The working site for the conference committee of FOSS4G 2013
From the to-do list: Website
✔ Create design brief
(Completed by Rollo Home on October 15, 2012)
Comments
Antony Scott on September 22, 2012:
Not had any volunteers for the website design - has anyone else? If not we should perhaps consider: - press-ganging - paying - doing it ourselves Any thoughts? Antony
Rollo Home on September 22, 2012:
I'm getting a bit concerned as well. We've had one (anonymous) banner submission...so not much of a response to the competition either. Rather than keep asking publicly for support (it doesn't look good) perhaps we can make individual approaches? It does oblige us to accepting their designs though (unless it's totally inappropriate but it's not really appropriate to mess them around)... Or we use the crowd-sourcing method (I know Jo is not keen on this, and for some good reasons).
Barry Rowlingson on September 23, 2012:
I've just had a quick Sunday morning trawl of free vector graphics art and come up with another idea... The FOSS4G ribbon is wrapped around an oak tree to symbolise Sherwood Forest and the Robin Hood association. Having some concern about the symbolism of ribbons around oak trees (and the fearsome possibility of one of us having to sing that song during any karaoke next September) I looked it up and orange is apparently the colour of open source awareness (according to the big list of awarenesses on Wikipedia). So we have open source and Nottingham connected.
Orange has a strong contrast with green so we have rich colour opportunities for design (although orange text on green is clearly forbidden). I could even start turning the tree orange (since the conference will be on the edge of autumn) and that might symbolise the symbiosis between 'green' (eco) thinking and 'orange' (open-source) thinking.
The oak tree graphic comes from clker.com and all their artwork is public domain. This was done in Inkscape as vectors so it will not get pixellated on that huge banner we're going to have above the geocamp tent.
I think this has mileage as a logo....some work on the font is needed. The tree has symbolism beyond Robin as well (growth/roots, and a solid oak - FOSS becomes mature). Nice one.
Barry Rowlingson on September 23, 2012:
Yes, the text was just splatted on to give it a bannery feel.
Its rich with symbolism - great trees from little acorns and all that.
One thing about conferences that's always bothered me is the use of precious metals for sponsorship levels. Could we call them acorn-level, sapling-level, tree-level, and forest-level sponsorships instead? Could do some nice graphics.. Gives us a whole arboreal design theme for the conference...
A smidge too radical?
Barry
Antony Scott on September 23, 2012:
Very nice! I like the tree - does it work if the ribbon is put across the tree rather than round it? This would make it less 'tie a yellow ribbon'-ish, and also it could be a bit bigger in relation to the tree. The tree-based sponsorship is good too, but the metals thing has the advantage that it's so universal that it is a standard, so we would have to be brave to try and establish a new one... Antony
Steven Feldman on September 24, 2012:
Tree is nice but if I may say so not inspiring although perhaps if worked on it could be ok
I liked the idea of the tree level sponsorships but agree that sticking to what is widely know may be safer. A possible alternative would be to use trees like stars so we could have 5 Tree Sponsors, 3 Tree etc, on second thoughts maybe not.
The guy behind http://weaverdigital.com/ is a friend of mine and I could approach him for some help if you wanted as he owes me a favour or two (of course issue of going with what he comes up with still exists). Let me know if you want me to reach out
Jo Cook on September 24, 2012:
Dear All,
Sorry for the silence over the weekend- have had a well-needed long weekend diving. A couple of things- web-designer hubby and I have a few logos to upload for consideration, but given that I have hardly been at home for the last few weeks I haven't had chance to do that. Could you give me chance to catch breath before we go off finding designers, as we might not need anything like that as we have (or rather I have) a web-designer hubby who is happy to offer his services for free, if only we tell him what we want!
Secondly, someone has had a very determined attempt at hacking the site over the weekend, which I am just about to investigate now.
Jo
Antony Scott on September 24, 2012:
Jo
No problem, hope you enjoyed the diving. Almost had to do it today down here in the flooded South West.
It would be great if your Barry (as opposed to our Barry) could do it (although I’m sure our Barry would also be great).
We just need to decide what we want as you say, and that’s the hard bit. I will try and have a crack at this over the next few days.
Sorry to hear about WP site, but good our defences worked, thanks for sorting.
Antony
Steven Feldman on September 25, 2012:
If Barry (and/or Barry) can take the design on then that would be fantastic. i will not contact anyone until you prompt me. Our site is back up and running
Jo Cook on September 26, 2012:
Hi All,
Here, slightly belatedly, is an idea that Barry K (hubby, to differentiate from Barry R) had for the logo- we had also been thinking along the lines of the oak tree. We had been thinking about a minimal colour set to make printing t-shirts easier.
All logos looking good. Is there any way to add "Geo for All" theme caption into the logo.
Barry Rowlingson on September 26, 2012:
Lovely! How about (lincoln?) green instead of red?
Jo Cook on September 26, 2012:
Hmm, what colour would you prefer on a t-shirt?
Antony Scott on September 27, 2012:
Yup very nice... (the oak leaves logo). What colour would the t-shirts be - white, black? Adding Geo for all could make it a bit wordy, assuming we'll be using it all over the place. But it could be added where approriate in same font (eg website).
Antony
Jeremy Morley on September 28, 2012:
Lincoln green might be better for the leaves and band as it's unlikely we'd use that for the t-shirt colour.
If we're going down the line of having "regular", "team", "pre-event volunteers" and "on-site volunteers" t-shirts then we'll want 4 different background colours at least, and the obvious ones are white/black/blue/yellow/red I'd have thought. Green should be a reasonable contrast with any of these.
We could put the "Geo for all" on the back - or possibly the main design on the back and "Geo for all" on the left breast? Depends what this does to the cost.
Jeremy
Barry Rowlingson on September 28, 2012:
I had a meetup with t'other Barry last night to discuss designs. And beers.
He showed me a dummy version of the web site he'd been working on, using the red leaves in the heading, and an olde map of Nottingham as a subtle border to the content. The typography was more old-fashioned than modern (Trajan small-caps font for headings was mostly influencing this look, see the previously attached logo for that font) which didn't really work for me. Most of the FOSS4G conference web sites have had a modern, sans-serif feel. I suggested greening the leaves and going a bit more modern. I might also try blending the old map with OpenStreetMap so the left is old and the right is modern... All to be done in the best possible taste, as Kenny Everett would say.
Barry sent me the oak leaves logo and I converted it to SVG and had a play. Attached is an autumnal version that adds a bit of colour zing to a plain green logo and gives us some colours to play with.
We also discussed general layouts - and will probably have a three-column design so there's plenty of opportunity for interesting content blocks, such as a prominent 'Register Now' box, or social media stuff, or highlighted sponsor links, or AGI linkage. In common with some of the other foss4g sites, we reckon the footer can have small versions of the sponsors logos on all the pages plus an OSgeo signature.
There will also be an alternate full-width page layout for pages that will get cramped in a single column - such as the timetable or list of presentations or the main sponsors page.
As for T-shirts, Barry suggested just have 'Geo For All' on the back, up high where you'd normally see a footballer's name. The front would then have the oak leaves and text on the front. I like that, the back of the t-shirt is then a kind of 'teaser' for what's on the front.
Gradient shaded-leaves would work against almost any colour, if its not too much problem for the printer (if a continuous colour might look banded, it could be better to colour individual leaves solid colours, but varying across the design).
That is great you could almost call it FabulOSS4G!
Mark Iliffe on September 29, 2012:
Or just FOSS4G Steven... ;-)
Antony Scott on October 1, 2012:
Good stuff Barrys.... sounds like we are well on track. Maybe Barry K could put up a screenshot or two of the dummy site when he's ready.
Rollo Home on October 2, 2012:
Barry - sounds like you had a good design session with 'Barry' (this is getting confusing). I'd agree with all your points - in particular the antiquated nature of the fonts. So I look forward to the seeing the revised design - sounds great, One slight concern is the symbolism of 'autumnal' leaves. I know we're saying FOSS is mature - but is it fading?! I don't know how important symbolism really is...but I prefer solid colour, and I thought the red was a powerful choice (also, isn't the FOSS ribbon meant to be red anyway? Didn't think we could change that).
Rollo Home on October 2, 2012:
Current competition entries (one of which is from an unknown - contact details lost by dropittome...#fail)
Some effort has gone into these - I'd like to be able to show our appreciation even to those that we don't take forward....any ideas?
Barry Rowlingson on October 2, 2012:
The ribbon doesn't need to be red - Victoria had it grey, Cape Town browny-orange, Sydney was red/white, Barcelona yellow/red, and Denver dark red/red. So its getting redder, but we don't have to!
The castle tower is a direct lift of the university logo, so we can't use that. Not sure about using the flag so prominently in version 3, and it has some red diagonals missing. The bow needs some work on the colours and the colouring in has gone over the edges... The target has a tiny ribbon that looks a bit tacked on. But that's all just me being critical - they are nice pieces of work.
I guess you (Rollo) have been away, and I don't know how much t'other Barry has been getting on with it.
Steven Feldman on October 2, 2012:
I like Naomi Gale's idea although it needs to have a better ribbon. Is there potential for a fusion of this and the oak leaves, perhaps with the oak leaf ribbon replacing the feather? I can see how the Geo for All strap line could sit below the Nottingham 2013 bit if we wanted on slides etc but maybe that's too much text
Jo Cook on October 3, 2012:
All, hate to say this, but you can't keep changing your mind about what you want- if you want anything done in time for your academic call for papers!
Barry (K) and I are on holiday, and almost totally off-line next week, so ideally we'd like you to have a firm design by the 13th when we're back, so that it can be worked on after that. It's not really fair to expect either Barry to do work on this, for free, and to a deadline, if things keep changing.
Thanks
Jo
Barry Rowlingson on October 3, 2012:
I think the reason for change possibility was that Rollo was off-line and so we hadn't seen the other graphics.
I think the leaves are the best thing we've had and that we go with it. T'other Barry has made some progress on the design and I have every faith that it'll look great, having seen some of his other work at the meeting last week.
Of course none of us are getting paid for the work we do on the conference... ...wait, what?!?
[yeah, there's lots of side benefits for most of us in terms of CVs and visibilty and connections etc, but for t'other Barry all he gets is another site for his portfolio]
Rollo Home on October 3, 2012:
Doesn't he even get #geobeers? One more logo has arrived today.....
Maybe we could have a call or IRC in the next few days to try and nail this down? ie Jo, Barry (R), Rollo, me. We need to decide on both the logo selection and the website design, though of course they are related. For me I am available Thur day or eve, Fri am, Sun eve. Appreciate it may not be possible to get everyone in.
Antony
Rollo Home on October 3, 2012:
I can make any of those slots also. Preference for avoiding Sunday night - early start Monday :-\
Barry Rowlingson on October 3, 2012:
My calendar is clear for any weekday daytime.
Antony Scott on October 4, 2012:
OK shall we go for 9.30 am Fri? Jo, can you make this? I am assuming we need to a) choose the logo (is everyone happy for the comms group to do this?) and b) tie down the design brief. Skype ok? Is there anything else that Barry (K) needs from us from us re. the brief? Sorry, lots of questions there, answers on a (virtual) postcard please.
Antony
Jo Cook on October 4, 2012:
That sounds fine. I'll chat to Barry (K) and see what else he needs. I know he has already started some work on the design template, with the aim of having something to show by the end of tomorrow. To a certain extent the logo is less important because hopefully any logo can be slotted in, within reason.
Something I want to discuss, and I haven't been contributing to the discussions much because of work deadlines, is when we need the design sorted by. When is the academic call for papers now? What work will be required to link out to whatever submissions system is being used?
Jo
Barry Rowlingson on October 4, 2012:
Initial academic CfP is set for "now", which means as soon as the text is agreed. The second CfP, which is when submission procedures need to be in place, is late November:
I'm going to hassle the OSGeo sysadmins for an OCS instance, there's a ticket in their trac but no action.
As for the design meeting, I suggest we do nothing until we have BK (oh, we have two BK's) - Barry K's design which should be based on the design brief [with added thoughts from our meeting in the pub last week]:
So it may be just a case of green-lighting that design. There's no point having a meeting of us until we see that.
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
Meeting - so we wait to see the existing design from Barry? Just for reference, I'm out of contact for all of next week. If a first draft is made available I'll happily look and comment/discuss any time between now and Sunday night (for what my thoughts are worth when it comes to website design?!). Something to add to the discussion are 'associated' documents that we are going to need. A current example is the 'sponsorship' PDF document (see this thread for details: https://basecamp.com/1920286/projects/762306-foss4g-13/todos/16842354-publish-sponsorship). Others will be needed (programme?). If Barry is leading the website design, he's a prime candidate to assist with these other documents, but it's a big 'ask' (i.e. it's a job not a favour).
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
One of the designs has been resubmitted with a slight change (PS Barry, do you want to add your design to the list? If so, submit it via the blog page and then we have all the designs in one place. Same goes to Mark who's design I've "seen" but not received)
Finally, when reviewing these logo's don't regard them as 'finished' designs. I think the aim is to find the 'idea' that we like the most, and then work with that person to mould it to our exact needs....is this how others see it?
Antony Scott on October 4, 2012:
OK, to summarise:
We have 6 logo entries (including Barry K's, or 7 including Barry R's variation, or 8 including Mark's)
We are ready (and need to) select a logo, but I'm not clear on the process - comms group or all LOC? Personally I'd suggest an LOC vote, assume we can organise a poll. Once selection is made, we may need to work with the winner to tweak
Website design (Barry K) should be ready for review by end Fri 5th, but Barry K would not be able to implement before 13th. That gives us until then to review and feedback. Assume the design will also need to be sympathetic to the logo.
Therefore unlikely to have the new design in place for the preliminary call for papers, though with a fair wind (and depending when CfP is finalised) it shouldn't be far behind
A meeting isn't essential in the short term, though IMO it would be good to have a quick chat with whoever is available (which sounds like Jo, Rollo, Barry R and me) to confirm the plan - could shortcut the online discussion a bit. I will therefore set up a webex for 9.30 Fri (realised Barry is not on Skype), so log in if you want to participate.
Antony
Steven Feldman on October 4, 2012:
Suggest everyone expresses their preference if they have not already done so and then the Comms group make the final decision.
Steven Feldman on October 4, 2012:
My pref would be to combine the target and the oak leaves but if that wouldn't work I'd go for oak leaves
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
All entries received to date are here. Official closing date: Friday PM Where's Marks?
If the closing date is Fri, we need to wait till then to kick off the voting. What about Barry K's original one? Let's discuss in the call tomorrow. Antony
Barry Rowlingson on October 5, 2012:
Anything decided on the chat earlier?
Barry K is a bit snuffly and slow at the moment. He even turned down free beer. He is going to try to get the design visible somewhere today.
Jo Cook on October 5, 2012:
Here are Barry K's screenshots and notes about the website
As discussed at the meeting- most elements of this are negotiable- colours and fonts are obviously dependent on the choice of logo. Switching the number of columns is also not too much of an issue. You can add more "widget boxes" easily too.
Note that this design is reasonably responsive- eg it will resize to fit on mobile screens.
I like the mappy background. Is the plan to have some kind of fill between the panels (see full screen examples)?
Massive thanks to Barry K for this
Jo Cook on October 5, 2012:
Yes, the panels are "floating" on the background. The mappy background is not quite there, I think, but not worth spending much time on until everyone decides whether they want that sort of thing or not.
I will pass on your thanks :-)
Jo
Rollo Home on October 5, 2012:
OK folks - it's decision time. We have no new submissions, so there are 6 'concepts' to choose between. Remember, these are NOT the finished designs; the winning logo will be further modified by Barry to fit the over all design of the site, and to address any 'legal' issues (e.g. ribbons etc.). Thus the colour, size, fonts, etc., may well have to change - but the concept/design/impact of the original logo will remain.
To vote:
Open to LoC members,
one vote per member.
Simply state your preference in this thread.
Closing date is 5pm Wednesday 10Oct.
The Comms Committee will then resolve any issues by Friday in order to have the result with Jo & Barry by Saturday.
Design 1: Naomi Gale / "Arrows hit target" Design 2: Barry Kaye / "Oak Leaves" Design 3: unknown / "Bow & Arrow" Design 4: Nicolas Bozon / "Union Jack" Design 5: Nicolas Bozon / "Castle" Design 6: Phil Francis / "Robin Hoods Hat" (two versions submitted)
Happy voting (PS I propose that we display all the submissions at the conference as small gesture to the work that's gone into these)
Oak Leaves, but the term FOSS4G 2014 should appear somewhere. Some logo drafts are too closely related to the Union Jack, and we should avoid a too narrow target group.
Antony Scott on October 9, 2012:
Oak leaves, but I prefer Barry K's original (see earlier in thread). Assume the request for votes has gone to all LOC members, not just comms? Distribution is not always clear... This should anyway, so please vote if you haven't already :-)
I know you're somewhat down the path here, but thought I would just mention that we did a community vote on the logo for Denver (with our top few choices). Again we said this was non-binding, but we had a clear winner and went with that. I don't have strong views, just mentioning it in case. We felt it was another opportunity to generate publicity and interest, and to make community members feel they had a hand in things. And also this seemed to me like an area where it was genuinely useful to see which logos appealed to the community at large. Whether or not you do this, it might also be useful to get feedback from a few non-Brits ... I don't know whether they will "get" the Robin Hood connection etc in the same way as we all do (and whether that will impact what they prefer).
Like I said, don't have strong views, just mentioning it as an option! I don't think it would need to be a long voting period, could just be a few days, if you chose to do it.
Peter Batty on October 9, 2012:
By the way, is there a version of the oak leaves logo that includes the text FOSS4G 2013 Nottingham? Would quite like to see this as I assume that will be part of the official logo?
Thanks Antony, I just got as far as Rollo's summary of the logos above :)
Antony Scott on October 10, 2012:
I think there is something in what Peter says about consulting more widely on the logos, for all the reasons he cites. Given our timescale, this need not hold us up, if we were say to put them up today and ask for feedback by the weekend. I'd be happy to put them on the website and get news out via Twitter/mailing list. Any thoughts, or more to the point, objections?
Steven Feldman on October 10, 2012:
Excellent idea, let's at least hear what the community thinks before making final decision on Monday.
Can you make the point that the logos are proposals and that they can/will be tweaked e.g. "oak leaves" will have a strap line of FOSS4G 2013, Nottingham
Peter Batty on October 10, 2012:
I'm in favour, as I think you know :).
I think you should use the version of the oak leaves logo that has the text, just seems strange that all the others have it and that one doesn't. Assume you'd probably have some simple poll to collect votes, and an ability to add comments?
Steven Feldman on October 10, 2012:
Quick way to do the poll could be a Google form unless there is a wordpress widget. Alternatively just ask all who are interested to post feedback to mailing list
Any chance to get this up and publicise today?
Antony Scott on October 10, 2012:
Probably tomorrow am unless anyone else can do it. Antony
Maybe we can use the target with the red white and blue of the flag?
Barry Rowlingson on October 15, 2012:
Since we didn't have an outright majority winner, a coalition has been formed...
The target logo needs the FOSS4G ribbon to be much more prominent. Its the main element and a fundamental part of FOSS4G logos past. This logo as-is relegates it to a tiny speck which could be lost from the logo without anyone noticing.
I quite like the idea of it being attached to the arrows as a streamer (but not as oak leaves, that's me going too far). Maybe I'd lose the feather too, which is just a bit distracting, although I get its supposed to be in Robin Hood's hat.
The red, white, and blue target is growing on me, although as Mark says its a bit RAF. Maybe red, white, and blue arrows? Or three arrows with FOSS4G streamers in red, white and blue?
I prefer the original, the arrow gave it some sense of movement, though I agree the ribbon could be upgraded. I'd tend to tie it all up with the web design discussion, rather than looking at the logo in isolation.
But agree we should let her know, to tell her she's won and that we'll be discussing how to use it - and ask for the artwork?
Barry Rowlingson on October 16, 2012:
Do you want me to be the point of contact with her for this?
Antony Scott on October 16, 2012:
Maybe better if it's Jo/Barry K if he is going to work up the logo into the overall website design?
Barry Rowlingson on October 17, 2012:
Well, Barry K didn't sound too keen on doing much more work, and Jo is busy too. I've offered, and I have the time to get on with this.
Jo Cook on October 17, 2012:
Urm, it's not that Barry K isn't keen, but there's no point in doing much more until we make big decisions about the platform, which we need to do on Friday. If we make the decision to move away from wordpress, then everything we have done so far will need to be transferred into the new package, whatever that is. The less work that's done before that point, the better, surely?
I think it makes sense for Barry K to liaise once the design work is actually taking place, eg next week, but for the moment I don't see why Barry R shouldn't make the initial contact.
Jo
Ian Edwards on October 17, 2012:
I'd like to see a variant with an italicised '0', e.g.
I've tried an 'italicised' target and added the Union Jack banner. It would be great if we could give the Denver logo a real run for it's money. At the moment it doesn't have the breathtaking simplicity.
"A design is complete not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more that can be taken away."
To achieve that here I would take away the feather and the union jack banner. Maybe I'd have just one arrow in the target (or one whole arrow and one split arrow, in a nod to Robin Hood[1]) and then have to incorporate the foss4g ribbon by having it form part of a ribbon streamer attached to one of the arrows, or as part of red white and blue flechettes on the arrow, although that would be a small detail that would get lost on coarse prints.
This is why I want to talk to the designer. She might take frightful offence to any drastic modification of her original vision.
Barry
[1] or is that a disneyfied robin hood?
Barry Rowlingson on October 25, 2012:
I've had a look at some of Naomi's other design variants (some of which included a Robin Hood hat along with the target, arrows, and ribbon). She's off work today so should have some time to produce a revised logo for us to look at.
Barry Rowlingson on October 25, 2012:
New version with bigger and better foss4g ribbon. This also uses a free open font rather than Myriad.
Comments
Antony Scott on September 22, 2012:
- press-ganging
- paying
- doing it ourselves
Any thoughts?
Antony
Rollo Home on September 22, 2012:
Or we use the crowd-sourcing method (I know Jo is not keen on this, and for some good reasons).
Barry Rowlingson on September 23, 2012:
Orange has a strong contrast with green so we have rich colour opportunities for design (although orange text on green is clearly forbidden). I could even start turning the tree orange (since the conference will be on the edge of autumn) and that might symbolise the symbiosis between 'green' (eco) thinking and 'orange' (open-source) thinking.
The oak tree graphic comes from clker.com and all their artwork is public domain. This was done in Inkscape as vectors so it will not get pixellated on that huge banner we're going to have above the geocamp tent.
Rollo Home on September 23, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on September 23, 2012:
Its rich with symbolism - great trees from little acorns and all that.
One thing about conferences that's always bothered me is the use of
precious metals for sponsorship levels. Could we call them acorn-level,
sapling-level, tree-level, and forest-level sponsorships instead? Could do
some nice graphics.. Gives us a whole arboreal design theme for the
conference...
A smidge too radical?
Barry
Antony Scott on September 23, 2012:
The tree-based sponsorship is good too, but the metals thing has the advantage that it's so universal that it is a standard, so we would have to be brave to try and establish a new one...
Antony
Steven Feldman on September 24, 2012:
I liked the idea of the tree level sponsorships but agree that sticking to what is widely know may be safer. A possible alternative would be to use trees like stars so we could have 5 Tree Sponsors, 3 Tree etc, on second thoughts maybe not.
Incidentally we were going to mix metaphors with sponsorship - Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Alternatively you could pick from this list http://thechive.com/2012/05/09/the-most-expensive-materials-on-the-planet-16-photos/
or this list of metals http://expertscolumn.com/content/10-most-expensive-metals-world-include-gold. On further thought boring and recognisable sounds sensible.
The guy behind http://weaverdigital.com/ is a friend of mine and I could approach him for some help if you wanted as he owes me a favour or two (of course issue of going with what he comes up with still exists). Let me know if you want me to reach out
Jo Cook on September 24, 2012:
Sorry for the silence over the weekend- have had a well-needed long weekend diving. A couple of things- web-designer hubby and I have a few logos to upload for consideration, but given that I have hardly been at home for the last few weeks I haven't had chance to do that. Could you give me chance to catch breath before we go off finding designers, as we might not need anything like that as we have (or rather I have) a web-designer hubby who is happy to offer his services for free, if only we tell him what we want!
Secondly, someone has had a very determined attempt at hacking the site over the weekend, which I am just about to investigate now.
Jo
Antony Scott on September 24, 2012:
No problem, hope you enjoyed the diving. Almost had to do it today down here in the flooded South West.
It would be great if your Barry (as opposed to our Barry) could do it (although I’m sure our Barry would also be great).
We just need to decide what we want as you say, and that’s the hard bit. I will try and have a crack at this over the next few days.
Sorry to hear about WP site, but good our defences worked, thanks for sorting.
Antony
Steven Feldman on September 25, 2012:
Our site is back up and running
Jo Cook on September 26, 2012:
Here, slightly belatedly, is an idea that Barry K (hubby, to differentiate from Barry R) had for the logo- we had also been thinking along the lines of the oak tree. We had been thinking about a minimal colour set to make printing t-shirts easier.
Jo
Suchith Anand on September 26, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on September 26, 2012:
Jo Cook on September 26, 2012:
Antony Scott on September 27, 2012:
Antony
Jeremy Morley on September 28, 2012:
If we're going down the line of having "regular", "team", "pre-event volunteers" and "on-site volunteers" t-shirts then we'll want 4 different background colours at least, and the obvious ones are white/black/blue/yellow/red I'd have thought. Green should be a reasonable contrast with any of these.
We could put the "Geo for all" on the back - or possibly the main design on the back and "Geo for all" on the left breast? Depends what this does to the cost.
Jeremy
Barry Rowlingson on September 28, 2012:
He showed me a dummy version of the web site he'd been working on, using
the red leaves in the heading, and an olde map of Nottingham as a subtle
border to the content. The typography was more old-fashioned than modern
(Trajan small-caps font for headings was mostly influencing this look, see
the previously attached logo for that font) which didn't really work for
me. Most of the FOSS4G conference web sites have had a modern, sans-serif
feel. I suggested greening the leaves and going a bit more modern. I might
also try blending the old map with OpenStreetMap so the left is old and the
right is modern... All to be done in the best possible taste, as Kenny
Everett would say.
Barry sent me the oak leaves logo and I converted it to SVG and had a play.
Attached is an autumnal version that adds a bit of colour zing to a plain
green logo and gives us some colours to play with.
We also discussed general layouts - and will probably have a three-column
design so there's plenty of opportunity for interesting content blocks,
such as a prominent 'Register Now' box, or social media stuff, or
highlighted sponsor links, or AGI linkage. In common with some of the other
foss4g sites, we reckon the footer can have small versions of the sponsors
logos on all the pages plus an OSgeo signature.
There will also be an alternate full-width page layout for pages that will
get cramped in a single column - such as the timetable or list of
presentations or the main sponsors page.
As for T-shirts, Barry suggested just have 'Geo For All' on the back, up
high where you'd normally see a footballer's name. The front would then
have the oak leaves and text on the front. I like that, the back of the
t-shirt is then a kind of 'teaser' for what's on the front.
Gradient shaded-leaves would work against almost any colour, if its not
too much problem for the printer (if a continuous colour might look
banded, it could be better to colour individual leaves solid colours, but
varying across the design).
Mark Iliffe on September 28, 2012:
Steven Feldman on September 29, 2012:
Mark Iliffe on September 29, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 1, 2012:
Rollo Home on October 2, 2012:
Rollo Home on October 2, 2012:
Rollo Home on October 2, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 2, 2012:
The castle tower is a direct lift of the university logo, so we can't use that. Not sure about using the flag so prominently in version 3, and it has some red diagonals missing. The bow needs some work on the colours and the colouring in has gone over the edges... The target has a tiny ribbon that looks a bit tacked on. But that's all just me being critical - they are nice pieces of work.
I guess you (Rollo) have been away, and I don't know how much t'other Barry has been getting on with it.
Steven Feldman on October 2, 2012:
I can see how the Geo for All strap line could sit below the Nottingham 2013 bit if we wanted on slides etc but maybe that's too much text
Jo Cook on October 3, 2012:
Barry (K) and I are on holiday, and almost totally off-line next week, so ideally we'd like you to have a firm design by the 13th when we're back, so that it can be worked on after that. It's not really fair to expect either Barry to do work on this, for free, and to a deadline, if things keep changing.
Thanks
Jo
Barry Rowlingson on October 3, 2012:
so we hadn't seen the other graphics.
I think the leaves are the best thing we've had and that we go with it.
T'other Barry has made some progress on the design and I have every faith
that it'll look great, having seen some of his other work at the meeting
last week.
Of course none of us are getting paid for the work we do on the
conference... ...wait, what?!?
[yeah, there's lots of side benefits for most of us in terms of CVs and
visibilty and connections etc, but for t'other Barry all he gets is another
site for his portfolio]
Rollo Home on October 3, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 3, 2012:
Antony
Rollo Home on October 3, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 3, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 4, 2012:
Antony
Jo Cook on October 4, 2012:
Something I want to discuss, and I haven't been contributing to the discussions much because of work deadlines, is when we need the design sorted by. When is the academic call for papers now? What work will be required to link out to whatever submissions system is being used?
Jo
Barry Rowlingson on October 4, 2012:
https://basecamp.com/1920286/projects/762306-foss4g-13/documents/1334772-academic-cfp-themes
I'm going to hassle the OSGeo sysadmins for an OCS instance, there's a ticket in their trac but no action.
As for the design meeting, I suggest we do nothing until we have BK (oh, we have two BK's) - Barry K's design which should be based on the design brief [with added thoughts from our meeting in the pub last week]:
https://basecamp.com/1920286/projects/762306-foss4g-13/documents/1323041-website-design-brief
So it may be just a case of green-lighting that design. There's no point having a meeting of us until we see that.
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
Something to add to the discussion are 'associated' documents that we are going to need. A current example is the 'sponsorship' PDF document (see this thread for details: https://basecamp.com/1920286/projects/762306-foss4g-13/todos/16842354-publish-sponsorship). Others will be needed (programme?). If Barry is leading the website design, he's a prime candidate to assist with these other documents, but it's a big 'ask' (i.e. it's a job not a favour).
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
(PS Barry, do you want to add your design to the list? If so, submit it via the blog page and then we have all the designs in one place. Same goes to Mark who's design I've "seen" but not received)
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 4, 2012:
- We have 6 logo entries (including Barry K's, or 7 including Barry R's variation, or 8 including Mark's)
- We are ready (and need to) select a logo, but I'm not clear on the process - comms group or all LOC? Personally I'd suggest an LOC vote, assume we can organise a poll. Once selection is made, we may need to work with the winner to tweak
- Website design (Barry K) should be ready for review by end Fri 5th, but Barry K would not be able to implement before 13th. That gives us until then to review and feedback. Assume the design will also need to be sympathetic to the logo.
- Therefore unlikely to have the new design in place for the preliminary call for papers, though with a fair wind (and depending when CfP is finalised) it shouldn't be far behind
- A meeting isn't essential in the short term, though IMO it would be good to have a quick chat with whoever is available (which sounds like Jo, Rollo, Barry R and me) to confirm the plan - could shortcut the online discussion a bit. I will therefore set up a webex for 9.30 Fri (realised Barry is not on Skype), so log in if you want to participate.
AntonySteven Feldman on October 4, 2012:
Steven Feldman on October 4, 2012:
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
Official closing date: Friday PM
Where's Marks?
Antony Scott on October 4, 2012:
Antony
Barry Rowlingson on October 5, 2012:
Barry K is a bit snuffly and slow at the moment. He even turned down free
beer. He is going to try to get the design visible somewhere today.
Jo Cook on October 5, 2012:
As discussed at the meeting- most elements of this are negotiable- colours and fonts are obviously dependent on the choice of logo. Switching the number of columns is also not too much of an issue. You can add more "widget boxes" easily too.
Note that this design is reasonably responsive- eg it will resize to fit on mobile screens.
Jo
Steven Feldman on October 5, 2012:
Massive thanks to Barry K for this
Jo Cook on October 5, 2012:
I will pass on your thanks :-)
Jo
Rollo Home on October 5, 2012:
To vote:
Design 1: Naomi Gale / "Arrows hit target"
Design 2: Barry Kaye / "Oak Leaves"
Design 3: unknown / "Bow & Arrow"
Design 4: Nicolas Bozon / "Union Jack"
Design 5: Nicolas Bozon / "Castle"
Design 6: Phil Francis / "Robin Hoods Hat" (two versions submitted)
Happy voting (PS I propose that we display all the submissions at the conference as small gesture to the work that's gone into these)
Steven Feldman on October 5, 2012:
Mark Iliffe on October 5, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 6, 2012:
Franz-Josef Behr on October 8, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 9, 2012:
Assume the request for votes has gone to all LOC members, not just comms? Distribution is not always clear... This should anyway, so please vote if you haven't already :-)
Matt Walker on October 9, 2012:
Peter Batty on October 9, 2012:
Like I said, don't have strong views, just mentioning it as an option! I don't think it would need to be a long voting period, could just be a few days, if you chose to do it.
Peter Batty on October 9, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 9, 2012:
Yes, to both questions, see higher in the thread - or https://basecamp.com/1920286/projects/762306-foss4g-13/attachments/14014236.
Antony
Peter Batty on October 9, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 10, 2012:
Steven Feldman on October 10, 2012:
Can you make the point that the logos are proposals and that they can/will be tweaked e.g. "oak leaves" will have a strap line of FOSS4G 2013, Nottingham
Peter Batty on October 10, 2012:
I think you should use the version of the oak leaves logo that has the text, just seems strange that all the others have it and that one doesn't. Assume you'd probably have some simple poll to collect votes, and an ability to add comments?
Steven Feldman on October 10, 2012:
Any chance to get this up and publicise today?
Antony Scott on October 10, 2012:
Antony
Steven Feldman on October 10, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 10, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 11, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 11, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 11, 2012:
Steven Feldman on October 11, 2012:
Thanks Antony and Matt
Antony Scott on October 15, 2012:
Results of logo poll:
Target: 112
Flag: 100
Oak leaves: 40
Bow: 4
Total: 295
Steven Feldman on October 15, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 15, 2012:
The target logo needs the FOSS4G ribbon to be much more prominent. Its the main element and a fundamental part of FOSS4G logos past. This logo as-is relegates it to a tiny speck which could be lost from the logo without anyone noticing.
I quite like the idea of it being attached to the arrows as a streamer (but not as oak leaves, that's me going too far). Maybe I'd lose the feather too, which is just a bit distracting, although I get its supposed to be in Robin Hood's hat.
The red, white, and blue target is growing on me, although as Mark says its a bit RAF. Maybe red, white, and blue arrows? Or three arrows with FOSS4G streamers in red, white and blue?
Shall I have a chat with her? Is she this Naomi Gale: http://www.naomigale.co.uk/
Antony Scott on October 15, 2012:
I prefer the original, the arrow gave it some sense of movement, though I agree the ribbon could be upgraded. I'd tend to tie it all up with the web design discussion, rather than looking at the logo in isolation.
But agree we should let her know, to tell her she's won and that we'll be discussing how to use it - and ask for the artwork?
Barry Rowlingson on October 16, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 16, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 17, 2012:
too. I've offered, and I have the time to get on with this.
Jo Cook on October 17, 2012:
I think it makes sense for Barry K to liaise once the design work is actually taking place, eg next week, but for the moment I don't see why Barry R shouldn't make the initial contact.
Jo
Ian Edwards on October 17, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 17, 2012:
Antony
Ian Edwards on October 17, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 17, 2012:
is nothing more that can be taken away."
To achieve that here I would take away the feather and the union jack
banner. Maybe I'd have just one arrow in the target (or one whole arrow and
one split arrow, in a nod to Robin Hood[1]) and then have to incorporate
the foss4g ribbon by having it form part of a ribbon streamer attached to
one of the arrows, or as part of red white and blue flechettes on the
arrow, although that would be a small detail that would get lost on coarse
prints.
This is why I want to talk to the designer. She might take frightful
offence to any drastic modification of her original vision.
Barry
[1] or is that a disneyfied robin hood?
Barry Rowlingson on October 25, 2012:
Barry Rowlingson on October 25, 2012: