[ANN] the result of Ruby official logo contest

ruby-talk
1

Hello All,

As a chairman of the recently formed Ruby Association LLC[1], I
happily announce the result of our Ruby official logo contest.

We received 203 logos from 103 people. TLDs of their mail addresses
are .ac, .am, .as, .au, .biz, .com, .cx, .de, .dk, .edu, .es, .id,
.jp, .net, .org, .ru, .to, and .uk.

And the prize goes to Tom Schaub, from Lexington, Kentucky USA. He
will receive a winner plate and 100,000 JPY (roughly 872 USD). We
are now preparing a nice plate.

The selection criteria is following

* avoid japonesque ones

   Even though Ruby is from Japan, and I am a Japanese, Ruby uses live
   all over the world. Relying on single culture may not suitable for
   the world dominating language.

* avoid cute ones

   In Japan, we have tradition to value cute things high. But in
   worldwide, cute things are often considered immature. I don't want
   Ruby to be considered juvenile.

* avoid Rails related

   Ruby is far older than Rails, and perhaps will live longer than
   Rails. Ruby on Rails rely on Ruby, not in reverse.

* select Ruby (jewel) related

   Alter all, the top image of the language is Ruby jewel. So I
   avoided rabbits, fairies, and other creatures.

In a process of selection, I strongly felt how good the previous one
was. It's beautiful, simple and embodies the image of the language.
I belive the new one inherites those properties in spirit. I really
appreciate the original designer, John Long.

I especially prefer the image part of the new logo, so we might use
the logo without "programming language" text.

              matz.
[1] http://www.ruby-assn.org/
[2] http://www.ruby-assn.org/logo-contest.html.ja
[2] http://www.ruby-assn.org/ruby-logo.jpg

2

Hi,

As a chairman of the recently formed Ruby Association LLC[1], I
happily announce the result of our Ruby official logo contest.

[1] http://www.ruby-assn.org/
[2] http://www.ruby-assn.org/logo-contest.html.ja

Oops, this is Japanese version. Try

  http://www.ruby-assn.org/logo-contest.html.en

for English.

[3] http://www.ruby-assn.org/ruby-logo.jpg

We will provide the new logo kit soon.

              matz.

···

In message "Re: [ANN] the result of Ruby official logo contest" on Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:07:57 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto <matz@ruby-lang.org> writes:

3

On Tue, Oct 30, 2007 at 06:07:57PM +0900 Yukihiro Matsumoto mentioned:

Hello All,

As a chairman of the recently formed Ruby Association LLC[1], I
happily announce the result of our Ruby official logo contest.

We received 203 logos from 103 people. TLDs of their mail addresses
are .ac, .am, .as, .au, .biz, .com, .cx, .de, .dk, .edu, .es, .id,
.jp, .net, .org, .ru, .to, and .uk.

And the prize goes to Tom Schaub, from Lexington, Kentucky USA. He
will receive a winner plate and 100,000 JPY (roughly 872 USD). We
are now preparing a nice plate.

The selection criteria is following

* avoid japonesque ones

   Even though Ruby is from Japan, and I am a Japanese, Ruby uses live
   all over the world. Relying on single culture may not suitable for
   the world dominating language.

* avoid cute ones

   In Japan, we have tradition to value cute things high. But in
   worldwide, cute things are often considered immature. I don't want
   Ruby to be considered juvenile.

* avoid Rails related

   Ruby is far older than Rails, and perhaps will live longer than
   Rails. Ruby on Rails rely on Ruby, not in reverse.

* select Ruby (jewel) related

   Alter all, the top image of the language is Ruby jewel. So I
   avoided rabbits, fairies, and other creatures.

For me, the old logo looks much more simple, clean and stylish. The new
one is almost unusable on low resolutions and probably would look badly
on dark backgrounds (from my point of you).

Good work anyway, but will not be better to stay with the old one?

···

--
Stanislav Sedov
ST4096-RIPE

4

Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

And the prize goes to Tom Schaub, from Lexington, Kentucky USA. He
will receive a winner plate and 100,000 JPY (roughly 872 USD). We
are now preparing a nice plate.

Congrats Tom!

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

5

You can see my comments on the http://www.rubyinside.com/ page, and I
think I'm certainly not the only one with those sentiments.

In a nutshell: I don't like it. And I think plenty of people would
have chipped into a funding drive to get someone experienced in brand
design to take care of designing something rather than tossing the
contest out to a bunch of programmers who know very little about
design.

Alas, it's chosen now, but I'm still open to putting up some money for
another one to be designed, even if it isn't the "official" one and
merely used by those of us who don't care for the one chosen.

--Jeremy

···

On 10/30/07, Yukihiro Matsumoto <matz@ruby-lang.org> wrote:

Hello All,

As a chairman of the recently formed Ruby Association LLC[1], I
happily announce the result of our Ruby official logo contest.

We received 203 logos from 103 people. TLDs of their mail addresses
are .ac, .am, .as, .au, .biz, .com, .cx, .de, .dk, .edu, .es, .id,
.jp, .net, .org, .ru, .to, and .uk.

And the prize goes to Tom Schaub, from Lexington, Kentucky USA. He
will receive a winner plate and 100,000 JPY (roughly 872 USD). We
are now preparing a nice plate.

The selection criteria is following

* avoid japonesque ones

   Even though Ruby is from Japan, and I am a Japanese, Ruby uses live
   all over the world. Relying on single culture may not suitable for
   the world dominating language.

* avoid cute ones

   In Japan, we have tradition to value cute things high. But in
   worldwide, cute things are often considered immature. I don't want
   Ruby to be considered juvenile.

* avoid Rails related

   Ruby is far older than Rails, and perhaps will live longer than
   Rails. Ruby on Rails rely on Ruby, not in reverse.

* select Ruby (jewel) related

   Alter all, the top image of the language is Ruby jewel. So I
   avoided rabbits, fairies, and other creatures.

In a process of selection, I strongly felt how good the previous one
was. It's beautiful, simple and embodies the image of the language.
I belive the new one inherites those properties in spirit. I really
appreciate the original designer, John Long.

I especially prefer the image part of the new logo, so we might use
the logo without "programming language" text.

                                                        matz.
[1] http://www.ruby-assn.org/
[2] http://www.ruby-assn.org/logo-contest.html.ja
[2] http://www.ruby-assn.org/ruby-logo.jpg

--
http://www.jeremymcanally.com/

My books:
Ruby in Practice

My free Ruby e-book

My blogs:

http://www.rubyinpractice.com/

6

Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

I especially prefer the image part of the new logo, so we might use
the logo without "programming language" text.

Me too.I like the image part of the new logo too.And,may be see
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=44469

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

7

Hi,

···

On Tue, 2007-10-30 at 18:07 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

Hello All,

As a chairman of the recently formed Ruby Association LLC[1], I
happily announce the result of our Ruby official logo contest.

I changed the logo on
Ruby (programming language) - Wikipedia to a non-text
version of the selected logo, identifying the license as CC by-sa 3.0. I
hope no one minds; otherwise, feel free to revert.

Arlen

8

Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

* select Ruby (jewel) related

   Alter all, the top image of the language is Ruby jewel. So I
   avoided rabbits, fairies, and other creatures.

Hi,

I think the selected submission does not fulfill the purposes of the
contest: to work in low resolution (even black and white), with and
without text, etc.

For those curious about other ideas, you can see what I submitted at:





Will the new logo work as an image for files with .rb extensión inside a
file explorer? As a favicon? Printed in black & white?

I think something like the process used by the Open Logo Project
(http://olp.spreadshirt.com) would have been more interesting.

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

9

Argh, sorry to post this again but I noticed now looking on my logs
that there were some failed requests while trying to show the image I
told about on my previous comment, which was
http://eustaquiorangel.com/images/ruby.png. I block loading of
external references to images so sometimes when trying to load the
image from an email on the first try it will refuse to show it, so I
made an HTML page with the image URL on it to avoid this problem:

http://eustaquiorangel.com/ruby.html

This is a logo I use on presentations and some other stuff about Ruby,
I have the SVG and it looks good when converted to grayscale. Sorry to
post about it twice, my fault. :frowning:

10

It's a little like an invitingly open door way.

Will the other submissions also be available?

Thanks,
  Benjohn

···

On 30 Oct 2007, at 09:15, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

>[3] http://www.ruby-assn.org/ruby-logo.jpg

11

Hi,

···

In message "Re: [ANN] the result of Ruby official logo contest" on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:57:29 +0900, "Jeremy McAnally" <jeremymcanally@gmail.com> writes:

You can see my comments on the http://www.rubyinside.com/ page, and I
think I'm certainly not the only one with those sentiments.

Those comments made me down. X-<

If it could be improved as Mikel and Trans expressed, I'd ask the
author to touch up. But...

              matz.

12

Jeremy McAnally wrote:

You can see my comments on the http://www.rubyinside.com/ page, and I
think I'm certainly not the only one with those sentiments.

In a nutshell: I don't like it. And I think plenty of people would
have chipped into a funding drive to get someone experienced in brand
design to take care of designing something rather than tossing the
contest out to a bunch of programmers who know very little about
design.

FWIW, I announced this contest on a mailing list for Web designers and developers in the Phoenix, AZ, area. I did not see any reaction, and have no idea if anyone bothered to submit anything. Too bad.

It may be trickier than imagined to rouse interest and get folks motivated; some Rails-style hype would have come in handy for this.

There was much more interest when the ruby-lang.org redesign was underway. Many of the logos produced for that project would make better choices.

James

13

I'm saddened by the outpouring of criticism that this logo has
created. A few thoughts:

1) It's hard to unit test a design, because it's largely subjective.
(This can be one of the most rewarding and frustrating things about
art, for me. You don't know when you're 'done'.) It may be that
different people have different ideas about what makes a good logo.
(Should it be 'sexy'? Simple? Cutting edge? Retro? Is a simple clear
recognizable favicon important?)

2) Like open source software, this was an open project. I'm
disappointed that so many people choose to outpour and outcry "THAT
SUCKS, I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER!" If you could have done better, you
should have done so. I feel that this behavior is similar to not
voting in an election and then complaining bitterly about which
candidate won. You could have helped, but you didn't; you need to
learn to respect those who actually stepped up and tried to help out.

3) In being saddened by this, it's important to realize that (a) some
people don't have the necessarily skills to help create a good icon,
but (b) that doesn't necessarily mean they don't have valid
criticisms. As long as the criticism is accurate and clear, it can
prove very useful to improving the end result.[1]

4) I wish to express my thanks to Tom Schaub (the winner) for his
efforts. Tom, I wish you luck in seeing any valid criticism openly,
and discarding the unhelpful vitriolic easily. I also want to thank
everyone else who made submissions. Finally, I want to thank people
who have clearly conveyed what they don't like about the logo. 'Right'
or 'wrong', at least you've provided something less subjective than
"gag", or "hideous" or "abortion" or "a joke". Something that might be
useful in a future iteration or design choice.

5) I hope that this can be an open, iterative process. I don't think
that we want the Ruby logo changing monthly, but perhaps once a year
the community can work on and improve the official face of Ruby, if
only slightly, continuously improving the marketing to match the
beauty of the language.

[1] http://phrogz.net/nodes/criticismwithoutasolution.asp

14

Arlen, it looks like you adjusted the logo a bit. Colors are more saturated. Contrast is higher.

···

On Oct 31, 2007, at 6:28 AM, Arlen Christian Mart Cuss wrote:

Hi,

On Tue, 2007-10-30 at 18:07 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

Hello All,

As a chairman of the recently formed Ruby Association LLC[1], I
happily announce the result of our Ruby official logo contest.

I changed the logo on
Ruby (programming language) - Wikipedia to a non-text
version of the selected logo, identifying the license as CC by-sa 3.0. I
hope no one minds; otherwise, feel free to revert.

Arlen

15

this is fine. just remove the text and the sparkles (the sparkles look
like thorns). remember, we need a _logo_.

···

On 11/1/07, Ce Jacas <evangelino.valverde@gmail.com> wrote:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/1810811502_f58ec2bcb8_o.png

16

Hi folks,
If you like to see the logo I made for the contest:
http://stu.pido.us/~xbelanch/ruby-logo5.png

Okay! its a "Rubbit", not appears the gem stone, but I think it's very
funny! like programming with Ruby! Yeah!

Thanks!
Xavier

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

17

Good point, although I have to say right away, this is a beauty, well done!
Robert

···

On 10/30/07, Benjohn Barnes <benjohn@fysh.org> wrote:

On 30 Oct 2007, at 09:15, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:
>
> >[3] http://www.ruby-assn.org/ruby-logo.jpg

It's a little like an invitingly open door way.

Will the other submissions also be available?

--
what do I think about Ruby?
http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/

18

I just looked at the Python logo
http://www.python.org/images/python-logo.gif too, to compare.

It looks somewhat okay, but also a bit like a company's site logo ...
And didnt Python have a logo-snake in the past? It looked not good, but
python did put a lot of emphasis on "FUN" ... the new webpage looks more
professional, but less "fun"... Anyway that is just my opinion.

(Btw that Python logo has a TM notice while the ruby logo has not, maybe
thats also a different philosophy behind a language? *grin*)

PS: I actually like the proposed logo. If there is only one aspect I
could change, maybe I would try to make it more crisp/sharper, but I
side on the people that like the logo anyway so it aint important for
me. :wink:

PSS: I will put the "official" one on my webpage as link to the ruby
site too :smiley:

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

19

Oh, I didn't mean to make you sad! :slight_smile:

I just thought it best to be frank about it. I'm not a brand design
expert or anything, but I think this logo sort of fails on a number of
levels.

Can I ask you why you're seeking something other than the gem itself?
Is there a specific need you were wanting to fill with this logo that
it wouldn't? I didn't see any sort of information like that anywhere.
"Promotion of Ruby" doesn't really say much, especially when I think
the gem on its own would probably work for that.

--Jeremy

···

On 10/30/07, Yukihiro Matsumoto <matz@ruby-lang.org> wrote:

Hi,

In message "Re: [ANN] the result of Ruby official logo contest" > on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:57:29 +0900, "Jeremy McAnally" <jeremymcanally@gmail.com> writes:

>You can see my comments on the http://www.rubyinside.com/ page, and I
>think I'm certainly not the only one with those sentiments.

Those comments made me down. X-<

If it could be improved as Mikel and Trans expressed, I'd ask the
author to touch up. But...

                                                        matz.

--
http://www.jeremymcanally.com/

My books:
Ruby in Practice

My free Ruby e-book

My blogs:

http://www.rubyinpractice.com/

20

Here are a few more thoughts, that I posted as a comment on the Ruby
Inside article:

My initial impression was that it has a nice soft feel to it. Very
welcoming.

I'm not wild about the typography. Simplifying the choices of font
weight, capitalization, size, and alignment would (I think) help the
overall logo tremendously. (Of course, Matz has suggested that it
might often be used without the "Programming Language" bit, which
helps this point.)

Upon reflection and reading these comments, I agree that this
particular logo might not work well (as is) at a small size, or in a
reduced-color representation. I'm not sure if that's appropriate
criticism. Certainly variations on this logo can be created that both
have strong ties to the original and also work better than it in other
settings. I do not believe the best logo has to work - without
modification - for every purpose.

Yes, it would be nice to have a version of the logo that works in
website bookmarks and is still sort of recognizable. But I don't want
a 16 color favicon logo as the official branding of Ruby. I want
something better.

Can this logo be improved? Sure. Is it terrible? Definitely not.

Are some of the comments attached to this article insensitive,
unhelpful, and way out of line? I certainly think so.

···

On Oct 30, 9:31 pm, Phrogz <phr...@mac.com> wrote:

I'm saddened by the outpouring of criticism that this logo has
created. A few thoughts: