[Nix-dev] Nix Logo.

[Nicolas Pierron]

Hi Nixers,

As I've understood, making a logo was a goal defined 2 years ago for
last year. Since a while, I was trying to think of a logo to express
Nix concepts.

We have choices between:
- A lazy animal (same concept as: gnu, penguin, el-diablos, ...)
- A snow flake (Nix = snow, in latin)
- A moon (Nix and Hydra are both moons of Pluto)

As source of idea, Eelco points me to the Haskell logo suggestions:
http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

I have made a simple logo which is attach to this mail. This logo is
a "snow flake" style except that the functional programming and the
laziness is highlighted by missing sub-branches of the snow-flake. I
wanted to keep this logo simple in order to combine it easily with
others.

Thus:
- Nixpkgs can have a logo where the snow-flake appear on a "package"
box from where other icons are coming out (firefox, gimp, ...).
- NixOS logo can show the Gnu and Linux (or BSD) logo joined by a set
of snow-flakes. Snow-flakes have an hexagonal structure which make
them """ modular """ because you can cover a surface without holes
with snow-flakes.

Unfortunately, as you may deduce from the small logo attached to this
mail, I am not a very good designer. Therefore, if you like the idea
I am sure we can make it concrete ;)

[Marc Weber]

Hi Nicolas,

I like the logo.

However I fear that you can't recognize it if scale it down to 20% or
such.

How does it look of you remove one pair of lines ?

/ /
========
\ \

instead of


/ / /
===========
\ \ \


I think using a simple logo (eg even without relaying on colors)
is a good idea because people can change the color so that it fits their
design.

Then you can use it everywhere and still see "Ah that's nix".

Marc Weber

[Nicolas Pierron]

Hi Marc,

Post by Marc Weber
I like the logo.

That's a good start :)

Post by Marc Weber
However I fear that you can't recognize it if scale it down to 20% or
such.

Currently it is 64 x 64 pixels. But the template is an SVG file.

Post by Marc Weber
How does it look of you remove one pair of lines ?
    /  /
========
    \  \

Have a look at nix-2.png

nix-3.png is the same but with curved edges of the lambda symbol.

Post by Marc Weber
I think using a simple logo (eg even without relaying on colors)
is a good idea because people can change the color so that it fits their
design.
Then you can use it everywhere and still see "Ah that's nix".

You are highlighting one of the point I read while searching a good logo:
- Memorable
- Simple / Describable
- Appropriate / Relevant
- Versatile / Scalable, Effective without colour
- Timeless

see:
- http://www.davidairey.com/what-makes-a-good-logo/
- http://justcreativedesign.com/2009/07/27/what-makes-a-good-logo/

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello!

Excellent idea! :-)

Nicolas Pierron

Post by Nicolas Pierron
- Nixpkgs can have a logo where the snow-flake appear on a "package"
box from where other icons are coming out (firefox, gimp, ...).
- NixOS logo can show the Gnu and Linux (or BSD) logo joined by a set
of snow-flakes. Snow-flakes have an hexagonal structure which make
them """ modular """ because you can cover a surface without holes
with snow-flakes.

I like the snow flake idea, and the lambda snow flake you posted
(nix-3.png). I’m no logo designer either, though.

For NixOS, I’m afraid having Tux and a gnu and snow flakes on the same
picture wouldn’t be visually pleasant.

Actually, I think the name ought to be changed too (searching for NixOS
on google.fr doesn’t exactly yield what we’d expect:
http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&source=hp&q=nixos&btnG=Recherche+Google&meta=&aq=f&oq=).
Perhaps Latin-savvy people can come up with an idea around “nix”? :-)

Ludo’.

[Michael Raskin]

Post by Ludovic Courtès
For NixOS, I’m afraid having Tux and a gnu and snow flakes on the same
picture wouldn’t be visually pleasant.
Actually, I think the name ought to be changed too (searching for NixOS
http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&source=hp&q=nixos&btnG=Recherche+Google&meta=&aq=f&oq=).
Perhaps Latin-savvy people can come up with an idea around “nix”? :-)

I am afraid it is too late (as it is only the first result, the rest are
fine..) Maybe we should just come up with a way to kick the unwanted
result from the first place (better from the first page..). Because even
whitehouse.gov is not shielded from such a twin, as we know..

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Post by Michael Raskin

Post by Ludovic Courtès
For NixOS, I’m afraid having Tux and a gnu and snow flakes on the same
picture wouldn’t be visually pleasant.
Actually, I think the name ought to be changed too (searching for NixOS
http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&source=hp&q=nixos&btnG=Recherche+Google&meta=&aq=f&oq=).
Perhaps Latin-savvy people can come up with an idea around “nix”? :-)

I am afraid it is too late (as it is only the first result, the rest are
fine..) Maybe we should just come up with a way to kick the unwanted
result from the first place (better from the first page..). Because even
whitehouse.gov is not shielded from such a twin, as we know..

That sex site was just one reason. The main reason for me is that I
don’t really like the name, both aesthetically and because of the “OS”
part, which I find inaccurate and even misleading.

Thanks,
Ludo’.

[Marc Weber]

Post by Ludovic Courtès
Actually, I think the name ought to be changed too (searching for NixOS
http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&source=hp&q=nixos&btnG=Recherche+Google&meta=&aq=f&oq=).
Perhaps Latin-savvy people can come up with an idea around “nix”? :-)

Do you already have a suggestion in mind? (Just being curious)

That's an old story :)
When nixos becomes more popular this may change without doing anything
because a damn good linux distro should be able to outperform a local
sex site - but who knows ?

Maybe they get more traffic due to nixos - so we should ask them to pay
a fee :-) *kidding*

You mention that the correct nix(os) links can be found on second
and third position. Not too bad. I know that people using google are
known to not jumpt to page 2. However most should click on the second
link if the first hit fails.

Sincerly
Marc Weber

[Michael Raskin]

Post by Marc Weber
That's an old story :)
When nixos becomes more popular this may change without doing anything
because a damn good linux distro should be able to outperform a local
sex site - but who knows ?

Maybe some french-language information about NixOS would help to beat
that site off the top row in french search engines. Because in
English-language engines NixOS.org is the first result.

[Nicolas Pierron]

Post by Ludovic Courtès
Hello!
Excellent idea!  :-)
Nicolas Pierron

Post by Nicolas Pierron
- Nixpkgs can have a logo where the snow-flake appear on a "package"
box from where other icons are coming out (firefox, gimp, ...).
- NixOS logo can show the Gnu and Linux (or BSD) logo joined by a set
of snow-flakes.  Snow-flakes have an hexagonal structure which make
them """ modular """ because you can cover a surface without holes
with snow-flakes.

I like the snow flake idea, and the lambda snow flake you posted
(nix-3.png).  I’m no logo designer either, though.

Good because I have more variations of this one.

Post by Ludovic Courtès
For NixOS, I’m afraid having Tux and a gnu and snow flakes on the same
picture wouldn’t be visually pleasant.

Or at least with Tux, or Beastie (BSD daemon).

[Nicolas Pierron]

As I don't see anymore complains, I suggest to adopt nix-6.png .

I am a bit suspicious because only 2 persons have answer the "Call for
Opinion" among all developers.

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:33, Nicolas Pierron

Post by Nicolas Pierron

Post by Ludovic Courtès
Hello!
Excellent idea!  :-)
Nicolas Pierron

Post by Nicolas Pierron
- Nixpkgs can have a logo where the snow-flake appear on a "package"
box from where other icons are coming out (firefox, gimp, ...).
- NixOS logo can show the Gnu and Linux (or BSD) logo joined by a set
of snow-flakes.  Snow-flakes have an hexagonal structure which make
them """ modular """ because you can cover a surface without holes
with snow-flakes.

I like the snow flake idea, and the lambda snow flake you posted
(nix-3.png).  I’m no logo designer either, though.

Good because I have more variations of this one.

Post by Ludovic Courtès
For NixOS, I’m afraid having Tux and a gnu and snow flakes on the same
picture wouldn’t be visually pleasant.

Or at least with Tux, or Beastie (BSD daemon).

PS: mailing list is not an ideal method of communication for such
problems. related issues:
- commit policy (Marc Weber, does not get any answer)
- the getAttr & attrPath syntax (no decision made)
- merging modular-nixos (the only way to get feedback is to say that
we are doing it)

[Marc Weber]

Hi Nicolas,

sorry, I've missed your last pic until now.

Post by Nicolas Pierron
As I don't see anymore complains, I suggest to adopt nix-6.png .

One last suggestion:
The logo is nice. However I'd like to see a simplified version with less
elements. I'd like to compare nix-6.png with a nix-kiss.png.
How does it look like if you move the snow crystal edges on top of the
lambda and remove the snow-flake lines alltogether?
How does it look if you use onle one of those wings instead of 2 ?
On the other that's what nix is about: Assemble a diversity forming a
target derivation. And if you look at nix-store -q --tree the resulting
tree is much more complex than your logo :)

A little bit like this:

O = O
=
O =O
=
=
==
= =
= =
= =
O = O O = O
= =
O = O O = O

Post by Nicolas Pierron
PS: mailing list is not an ideal method of communication for such
- commit policy (Marc Weber, does not get any answer)

I really forgot about this one. Live goes on.

Post by Nicolas Pierron
- the getAttr & attrPath syntax (no decision made)
- merging modular-nixos (the only way to get feedback is to say that
we are doing it)

Yes and no. No answer usually means "I'm not interested / I don't care /
I don't have time". In all 3 cases there is not much you can do, correct ?

Can you send me your .svg file ? I'd like to play with it.
Eg I'd like to see how it looks like when two lambdas are used to form
the snow flake.

Maybe you also want to make the feet at the bottom left a little bit
longer so that you can fit the whole logo into a circle?
I get it :-) snow flakes are always irregular.

Marc Weber

[Nicolas Pierron]

Post by Marc Weber
Can you send me your .svg file ? I'd like to play with it.
Eg I'd like to see how it looks like when two lambdas are used to form
the snow flake.

I've put all my previous attempt at http://nbp.name/nixos/nix-logo/

[Andres Loeh]

Thanks Nicolas for pushing the NixOS logo forward, and my apologies
for not reacting to this thread earlier.

I like the general idea (I was always fond of the snowflake idea), and
I also think that your attempts over time show improvement. But I
still think that the logo isn't quite optimal. Other than for instance
the Haskell snowflake logos, it does not look very "professional", and
seems a bit unbalanced. Since we're going to be stuck with it for a
long time, perhaps we can for now agree that we want a logo in this
general direction and set a deadline for people to suggest
improvements. Then Marc can play with it, and others can have a look
as well. It would be great if someone knows a professional designer
could just have them take a look and comment on the logo.

It's important that this process has a deadline (perhaps the end of
the year?), so that we can make progress, we can hopefully quickly
adopt the new logo.

If you'd prefer we adopt the logo now, then this is also fine with me
as long as we can agree that incremental improvements of the logo are
still possible and even desired.

Andres

[Marc Weber]

Post by Andres Loeh
Thanks Nicolas for pushing the NixOS logo forward, and my apologies
for not reacting to this thread earlier.
I like the general idea (I was always fond of the snowflake idea), and
I also think that your attempts over time show improvement. But I
still think that the logo isn't quite optimal. Other than for instance
the Haskell snowflake logos, it does not look very "professional", and
seems a bit unbalanced. Since we're going to be stuck with it for a
long time, perhaps we can for now agree that we want a logo in this
general direction and set a deadline for people to suggest
improvements. Then Marc can play with it,

I did.
My results:

a simplification, also fitting everything into a circle you can't see:
http://mawercer.de/~marc/nix-one.svg << My favourite.

And playing made it worse (just for fun):

lambda with crystals:
http://mawercer.de/~marc/nix-simple.svg

taking into account nix* origin:
http://mawercer.de/~marc/nix-windmill.svg

Marc Weber

[Nicolas Pierron]

Hi Nixers,

I have news from the Author of the snowflake logo for Haskell.

Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

(...) Feel free to use the design. My design
was inspired by someone else's (I'm afraid I can't remember exactly whose),
but I think it was sufficiently derived that you probably don't need to do
any further chasing (for example, I drew it from scratch).
Attribution? I'm not particularly worried. If you use it directly, saying
somewhere that I'd created it originally (for Haskell) would be nice. If
it's modified, say derived from instead - I don't want to take credit/blame
for the modifications. ;)
I hope these terms and conditions aren't too onerous!
Other than for instance
the Haskell snowflake logos, it does not look very "professional", and
seems a bit unbalanced.

IMO the Haskell logos seems to be "professional" compared to my own proposal.

Since we're going to be stuck with it for a
long time, perhaps we can for now agree that we want a logo in this
general direction and set a deadline for people to suggest
improvements.

I agree, we have to set a deadline, which should be set before the
FOSDEM. The end of the year to accept the Nix logo seems to be a good
deadline. I don't know how much time it takes to make it print on
T-shirts.

[Tony White]

Post by Nicolas Pierron
Hi Nixers,
I have news from the Author of the snowflake logo for Haskell.
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

(...) Feel free to use the design. My design
was inspired by someone else's (I'm afraid I can't remember exactly whose),
but I think it was sufficiently derived that you probably don't need to do
any further chasing (for example, I drew it from scratch).
Attribution? I'm not particularly worried. If you use it directly, saying
somewhere that I'd created it originally (for Haskell) would be nice. If
it's modified, say derived from instead - I don't want to take credit/blame
for the modifications. ;)
I hope these terms and conditions aren't too onerous!
Other than for instance
the Haskell snowflake logos, it does not look very "professional", and
seems a bit unbalanced.

IMO the Haskell logos seems to be "professional" compared to my own proposal.

Since we're going to be stuck with it for a
long time, perhaps we can for now agree that we want a logo in this
general direction and set a deadline for people to suggest
improvements.

I agree, we have to set a deadline, which should be set before the
FOSDEM.  The end of the year to accept the Nix logo seems to be a good
deadline.  I don't know how much time it takes to make it print on
T-shirts.
--
Nicolas Pierron
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasbpierron - http://nbp.name/
Lars Rasmussen (Google IO 2009) - Icland is an icland.
_______________________________________________
nix-dev mailing list
https://mail.cs.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev

Hi guys,
Here are some images I generated in inkscape to try with
fbsplash/fbcondecor, to use with a rudimentary set of scripts I am
writing for fbsplash theme generation :
Loading Image...
Loading Image...
Loading Image...

The logo is supposed to spell Nix; with the i and the x as part of the
snowflake.

I'm no artist btw. Maybe if there is going to be a competition, there
should be submission guidelines for source image format and source
image size?
Must be svg and greater than ????x????. Otherwise there is no source
images for others to work from in the future and if you are going to
the printers with a logo that is not to scale, it may resize wrong and
just look wrong when printed.

There is actually a small work flow leading up to those images with
full svg src which I will post on my blog in a week or so.
fbsplash/fbcondecor theme generation scripts are nearly done, they'll
be up there too and I'm up for trying to see if I can use them to
generate a nixos theme everyone may use, incorporating the logo you
guys eventually choose along with input on position, colours, etc. The
scripts are designed to generate all the standard resolutions on this
chart :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vector_Video_Standards2.svg
with configs, etc from two svg source images (background and verbose)
Into four separate packages to choose from. Small, medium, large and
extra large (So you only need one but can release four; so everyone is
catered for with small download sizes.) There'll be more about it once
it's done.

Maybe someone knows an art student that could draw the logo?

Thanks,
Tony

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Nicolas Pierron

Post by Nicolas Pierron
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

[...]

Post by Nicolas Pierron
IMO the Haskell logos seems to be "professional" compared to my own proposal.

Agreed.

I vote for the top-right logo in the SVG above (though perhaps with the
colors of the bottom-right one.)

And minus the “haskell” word. ;-)

Ludo’.

[Tony White]

Post by Ludovic Courtès
Hello,
Nicolas Pierron

Post by Nicolas Pierron
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

[...]

Post by Nicolas Pierron
IMO the Haskell logos seems to be "professional" compared to my own proposal.

Agreed.
I vote for the top-right logo in the SVG above (though perhaps with the
colors of the bottom-right one.)
And minus the “haskell” word.  ;-)
Ludo’.
_______________________________________________
nix-dev mailing list
https://mail.cs.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev

Hi guys,
Similar to attached? You'll need the original author's permission and
it has a mistake on one of the angles which I repaired. Source is
available if you get the author's permission to use his work.

My only concern with that and any other logo you guys choose is the
colour pallet because it's nice to standardise things like that for
reproducibility, redesign, derivative works and integration into other
projects, like a website for instance.
A popular colour pallet is the tango icon theme pallet and there are
plenty of others to choose from that come pre-loaded in inkscape.
I studied logo design at college (Logos like IBM and UPS, etc.) That's
why I'm interested in this thread.

Thanks,
Tony

[r***@theorem.ca]

Post by Ludovic Courtès

Post by Nicolas Pierron
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

I vote for the top-right logo in the SVG above (though perhaps with the
colors of the bottom-right one.)

top-right logo with blue colour scheme, courtesy of New_logo_ideas:
Loading Image...

FWIW I like these two logos, though I prefer the bottom-right one slightly
more myself.

Post by Ludovic Courtès
And minus the “haskell” word. ;-)

[Andres Loeh]

I'd be perfectly happy with any of the two (top-right, bottom-right),
and I also prefer to blue colors. Regarding Tony's N/snowflake combos:
Somehow, the N is too emphasized, it reminds me of Netscape a bit.

Cheers,
Andres

[Tony White]

Post by Andres Loeh
I'd be perfectly happy with any of the two (top-right, bottom-right),
Somehow, the N is too emphasized, it reminds me of Netscape a bit.
Cheers,
 Andres
_______________________________________________
nix-dev mailing list
https://mail.cs.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev

Hi all,
Ha ha, Did I mention I'm not an artist...
:)

Maybe an artist on http://www.openclipart.org/ would help?

Thanks,
Tony

[Eelco Dolstra]

Hi,

Post by Nicolas Pierron
I have news from the Author of the snowflake logo for Haskell.
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

Thanks :-)

With some help from Rob and Sander, this is the logo we've produced (basically
the same as Loading Image..., based on
Sgf.svg):
Loading Image...

[Lluís Batlle]

Post by Eelco Dolstra
https://svn.nixos.org/repos/nix/homepage/branches/test/logo/nixos-hires.png

Nixos hires? Do you support telecommuting? :)

[Nicolas Pierron]

Post by Eelco Dolstra
Hi,

Post by Nicolas Pierron
I have news from the Author of the snowflake logo for Haskell.
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

Thanks :-)
With some help from Rob and Sander, this is the logo we've produced (basically
the same as http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Image:Sgf-logo-blue.png, based on
https://svn.nixos.org/repos/nix/homepage/branches/test/logo/nixos-hires.png

Is that a NixOS logo or a Nix logo?

I made others for NixPkgs and NixOS based on the snowflake logo. I
think these derivative logos are matching the concept of NixPkgs and
NixOS.

NixPkgs: 3 small boxes (packages).
NixOS: Modular Nix expressions managing packages.

http://nbp.name/nixos/nix-logo/nix-collection.svg

[Eelco Dolstra]

Hi,

Post by Nicolas Pierron

Post by Eelco Dolstra

Post by Nicolas Pierron
I have news from the Author of the snowflake logo for Haskell.
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

Thanks :-)
With some help from Rob and Sander, this is the logo we've produced (basically
the same as http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Image:Sgf-logo-blue.png, based on
https://svn.nixos.org/repos/nix/homepage/branches/test/logo/nixos-hires.png

Is that a NixOS logo or a Nix logo?

It's for everything. I don't think there is a need to have different logos for
the various subprojects.

[Ludovic Courtès]

[...]

Post by Eelco Dolstra

Post by Nicolas Pierron
Is that a NixOS logo or a Nix logo?

It's for everything. I don't think there is a need to have different logos for
the various subprojects.

+1

Ludo'.

[Sander van der Burg - EWI]

I'm really curious to see what other logo's you have for Nixpkgs and NixOS.


-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: nix-dev-***@cs.uu.nl namens Nicolas Pierron
Verzonden: wo 25-11-2009 18:45
Aan: Eelco Dolstra - EWI
CC: nix-dev
Onderwerp: Re: [Nix-dev] Re: Nix Logo.

Post by Eelco Dolstra
Hi,

Post by Nicolas Pierron
I have news from the Author of the snowflake logo for Haskell.
Here is the logo of Simon: http://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/5/5f/Sgf.svg
and more at: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_logos/New_logo_ideas

Thanks :-)
With some help from Rob and Sander, this is the logo we've produced (basically
the same as http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Image:Sgf-logo-blue.png, based on
https://svn.nixos.org/repos/nix/homepage/branches/test/logo/nixos-hires.png

Is that a NixOS logo or a Nix logo?

I made others for NixPkgs and NixOS based on the snowflake logo. I
think these derivative logos are matching the concept of NixPkgs and
NixOS.

NixPkgs: 3 small boxes (packages).
NixOS: Modular Nix expressions managing packages.

http://nbp.name/nixos/nix-logo/nix-collection.svg