Ubuntu Wiki

This page is under heavy construction. Please refrain from editing for now. ~RR

Background

Ubuntu Vancouver LoCo was 'logo-less' (is that even a word?) for the first year of its life. Recognizing this shortcoming, our Buzz Generator (yours truly) hacked together a quick-and-dirty logo to provide an interim solution. It was functional but not really that newsworthy. It was re-worked a short time later, in time for the "Jaunty Jackalope Release Party" to be more consistent with the Ubuntu "look-and-feel".

The original logos have served us well since April 2009, but as a team we can do much much better.

Mission

Let's create a logo that is both a beacon for local Ubuntu enthusiasts and an inspiration for other teams throughout the world. And most importantly, one that showcases our city's artistic talents, unique culture and stunning geography.

Design Goals

We want our logo to:

1. Be visually stunning. We want our team logo to look great!

2. Incorporate the Ubuntu "circle of friends" with its original colours. We want people to see that we are a part of the Ubuntu ecosystem.

3. Include elements that uniquely identify Vancouver. We want our logo to reflect who we are as a city. Our values, our icons, our cultures. Strong symbols of Vancouver are: the mountains, the sea, the architecture (Lions Gate Bridge, Stanley Park, Science World, Harbour Tower), the forests, first nations art, dragon boats, wildlife.

4. Be reproducible on a wide range of media. We want this logo to work on cards, posters, clothing, signs, banners, airplanes, online, everything!

5. Be philosophically consistent with the principles of free/libre software. The logo should be produced only with free software tools from the Ubuntu software repositories and should be in file formats that are free and open. (Inkscape and the Gimp are logical choices for programs. SVG and PNG are the logical choices for file formats.)

6. Be legal. This means that it must be free of trademark and copyright issues. (We'll get permission for the Ubuntu circle though). This also means that you are granting the community free use of the logo for any purpose, in perpetuity, without compensation. (It's a donation.)

The Process

Our goal is to obtain the best logo that we can in as open and transparent a process as possible. The design and selection process will open to all members of the community without prejudice.

All submissions will be displayed and reviewed (both online and in-person) by the community. The community will rate the submissions based on the Design Goals above. A finalist will be chosen by the Ubuntu Vancouver LoCo based on the input from the community at an upcoming General Meeting.

The finalist will be publicly announced at an upcoming General Meeting. (Target: October 2009). The deadline for logo submissions is September 22nd, 2009.

How To Submit

To submit a logo, please create an SVG file of the artwork. (Inkscape is the preferred program to use for this.) Ideally, your logo should be as close to "production quality" as possible. You may also submit concepts and sketches as they might trigger the creativity of other designers. (If you are submitting a sketch, please submit in PNG format, at least 300x300 pixels in size). Email submissions to: Randall Ross <randall@executiv.es>.

In the body of your email, please include a short narrative that indicates your design intent i.e. emphasizing how it relates to the goals above, and any other story you would like to tell about the logo.

Submissions

Your submission will be added to this page.

Here are the submissions so far. (If you don't see yours here, please check back. I'm adding the ones that were submitted before this page went up. Thanks for your patience ~RR)

Conceptuals

Farther Along

Further Info

Any questions? Please email Randall Ross <randall@executiv.es> (Please refrain from editing this page for now. Thanks.)