Re: [libreoffice-design] Some Ideation on LibreOffice Logo Improvements

Hi Heiko, all!

Am Montag, den 25.01.2016, 14:45 +0100 schrieb Heiko Tietze:
> To me, design is all about analysis and structure, and less of
> creativity. You tell a story with graphics and illustration instead
> of the text. And the question is rather what story we want to tell.
> The UX guys call this a "vision" [1] :-)

I'd like to object (a bit) :-) Even Mechanical Engineering is about
designing something - after analyzing the problem (requirements /
constraints / context) it still needs some creativity and experience to
deliver good solutions. Of course, it also needs testing (and I
currently consider our discussions as expert reviews I do highly
appreciate). Now then...

> Some ideas for the marketing people: 
>
> Libreoffice is
> * Easy to use (Illustrated with polygonal lines in b/w)
> * Professional (Indicated by the letter-spacing)
> * User-centered (Dog-ears as in normal life)
> * Versatile (The logo could be enhanced with brush strokes in our
> rainbow colors; Looking through Google images after search for 'brush
> stroke rainbow' we could also show some history in the rainbow stroke
> coming from a less colored world. Or whatever, actually its just the
> turbulence that is like)

Sorry, I'm a bit lost - are these proposals how marketing guys might
describe the logo, or does this directly to the HIG foundations at [1]?

If you like to know more about the requirements / constraints I had in
mind, I can provide some explanations.

> [1] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design/HIG_foundations#Vision

> Sharp corners and flat design could be understood as modern, whilst
> the logo today has round edges (like) and an embossed effect
> (dislike), attributable as old-school. Is this intentional? Or is my
> interpretation wrong.

From the beginning, the basic logo was available in several versions -
e.g. black/white, color, and contemporary (see branding at [2]). So
indeed, the contemporary version (embossed) is clearly outdated now.

Apart from the color / effects, there have been two different versions
of the logo (TDF official and community) - unfortunate to work with.
Addressing this issue allowed to also touch-up the document logo which
is now more "edgy" and has a different aspect ratio - so yes, right
interpretation. Plus improvements in: spacing, alignment, ...

[2] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Branding


> BTW: I miss Math in the splash logo. Its color never blended well
> with the others, maybe that was the reason for you to omit it here.

Somehow yes, somehow no. The first question is whether Math is to be
considered a core module as e.g. Writer.

In the initial icon set (see [3] for info and sources) I considered it
to be a supplemental module like Chart - and that led to:
 * LibO Main: Gray (proposed: white on dark green background)
 * LibO Core Module: Color (equals competition)
 * LibO Supplemental Module (e.g. Chart, Macros, ...): Gray + Slight
   Color for module icon (proposed: not yet defined)

So, how to treat the modules? Is there any reference for that? In any
case, I will start working on the symbols for these extra modules...

[3] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design/Whiteboards/LibreOffice_Initial_Icons

Have a nice evening!
Christoph


> 2016-01-24 22:22 GMT+01:00 Christoph Noack <christoph@dogmatux.com>:
> > Hi Heiko,
> >
> > thanks for the fast and concise feedback :-)
> >
> > @ all: Since the links didn't survive the formatting in my previous
> > mail, here is another attempt (for overview and user page):
> >
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/2/25/LibreOffice_LogoImp
> > rovements2016_Ideation.png
> >
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User:ChristophNoack/LogoImprove
> > ments2016
> >
> >
> > Am Samstag, den 23.01.2016, 23:45 +0100 schrieb Heiko Tietze:
> > > On Saturday, 23 January 2016 23:02:34 CET Christoph Noack wrote:
> > > > What are your initial thoughts, pros, cons, or ideas? [...]
> > >
> > > The logo is perfect, especially in monochrome with the enlarged
> > > character spacing for the TDF letters. 
> > > I'm not a fan of the bright green (the old branding color was
> > nicer)
> > > in particular combined with the white font.
> >
> > You're talking about the splash, right? Yes, I've spend most of the
> > time iterating the logo variants and (first) module symbols. Then I
> > started building other graphics - e.g. the splash. There I picked a
> > slightly brighter green from the LibO palette. It seems that it is
> > still hard to choose a green tone that is both "fresh" and friendly
> > to
> > the eyes (with regard to color reproduction on different displays).
> > Got
> > it, needs some refinement :-)
> >
> > What's your impression with regard to the green in the colored
> > "Libre"
> > in separate logo?
> >
> >
> > > And the lemons could be attributed as sour rather than
> > > fresh.  However, I'm not a designer, so don't care too much.
> >
> > That was just an idea when I worked on the splash - you've totally
> > got
> > the message. Working with new features of LibreOffice Fresh
> > sometimes
> > is slightly sour. (We need to add sugar.)
> >
> >
> > > > From the UX POV the colored text in IconsInclMotif are
> > > > questionable. In particular the yellow is hard to read. And the
> > > > green of the logo interferes with Calc's green.
> >
> > Agreed. The text was temporarily added to explain the module
> > symbols -
> > I altered the yellow a bit (one step darker according LibO
> > branding).
> > For any real use (website, print material) it might need further
> > tweaking.
> >
> > What do you (all) think about the module symbols? I tried to
> > simplify
> > the current ones whilst keeping the metaphor. Now monochrome, they
> > should be more versatile - even if visually adapted for other use
> > cases
> > (or used with "modern" UI designs, e.g. when used on tiles). For
> > better
> > evaluation, I've added separate symbols to the source/overview
> > files.
> >
> > The "LibO green" vs. "Calc green" issue was tricky from the
> > beginning -
> > I wanted to use some color on the main logo. There has been
> > feedback
> > (on the lists, in bug 96835) that the gray LibO logo is too similar
> > to
> > other document icons (in small size). Thus, I used a different
> > background shape and made the logo larger / the green darker (in
> > comparison to Calc). Maybe not yet sufficient ... although I'm
> > unaware
> > of any OS where the LibO and Calc icons are used in parallel
> > (please
> > correct me, if I'm wrong). Any other ideas?
> >
> > > The wallpaper feels a little bit untidy and irritating. To me,
> > the
> > > dog-ear triangle from the logo without the page doesn't work.
> >
> > Do you mean the triangle used as background pattern (=motif)?
> >
> >
> > > Last but not least the bugs have a friendly but warning color,
> > very
> > > nice. Maybe you can make the bugs a little bit cuter, laydbugs
> > > perhaps? :-)
> >
> > Phew ... even more cute? ;-) Maybe someone could lend me a hand and
> > give it a try?
> >
> > > Cheers,
> > > > Heiko
> >
> > Again, thanks for the clear feedback! Any further opinions?
> >
> > PS: Currently I do stick to the LibO color palette, although it
> > might
> > need improvements as well. One step at a time :-)
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Christoph

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