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New Logo

  • Started by NeoMenlo
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  • Registered: 05-Oct-2006
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If you look in the address bar of your browser you will see a blue square with "Co" in it.

Unlike the rest of this website, the logo feels a bit... slapped together.

I think we all need to think of a new one.

Ideas:

Put the Co on a keyboard key

Put a ) rotated 90o clockwise to below it to make it look like a cute smiley face.
I know that sounds stupid, but everything about this site has a very human feel to it. The smiley face, while seeming unprofessional, is very personal. Sometimes, that is the idea that you want to convey.

These two combined:
Put a border around the Co, but emphasis the bottom portion of the button's border in a way that it looks both similar to the key and the letters, so it looks like both a keyboard key AND a smiley face! This would tell the users what its about (for their bookmarks) AND give that human feeling.

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This is just a rough sketch

What do you guys think?

cologocz5.png

cologomoresmilemh0.png

cologomoresmileiconcv7.png

Last edited by NeoMenlo (12-Apr-2007 23:42:14)
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  • From: Köln, Germany
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hey, now thats sweet! the first one is much better though...

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yeah. I agree, but only CLOSE UP.

see the third one?
cologomoresmileiconcv7.png

see what I mean?

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  • From: Köln, Germany
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Ooops, i didnt even see that one... Okay to be honest though, the 16*16 (?) version looks really rubbish... It looks kinda cheap, if you know what i mean<

I mean thats just my personal opinion. This logo looks too windoze XP-ish to me in small, i'm more of a mac user, so I'm used to a different style! :D

Last edited by vilem (14-Apr-2007 13:39:23)
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I was just hoping for something better than the real thing: favicon.ico

Last edited by NeoMenlo (13-Apr-2007 00:15:36)
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okay, go on and use the new one then! :P

The big ones look so much better though...

Last edited by vilem (14-Apr-2007 13:40:07)
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  • From: Viken, Norway
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That blue collar at the bottom looks goofy and rough, quite frankly. The color of it is strange - unless you want me to think of white chocolate. And the 3D effect isn't 3D (looks depressed on the upper edge and protruding on the lower edge, but not really that either). This is too rough, and a plain 2D like the old one beats bad 3D.

If you want to go fancy, you have to do it really well. Sorry to rain on the parade, but I have a critical eye (and lack the hand to make my own, unfortunately).

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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I've noticed you like to criticise other people's work... But it's always good to have someone who knows better than oneself! :P

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I don't like to criticize other people's work.

I think Shai has done a great job with both the layout and the website.
So great, that I want it to succeed. It's not getting the attention that it deserves.

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Not yet, and thats the reason why we're helping!! I think it can be important to have smart asses, because they often spot tiny, but grave mistakes... :D

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Smart ass?

Hey, if I'm a smart ass, does that make you a dumb ass, or a kiss ass?

HA!... so many ass words...

I'm just kidding though, I don't really think that you're either mean or annoying.

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um... no, i was saying that dreymaR is one! But actually, you're one too!  And so am i.... :P

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Ok, I prefer the first one.

logos, not asses

all  my asses are accounted for.

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keyboard samurai said:

Ok, I prefer the first one.

logos, not asses

all  my asses are accounted for.

thanks for clearing that up, for a split second I actually thought you were referring to the asses...lol

I also prefer the first logo out of the others

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Apparently, Vilem thinks that my ass is showing too much. I hope that isn't your impression, NeoMenlo. I try to be critical to all work, be it my own or that of others, while giving positive credit where I feel that is needed. If my approach isn't balanced enough, please let me know.

I did present a disclaimer that my eye is a critical one (it is also a somewhat trained one, from prolonged exposure to art designers and graphical design) and tried to make it polite.

On a side note to that, I'll add that I am immensely pleased to see the enthusiasm and spirit with which NeoMenlo puts down real effort for Colemak. People doing something really useful and not just talking about it on some web forum is always a delight. (Such as editing the Spanish Wikipedia: Good job, Vilem! Of course, my Spanish is too poor to know what exactly you wrote there but still.)

It is all in the interest of getting the best possible end result. As long as we can trust each other to not get hurt by attempts at constructive criticism, we will get very far indeed. If not, we will have to settle for more diplomatically pleasing but less brilliant alternatives I fear.

The wise man learns from everything; the wise ass learns from nothing.

All your ass are belong to us.

Last edited by DreymaR (13-Apr-2007 08:30:34)

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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Another thing worth noting: How well does any given design go with the surroundings? One thing that I suppose put me a bit off the "white chocolate" logo is that I'm using the default blue WinXP theme and the forum has a blue/grey theme that goes very harmonically together with that. If you add warm latte colors to this mix however, it clashes. In another general setting the latte would slide in much more smoothly.

The ideal logo should behave well in different visual themes, and that's not easily accomplished. As a matter of fact, I myself think that the current logo has a thing going for it by being based on the actual symbol you get on your taskbar Language Band in WinXP (and most other Windows versions). Maybe the ideal would be to work from that so this effect were still recognizable while you made it more snazzy?

If you made it not a keyboard key but more of a "rubber stamp", making the letters and the icon itself 3D-like and chunky (gawd, I must be in love with that word these days from the look of things...)? While keeping the general blue-and-white and the basis font so that it's still recognizable as a keyboard layout taskbar icon.

What does WinVista Aero do with the language/layout taskbar icons, if anything? Are there graphical changes? Surely there must be?  :o

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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DreymaR, don't get me wrong, I was trying to say that your criticism is really helpful. And With the spanish Wikipedia I was just trying to show that colemak does exist in other Wikipedias.... I didn't change anything!

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On a side note to that, I'll add that I am immensely pleased to see the enthusiasm and spirit with which NeoMenlo puts down real effort for Colemak.

Thanks!

As long as we can trust each other to not get hurt by attempts at constructive criticism

There are very few things I get offended by.

being based on the actual symbol you get on your taskbar Language Band in WinXP

Can't we change that too? Well, Shai would probably have to change it, but isn't it still changeable?

If you made it not a keyboard key but more of a "rubber stamp", making the letters and the icon itself 3D-like and chunky (gawd, I must be in love with that word these days from the look of things...)?

I'm actually OK with actual 3D programs (I use Blender and Sketchup). The key was made with Photoshop, so thats why it doesn't look very convincingly 3D.

I also prefer the first logo out of the others

Aww, so none of you like the smiley face? Its the perfect symbol of being happy(er) with your keyboard/typing skills. I'll admit that it doesn't look very much like a key, but I can work on that.

While keeping the general blue-and-white and the basis font so that it's still recognizable as a keyboard layout taskbar icon.

So, I'm thinking keep the same thing, just change the key to be a light-blue/light-grey color? Furthermore, the face still has the recognizable Co letters...

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What the hell is it with you and your smiley face theory!?! :P

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Ask yourself why ANYONE puts smiley faces into their conversations. It's to convey a human emotion that is so easily expressed and received in the form of imagery.


People don't do things just for the hell of it. They do it because they want it to make them happier. Something that takes a big initial commitment, but a huge reward needs some kind of reminder of what is in store.

Last edited by NeoMenlo (14-Apr-2007 00:03:42)
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okay, i guess you understand more of this stuff than i do.. xD
If you manage to put in the smiley discretely, respect. It's quite a challenge.

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Where are you guys anyway? You posted at 2 in the morning my time!

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lol
I'm in germany as you might have guessed! how 'bout you?

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damn... what time is it there?

I'm in the US (Chicago). It's by that really big lake in the center north.

... sorry if you knew that.
This girl that I met online, who actually lives in the US as well, thought Chicago was next to New York.

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