A new logo for SFML

[Laurent]

I just want it to look good

And no, no 3D... SFML is everything but 3D.

[Nexus]

Do you have concrete suggestions how to refine mine? Bright text was already mentioned, other things?

And I can also upload the PSD if it's useful for anyone, we get much better results if multiple people experiment with it

[Haze]

I can't decide alone, I'd like to find a logo that almost everyone likes.

Well, you'll nevertheless have the final say, so I think it would be better if you can give us some dos and don'ts.
Do you plan to drop all the previous ideas (ellipse/orbit, pentagon, power button), and should we focus on arrow derivations instead?

Some integration tests...

#1


#2 (increased drop shadow)


#3 (reflection on text)


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Laurent]

Do you plan to drop all the previous ideas (ellipse/orbit, pentagon, power button), and should we focus on arrow derivations instead?

I'll probably take the last active idea(s). So unless someone restarts working on the previous ones, I'll most likely drop them.

[Ricky]

I really like the arrow ideas! Especially Haze's.  I haven't had time to fully flesh out my concepts but on paper they don't look that interesting anyway. I tried the hexagon; its no good. Tried putting "SFML" inside the hexagon and nothing. The whole time I was sitting here thinking of ideas and drawing them I just thought "this has nothing to do with SFML" So I guess we can all give up on that. On the other hand it freed me up to explore more exotic designs as well as a little mascot! I'll post what I've worked on so far as soon as I've polished it a bit more.

But yeah, really digging the arrow Hey Haze, try making the arrow blue or something to contrast the already strong green page layout.

[Laurent]

a little mascot!

Ah! This is exactly what I was thinking about, 1 minute before reading your post. What about "arrow-man", a cool cartoon guy leaned on the 'S' of SFML?

The more I think about it, the more I feel like we need a mascot. Look at all those libraries that use simple shapes as logos, you never remember them, and hardly identify them when you just see the logo. But look at the Ogre engine. Although the "Ogre" word has nothing to do with 3D rendering, I think it's really cool and does a pretty good job as a logo.

PS: sorry for taking a new direction again

[FRex]

Pick the raptor.
http://en.sfml-dev.org/forums/index.php?topic=4960.msg71782#msg71782
It has the cool factor.
Octocat and tux have nothing to do with github and linux either(and octocat is very cool , but tux looks somewhat sad ).

[Cornstalks]

But look at the Ogre engine. Although the "Ogre" word has nothing to do with 3D rendering, I think it's really cool and does a pretty good job as a logo.

"Ogre" = "Object-Oriented Graphics Rendering Engine"

But yeah, I think a cool mascot could be awesome.

Edit: Also, I'm just going to leave this here... 

[Ricky]

You guys aren't going to believe this but.. my computer shut off while I was working on the mockup of my second design (the one with mascot) and I didn't save it. So I lost everything.

Anyway here is what I was working on. A couple of weeks back I was working on a revamped version of the original logo

That ship sank.

Recently I read someone post about hexagons in this thread so I tried messing around with hexagons and "SFML" and this is what I got

Just a proof of concept so you can see how the "SFML" would fit into the hexagon if I actually cared enough to do it.

The final logo I was working on was epic but.. my computer died. I'll start working on it again from scratch I guess. But yeah, we need mascot! #MASCOT.. just kidding that's not funny.

I think I'm just going to draw it by hand and scan it in because I just don't feel like dealing with Photoshop anymore today. Auto-save, Adobe! Have you heard of it?

[Cornstalks]

Anyway here is what I was working on. A couple of weeks back I was working on a revamped version of the original logo

I, personally, hope we can give the original logo a proper burial instead of trying to Frankenstein it.

Recently I read someone post about hexagons in this thread so I tried messing around with hexagons...

I don't think I've read about hexagons (though there's been plenty of talk about pentagons).

Just a proof of concept so you can see how the "SFML" would fit into the hexagon if I actually cared enough to do it.

I know it's just a rough sketch, but I personally am not a fan of the idea. It's quite generic and not very memorable.

[Ricky]

I, personally, hope we can give the original logo a proper burial instead of trying to Frankenstein it.

Trust me, I had no intention (though I don't think the original logo needed much help being frankensteined as it was lol). This logo I worked on and never finished, was drafted weeks ago. Just putting it up as more brain fodder.

I don't think I've read about hexagons (though there's been plenty of talk about pentagons).

Hmm I'm pretty sure I did.. [found it; go read eigenbom's idea] ..Not that I need an excuse to make a hexagon logo if I want. But that is curious, why pentagons and not hexagons?.. Cornstalks you want to explain that strange appeal? 

I know it's just a rough sketch, but I personally am not a fan of the idea. It's quite generic and not very memorable.

It is very rough and that could make it look less appealing. It's just putting it out there. Frankly I don't like it either or I'd invest more time in it.

[Cornstalks]

I don't think I've read about hexagons (though there's been plenty of talk about pentagons).

Hmm I'm pretty sure I did.. [found it; go read eigenbom's idea] ..Not that I need an excuse to make a hexagon logo if I want. But that is curious, why pentagons and not hexagons?.. Cornstalks you want to explain that strange appeal? 

It was originally eigenbom's idea, with the 5-sided pentagon representing the 5 modules of SFML. (and I just found his mention of the hexagon too, thanks for pointing it out)

[Ricky]

I don't think I've read about hexagons (though there's been plenty of talk about pentagons).

Hmm I'm pretty sure I did.. [found it; go read eigenbom's idea] ..Not that I need an excuse to make a hexagon logo if I want. But that is curious, why pentagons and not hexagons?.. Cornstalks you want to explain that strange appeal? 

It was originally eigenbom's idea, with the 5-sided pentagon representing the 5 modules of SFML. (and I just found his mention of the hexagon too, thanks for pointing it out)

Hey Cornstalks I want to get your feedback on the whole mascot idea. How do you feel about that?
Do you feel it should be an animal or a human figure? Mozilla and a few others have used animals.
Java uses a thing that isn't even human but looks personified. What are your thoughts?

[Steef435]

I just want it to look good

And no, no 3D... SFML is everything but 3D.

Well I suppose if I had to make a logo I would make it so that people associate it with the library. I mean, if it has to give a feeling of simplicity, perhaps all those shades and glow and I don't know how you call it should be evaded. The logos of Gtk+, Boost and Qt for example, look pretty but are still very simple. I'd suggest trying something like that. Also, is it needed that the name of the library is written on the logo? That makes it pretty big and it makes it harder to create small sizes of it, while still recognizing the letters, like the favicon of the site. What about "just" a nicely colored pentagon or some other shape?
I'm just throwing in some ideas, I'm not creative at all so please don't mind me if I say something stupid

EDIT: Or perhaps a shape with "sf" in it?

EDIT2 something like this? Very dirty quick sketch, svg available:

I found this post by Bigz, I think these are really good:
http://en.sfml-dev.org/forums/index.php?topic=4960.msg73799#msg73799

[Haze]

Hey Haze, try making the arrow blue or something to contrast the already strong green page layout.

I agree, it could be better with another colour, it looks too boring right now. The green/white colour scheme worked better with the ellipse logo.

What about "arrow-man", a cool cartoon guy leaned on the 'S' of SFML?

The more I think about it, the more I feel like we need a mascot. Look at all those libraries that use simple shapes as logos, you never remember them, and hardly identify them when you just see the logo. But look at the Ogre engine. Although the "Ogre" word has nothing to do with 3D rendering, I think it's really cool and does a pretty good job as a logo.

I'm afraid a human cartoon guy would look childish and goofy, but an animal mascot would be great.
They are widely popular among open source projects and users love them, I suggest you have a look at http://chl.be/mascots/ for some inspiration.

However, it will require some skills... and you also need to give some directions, or it will takes months, especially if we start from scratch...
Among the previous ideas, there were a falcon and raptor, what do you think about that?

Java uses a thing that isn't even human but looks personified.

The Java mascot is as ugly as the language it's portraying