Updated Graphics Homepage
by Devnet on Jan.22, 2010, under Featured Articles
Some of you may have noticed that the graphics team website has gotten a major face lift. I figured a site redesign and reorganization might inject a bit of fuel into the graphic design fires of the community. Here’s a bit of what happened in the site redesign:
BBPress Forum Removed
No one had posted to the graphics forum in 4 months. I figured it was time to retire it. For now, I’ve linked the top forum link to a graphics board on the main site of Unity Linux. I’m most likely going to install Simplepress soon here. For an example of how simplepress works with a site like ours, see devnet’s Exchange blog forum. More updates to come on that for us here.
A full backup was performed before this system was removed and I’ll save that in case any Unity Admin has a desire for it.
Coppermine Gallery Removed
All images from the old Coppermine gallery now reside in our Gallery Showcase. No images were deleted. A full backup was performed before this system was removed and I’ll save that in case any Unity Admin has a desire for it.
Gallery Showcase
The new Gallery Showcase page was put in. This replaces our Coppermine gallery and provides one less area that hackers can attack us on. Public uploads ARE enabled. You have to register to upload and images will only appear upon approval. So if you have something to share with us, please do!
Why now?
Why not now? The graphics team is VERY talented and provides Unity Linux with a fantastic amount of icons, themes, and wallpapers. They should have a main site that caters to and showcases all the great things they do. I believe this new design does just that. Hopefully, you all agree! Please do let us know what you think of the new digs and thanks for using Unity Linux!
Agust, Unity Linux, E17 theme-ist, extraodinaire …
by gemini on Nov.10, 2009, under Featured Articles, Status Report
Agust, a.k.a. verdegal, has been putting E17 themes together for a while, and just keeps getting better & better at it.
The attention to details and quality of work always blows us away. Agust is part of the E17Unity project, working as the groups main designer, making prospective users more and more eager to see the first release and get their hands on it.
Agust’s latest theme, titled “Black Silver” (can be downloaded by clicking on the preview below)
to follow Agust’s work, you can follow this thread at the Unity Linux support forum
The Current Logo
by gemini on Nov.04, 2009, under Featured Articles, Status Report
After a long stalemate within the gfx project, a decision was made to go ahead, and use one of the logos, created by Ruel.
This logo may change over time, but for now, this is it.
This blog has also been updated to the newest version of WP and a new theme “Pixel” was installed.
More news to come…
Unity-Linux Logo Contest
by c.wrinn on Jul.13, 2009, under Status Report
Recently, a vote was made by the Development Team on which direction to take the logo. Thanks to everyone on the Unity Linux Development Team who voted. The results are in!
Three design directions from literally over a hundred have been decided upon. Here they are:
There you have it. These logo design directions have been selected by the team as the direction to take our branding in. Remember, these are art directions that were voted on, not specific designs. Think of them as concepts – starting points. Mix them, remix them. Go all out; have some fun with it. Personally, I’d like to see these pushed!
And it is such that I announce the Unity Linux Logo Contest!
Rules for submission
- Content – No copyrighted material or based-on copyrighted material
(I.E. Mockoff logos). Submissions must be unique in nature, and retain
a G rating. - Quality over Quantity – Three finished logos per person. Should a
submission be weeded out by the GFX team as inelligible, the artist
may submit another in its stead. - Appropriate Concepts – Submissions should be traceable to the 3
voted upon concepts.
How to Submit
Please submit fully-developed logo ideas in both the original source (XCF or SVG, whichever is used) and flattened PNG to the Graphics Team Mailing List; (unity-graphic@googlegroups.com). The Team will determine eligibility based on loose predetermined standards and post eligible submissions to our gallery.
Timespan
The Logo Contest will span one month. When this time has ended, eligible submissions will be rated publicly, and the top candidates chosen for creating the logo.
Thank you in advance for all your submissions, we await them with great anticipation!
Defining Unity-Linux
by c.wrinn on Jun.29, 2009, under Information, Unity-Linux
An important aspect of designing any brand or logo is knowing the culture they would be representing. As such, in this short article, I will take a moment to review the personalities that define Unity-Linux. As I love etymology, let’s start with the literal definitions of Unity and Linux.
u·ni·ty n (from FreeDictionary.com)
- The state or quality of being one; singleness.
- The state or quality of being in accord; harmony.
- a. The combination or arrangement of parts into a whole; unification. b. A combination or union thus formed.
- Singleness or constancy of purpose or action; continuity: “In an army you need unity of purpose” (Emmeline Pankhurst).
- a. An ordering of all elements in a work of art or literature so that each contributes to a unified aesthetic effect. b. The effect thus produced.
- Mathematics – a. The number 1.
Linux (from Webopedia)
A freely-distributable open source operating system that runs on a number of hardware platforms. The Linux kernel was developed mainly by Linus Torvalds and it is based on Unix. Because it’s free, and because it runs on many platforms, including PCs and Macintoshes, Linux has become an extremely popular alternative to proprietary operating systems.
However, these, at least, do not inspire me on the culture of Unity-Linux. Indeed, a number of our Graphic Team members have voiced how difficult it is to base branding or logo design on these because of how ubiquitous and saturated they are. Unity is everywhere and has practically been a theme in cultural symbology since humanity became sentient enough to work together for common goals. A quick search on Google emphasizes this. Symbols of Unity are everywhere: the flag, circles, or just about any grouping of three items. Further investigation reveals they have all been used in corporate design. Even the Ubuntu logo is, itself, a symbol of Unity.
I feel the most we can derive from the definitions are basic pieces of inspiration. Next, we should look at what Unity-Linux is. Some keywords are often used by the development team that should help illuminate this, and have even inspired some members of the Graphics Team:
- Core, Branch, Node
- Seed, Sprout, Tree, Branch, Leaf
- Remaster, Re-Spin
- Parent, Child, Sibling, Family, Community
Also worthy of note: Unity is Many-to-One in nature, however, Linux has an inherent nature of One-to-Many. Unity-Linux inherits both of these aspects. It is One Core to be used by Many Branches, but the Many Branches will contribute to improving the One Core.
Keep these in mind for our Graphic Teams next phase of Logo design, where we’ll be hosting a public submission process of Rough Drafts. Of course, we’ll go into more details on that later. 
Logo : A New Hope
by DidouPh on May.17, 2009, under Status Report, Unity-Linux
The seek for a visual identity for Unity Linux has been an important issue since the start of the project, and it led to the creation of this group. Most of the work takes place on the mailing list.
Since this is a project with an “open source”-type development model, we may not be all professional and we don’t all share the same views on objectives and missions. This is usually the main reason for a project to stall. People keep arguing and don’t act, or one person forces their views on the rest and the group either abides or violently reacts. The development team quickly loses members, and the remaining people lose enthusiasm.
The Unity Linux Graphic Team has two key elements that prevent such a nightmare scenario from happening. First, there is no executive leader and all members are admin for the project. This means there is no hierarchy and no dominant person. Every action is lead by good will. Freedom of speech is a standard and despite the raw and tough arguments we have, the outcome is always positive. Nothing gets stopped, pulled down or hidden, CLARIFY: unless the ones committing personally prevent themselves from doing so for their work to the group’s eyes. Next, we don’t have the same level of expertise in all the domains endeavored by the project. Thus we need to explain things a lot … we even need to explain how to explain. We need to prevent ourselves from turning out as a doodle team or a commercial department.
That being said, if you want to know what is going on in the project… here is a timeline with quotes and doodles.
- Leadership
- Circled logo discussion
- Badges
- Design VS Art VS Doodle
- All Designs
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04/22/2009 / Spiral of Hope :
If we agree on being leaderless, maybe we should just make this entire mailing list the “contact person”?
04/22/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
It is yet the case as far as we are all list owners !
04/23/2009 / Gemini :
I am fine with the current set-up. But, should a leadership role become necessary, my opinion is that it should be one with the most diverse experience and know-how [...] Either way, it is far too soon to think on a leader role in this area.
04/23/2009 / Custom Processing Unlimited :
as far as support (questions) is concerned, we could make a “Unity Graphics Q&A” ml that anyone could join to ask questions. [...] . As far as leadership goes, I think the socialism approach for the time being is best… [...] Also, chances are, a leader could surface on it’s own just by said person proving to posses leadership skills and the rest of the group would naturally follow… [...]
04/23/2009 / Spiral of Hope :
ok, so basically this issue isn’t so important, and it will automatically reappear whenever it needs to.
04/24/2009 / Spiral of Hope :
[... ] There’s something different between:
- a bunch of people who are united, in a room.
- a bunch of people who are united, on a lawn.
The logo with the rounded box feels like a room to me.When it’s in the open, the whitespace feels a lot more comfortable. [...] It is still an issue to do something like that if the place the logo goes has colours which don’t look good next to the logo.
04/24/2009 / Custom Processing Unlimited :
[...] I do admit that there are a lot of icons and logos that are enclosed. But it does have a more defined feel to me. enclosure has a certain kind of feeling that says “finished” to me. But that could be a blessing and a curse. Let’s see what develops…
04/24/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
i would just ask … why putting something around ? [...] does unity aims to give the feeling of something finished ? is unity an end user product ?
04/25/2009 / Spiral of Hope :
We have enough people-classifications [...] It also becomes messy to
show all that classification [...] I’ve always had an idea in mind [...] A small image [...] Different images represent different teams or skills.
[...] This would also apply for branch association. [...] These badges would simplify and beautify the list of team members, and they could be appended together to form forum badges or in each user’s signature. The style of these badges should be dependent on the Unity Linux branding, but I figured that it could be done in some simple way for now.
04/25/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
You have a yet prety clean idea of what you want… There is no real room for creation… Why not doing it youtself? You have the skill to, don’t you?
04/25/2009 / Spiral of Hope :
No. =(
04/25/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
So ok please make a 3 line sinopsis of your request and it will be more easily carryable by the team than the complex yet precise proposal you made
04/25/2009 / ruel24 :
The idea is great, but until we get a logo, it’s difficult to proceed with something like this. We have no idea about the Unity colors, font, or symbol. But, as I said, I like the idea. Once we get the logo straightened out and get what Unity’s color/colors will be, we can proceed.
04/23/2009 / Gemini :
[...] The most simplistic design will work best in this situation.
I fear getting too fancy with the design, enhances the loss of it’s functionality. This is truest, when down-sizing the image. Just the most basic, visual element to project the meaning of Unity is needed. That is a rather difficult task, I agree… but that is what is needed.
Do I have the solution? Of course not haha… just the theory. I have racked my brain on it, and it is tough, especially to come up
with a completely unique way to communicate Unity on a visual level as simplistic as possible.
I fully agree on two parts of this discussion.
#1 – color is not a factor here… color is the final dressing stage (we are not even close to that point yet)
#2 – simplicity…. try not to get too caught up in how artistic / fancy you can make it. Fancy = reduced functionality
this is not a contest on who is the most artistically skilled or talented. It is rather the first step in producing a functional / visual communication of one meaning
If I cannot come up with anything, that portrays what I just said.. I will not show anything, but rather watch, and only step in when the dressing stage comes into play. As DidouPH mentions… to do such will only lead to going completely off the targeted goal here.
But, if I can interject a thought i have… I have privately exhausted my mind trying to come up with something… And then, when I did a quick favicon to use as a temp for now… it hit me. Why could not the logo, be simply.. the letter “U”? Enhance the U, give it some amount of unique style… to emphasize it “as the logo”? DidouPH has done some work creating an entirely unique font… Why then, could that very U in his font not become the visual concentration to brand this project?
It is only a thought I had, but would love to hear other’s thoughts on it.
04/24/2009 / ruel24 :
[...] Absolutely. I’m just trying to put some ideas out there. Everything is up for rework, modifications, or whatever. Important thing is to get a good logo.
04/24/2009 / Custom Processing Unlimited :
what about just the leaf?
04/24/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
what is the relation to unity ?
why not a skull ?
04/24/2009 / Custom Processing Unlimited :
well, we were going with a nature feel for the whole idea, but super simplistic… you could also ask what a star has to do with mandriva, or a swirl has to do with debian, or that pacman looking thing that gentoo uses. I can understand the desire to have something that kind of ties into the idea of unity, but my mind always comes up with something that is enclosed with circles, since unity is togetherness (if ubuntu didn’t have their logo, I could see variations of that working)… but I figure, as simplistic as possible, and still has the U that we like utilizing so much.…
04/24/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
[...] here its not a matter of design but culture [...] what we gained lately in simplicity … we lost it in “individuality” … it must not look like anything else … ok so if we make it simple …lets make it unique [...] is it really the good path … providing one answer is never enoug … we need to massively produce then reduce the choices to the core … atm we are not making anything but argument on a design without real direction for our investigation … ruel and devnet added a bit to the concept but it sounds like we are sticking to the vegetal concept … lets not be carricatural with it and add a bit of inovation [...] the leaf in itself is a pretty common logo … its not a mater of leaf its a matter of immediate relation between the picture and distro … is it unique or not … does it looks unique or not … atm …it doesn’t can it do so ? … maybe
04/25/2009 / Custom Processing Unlimited :
how about the “U”, the “leaf” and the “clover” wrapped up in one? or am I getting too elaborate?
04/25/2009 / Spiral of Hope :
Yes. Too many meanings dilute the influence of a symbol. [...] I think this leaf is way too similar to other leaf symbols, especially those used in.. I can’t remember which distribution. The leaf itself may signify growth and life, but I’m not sure it signifies unity / togetherness / community.
04/25/2009 / ruel24 :
I’m sure leaves are used as symbols everywhere… I just tried to simplify the “vine” thing and the simplest I could make it was to do just a leaf.
Symbols don’t have to symbolize anything. What does Tux have to do with Linux? What does that sliced up sphere have to to with AT&T? They just have to be identifiable with the product’s image.
04/25/2009 / Pierre-Henri RAMBOZ :
A logo needs to be eye catching and simple to remember… Its meaning follows and is dependent on the brand it represents… At&t logo would have had a different meaning for an ice cream seller!
Designing a Great Logo
by c.wrinn on May.15, 2009, under Information
First thing we have to answer before starting is… WHAT IS a Great Logo? Or even, what IS a Logo? This is a question that has become extremely important to answer recently in the Unity Graphics team, as we work on our very own Logo.
Is it a pretty picture for catching attention? Does it have meaning? Is it just a pointless piece of art to look good next to a name? Well, probably yes to all of these. But let’s first start by answering what it is NOT. A Logo is NOT simply ANY of these. It is much more than a pretty picture. It may or may not have some deeper, symbolic meaning. It might even be a pointless piece of art that looks good next to a name.
Let’s look at some definitions of Logo:
- Wikipedia says:
A logo is a graphical element (ideogram, symbol, emblem, icon, sign) that, together with its logotype (a uniquely set and arranged typeface) form a trademark or commercial brand. Typically, a logo’s design is for immediate recognition.[1] The logo is one aspect of a company’s commercial brand, or economic or academic entity, and its shapes, colors, fonts, and images usually are different from others in a similar market. Logos are also used to identify organizations and other non-commercial entities.
- American Heritage Dictionary says:
A name, symbol, or trademark designed for easy and definite recognition, especially one borne on a single printing plate or piece of type.
Those are rather textbook meanings of a Logo. However, they tell us a lot. A Logo is a symbol or graphical element that creates a brand. So, we’ve verified a Logo is not simply a pretty picture slapped next to text that looks good, it is much more.
The logofactory.com has some very nice information I’d like to refer to. They have an article “What Makes a Great Logo?”. Please, read it before continuing. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here, so take your time.
Done? Ok, now we should all have an understanding of what a Logo is, and further, a reference point for what makes a Logo “great.” Logo Design, I have learned, is very arduous. As our own DidouPH said to me not long ago: (Slightly Paraphrased to fix his Franglish 
Logo Design is one of the most interesting parts of design but it’s freaking tedious. It requires a loooooot of patience and talent.
Talent is plentiful. Take our team for instance. We have an EXTREMELY talented Graphics Design team. This is evident just spending a moment reading through the Unity-Graphics Mailing List. However, Patience is almost never plentiful.
To put it in perspective, in an Interview, a Bavarian designer, Pache David, was asked the question “How long does the Logo Design Process take?” to which he answered:
The logo design process takes anywhere from a week to several months. Anything is possible when it comes to creativity. It depends on the project, the expectations of the client and my inspiration.
Yes, sometimes it takes MONTHS. Why? In that same interview, he was also asked “How important is a Logo?” to which he answered:
Very. It is the first point of contact for a company, in that it is often what attracts their clientele. A ‘look’ tells you about a company in the blink of an eye and the impression of on how professional they are and if they are trust worthy.
You might be wondering “But why does it take so long? Drawing a picture is easy!” Why? To answer this, I feel it is best to demonstrate a typical design process, and this is not specific to Logo Design, it is just that Logos are by nature far more difficult because they tend to be the foundation of other designs.
A typical design process goes as such:
- Brainstorming – In this phase you gather ideas and concepts. For instance, in Unity Linux, you might ask questions like “What does Unity mean?”, “What does it mean to us?”, “How are we different from everyone else?” Often times, however, this phase of the process is blurred with the second phase.
- Thumbnails – In this phase, everyone throws out simple, undetailed ideas. How we are doing that is through the mailing list. You can see what has been done so far by reading here. Generally, Thumbnails are simple black and white images. Color is secondary to shape in a Logo, so in this phase, color is also generally frowned upon. Other than that, this is a time to throw anything on the table.
- Rough Sketch – After a plethora of Thumbnails have been conceived, now is time for details. Using inspirations from the images in the previous phase, the Rough Sketch phase is when more detailed, yet unrefined, submissions are made. This is a much more serious phase than the previous, and generally results in much fewer submissions, as well as much more scrutiny. Color is still usually absent in this phase.
- Coloring – This isn’t a standard design phase, but I felt it appropriate to separate it from Final Draft. After choosing a number of Rough Sketches, usually 4 or 5, sometimes more, sometimes less, it would probably be best to render all sketches in a variety of color palettes and choose favorites from those.
- Final draft – In this phase, we go all out on logo designs. This phase may not produce the Final Logo, but it is where art skills are flexed the most. From these, probably about 3 will be chosen to submit to the public,where, in our case, we will hold a competition to create a logo based on those as templates.
These steps help immensely in a professional design atmosphere. One starts with many unrefined options and ends up with 2 or 3 well polished Logos to choose from.
So what makes a Great Logo? A unique, recognizable symbol that can be used in a variety of ways and defines the brand it represents; a symbol that outstandingly represent what it stands for. How do you make a Great Logo? Long, tedious work following a well structured process, with many, good eyes evaluating progress throughout the process.
Logo : The First Proposals
by DidouPh on Apr.24, 2009, under Status Report, Unity-Linux
The team has slowly grown in number and more designs have appeared.
We currently are at the plain “Black and White” phase of the project, exploring concepts and shapes. Here is a sneak preview of the last prototypes …
Enjoy
Some Links of Interrest
by DidouPh on Apr.24, 2009, under Information
Christopher Wrinn, one of the Unity-Linux Graphic team members, introduced us to a little yet interesting article about Linux distribution logos.
Its good to see what other have done before us!
The linux & Unix Menagerie / Tech Source From Bohol
For informational purposes, i jumped on some logo designs that have become famous and are seen as standard in logo design for computer software:
Andreas Dilgers Linux Logo Page / Linux 2.0 Penguins
Welcome!
by DidouPh on Apr.19, 2009, under Status Report, Unity-Linux
Welcome to the Unity-Linux Graphic Team Blog.
Many people have stepped forward to help in building Unity-Linux’s visual identity. This charge will be carried on by a small team of enthusiasts. Some are professionals and some are new in graphic design. Some took part in open-source projects and some hardly know what a kernel is! All are willing to put all they have in giving a project a visual identity!
Our first task will be to create a logo to brand Unity Linux releases and interfaces of communication. This is going to be tedious because we have no real factual base and only a raw concept to work from… The basic elements are the nature of Unity-Linux : “A family of Linux distributions sharing the same base – trunk – and released as remasters – branches – of the base release. Sharing a same base and core, every Unity Linux-based release will be able to evolve – metamorphose / mutate – or regress to another branch; a new one or even back to the trunk.”
A Lot of proposals and discussions took place on the Unity-Linux Forums about that… and a lot is going on on the Unity Linux Graphic Dev elopement Mailing List at Google Groups… Follow us here and on Unity-Linux Planet Blog …
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Howdy. Welcome to Unity Graphics Team!
Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed. See ya around!
Ratings
- Agust, Unity Linux, E17 theme-ist, extraodinaire …
(4.00 out of 5) - The Current Logo (4.00 out of 5)
- Unity-Linux Logo Contest (0.00 out of 5)
- Defining Unity-Linux (0.00 out of 5)
- Logo : A New Hope (0.00 out of 5)
- Agust, Unity Linux, E17 theme-ist, extraodinaire …
