On Thu, 2021-11-18 at 10:56 -0600, Rich Bowen wrote:
So ... Y'all think there's any chance we can push this out next week?
Rich, wrt new logo design, I am afraid we are not ready yet. While making some implementation tests in CentOS Stream 9, I recently observed two problems:
1. The symbol image in the new logo doesn't provide an acceptable level of contrast in all the use-cases the distribution demands. For example, if we use dark lines, it is not visible on dark backgrounds. If we use light lines, it is not visible on light backgrounds. If we use neutral color lines, it doesn't look good in any case.
2. The symbol image is poorly recognizable in small sizes (e.g., 16x16 pixels) as we see in Gnome Desktop, near Activities, and on the web browser tab icon. The icon near Activities is probably the most important image we have to identify the CentOS Project inside the CentOS distribution because it is always visible. More than any other image is.
These problems will be described soon with visual evidence in https://git.centos.org/centos/Artwork/issues, looking for community support and proposals. These are really challenging problems (at least for me). My guess is that we will need another open design round to solve them and the result will be visually different from what we have now. Some points to address/think on:
- Recognition: It is probably necessary to simplify the symbol design even more. It has too many lines, and when they are reduced, the symbol starts to loose its meaning.
- Contrast: It is probably necessary to introduce a neutral plain color to provide a fixed background that serves as stable base to express the CentOS Symbol meaning on top of it. So, the CentOS Symbol looks always the same on top of different color saturation. This has been already proposed and rejected by me without any implementation test in the distribution. The implementation tests threw that using only lines doesn't provide a good visual presentation inside the distribution, specially on icons reduced in size.
- Meaning: Whatever the solution for these problems be, it should preserve the CentOS Symbol meaning without affecting its presentation when the symbol is reduced to 16x16 pixels. The CentOS Symbol meaning must be clearly expressed on that size. It must shine on that size!
Considering the problems mentioned earlier and the timelines, I would propose to prepare the CentOS Stream 9 launch using the historical CentOS Symbol, until we find a solution. Note, that the historical CentOS Symbol suffers these problems as well, but it is more recognizable than the new one. I prefer to introduce the new symbol to CentOS distribution when it does provide a benefit. As consequence, and to be consistent through all visual manifestations, the historical CentOS Symbol should be preserved on websites and promotion materials.
Don't know if such thing is possible considering the intention and immediate need of having the new brand active. I hope we can "as soon as we are ready to do so" [1]
[1] https://git.centos.org/centos/board/issue/4#comment-483