proposed Python logo

[Michael Tobis]

"Is this the right room for an argument?"

http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~tobis/snake.png

ok, so my execution is pretty crude, but you can at least see my idea.
I trust you to imagine it professionally executed in cheerful colors.

Advantages of proposed logo over existing logo
----------------------------------------------

represents an actual python involved in python-like behavior, rather
than two tadpoles

has a sense of dynamism and forward motion, as opposed to backwardness
and upside-downiness

the eyes form a colon, thus remeniscent of python code, and the coil is
indicative of the "more than meets the eye" that a python object so
remarkably delivers

also, pythons coil around their eggs!

succeeds in making snake into a letter "P" without making it face
backwards, and yet resists the unfortunate temptation to use a forked
tongue to make a "y"

numerous variations and animations immediately present themsleves

no obvious references to religious icons

will sell T shirts and lapel pins; a swag clock is an obvious
possibility


(did I mention ( http://tinyurl.com/rkq3s ) that I don't like the
current logo?)


Much as it would be an ego-boost for me to have some version of this
idea used for the language, I'm almost as happy with repurposing the
most excellent PyCon logo if that is OK with everyone involved. But imo
we can't fully promote the power of Python with tadpoles.

mt

[BartlebyScrivener]

Re: proposed Python logo

I like the tadpoles. Yours looks like a phonograph needle, circa 1960.

Just my opinion.

rick

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Re: proposed Python logo

In article <1145585399.871 299.31900@t31g2 000cwb.googlegr oups.com>,
"Michael Tobis" <mtobis@gmail.c om> wrote:
[color=blue]
>"Is this the right room for an argument?"
>
>http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~tobis/snake.png[/color]

Too rigid-looking somehow. I think get rid of the straight right-angle
lines.

[Ant]

Re: proposed Python logo

Sorry dude, but it looks like a hairdryer! Imagine it at 16x16 pixels
or smaller, and it'll look like little more than a circle with two
sticks. The current image scales well.

I think that the current logo is fine. Much more professional than the
old image. The + formation is positive enough, and it has a yin-yang
feel to it which to me conjures up the image of balance, not
divisiveness.

JM2PW

[Gerard Flanagan]

Re: proposed Python logo

Michael Yanowitz wrote:[color=blue]
> How about having something from Monty Python in the logo rather
> than something snakelike. Python was named after Monty Python and not
> the snake. Snakes also don't appear friendly to me.
> I used to have rats as pets. Snakes are murderers of rats. Which I[/color]

Never mind rats, have you seen the Google ads for this thread?

http://www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/211/211961_goodness_snake.html

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm...name_page.html

!!!-)

[BartlebyScrivener]

Re: proposed Python logo

No matter what you do, "Python" is going to sum up the image of a
powerful snake. I suppose you could change the name to "Monty," if you
wanted more humor and more of a reference to Monty Python, or maybe
"Bring Out Your Dead."

Personally I like the snake associations and the notion that you're
joining a cult where everybody speaks in Parseltongue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priori_Incantatem#Speaking_parseltongue

rd

[Michael Tobis]

Re: proposed Python logo

> Too rigid-looking somehow.

Hey, I'm an amateur... There are lots of variations on the concept I
can think of. I want someone with a lot of design talent *and a little
familiarity with the language* to take enough interest to have a go at
it.

At least (unlike the tadpoles) it has some resonance with the product
it's trying to represent.

mt

[Grant Edwards]

Re: proposed Python logo

On 2006-04-21, Michael Tobis <mtobis@gmail.c om> wrote:
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Too rigid-looking somehow.[/color]
>
> Hey, I'm an amateur... There are lots of variations on the concept I
> can think of. I want someone with a lot of design talent *and a little
> familiarity with the language* to take enough interest to have a go at
> it.
>
> At least (unlike the tadpoles) it has some resonance with the product
> it's trying to represent.[/color]

Not that I'm disagreeing, but how to you rate "resonance with
the product"?

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! ... the MYSTERIANS
at are in here with my
visi.com CORDUROY SOAP DISH!!

[RK]

Re: proposed Python logo

That's a good try...

Can we get some street pros?

http://www.graffitifonts.com/

[Simon Brunning]

Re: proposed Python logo

On 4/21/06, Michael Yanowitz <m.yanowitz@kea rfott.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> I think something from Monty Python (I haven't watched it recently
> to know what would be ideal) would be more appropriate than an ugly
> reptile which is usually associated with evil and our reason for leaving
> the Garden of Eden.[/color]

+1. I'd like some variation of <http://tinyurl.com/gj74k> used as a logo.

--
Cheers,
Simon B,
simon@brunningo nline.net,

http://www.brunningonline.net/simon/blog/

[BartlebyScrivener]

Re: proposed Python logo

>> I'd like some variation of <http://tinyurl.com/gj74k> used as a logo.

That has real potential, but I bet it's trademarked.

rick

[Michael Tobis]

Re: proposed Python logo

Don't you think the Python Boys ought to have something to say about
it?

Eric Idle is going to be at my favorite Borders bookstore in half an
hour. Should I go ask him? (I'm not going to do that; it's just an odd
coincidence from my point of view.)

I think there are trademark issues similar to the Apple vs Apple ones.
Perhaps we would have to promise them not to have a sense of humor.

mt

[Michael Tobis]

Re: proposed Python logo

> Sorry dude, but it looks like a hairdryer!

I'm afraid you have a point :-/ .
[color=blue]
> I think that the current logo is fine. Much more professional than the old image.[/color]

Yes, it is a MUCH more professional rendering than the old image, and
it leaves a MUCH better first impression of the homepage.

That said, and conceding that the first impression is positive, I don't
see how it represents Python. More to the point, the longer I look at
it the less I like it, and I would NOT wear it on a T-shirt.
[color=blue]
> The + formation is positive enough, and it has a yin-yang
> feel to it which to me conjures up the image of balance, not
> divisiveness.[/color]

Both the cross and the yin-yang have religious associations, which will
be positive for some and negative for others but will certainly be
unrepresentativ e of what Python is. This would be a great logo for
Taoist Christians, if such a group exists.

How is Python about "balance"? It is about abstraction, composition,
the whole greater than the parts, yes, but there's nothing there that
really draws on duality. So the whole two-ness of the thing is one of
the parts that disturbs me.

mt

[Michael Tobis]

Re: proposed Python logo

> Not that I'm disagreeing, but how to you rate "resonance with the product"?

Hmm, I'm not a marketing professional, but this is would I would do
with my focus groups:

Ask people familar with the product to name what they like about the
image, and what they like about the product, and look for analogies
between them. Ask them what they dislike about the image and the
product, and minimize overlap.

(The main thing I dislike about Python is that the documentation is too
sketchy. It's very unclear what the official logo represents. So
another strike against it; it reminds me of the confusion I often face
on making use of an unfamiliar module.)

Ask people who are unfamiliar with the product who are potential users
what they have heard good and bad about the product, and its strengths
and weaknesses compared to its competition. Compare with their
impressions of the logo.

I am my own focus group, but people who are following this thread can
simply show the existing logo to people and ask for their impressions.
Try showing it (without the text) to non-Pythonista programmers, who
probably haven't seen python.org lately, without telling them what it
represents. See what their associations are.

I've already explained my negative associations with the official logo,
and some of the positive ones of my prototype alternative. See the post
that started this thread and the thread it links to.

The best snake-and-language logos I have seen are the Twisted-Matrix
one and the PyCon one. But I think my idea can be developed too. I
think the colon as snake-eyes thing is a big win. We would think
affectionately of the snake every time we type the unnecessary colon.

[BartlebyScrivener]

Re: proposed Python logo

>> Eric Idle is going to be at my favorite Borders bookstore in half an[color=blue][color=green]
>> hour. Should I go ask him? (I'm not going to do that; it's just an odd
>> coincidence from my point of view.)[/color][/color]

Speaking of coincidences, you might ask him if Python's Integrated
Development Environment is named after him. ;>