A new logo for SFML

[armyspy]

Here's my first try:







SVG: https://legacy.sfmluploads.org/file/171

[Accund]

[gwood]

Seen some nice ideas, might as well throw one into the hat...

Some general rules of thumb for logo design

• Simple : The simpler, the better... Keep colors and logo-elements to a minimum
• Memorable : Should be distinctive and easily recognizable
• Appropriate : Conveys some idea or feeling that relates to the desired "brand identity"
• Versatile : Maintains the "brand image" without being too detailed, allowing for subtle tweaking in the future or logo-variants

Here's an quick mock-up

Again in various sizes


And a few variants


 

[Cornstalks]

@gwood: I love those!

[gwood]

Thank you kindly, Cornstalks. I used to do some design work before I got laid off.

Laurent said that a simple font-based design would be fine, so I went through my ridiculously large font-library for something to use as a base.

SFML is a wrapper... So the text is "wrapped" in an outline. And since it is obviously computer-related, the lettering has a "digital" look to it. Also, I like the blocky appearance because the SFML modules are foundational building-blocks for crafting some sweet software.

Different colors would likely work, but I made it with a calming blue-pastel tone that I picked out of the website's header.

[Laurent]

It looks really good

Is the font free to use?

[NocnaShada]

I can't really claim much proficiency in the field, but my girlfriend can, being the one responsible for the marketing division of a company making webpages. We discussed this topic, being so close to what she does for a living, and I decided I'd give my 2 cents(this is the expression, right?) on the topic.

Fistly, though, a few general comments that come to my mind:

• Simpler!
• Less crazy colors!
• No outlines!

A good logo should still be very much recognisable when scaled down to 1 cm^2 and printed on paper in black and white.

This. This is the best I've seen in the thread. Some of the others in Bigz's post are also good, but this one is the best.

Needed more raptors  :

Or this. This one is good, the raptor is stretching some of my comments at the top, but the SFML part is excellent.

This one's okay.

Okay. The green circle is off and the outline on number 2 is ugly.

The SFML middle part is okay, the L looks weird though. Too much unnecessary clutter at the top and bottom.

A much improved variation of the previous one, the L is still weird.

[Laurent]

Thanks for the professional feedback

This. This is the best I've seen in the thread. Some of the others in Bigz's post are also good, but this one is the best.

I don't want the version number in the logo, so this one would end up being just "SFML" written in grey (gray?). That would be a little too simple.

[gwood]

It looks really good

Is the font free to use?

The base font is called "Tiny Box" and the author's website is non-existent at the moment, but he/she uploaded it to a dozen or so free-font repositories, so I'd guess that it is.

But just to be sure, I'll try to contact the author to double-check.

*Update*

After checking upwards of 13 font-repositories, the license is always labeled "Freeware" or "Unknown", so it appears to be free to use so far.

The author's website (apparently a blog) is completely dead, but the email appears to still be active. I'm currently waiting for a response so that I can just be sure about the license.

[eXpl0it3r]

Here's an quick mock-up

Hmm I like this one as well and I especially like that you created them with some kind of meaning and didn't just put some colored letters there and called it a logo.

As always, here's the album featuring about every single logo from this thread.

[gwood]

Made some subtle changes to my previous design while recreating it from scratch in my vector-editor of choice.

The largest change is that the individual letters are all the same dimensions in terms of their bounding-boxes, reinforcing the "building block" idea. This should also make logo variants that feature the letters in different configurations seem more natural.

Logo Horizontal orientation...


Logo in Vertical orientation...



Other configurations could be used for various purposes if desired, I suppose.

*Edit*

Another alternate configuration

[MarcuzPwnz]

Now that is awesome! Seems like a good logo for 2.0 in my opinion

[Haikarainen]

Here's an quick mock-up

I really like this one, it looks really clean and professional, Remove the shading (so it's only 2 colors) and it's perfected. If you did, that logo would look good on anything (the website, printed papers, etc), also without shading it would be really easy to print on stuff like dvd-cases/memorysticks and whatnot, and it would look so much better.

[gwood]

Here's an quick mock-up

I really like this one, it looks really clean and professional, Remove the shading (so it's only 2 colors) and it's perfected. If you did, that logo would look good on anything (the website, printed papers, etc), also without shading it would be really easy to print on stuff like dvd-cases/memorysticks and whatnot, and it would look so much better.

That's the original version, below is the revised version:


I noticed that as well and removed the inner shading when during my revisions. The inner drop-shadow for the letters themselves is very subtle, so it will disappear naturally at lower resolutions and not be noticeable.

Here is an extreme example of a low-rez variant for use as a website favicon (sized 16x16)



See Reply #251 in this thread for more examples...

*Edit*
I think I like this favicon better:

[eXpl0it3r]

Seems like the F has been misplaced.

As always: imgur album