openSUSE Brand Logo refresh

[hellcp]

While Geeko is great, it has some issues:

• Scalability of even buttons is poor, look at favicons of software-o-o and wiki
• Logo in full form is not very readable in small sizes too (even 48x48 is hard to recognize)
• Cross-branding issues with SUSE, there is still confusion about openSUSE vs SUSE (not just a logo issue)
• Logo without text needs to be able to represent the brand (Geeko represents two identities in the case when we are unable to use openSUSE/SUSE green to differentiate or text at very low sizes)

So what are requirements for a logo?

• Geeko (well, chameleon, you know)
• Low detail with high recognizability (so it is well recognizable at 16x16)
• Usage of the current colour scheme (but a monochrome logo, not to face the same issues as Fedora)
• Logo close to 1x1, so we don't have to separate identity provided by main logo and buttons as we do currently (obviously assumed here that "openSUSE" text is gonna be a detachable part from the main body of the logo, just logo has to be 1x1, not logo + text)

Discussion prompted by excellent suggestions of Debian, Fedora and CentOS communities considering changes to their respective logos

[hellcp]

One of the suggestions I have seen, and one I would actually love to see implemented was a logo we have in artwork repo.

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@ddemaio I would actually love to know, are those from SUSE? I wouldn't like to make it problematic to deal with if they wanted to use those for their own brand ;)

Anyway, with some modifications, we can have that logo be pixel-perfectly represented because lines are exactly 1px width at 16x16. It's also constructed out of circles and simple lines, so remaking it from scratch is very very easy.
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Also yeah, I would keep it green :D
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And a comparison between this, the current button and the current logo at 16px:
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[m4u9]

Hello, I welcome this suggestion as I've been using the untouched version of this cool logo for some time now and I do enjoy its look. LCP's modifications make it even better and I agree with his points, especially the ones about readability at small size, which becomes obvious also when using it as application menu icon in small panels.

I took the liberty to post here some screenshots of how this logo looks as application menu icon, in my Xfce panel at 24px, 28px and 32px.
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[simotek]

While coming up with some concepts here is a great idea, ultimately this will need to go to the opensuse-project mailinglist for discussion on if and what we want to change the logo too, then the board will need to take it to SUSE for legal / trademark fun.

[ppromet]

Hello, I welcome this suggestion as I've been using the untouched version of this cool logo for some time now and I do enjoy its look. LCP's modifications make it even better and I agree with his points, especially the ones about readability at small size, which becomes obvious also when using it as application menu icon in small panels.

I took the liberty to post here some screenshots of how this logo looks as application menu icon, in my Xfce panel at 24px, 28px and 32px.
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[Off topic] Hello, just dropped by as an openSUSE user. ;)

I come from Hong Kong and I thought your wallpaper is a photo until I found it's actually a drawing!

May I have the wallpaper please?

[tigerfoot]

Strangely the first time, i was in a kind of "what the heck" and 24 hours later, I start loving it :-)

[peretto]

It remembers me cyberpunk style and Aztec art. Well done!

[Fraser-Bell]

I suppose in all things such as this, there will always be naysayers. LOL

But, sorry, looks bizarre to me. Apologies to the designer, but that is my reaction.

I like the 2nd and 3rd ones, still, and pull them in when they are not there.

However, that is only one opinion, so far, and I see the issues you mention.

Except, I am an old guy -- that is, eyesight is not as good as when I was twenty -- and I have no problems with those favicons, and in the tiny representations in post by Doug, above, I can clearly recognize instantly.

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[ddemaio]

Hi @hellcp This was something that was designed for oSC18 with the coloring sheet and pencil set, but it never really developed much further as the idea was vaguely made. Either way, the openSUSE project has it and can use it however we want. @simotek suggestion on it could work. We haven't trade marked it or anything, but it's was designed specific for openSUSE.

[hellcp]

@Fraser-Bell I would be more shocked if there was no opposition, and that's good, it's supposed to be a discussion to share ideas and most important critique. I would also like to see if anybody else got ideas for other variants of logos. @simotek has been proposing some things, and I will certainly integrate that into other variants of the logo I posted earlier.

@ddemaio that's reassuring, good work :D

[javierllorente]

In my opinion, it's a bit complex as a logo. I would use it for a T-shirt :)

[m4u9]

Hello, I welcome this suggestion as I've been using the untouched version of this cool logo for some time now and I do enjoy its look. LCP's modifications make it even better and I agree with his points, especially the ones about readability at small size, which becomes obvious also when using it as application menu icon in small panels.
I took the liberty to post here some screenshots of how this logo looks as application menu icon, in my Xfce panel at 24px, 28px and 32px.
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[Off topic] Hello, just dropped by as an openSUSE user. ;)

I come from Hong Kong and I thought your wallpaper is a photo until I found it's actually a drawing!

May I have the wallpaper please?

Hello email me at maurizio.galli@gmail.com. I will share it with you :)

[eionmac]

I like the style, but would prefer on landing page to have both the logo in big size and to keep the green chameleon in back ground so folk get the reference to 'SUSE' the openSUSE one in green can be on splash screen. The green start button logo is most acceptable.

[juddy]

If the objective is to cleanly scale down to 16px, an intricate filligree logo is probably not the way forward.

Negative space is important in good design, and the current geeko logo is more effective than the proposed image. Spacing between elements is not uniform, so interpolation varies from eye to tail when rendered as pixmap.

Geeko head by itself does not really evoke a chameleon (or gecko, for that matter).

[mercster]

I love hellcp's logo! The green one! Great work! MAKE IT SO! :-)