DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

[Posted December 15, 2023 by corbet]

In response to the expressed unhappiness over the recent logo-selection process in the openSUSE project (covered in this article), the project has announced that there will be a new vote:

During the community meeting this week where the results were discussed, participants expressed the view that members of the openSUSE Project have an opportunity to participate in the selection of our new logo, and that SUSE, which holds the trademark to the openSUSE logo, be involved with the process for selecting a branding decision with regard to the results. After all, this decision impacts the collective identity.
To facilitate this, there is a plan to organize a vote between the current logo and the proposed new design, allowing our community to have a say in this important decision. Furthermore, members of the project are collaborating with SUSE on the implications of the branding initiatives and some have expressed the desire for SUSE’s input to ensure there is an aligned vision for the future of openSUSE.

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 15, 2023 19:43 UTC (Fri) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]

> Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest
> The past few weeks have been an exciting time for the openSUSE Project as discussions about the visual identity of the project offers a glimpse into people’s various views about the project and its brand identity.

Is it a parody ? It sure looks like one.

there is a plan to organize a vote between the current logo and the proposed new design

Posted Dec 15, 2023 20:02 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

Let's hope the new design loses by a super-majority :-)

Cheers,
Wol

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 16, 2023 13:58 UTC (Sat) by tux3 (subscriber, #101245) [Link] (4 responses)

Have to admit I don't truly, deeply, understand the reasons why organizations should update their logos
Though as a member of the peanut gallery, I guess I've no reason to feel too intensely invested in this either

If - perish the thought - the new logo really failed to please, we outsiders get to tastefully gawk, a little distance away. Not particularly warmed, yet mesmerized by the embers

'tis just a picture, after all

(Does the "sweetroll" accidentally remind anyone of Debian's, except flipped and in opposite colors? My overly active imagination aside, I think it's a nice logo)

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 16, 2023 15:42 UTC (Sat) by Paf (subscriber, #91811) [Link]

I mean, I get the desire more fundamentally. Logos can begin to look dated - if your company isn’t so famous that its logo has become its own thing, but you’re in tech, and your logo uses font and visual styling cues from the 80s…. Maybe at the margin that will affect whether people notice it positively in a public context.

It’s easy to imagine that being overdone, but it’s not all nonsense.

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 16, 2023 16:14 UTC (Sat) by bof (subscriber, #110741) [Link]

> Does the "sweetroll" accidentally remind anyone of Debian's, except flipped

Yep, had the same thought right away seeing that new logo. I actually went looking for the Debian one to check whether it's swirling the same way...

Personal opinion on the logo change, as a sysadmin using openSUSE for two decades, the last years in the context of a 250 machine production setup on kind-of-current Tumbleweed, and contributing to the project by regular update testing and reporting of the occasional bugs seen.... I couldn't care less, whatever way it goes.

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 16, 2023 17:04 UTC (Sat) by smcv (subscriber, #53363) [Link] (1 responses)

> Does the "sweetroll" accidentally remind anyone of Debian's

As a Debian contributor, maybe I recognise other swirls as "yes it's a swirl, but not *our* swirl" more immediately than someone with more distance from the project... but I do see your point.

(Meanwhile, the one with an infinity immediately made me think Fedora, which seems equally unfortunate.)

I can't say I understand what was wrong with the chameleon. I think most of the meaning we get from any non-awful logo is the reputation we've associated with it over time, more than anything intrinsic to the logo itself.

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 18, 2023 1:24 UTC (Mon) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

The number of times my Fedora pin on my winter hat got confused for Facebook…

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Dec 18, 2023 11:22 UTC (Mon) by Phantom_Hoover (subscriber, #167627) [Link] (1 responses)

You know, the 3-way tie for the Slowroll logo in the poll is a pretty strong indication that almost nobody voted on it. The whole process is a misconceived waste of time in that way only the lowest-stakes issues can be.

DeMaio: Insights from the openSUSE Logo Contest

Posted Jan 5, 2024 11:10 UTC (Fri) by roblucid (guest, #48964) [Link]

Yep, I think this kind of "let's change X" idea comes from frustrated gfx designers who want to alter something.
I cannot remember anyone complaining about Geeko