Desigining a Logo!

moss · 2025-01-28T22:17:55.843Z

Hi all, @moss@kind.social here. General purpose creative multi-tool human who cares about information, knowledge, and its accessibility.

Would love thoughts on these at your convenience?

2 Versions, 600x200px and 512x512px
Planned to be displayed on what colors of backgrounds?
Any known use cases (existing website, planned website, specific social media, etc.)
Any requirements on capitalization, colors, or symbols?
What vibe are you hoping for communicating?
Is there a timeline/due date?
Anything else you think might be handy for me to know?

Thank you!!

schoeneh · 2025-01-28T22:36:08.784Z

Planned use case is this forum:

600x200 as a banner displayed on #36393e, but should also be good on #3d4147
512x512 as logo, also as favicon

I would love have #fdd459 as a color in the design - thats the tertiary color of the current scheme

schoeneh · 2025-01-28T22:36:53.066Z

Maybe another use-case: an account in the fediverse (would be logo as avatar and banner as banner)

schoeneh · 2025-01-28T22:39:15.330Z

moss:

What vibe are you hoping for communicating?

re vibes: I’m thinking of some shield-symbology with library/archive-stuff behind it (and maybe some something related embossed on the shield?)

schoeneh · 2025-01-28T22:39:29.517Z

moss:

Is there a timeline/due date?

No

moss · 2025-01-28T22:40:22.176Z

Brilliant, thank you for the hex codes! That’s really helpful. I can play around with some mock-ups and share them for feedback before refining.

Confirming “Safeguarding Research” as the name?

schoeneh · 2025-01-28T22:42:45.688Z

Nice!
Maybe “Safeguarding Research & Culture”?
(because we started with only research papers but branched out to include digital collections as well)

moss · 2025-01-28T22:47:00.371Z

Rad!! I agree both are hugely important and am so happy y’all are doing this work.

Lemme chew on this a bit and get some rough ideas together for feedback on!

moss · 2025-02-01T06:31:10.159Z

Finished the big application that was due today. Planning to get rough ideas sent over tomorrow!!

Also of it is helpful I can make a PowerPoint/keynote/slides/etc template matching the color scheme. My thought is that format can be easily edited and screenshotted for relaying information in an eye-catching and legible way. If you’d prefer a photoshop file or other document type I’m flexible.

(I can also always make infographics but I figured empowering the team to directly communicate is better than needing to rely on someone else in a diff time zone.)

schoeneh · 2025-02-01T09:59:19.345Z

very good idea!

moss · 2025-02-02T00:53:03.437Z

IMG_13763024×4032 2.76 MB

I can’t post more than one image so stand by for a few posts. All typed info below though

Some rough concept sketches exploring layouts. LMK if you have trouble seeing them large or reading my handwriting.

I tried to think about what would read at a small scale, and I think limiting it to 0-2 items on the shield is wise. I don’t have a strong opinion on what the items on the shield are, but I liked the idea of crossed tools, the planet, or a fist of solidarity.

In terms of tools: some tools (like microscopes) are too complicated to read well, while others are from too specialized fields (medical snake, telescope).

I think things like the magnifying glass, pencil/pen, test tubes, and thermometer are strong candidates. I conceptually enjoy a digital and an analog item, such as the keyboard and a magnifying glass, but I’m not sure that the size & shape of the keyboard plays well with other shapes.

For color I’m thinking a balance of the gold tertiary #FDD459 and white. Mayyybe a similar third if I need to differentiate something by color hierarchy once I get digital. I think it’s a strong color scheme for the project and not an overly used one either. I like keeping the shield and any knowledge or tools in gold, and then using white for context clues.

Feel free to send any thoughts, notes, things you like, don’t like, questions, etc. I’ll do a mock up of the deck soon with placeholder for logo, then can issue an updated one later. Everything is happening so fast, I want to try to get y’all that deck sooner so you can issue PDFs/images/etc which might be easier for some people to circulate.

moss · 2025-02-02T00:53:56.183Z

IMG_13743024×4032 2.69 MB

moss · 2025-02-02T00:54:48.183Z

IMG_13753024×4032 2.89 MB

moss · 2025-02-02T00:55:23.531Z

IMG_13773024×4032 2.73 MB

moss · 2025-02-02T00:57:13.632Z

IMG_13783024×4032 2.75 MB

moss · 2025-02-02T05:54:13.755Z

Rough keynote deck v1 with placeholder logo:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m8wndisdku3reg29jajea/SGRC_template_v1.key?rlkey=giw5jywc4u5ur01wfcpq52we6&dl=0

PDF version:

dropbox.com

SGRC_template_v1.pdf

schoeneh · 2025-02-03T08:46:06.990Z

I love the first one!
(with the hexagons - the bestagons)

schoeneh · 2025-02-03T08:55:40.561Z

as a medievalist (at least kind of) I really like the 4part-shield-idea :)

moss · 2025-02-06T21:01:30.244Z

Link to updated deck with the file hexagons populated across most slides:

Go for v2:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/m4mo21ucj2vf3qq7u7mw7/AJlPLA_dT3STPc0rKPSn63Q?rlkey=14pgfdq3tbbpfpibtymxbj7ib&dl=0

moss · 2025-02-07T04:02:55.538Z

If there’s any information you have and would like me to make an image which can be shared across other social sites etc please don’t hesitate to lmk.

I also realized one of my images didn’t upload (sorry, long covid brain fog…). I am a little worried about the 4 quadrant shield being too busy when shrunk to icon/header/etc size, let alone favicon, but I’m gonna try it digitally and see cause I do like the geometry of it.

IMG_1372960×1280 108 KB