Logo-Refinement 5 - "Clouds/continents arrow" #87

Better late than never - this issue is dedicated to refine Logo-Finalist 5 - "Clouds/continents arrow" from this issue: #78

The goal here is:

• to collect feedback
• iterate on refinement ideas
• maybe play with color-versions (as an addition to the monochrome main logo)

Original by @zyphlar:

Variations by @pastk from here

Arrow-less version by @vipo from here

Some experiments with an additional colour: with, and without the arrow. I agree with @vipo, when they said "I think for the continents to work we need to ditch the arrow and should only use two colors (white and green).", but it is hard to simplify the logo, while keeping it recognisable, all while keeping details.

If the logo is just green and white, with continents, then:

• How do we make the continents look more like continents?
• The current shapes remind me of islands in Europe, and inclusion of these would make it more recognisable, but focusing on a specific country/area of the world might not be favourable. After all, CoMaps is about community, not about any specific country, and we want the logo to convey that.
• What do we change to stop it from looking like a generic globe?

Some doodles based on the two-colour version.

The comaps-continents-colours.svg version looks nice!

I love the one without the arrow, maybe a more realistic land contour could help improve it.

@al2f wrote in #87 (comment):

Some doodles based on the two-colour version.

Clearly better visible, but might need another shape

I prefer the monochrome version the most.

I traced some real continents but then modified them heavily, and then tried some different colors and levels of simplification. What do you all think?

image

@zyphlar Wow! That's amazing! I like the colour scheme of the 1st one, and the level of detail. When zoomed out, I don't think the first row looks any different, but when viewing up close, 1(st row),1(st column) is the best. 1,3 and 2,3 (the blue ones) look interesting as well, and I'm not sure whether I prefer light-on-dark in 4,1, on dark-on-light in 4,2.

I really like the first one

Maybe the @zyphlar wrote in #87 (comment):

I traced some real continents but then modified them heavily, and then tried some different colors and levels of simplification. What do you all think?

image

Maybe the grey colour of the arrow could be darkened to provide more contrast with the white half?

These look great @zyphlar I don't know how it looks tiny.

Re: more realistic I meant becasue:

image

Land on the left looks like a long stripe that would be very rare. Bottom right looks realistic.

Maybe a simplification of the contours could help on the new designs?

Btw, are you getting inspiration from Pangea?

Good idea @patepelo maybe I can split the difference.
This last one is actually the real continents as seen from the north pole (because having Antarctica in the middle would be weird) but then flipped and mirrored; so a backwards Russia is on the left and a backwards America is on the right. But then increasingly simplified.

Here's some ideas removing the long stripe on the top left and replacing it with one of the continents from my other concept, plus alternate colors and simplifications and sample 1-color tray icons.

One thing I keep coming back to is giving the arrow enough room to "breathe" and also "navigate" between the continents, that's why I keep simplifying and pushing the continents towards the edges. We don't want our navigator arrow to get stuck in a dead end :)

Viewing this on a phone screen I'm tempted to get rid of the "continent highlights" and have a full color gradient instead. The two-color edges look fuzzy to me when viewed at 3/4-inch (15mm-ish) size on a phone, like my eyes want to anchor themselves on the shapes but can never quite latch on. The previous versions I posted look more solid by comparison because of their crisp edges.

I like the dark-green one. I also think the bottom one, where the continents are slightly rotated clockwise works better for the overall balance.

"Fuzzy" edges look quite good in the full size version (suitable for a splash screen and the website).
For a smaller app launcher icon versions its indeed better to have solid edges.

@zyphlar wrote in #87 (comment):

One thing I keep coming back to is giving the arrow enough room to "breathe" and also "navigate" between the continents

Actually I "read" the original version as the arrow being on the continent (which have lighter colors).

Now with the new versions you've put the arrow in the middle of the world ocean which looks a bit weird :)

Out of the notification bar icons I like the rightmost one the most, it looks the most clear.

@pastk wrote in #87 (comment):

Actually I "read" the original version as the arrow being on the continent (which have lighter colors).

Same for me! Putting the arrow in the 'ocean' could give more of a visual impression of boat navigation!

A couple more variations

They look quite good! Though IMO its nicer with a 2-toned arrow.

Does it look bad if the arrow crosses a border between a continent and the ocean? It looks contrast enough to stay visible against both.

Here I've tried having the dark color on the outside, as I believe the logo will mostly be on light green background. It is then harder to make the white variant for one color tray icon.

As the arrow was the only white thing it took a lot more eye attention then it should, because of that I like it a lot better with white text (The app splash even has white text now). I liked the left variant more, without the gradient and I tried a bit more one color tray variants by making the arrow smaller, From these I like the number 5 most.
I also tried how it would look on the current website and as an app icon.
What do you think about these?

I noticed I had a small clipping issue in the monochromatic versions, so here it is fixed and in addition to that here is how only the monochromatic version looks and how it looks without the text shadow and with the text being a bit lower. I am now pretty happy with the monochromatic version with the smaller arrow.

The "ocean" shape look to me like some weir body silhouette :)
Easily visible in the b&w number 3. Legs are to the bottom left.

I haven't seen that. Do you think it makes it bad? If so would it help if we rotate some of the outer islands a bit like in this screenshot? Or should I try to create a completely new oceanshape?

I see how it appeared. I started with the arrow and wanted the land to roughly mimic the arrow so there is a good amount of space between them and as the arrow itself is a bit humanlike with its two legs it made the ocean be also like that :-)

I think a new shape would be better!

Also for me its strange to have the arrow in the midst of the ocean as the arrow shows user's position :)

I tried one now, but it turned out to be even more body-shaped (more like a bear now) then the original one, I will probably try more tomorrow.

About arrow in the ocean I feel it is hard to make monochromatic version that does not feel that way, as I want the arrow to be visible white on "nothing" and that "nothing" implicitly becomes water in my mind.
The way my brain looked at the arrow in the middle of the ocean was that it symbolized that the traveling takes place not only locally, but even across the ocean.

Here I tried augmenting the terrain a bit, I don't see the silhouette in it now and I also tried inverting the colors, so now in the colored version the arrow is on the land (but the monochrome version it self did not change). So here are another possibilities.
I still liked the previous one more (1A in the picture now).

I don't have a lot of time right now but what if we traced Antarctica and put it in the center?

Here I tried to quickly trace Antarctica (The light green).

@riadok wrote in #87 (comment):

Here I tried augmenting the terrain a bit, I don't see the silhouette in it now and I also tried inverting the colors, so now in the colored version the arrow is on the land (but the monochrome version it self did not change). So here are another possibilities. I still liked the previous one more (1A in the picture now).

I feel like the silouhette should contain some outline around the globe to make it stand out on the background, so 1A and 2A in that picture. If more than 2 colours are used, then it's easier to make it stand out against the background. I feel like 1B and 2B blend in too much, and loose detail.

@riadok wrote in #87 (comment):

Here I tried to quickly trace Antarctica (The light green).

Nice! I think that might be perfect if there wasn't a little connecting piece at the bottom left, and maybe it was rotated or flipped somewhat to "point" in the same direction as the arrow. Let's make a white on green single color version as well just to be consistent with the others.

I tried changing it a bit, but I don't see which way "antarctica points", I tried to make it as "feel right". But that for me is the direction I took in the first try.
So here the 3.1B is the first Antarctica try and 3.2B is without the connecting piece. Feel free to edit these :-)

Please complete updates by end of day June 25th. The author will select the final version to submit for voting.

@zyphlar please add "SUBMIT FOR VOTING" by the logo you want to submit.

I tried messing with various Antarctica and even DIY continents but in my opinion none really captured what we had going for us with the original. It seemed like the main issue with the original was the wispy "cloud" at the top, and the debate about whether our arrow was in the middle of land or water.

That in mind, what do people think should be the final version?

(and single-color)
image

I'm split between 1 and 4 :)

I think I'd choose 1 if the arrow's half were less contrast (the orange could be more pale).

I don't like the stroke on the continents in the colored versions.
And in the single-color version I liked the idea of not having the circle at all (make it be visible because of the continents on the edge), as in my suggestions (but that might be just my preference).
One suggestion I have for the single-color is that the arrow seems to be in uneven distances to the continents (it is very close at the bottom). So maybe try rotating the continents a bit, or make the arrow a bit smaller so it has more breathing room?

On white background I like your version 4 the most, but I am unsure how would it work on green background, for example on the splash screen or on the website.

And for my suggestions, I looked at it today and I felt that the dark border was too big, so here is the same idea with smaller border, so from my suggestions I now like the most C1 (it is the one with the silhouette) and second I like the C2.

@riadok thanks! I like the exploration, but I can't unsee "a turtle" in that version and there's something about Antarctica that's just not working for me. I can mess around with the borders in mine, good feedback about giving the arrow breathing room.

I think maybe one aspect of the original and my versions that keeps working is that depending on the colors, the eye can see clouds or continents or oceans however it wants, and it doesn't get too hung up on interpreting a particular shape.

We need to finalize the criteria for the vote.

Since the focus right now is on the GA release, the logo voting will be postponed for now, which will give more time for work to continue on variations and finalization, without a really short time constraint.

Watch #78 for further updates.

Okay here's my latest revision. I added a num 7 which is the same as the new num 4 but with a highlight. For all samples I reduced the shading on the arrows, reduced the size of the arrow, and moved the bottom-right coastline away from the arrow. One-color A and B are provided as single-color options as well. Finally, I mocked up some square and circular app icons (some Androids use round)

comaps-continents-colours-continenty-v3.png

Thanks for making all of those @zyphlar!

To me number 2 and 4, along with variant A for single color are the ones that work best.

While 2 still looks to me a bit like the arrow is floating in the ocean, the contrast between the arrow and the background works slightly better compared to 4 to me.

The 7 feels a bit too busy with the outline/highlight.

@gedankenstuecke what if number 2 had oceans that were slightly blue, like halfway between 2 and 3, to make it look more oceany?

I like 1,7 and A.
(the notification bar version could use more smoothing / simplification for continents shapes, there are some pixels sticking out :))

The biggest issue is that none of the variants look good on the olive green background.. Which is not surprising :) The icon background color has to be different (or some contrast outline around the globe?)

That is exactly what I was trying to fix with all my designs (the main point I took when designing them was that I want them to look good on olive background).

So even if you didn't like my continent shapes, maybe take inspiration from the colors? This is how my design looks as mobile icon.

I think plain white background would work well. Also its quite common for app icons.

@pastk are you saying that the single color white icon doesn't look good? Any suggestion there? Currently even OM has a single color white splash logo on boot, the other colors can be used for the website and other purposes, but I figure since the single color is the main important one to be judged it's the main important one to get looking good on olive.

There's an irony in trying to get a brand logo to show up nicely on that brand's color's background... either you use the brand color in the logo and it blends in too much or you don't and then your logo doesn't actually use your brand color. I think we have to use the appropriate logo in the appropriate place: full color with olive for general use, or limited-color (white, or white and black like @riadok ) for an olive background. It's okay to have multiple official versions for various purposes but I hope we can make the single color version worthy of people's votes.

@zyphlar wrote in #87 (comment):

There's an irony in trying to get a brand logo to show up nicely on that brand's color's background...

Exactly.

Thats why I say that its not necessary to have an olive background for the app launcher icon. E.g. it could be white, black or something else.

Likewise, the splash screen doesn't have to have an olive background. It could be neutral, with a logo in a brand color. Or it could be olive indeed, but with a big e.g. white area/frame in the middle and then again olive logo in it, etc.

E.g. we don't have all backgrounds olive in the app because its the brand color :) In fact only some highlighted panels use it, while the most of backgrounds are neutral light or neutral dark, depending on the theme.

@zyphlar wrote in #87 (comment):

@pastk are you saying that the single color white icon doesn't look good? Any suggestion there?

E.g. this particular 2-pixels deep intrusion doesn't look good.

image

And the wavy shape is almost lost in this size, it just looks like an uneven / dirty line.
Perhaps it'd look better if "waves" are adjusted / made bigger for this particular version.

@zyphlar wrote in #87 (comment):

@gedankenstuecke what if number 2 had oceans that were slightly blue, like halfway between 2 and 3, to make it look more oceany?

Yes, that could work!

TBH out of all full-color options presented my favorite is #87 (comment) still

SUBMIT FOR VOTING

I think this is the best version I have so far that I can stand behind. The original "marble/cloud" look got critiques previously and the narrow strips aren't very clearly continents or ocean and crowded the arrow pretty tightly. Tweaked a few other things based on feedback.

comaps-continents-colours-continenty-v4.png

I really don't like the stroke on the continents it just does not look clean to me. But I really liked the idea with the arrow on a planet.

The good news is it's pretty easy to edit the logo to be more flat; there's always a plain and a full color version of a logo, and we have that, and the in-between can work too. I thought about making a nicer gradient but don't have the time and want to include a wide variety of feedback and input.

Closing as the voting has come to an end 🙂