Please don't change Beastie to another crap logo such asNetBSD!!!

[Anthony Atkielski]

Ted Mittelstaedt writes:

> And, I am also concerned about the historical revisionists who
> are claiming FreeBSD never had a logo.  That is hogwash.

Where can I see the logo?

> Nobody ever said that FreeBSD lacked a logo until after a few days ago
> when this ill-conceived competition was leaked - because everyone knew
> the logo was Beastie.

That's not a logo.  Just about every image I've seen of Beastie has been
different, so it's not a logo, it's a character associated with the
brand (like Mickey Mouse).  Logos are simple and instantly recognizable;
they do not mutate from one presentation to the next.  Most open-source
projects don't have logos; even Linux lacks a proper logo (one could
probably be made from the popular penguin character, but I haven't seen
any examples).

Red Hat, however, _does_ have a logo.

> Yes I understand that some commercial consultants and such have had
> problems due to the logo being a devil image.

Logos need to be as neutral as possible, since they will be very widely
used and very heavily imprinted in customers' minds.  They must not
conjure up thoughts of anything except the brand they represent.

> This logo competition is childish - 99% of the
> FreeBSD community members are not graphic artists and couldn't draw
> their way out of a paper bag ...

That's why I figured I'd try my hand at it; see

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/anthony.atkielski/FreeBSDLogo1.jpg

It meets the technical criteria for a logo; the aesthetic aspect is an
open question.

This logo concept uses ITC Garamond Bold (traditionally associated with
FreeBSD and the BSDs generally) as the typeface for the logotype, thus
retaining a link with prior generations of BSD (and showing kinship with
other versions of BSD, such as NetBSD). I've adjusted the spacing of the
logotype to tighten up the characters a bit.

The squared oval surrounding the logotype represents continuous
operation. The figure at the lower right is both a heart (representing
the fondness that FreeBSD users have for the operating system) and, in
conjunction with the oval, a symbolic pointed tail--an indirect
reference to the original Beastie. The gold color for the oval
represents reliability; the red color of the rest of logo again is an
indirect reference to the original (red) Beastie.

The simplicity of the logo makes it inexpensive to print on paper (it
can be printed monochrome or with simple two-color offset, or with
process offset).  There are no complex halftones or shadings or fine
details that might be difficult to print or might become muddy or fuzzy
when resizing the logo for display.

The spot colors used are Pantone 144 CVU (gold) and Pantone 187 CVU
(red). These can be easily converted to CMYK, RGB, grayscale, etc., as
required.

> However I decided that I would be willing to take the financial impact
> on a personal basis of losing a few sales to people who are so blinded
> by their idea of religion that they wouldn't touch a book with an
> image of a devil on the cover - because the FreeBSD devil image has a
> historical significance to FreeBSD that is important.

Actually, I think the devil aspect has little impact on public
perception of FreeBSD.  It's having a cute little cartoon mascot in
sneakers that has the real impact--it implies that FreeBSD is a toy for
kids, not a serious product for professionals and corporations.  A more
serious image of Beastie should be considered for these venues.  And in
any case, this mascot is distinct from a logo.  The image used on your
book is not a logo.

-- 
Anthony