needs a logo

[Xah Lee]

it would be good if Bash and Python have a decent logo.

the current logos of simplistic font
http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/img/bash-org.jpg
http://python.org/pics/pythonHi.gif
are homely.

--
some quick tips for good logos:

Good logo is not something generic, even if it is beautifully
rendered. Example of bad or not very good logos with this problem:

old gnu hurd logo of just a generic sphere
http://www.gnu.org/graphics/hurd-logo-sm.jpg

Fresco Window system of triangles (fresco.org)

bash of simplistic font
http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/bash/bashtop.html

python of simplistic font (python.org)

Better logos should be reminiscent to what it represents. Good
example's are SGI's computer rendered tube cube illusion, Sun Micro's
8Us that spells out Sun in 4 directions, Apple's bitten apple, Be
media company's eye-ear logo, NeXT's geometrical cube, X-Window's
sharp X, Redhat's redhat, GNU's gnu head, BSD's deamon tyke, MS
Windows's window, Perl's ugly camel, nVidia's eye, GNU Hurd OS'
recursive arrows, Shell's seashell, McDonnald's M, Taco Bell's bell,
Honda's H ...

Good logo should be distinct, an impression lock, even if it isn't
reminiscent of what it represents. For example, AT&T's death star
(globe connotation), Apache feather (Native American, panache),
Linux's penguine tux (connotes glut with food and sex), Qmail's arrow
distribution, Yamaha's tuning forks, General Electric's curlicue. Even
font alone can do very good if in distinctive style: IBM stripped
blue, coke drink's cursives, ATI's high-tech font, ebay and google's
colorful fonts.

Note that successful company's logo are not necessaily good. Examples
are: SONY, JVC, TOSHIBA, RCA, Microsoft. These are just unremarkable.

Good logo should not be overly complex. It shouldn't be photographic
or complex drawings, for examples.

Here's a related essay on the logo used by functional languages:
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/lambda_logo.html

Thanks.

Xah
xahlee.org
http://xahlee.org/PageTwo_dir/more.html

[Skip Montanaro]

Xah> it would be good if Bash and Python have a decent logo.
Xah> the current logos of simplistic font
Xah> http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/img/bash-org.jpg
Xah> http://python.org/pics/pythonHi.gif
Xah> are homely.

Have you browsed

http://www.python.org/pics/

? There are a lot of PyBanner*.gif images there. Maybe you could use one
of them as the starting point for a new logo.

Skip

[Alan Gauld]

This is way OT but...

On 23 Jul 2003 02:44:05 -0700, xa*@xahlee.org (Xah Lee) wrote:

Better logos should be reminiscent to what it represents. Good
example's are ... Shell's seashell,

I remember my grandfather telling me that the Shell logo
originated around WW2 time and it represented a shell exploding
(message => dynamic powerful company) on a building
and was in two colors. After the war it was deemed
a bad marketing image to use warlike logos so they
"re-badged" the company as being around sea shells and
the logo changed to what we know today.

I've never seen any other reference to this anywhere.
Does anyone know of a source (another grandfather?!)
that can confirm or deny this?

Just curious,

Alan G.

[Peter Hansen]

Alan Gauld wrote:

This is way OT but...

On 23 Jul 2003 02:44:05 -0700, xa*@xahlee.org (Xah Lee) wrote:

Better logos should be reminiscent to what it represents. Good
example's are ... Shell's seashell,

I remember my grandfather telling me that the Shell logo
originated around WW2 time and it represented a shell exploding
(message => dynamic powerful company) on a building
and was in two colors. After the war it was deemed
a bad marketing image to use warlike logos so they
"re-badged" the company as being around sea shells and
the logo changed to what we know today.

I've never seen any other reference to this anywhere.
Does anyone know of a source (another grandfather?!)
that can confirm or deny this?

Not exactly deny, but at a gallery/museum of design in Rotterdam,
which I visited two months ago, there was an exhibit showing various
almost iconic products, including the Shell logo, complete with
history on their development, and no mention whatsoever was made
of this background. Perhaps it was sanitized, but for what it's
worth...

-Peter