In order to professionally present ourselves to sponsors for the upcoming camp and the community at large, Nate and I are going to do some branding for Drupal Pittsburgh. In short, we're going to develop an attractive logo and some guidelines on how to use it.
Following are a couple of questions I'd like to pose to the group. As part of the organization we're doing this work for I think we have a decent grasp on the direction the logo should take, but as we all know collective contribution builds a better product. For best organization I'm going to post each question and anyone who likes can reply to them individually.
Thanks for helping out. We'll keep the group posted on our progress and present the completed identity at an upcoming meetup (at this point I'm guessing February).
Comments
Key Ideas and Perception
What ideas, concepts, and perceptions should the Drupal PGH branding convey?
My list:
I like this list.
I think 'community' or 'community-driven' definitely needs to be on there.
Additionally, it might be worth playing up or expounding on 'approachable' a bit, something to capture the diversity of backgrounds, applications, and experience levels within the group.
'welcoming', 'participatory' or 'contributory' - something that indicates that everyone has something to give or share, and that the group is not just to foster the exchange of knowledge and ideas, but exists because of that.
There was a discussion long ago about logo ideas here:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/126149
that might contribute in some way.
Big Thanks to you and Nate for taking this on.
Application
What use cases, contexts, and mediums will the branding be deployed across?
So this one we definitely need some feedback on. Obviously the main use case will be the Drupal PGH website, and the main medium will be screen. What others are we interested in?
Possible additional use cases and contexts:
Possible additional mediums:
T-Shirts!! and possibly other
T-Shirts!! and possibly other do-dads to give out at events
Ahh, how could I forget?!
Ahh, how could I forget?! Fashion.
Additional Considerations
Some additional questions to round things out.
I've been using DrupalPGH
Since I started organizing meetings. It's shorter, and it's our twitter handle and irc channel.
This probably goes without saying
... but we should be sure to use the Druplicon.
guidelines
http://drupal.org/node/9068
and other groups/camps/cons interpretations
http://drupal.org/logo-special-events
I'm going to disagree a
I'm going to disagree a little here. The Drupal community in general is moving away from the "character", with the eyes and little mouth, and toward a number of alternate interpretations, many retaining only the droplet shape. See:
http://chicago2011.drupal.org/
http://2011.drupalcampaustin.org/about/faq
http://drupalcampchicago.org/
http://2011.drupalcampla.com/ (still uses the character, but as an optional supporting asset to a logotype)
And drupal.org and Drupal 7 itself, which opts for that funky logotype and "7" over any mention of a droplet at all.
There are some decent ones out there that use the character as well:
http://drupalcampatlanta.com/
Of course, we'll explore everything that the community posts here, so please, continue giving input. Not trying to shut you down, just saying that there's precedent and promise in a non-character logo as well.
Guess I was a bit hasty
Agreed that there is promise in the non-druplicon route -- not feeling shot-down, rather feeling like I hadn't looked around carefully enough before making a suggestion (that used the words 'be sure to'). I guess in my mind I was associating the druplicon (guy with the eyes and little mouth) with the imagery of the droplet itself, which I feel is important to retain.
more supporting evidence:
http://denver2012.drupal.org/
http://www.acquia.com/
http://www.drupalgardens.com/
and so on.
Lots going on here! I
Lots going on here! I definitely agree with Rob about style guide/standards: it'll help us know where we can go with our identity, addressing questions such as:
As far as multiple use-cases for the logo is concerned, we definitely should pay attention to how it appears in both color and grayscale for different printing applications.
Regarding the Drupalicon-vs-drop discussion, my designer side leans toward a more abstract "hat-tip" to one of them (my preference at this very early stage being the drop shape) without being overly explicit about it. In other words, I wouldn't be in favor of simply changing the colors of the Drupalicon to something appropriate to Pittsburgh. As a reference to where I possibly see this going, check out the logos of:
Of course, this is only the beginning, and I don't like to paint ourselves into a corner before we've even had a chance to sketch some ideas out.
The point
Big thanks to everybody for the great team work done so far.
Unfortunately, english being my second language, i do not feel confortable to suggest english terms that need to be used to define the logo, but i would like to suggest to use "the point" together with the droplet as unique sign of our group from Pittsburgh. I think it might go well with the fact that our city has three rivers so we actually have lots of drops in our bucket.
Just my humble opinion on this saturday night
Ciao
Strong concept
Thanks, Max! Your English wasn't a hindrance-- and while the proof will be in the final product, I think the concept of "3", or possibly "point" or "triangle", is a strong one. Rob and I plan to meet Tuesday and sketch out some initial concepts. I'll be going away for the holidays, and hope to spend some time brainstorming then.
I third the idea of having a
I third the idea of having a more abstract take on the Druplicon. I like continuing the droplet concept instead of copying it verbatim.
3 would connect to a type of Pittsburgh motif.
A quick glance at Drupal.org tells me the droplet face is not part of the main branding. It looks like they are using just text with a TM for the primary branding element.
I also agree with having a cleaner, less busy design for a header and/or logo.
The previous ideas for headers/logos seem to have too much going on visually: http://groups.drupal.org/node/126149
The point
We used to call the point the golden triangle. Perhaps that will give the element. Since it is pittsburgh I think using some black and gold would be appropriate.
I am going to try to get involved with the drupal camp. Hoping to make it to the January meeting.
Krista Trovato
http://pdiwebdesign.com
Droplets and Three Rivers
If you have a golden triangle, would you want to make it imitate the droplet? This might prove a bit difficult.
I like to idea of incorporating the "three rivers" idea into the Logo. A logo that gives an idea of three rivers as a flow with many droplets seems kind of cool.
On the other hand you could just make a yellow and black droplet with a gothic "P" in the center.
Bridges?
I wonder if the imagery of our bridges might play well with the water theme, as well as suggesting a 'bridge' between Pittsburgh's industrial past and revitalized technology/education/financial present.
If the concept of three is important, these guys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Pittsburgh)) are pretty sweet.
Some more input
Can a few of you weigh in on where you think public Drupal PGH perception should fall on the following spectrums (spectra? do people say spectra in conversation?)?
Thanks.
Perhaps a little middle-of-the-road...
1: 5. I think we want to play up the freshness and innovation potential of Drupal without losing potentially tech-resistant users who might be drawn to the platform/group by its featureset, cost (or lack of cost), and community.
2: 6. 'Suitable for Enterprise', but not 'Enterprise'. Not so 'boutique' we're exclusive.
3: 6. It's a user group, but also a group of professionals. We know what we're doing, but are also welcoming and fun. You can come to DrupalPGH to do business, or to chat with other folks who do what you do.
Looking for a tall, extra condensed sans, small x-height
I'm looking for an extra condensed sans serif, geometric with a straight R leg, and with a small x-height, or maybe a better way to put it is tall bowls in the caps, so the bottom of the bowl of the P and R, and the bar of the A are at or below half of the letter height. Of course I could draw it custom, but I'd prefer to use an existing typeface so that we can reuse it as part of a complete identity.
Any suggestions are appreciated, looking at Poster sans, Proxima Nova extra condensed, League Gothic, and Trade Gothic Condensed, things like this, but none are hitting the sweet spot.
Here's a sketch to give an idea of what I'm talking about, cameraphone quality, hopefully it gets the idea across.
Yanone Kaffesatz
Hey Rob,
Try http://www.google.com/webfonts and search for Yanone Kaffeesatz.
Nate
Updates
Just want to let everyone know that although I had to step away for a few weeks the branding project is still moving ahead. I'll post here in the next couple of weeks and probably have an informal review at the March meeting.