centos / Artwork

#5 Improving CentOS Symbol Contrast, Size and Meaning

Closed 2 years ago by areguera. Opened 2 years ago by areguera.

The CentOS symbol proposed recently is presenting poor levels of contrast for some use-cases the CentOS distribution demands. We are opening a new issue to provide visual evidence of the problems found and initiating a new design round for the community to discuss and find solutions.

Problem to solve 1: Contrast

The CentOS Symbol redesign was conceived to be applied on top of different backgrounds by changing the color of its lines. For example, black lines for light backgrounds and white lines for dark backgrounds. So, we had two different images that can be applied on two different situations to provide the best
contrast possible. However, in CentOS distribution, we have a scenario where that approach doesn't apply. The CentOS distribution presents one single image (e.g., /usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/system-logo-icon.png) on top of different background colors (e.g., near Activities for Gnome Desktops and near the page title for the default web browser tabs).

Let's illustrate the problem.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

Problem to solve 2: Size

During implementation tests in CentOS distribution, it was found that the number of lines in the CentOS Symbol design still make it to loose its visual meaning when the image is reduced
to small sizes like 16x16 pixels. Such is the case of the symbol near Activities in Gnome Desktops and the symbol (favicon) near the page titles in web browser tabs.

Figure 7.

The symbol near the Activities section in Gnome Desktop is always visible on the screen (unless you use an application full screen). Presenting an image there which doesn't express what it should express is a major problem for the visual identity and project recognition. The images used to present the CentOS Symbol must transmit with clarity the same information/feeling of what it is, no matter its size.

Problem to solve 3: Meaning

Addressing the two previous problems may require to entirely redesign the symbol as we know it. This represents a new challenge: preserving the CentOS Symbol meaning when you look at it, whatever the new form it takes be. The new form of the symbol must transmit the same chaos idea conceived in the very beginning of the CentOS Project in order to preserve our identity. We cannot end up having a symbol that doesn't transmit the chaos idea the CentOS Project founders wanted to transmit when they conceived the CentOS Symbol in first place. We want to improve that idea to make it stronger.

Metadata Update from @areguera:
- Issue private status set to: False (was: True)

2 years ago

areguera commented 2 years ago

Let's try some shape simplification to break the ice. Here I tried to remove the excessive number of lines and remark the symbol shape instead.

Here is the SVG file in case you want play with colors and shapes.

Interesting reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygram_(geometry)#Regular_compound_polygons

areguera commented 2 years ago

Invert the arrow termination. The expansion occurs from the inside to the outside.

Test the "Attitude" palette in PANTONE 18-3838 ULTRA VIOLET.

SVG Updated:

areguera commented 2 years ago

Let's try a one color simplification, add a bit more of margin around the inner symbol, reduce the space between the symbol and the CentOS word, update the symbol inner 8-point-star for the arrows to fit on it:

Here is the related symbol construction:

arrfab commented 2 years ago

If I may comment (personal pref), I prefer the one with the color variant (on the arrow) than the last one which, at very first sight, looks more like the kubernetes logo ;-)

areguera commented 2 years ago

Trying another CentOS symbol simplification side-by-side Kubernetes symbol (monochromatic):

The info-graphic describing CentOS relation with Fedora and Red Hat was designed using the yellow color in CentOS Symbol, so lets try it with previous simplification:

areguera commented 2 years ago

CentOS, Fedora and Red Hat in the color wheel context:

areguera commented 2 years ago

Combining CentOS Yellow and CentOS Purple in CentOS Symbol simplified design:

areguera commented 2 years ago

Another variant trying to remark the expanding arrows:

Tests in the distribution:

areguera commented 2 years ago

Some corrections to prevent the symbol from looking too much like a flower:

Thanks to gbraad for commenting on this.

spotz commented 2 years ago

We discussed this in the Office Hours and really like the round version and would like to move forward. We would also need a monochrome(2 bit) version available

areguera commented 2 years ago

@spotz , thanks for your comment. I will propagate the images to centos-logo upstream repo and close this issue in the next days.

Contrast Ratio:

Best regards.

spotz commented 2 years ago

Can we get these with the contrasting center and arrow as well? Thanks!

areguera commented 2 years ago

Adding the contrasting center and arrow to previous images:

The CentOS Symbol:

The CentOS Logo:

The CentOS Logo Contrast Ratio:

Note that when we add the contrasting center and arrow, we are adding a third color to the symbol which makes the 2-bits version not exactly the same. Nevertheless, adding the contrasting shapes to the colorful version may be helpful to reinforce the expanding arrow idea and also think of it when the 2-bits symbol presents itself.

@spotz , let me know if you would like to make other adjustments, or if we are ok to proceed with centos-logos package propagation. Thanks!

Best regards.

spotz commented 2 years ago

I think it looks great. @shaunm are you in agreement with the 2bit being ok like this?

shaunm commented 2 years ago

Yeah, I think the 2bit looks sharp.

Alain, do you have guidance on putting the color logo on dark gray (or colored) shirts? Playing with a contrast calculator, it looks like it's ok on 222222, but not so much on 333333. I'm not trying to revisit color choices. I just want to know what I can do with swag.

areguera commented 2 years ago

Yes, here are some tests on top of a 222222 background:

The SVG source file and the high resolution PDF files that may be used for printing are available at https://people.centos.org/areguera/promo/centos-tshirts/

Hopefully, they could be reused as poster too :D

Best regards.

areguera commented 2 years ago

Updated the files to fix the proportion between SIG names and CentOS type. The font size used for the SIG name was too small compared to CentOS type. In case the SIG name is larger than CentOS word, a new line is created below to fit the CentOS word.

Shaun, in the previous post I forgot to provide the guidelines you asked for. I would suggest to consider the content at https://99designs.com/blog/design-other/how-to-design-t-shirts/. Also, if possible, making a print test to catch possible visual issues in that specific medium, and so make the appropriate corrections before going on massive printing.

Thanks!

spotz commented 2 years ago

Thanks Alain!

Metadata Update from @areguera:
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)

2 years ago

shaunm commented 2 years ago

Where can I get the vector images for this? I think I'm just missing a repo in my bookmarks.

areguera commented 2 years ago