Logo considerations

[Anja Drewitz]

Hello, everyone,

Georg C. F. Greve wrote on Jan 02, 2001 at 04:31PM +0100:
> First of all the stars _are_ being associated with the EU as they are
> using them as "their" symbol. So I agree with the people thinking that
> it would be a bad idea to use it. 

I agree, too. Let's forget about the stars. Personally, I like them,
but as they are not associated with whole Europe and a positive
feeling in some countries, we should rather pick something else.

>  - The more abstract logo itself is pretty good, especially as the
>    frontal view "involves" the viewer. Only the eyes should definitely
>    be left away.

In my opinion the gnu looks too harsh without eyes. But that goes
already into detail. We still have to decide on the overall concept 
of the logo. We can talk about such details later.

>  - There should definitely be a background as it looks to "flat"
>    otherwise and she the European map more than anything else she
>    could think of.

I agree. I think the background should have a specific colour which
would be part of the logo. In high resolution versions (e.g.
letterhead), it can be a detailed background (I would like a map
best). In low resolution (web page button), the background would be
solid colour. 

A logo needs colour IMO, and choosing a colour is almost as vital as
choosing a logo because it will be part of the FSFE's "corporate
design". So ... what colour should be associated with the FSFE? My
personal preference is a soft green, but would do others think? 

> Personally I agree with her assessment (I have come to trust it over
> the years) and I do believe that the logo with the map in the
> background will work just fine - scaling it down to 100x98 or
> something like that is just fine. 

It is still visible in button size. But IMO it needs a solid
colour background to be easily recognized. Colour and shape jump
to the eye more quickly than small lines.

Thinking about small sizes I figure that something with an unusual
shape, e.g. a silhouette, might even be better. The Linux penguin both
has an unusual shape and a strong set of colours (black / white /
yellow). I have been thinking about silhouettes of a gnu and a rider
last week. There are a few more logo samples at my page:

  http://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/~anja/gnu/


What logo would I prefer personally?
   
   My favourite is:
     * Europa & Gnu drawn with lines only: solid colour
       background for low resolution (e.g. web page buttons),
       map backdrop for high resolution (e.g. paper mail).
       
   I also like the following idea (*no sample image so far*):
     * Silhouette of Europa (girl in a greek gown) riding a gnu
       seen from the side. It should be similar to
http://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/~anja/gnu/bw-side-with-marianne.png
       but with a different rider.

> So could you please do a big high quality version of the GNU & Europa
> motive without eyes with the map in the background, Anja? I'd love to
> see that... we can play around with the colors then, too...

You can download the XCF file for the logo with map backdrop from
my page. The direct link is
http://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/~anja/gnu/with-map.xcf

It has a higher resolution than the inline image on the web page.
For experimenting with colours it should do, I hope. You need
Gimp 1.1 or higher for this as the XCF format changed from 1.0 to
1.1. 

(Gimp technical note: The layer with the map is set to "keep
transparency" and to an opacity level below 100%. The first means
that if you "Select --> All" and bucket-fill it, only the map
changes color, which is probably what you want. The second means
that it looks pastel. If you don't like this, set the opacity
level to 100% with the slide bar in the layers dialog.)

I did not upload XCF files for all images as they are so large
and I only have a slow connection. If anyone needs XCF files of
other images just let me know.


As someone pointed out, the final version should be scalable,
i.e. vector graphics. If one of my line art or silhouette logo
designs "makes it", I promise to do it in a scalable format (with
xfig, sketch or Metafont) that can be converted to PostScript. I
don't think my other samples can be re-done in a scalable format
within a decent amount of time. They are merely intended as a
contribution to brainstorming. ;-)

Best wishes,

  Anja