Aug
28
kwartzlab logo finalists – please pick one
By DW
“the socket” – an all-disciplines-inclusive symbol that represents the thought connections we make technically in the course of our work as well as the social connections with other makers. The square peg in the round hole shows dissimilar components/makers coming together. The arrows show the action of our doing as well as the iterative nature of making and revising. This logo could be a threaded needle, or pads on a PCB, or a wrench on a nut, or a pendulum, or what you imagine it to be.
“the gear” – this symbol represents the gear as a fundamental component of the inner workings of a mechanism, illustrating our desire to know how things work. The embedded crystal oscillator schematic symbol represents the clock source or heartbeat of our group and plays on the “quartz” in our name. And gears are only useful insofar as they mesh together (like us) to get the job done.
Consider the following desirable characteristics of a good logo:
* unique
* distinctive
* engages the viewer, eliciting a positive response
* represents our whole group
* renders well in black and white
* renders well at low resolution
If you are a paid kwartzlab member, cast your vote here. Voting closes Thursday, Sept 3, 2009 or when we have everyone’s choice.
I would like to thank the following people for contributing designs to this project:
* Ben Brown
* James Bastow
* Mark Connolly
* and I’ll take a fraction of some credit/blame for some of the designs as well.
Now get choosing, don’t put it off, you have to choose in the next 3 minutes. Go!
DW
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“the socket” reminds me of piercing jewelry, which is not a bad thing =)~
I’ve already voted on the poll, but I have to say, I like the gear more and more. I think that the gear is easier to “get” if you’re not part of the hackerspace. It communicates more, even if you have no idea what we’re up to.
I also spoke to a designer friend of mine, and she liked the second one because it’s less busy (only two elements), and she felt it would work better at different sizes and on different backgrounds. She felt it was the stronger logo.
My 2 cents.
Shucks, I like them both! But the “socket” design has an added element of movement to it, and I have to go with that. I will say that I dislike the fonts in both cases (though I have nothing to contribute toward that, so I will shut up now!).
I prefer the gear logo, and even like the font used there.
It just has all the right elements.
I like the uniqueness of the socket. The gear feels a little overused by other groups including TechShop and about a third of the other groups I saw at Maker Faire.
It’s also your logo. No bias there
To be fair, my friend said the socket isn’t bad, but felt that especially for people who aren’t familiar with our concept, the gear communicates more. It would also be more usable without the text, for example, whereas the socket almost *requires* it. (Sorry for posting more.. I’m continuing the conversation with her right now).
Choice quote from our discussion: “The gear is faster to ‘consume’”
I guess it depends who our logo is for. If our logo is for other hackerspaces, and to make us stand out at Maker Faire, uniqueness is definitely the way to go. If our logo is to communicate what we do to people who aren’t familiar with us (i.e. most of our community), then simple consumption may be preferred. I guess I’m falling onto the “local” side of that argument.
BTW, hats off for your pun.
Oddly, to my eye the segmented lines in the gears logo make it the busier one, and more visually confusing when scaled down.
I know I’m in a minority there, though =P
enough to fairly evaluate both logos on their merits, regardless of the source, having thought a lot about the purpose of our logo and how it might be used to our advantage.
I respectfully disagree with your friend’s analysis of the gear. Does the gear communicate that we are a transmission repair shop? Or that we’re about wrist watch repair? Bicycle shop? Gears have a very specific purpose and the more “hip” interpretation of them as a maker icon is lost on the general public.
Take a logo like the tri-point Mercedes Benz star. I don’t think viewers “consume” that logo in intrinsic terms of cars. They identify it as a simple, unique, recognizable glyph that they have come to associate with positive aspects of a luxury car and lifestyle. They took a simple, but unique symbol and built an understanding of it’s meaning. I think we can do the same (albeit on a more modest scale), as long as we go with something sufficiently unique.
Other gear logos in domains related to ours:
* [TechShop](http://techshop.ws/)
* [Etsy Steampunks](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14824554@N05/3590733105/in/set-72157619186401626/)
* [Electric Giraffe](http://electricgiraffe.com/)
* [Kinetic Steam Works](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14824554@N05/3590903859/in/set-72157619186401626/)
I think the socket actually works better than the gear when text is omitted, because it is more unique. Our logo is a seed around which we build recognition, both inside and beyond the maker community.
DW
Thus the winky-face in my post. Sorry if that didn’t come across clearly.
One of the reasons I like the gear is that the oscillator element plays on our name. I know that’s not necessary, and at the risk of making it too complex, what if we put the oscillator in the center of the socket?
(Dons flame-retardant suit)