Rework of theFreeBSDwebsite[was:FreeBSD'sVisualIdentity:Outdated?]

Chris Zumbrunn chris at czv.com
Mon Feb 14 05:26:22 PST 2005


On Feb 14, 2005, at 12:39 PM, Roger 'Rocky' Vetterberg wrote:

> Chris Zumbrunn wrote:
> [snip]
>
>> Again, my point was, you can create two billion different 
>> incarnations of FreeBSD logos with pointy horns and tails - none of 
>> them will ever beat Beastie or its silhouette as the strategically 
>> most valuable logo choice.
>
> No, its not. It may very well be the historically or emotionally most 
> valuable logo, but it is not the strategically most valuable logo.
> But then again, I guess that all depends on what kind of strategy you 
> live by.

Exactly! It depends on the kind of strategy! Sticking with Beastie as 
FreeBSD's logo fits FreeBSD's strategy best! The FreeBSD beastie logo 
needs to be cleaned up so that its appearance is professional - which I 
proofed can be done.

>> FreeBSD has no need to disassociate itself from its BSD history. To 
>> the contrary, it's "corporate identity" needs to celebrate that 
>> association. My little pointy horns and tails might be pretty, but 
>> they are not enough. Beastie always wins. No professional logo 
>> designer in their right mind would ever suggest to the FreeBSD 
>> project to drop that logo.
>
> I beg to differ, I think that even an amateur logo designer would 
> immediatly suggest that Beastie takes its rightfull place as mascot, 
> and a new logo is created.

An amateur logo designer, yes - but not a pro!

> The reason for this is simple. Beastie *is not a good logo*!
> It does not scale well to different sizes. It does not work well in 
> print. The copyright is not owned by the FreeBSD project. Beastie is 
> not a symbol of FreeBSD alone, but for all BSD's and in part even UNIX 
> in general.

I believe all these issues have been discussed and resolved on this 
list during the last few days. The new Beastie silhouette scales and 
prints well, the copyright holders are approving of FreeBSD's use of 
Beastie, the FreeBSD foundation already own trademarks for the word 
FreeBSD. What more can you wish for?

> A good logo you should be able to draw freehand on a piece of paper in 
> a minute or less, and it should still be recognizable. Beastie is far 
> to complex. Im willing to bet that not many of us would come up with 
> something that looks like Beastie and still looks good, partly because 
> we are not artist but mostly because Beastie just isnt easy to draw.

Where did you ever hear that?  A good logo is instantly recognizable - 
not "still recognizable after an amateur scribbles it down on a piece 
of paper".

> If people could just put their emotional luggage aside, Im sure this 
> discussion would never have taken place.

Yep!  And there are more important things to do than to argue about if 
a new logo should have two horns and a tail or a fork and two horns: 
white papers, success stories, good media coverage...  Producing these 
materials is the hard work, not packaging them up in a professional 
design - that's cheap and easy. Only talk is even cheaper.

/czv



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