While not an artist, designer nor a marketer I believe that a bit of visual identification is important. So today I woke up and made this logo for the co-op initiative. The co-op is meant to help European companies and organizations migrate away from cloud platforms from USA. What do you think about this design?

Credits:

  • drunkosaurus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    16 hours ago

    It’s a good idea and I appreciate the effort. But I’m sure there is a non-negligible amount of people, myself included, who see that shape and think “Red Star - Russia”.

    • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOP
      1·
      16 hours ago

      I don’t know. There’s a lot of brands that use a five pointed star. Have you seen the Heineken logo? Also many political entities, notably the European Union.

      • SleafordMod@feddit.ukEnglish
        3·
        16 hours ago

        Fair point. I think a single star in the context of a co-operative business could make people think of the communist/socialist star symbol though.

        Perhaps if the single star in the logo was replaced with a ring of stars, like the EU flag, then it might look more explicitly European.

        Maybe I’m wrong but that’s just what I thought.

        • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOP
          1·
          15 hours ago

          Feelings are never wrong and I’m happy to read your feedback. The co-op is meant to be workers controlled and owned, so I think socialist connotation is not off. One of the early versions was like this:

          Version of the logo with 12 stars behind the cloud. Cloud has a black outline. The word "co-op" is inside the cloud, in black letters.

          I think it looks less professional but that might be subjective. Also, I’m not a real artist, so maybe someone can come up with a better thing. The big issue though is that it doesn’t scale well. We need a logo that can be used as e.g. a browser favicon without much modifications. With the current version it’s easy if we just remove the letters and center the shapes. Like this:

          A 32x32 version of the blue logo

          I just exported it from Inkscape with low DPI, so it looks a bit blurry. Probably the sharpness could be improved, but I don’t want to invest more effort before I get some feedback on the general design. The point is, that this simple design can be presented as a tiny icon and still be recognized.

          • SleafordMod@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            12 hours ago

            That makes sense. I guess if you want the star to be explicitly European then it could be a yellow star on a blue cloud, on a white background. Whatever you think works well really. I just thought I’d point out the socialist star thing since that other poster said they were reminded of Russia.

            • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOP
              1·
              12 hours ago

              I appreciate your input. As a side note, I don’t think Russia (nor USSR) was ever socialist, but let’s not get into politics here 😉

  • EuropeanMade@lemm.ee
    1·
    12 hours ago

    I love the idea but would make the star have rounded corners. Would you mind if I whack something up as example?

        • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOP
          4·
          10 hours ago

          Looks cute! Let me upload it for you so others can also chime in.

          Personally I like it a lot, but it might be a bit too cute. We might have to do business with “serious corporate types”, so we might need to project a bit of seriousness too. But I’m open to hear from others.

          • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            1·
            3 hours ago

            I love the yellow star on the blue cloud, maybe adjusting the font could make it look more “corporate”? Also, the yellow star clashes on light backgrounds, maybe moving it inside the cloud may help?

            I am no designer though. I am interested in joining as well, sent you a DM with some info in response to your post with questions.

          • EuropeanMade@feddit.uk
            2·
            9 hours ago

            Yes it’s probably too playful for the corporate type people. Sorry about that! I misinterpted the public a bit

            • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOP
              2·
              9 hours ago

              Nothing to be sorry about! I love your proposal. Also I don’t know yet who the public will be.

  • oxytocin@lemmy.world
    3·
    17 hours ago

    I think it’s great, however the star seems to push the cloud parts further away from each other and that may not be the message the brand is trying to communicate. I think it’s, until improved, a great first draft and placeholder to give the project a ‘face’.

    Edit: and the circles in ‘co-op’ would look great, if they were all the same! I mean the ones that are in the lettering

    • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOP
      1·
      17 hours ago

      Thanks! Interesting take about pushing the parts away. I didn’t consider it. I guess this reading demonstrates the ambiguity of cloud. The tech of course can be (and often is) very useful. But at the moment cloud, mostly controlled by untrustworthy entities, seems more like a risk then a promise. So I saw it more as the European star breaking through cloud, like the sun often does, leading to better weather ahead. It also leads to a deeper question - are we more “anti American cloud” or “pro European cloud”. We will have to decide together. But you are right this design might evoke negative feelings of disconnectedness. Food for thought.