PortlandWiki talk:Logo development

Colors

I feel that there should be only two colors besides black, as more tend to give a jumbled and chaotic impression. The rose/pink, while appropriate once you know the reason, may look red, and therefore angry (as pointed out by Arthur from the November WikiWednesday). Making it less red and more pink would solve that problem, but introduces the problem of being more, well, pink. Blue and green, as used in the flag of Portland, may be the solution. Teresa helped me research this; the City of Portland's explanation of the colors is the blue represents Portland's two rivers, and the green is for "the forests and our green City". Sounds fine to me, and they are aesthetically pleasing (if slightly dull) colors. Thoughts? -kotra 05:49, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

MarkDilley asked me to give a little feedback -- I think they're all cool designs but can you show an option that uses the design on the main page with the blue and green Portland flag colors as noted above? --SylviaO (talk) 04:23, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Sure, I'll come up with a couple versions of the first logo with the blue and green instead of the "rose" color. -kotra (talk) 05:40, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Sorry it took me so long, my computer was dead for a while! The new color versions are on the page now as 1a. and 1b. What do you think? -kotra (talk) 02:59, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Motifs

I'd like to include some sort of "confluence" motif, representing the disparate peoples and ideas of our city coming together. The first logo I think alludes to that, but not particularly strongly or obviously. Not entirely sure yet how to adapt it to emphasize confluence more, or what other ideas would better illustrate this, so suggestions are welcome. -kotra 05:49, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

The flag inspired design is interesting but it looks a bit like a pinwheel. I like your confluence idea and wonder how the idea of Portland as "green" and techie can be incorporated. The roses idea is also cute but feels a little tourist oriented. --SylviaO (talk) 04:23, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

I think the options offered are all very strong. My favorite is probably the one listed as #6 at the moment: the more realistic of the rose designs, with the strong black outline. I'm at least as green as the next Portlander, but even I get a little tired of the color in everybody's marketing. And awesome as Portland's confluence of cultures is, it's no moreso than any city I've lived in. The rose struck me as clearly and immediately Portland-specific. It's a little girly, I guess, but with a wiki that may be a good thing, and the geometric designs are at least as boyish. MichaelAndersen (talk) 05:14, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your feedback, Sylvia and Michael! You both make valid points. Regarding confluence, it wasn't so much the city that inspires that, but the fact that this is a wiki: a collaboratively edited website. I will think hard and see if I can come up with a design that is not too cutesy/girly/boyish/aggressive/angular. Not sure where to go with colors, but whatever I come up with will have it in a couple color schemes for comparison. Thanks again for your input! -kotra (talk) 03:05, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Text

Are we "PortlandWiki" or "Portland Wiki"? This is fairly crucial, since the first logo has them separated into two words. -kotra 05:49, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, judging by the main page and most other uses I've seen, it's probably "PortlandWiki". My next version will make it one word. -kotra 22:03, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

I vote for PortlandWiki --SylviaO (talk) 04:23, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Width

standard wiki icon width is 135px.Michael (talk)

135px wide

135px wide

Yeah, that's true; I just made the logo wider (and had to adjust the wiki's skin to fit it) because its proportions are different from most wiki logos (wider and less tall). But it can pretty easily be any width. 135px wide (see pics) is still legible, though it doesn't stand out as much at that size... but that's not a big deal and it's a fairly easy fix if we decide it should be smaller. -kotra (talk) 04:43, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

Portland Tribune similarities with #8

Well User:Michael mentioned in today's wikiwednesday that the multicolored text looks a lot like the Portland Tribune logo[1]; I think he's right so I'll not use that technique in future versions. It really is a common technique so we may want to stay away from it for that reason anyway, if we want to be unique. -kotra (talk) 03:12, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Finalizing

Hi all, I have I think 2 or 3 more versions to build, upload, and get feedback on. After that, I think we may want to start drawing this to a close. In recent Monday Meets a couple people have told me that, in the absence of much feedback, they wouldn't be averse to me just picking one (as I sort of did with the currently used "placeholder" logo). I really don't want to do that (as this is a wiki, and cuz I don't want to be blamed...!) so I think after garnering as much feedback as possible, I'll narrow it down to about 4 designs and try to conduct a vote on this page. If nobody responds within a reasonable timeframe, I'll just pick one (while sobbing "It didn't have to end like this" to myself). Sound good/bad? -kotra (talk) 04:16, 23 March 2010 (UTC)