
totally missed the part of the design process where those branding
fundamentals get discussed. Ron states his the colors in his logo are
intended to be "warm, friendly and comforting". Is the community in
agreement with this branding? I have those feelings for the community,
but are there other aspects of CGI::App that you would seek to
communicate to outsiders in your branding?

 

For me, one thing that has always been good about the project is how the
core module stays simple, but also the more recent stuff that has been
built on top for a more feature rich framework. It's a stable thing that
has historically been well managed. So I would look for logos that
communicated this idea of a simple, stable core with rich add-on feature
set.

 

Another thing that has interested/impressed me over the years is
meeting/seeing/reading CGI::App community members in other software
communities. OpenMelody is just the most recent example of this. Our
community reaches out into others; and can even underlie other projects,
both in the code sense and as individual community members. 

 

Regarding a design process, I have almost always seen a series of up to
ten black and white logo ideas considered and sifted through before
color was ever discussed. The ideas can be very quick; e.g. not fully
developed. Issues like form and typography are often more easy to
design/resolve in black and white. I would also caution that peoples
response to color tends to be culturally biased. Even colors as simple
as black and white do not carry the same meaning in eastern and western
cultures. 

 

Back to the shadows for now,

John