After many months of discussion and flaming, Debian has chosen a
new logo. The new "swirl" graphic can be seen here, and
the results of the vote are here.
A logo needs to be recognizable independent of the text. It has to work across language barriers. It should bypass the verbal part of your mind, and when you see the image, you should recognize it as Debian before you actually start to read what's in your visual field.
Rob's logo looks flashy, but is entirely text-dependent. I'm not sure I would have voted for the swirl, but I have bigger fish to fry.
Debian has an "Official CD Set", which can be redistributed by anyone without royalty, but its an ISO image mastered by Debian and its contents are strictly defined. Anyone can distribute a different version, that's what they call "unofficial". So they really did need two logos.
I don't see yet how the presence of a lamp says not official and its absence says official. Maybe this needs to evolve a bit.
Slashdot Mirror
Rob's logo looks flashy, but is entirely text-dependent. I'm not sure I would have voted for the swirl, but I have bigger fish to fry.
Debian has an "Official CD Set", which can be redistributed by anyone without royalty, but its an ISO image mastered by Debian and its contents are strictly defined. Anyone can distribute a different version, that's what they call "unofficial". So they really did need two logos.
I don't see yet how the presence of a lamp says not official and its absence says official. Maybe this needs to evolve a bit.
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce Perens.