srdjan.prodanovic
January 26th, 2007, 08:43 PM
Why should the Visual Identity be managed?
As Compiz chose a new logo (http://forum.go-compiz.org/viewtopic.php?p=1839), it re-branded itself in a way. If you can remember a successful product or a company whose visual identity was recently overhauled (Brand new (http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/) or CiDoc (http://www.cidoc.org/) should help ring a bell), try to remember when it was last changed. Most often, visual identities are updated either very subtly, or have a drastic change after the previous identity goes out of date. Brands that were recently updated, haven't had a major update, or a visual identity for quite some time.
The reason why, is because brands are actually quite similar to people. Imagine your loved one changing his or her phisyque every morning. Though you might have fun every night, after a few days apart, you could hardly recognise the person you've known for so long. That means that when the Compiz logo is changed, it should be done right, because it should stay that way for a long time.
Consistency is key
The same way a logo should retain the same founding design over a longer period of time to become recognisable and synonymous with the thing it represents, it should also be applied in the same manner. Factors in the success of identifying a logo extend beyond it's construction to include properties like color, background color, typography, placement (margins), and possibly a bunch of other things relevant to the application and product type (like areas which are backlit and ones that are not on a lightbox sign). A software package requires just as much attention in that area, because of the versatility of applications in digital media.
Consistent versions of one design should be applied in icons, web design graphics, flash animations. Some, because of it's purpose allow for high fidelity graphics. But in places like watermarks, the purpose limits the complexity to a level where the shape is still well recognisable. "The bling" only comes back into mind through association to the most prominent design. Same goes for ink-jet applications on cheap office paper.
The next important step
To ensure that a visual identity doesn't show signs of a split personality, clear guidelines must be set. That is usually done in a document which can be referred to as The Visual Identity Guideline Manual (there are plenty of names, depending on the nature of content). An example of how overwhelming such a manual can be is the Juniper networks manual (http://www.juniper.net/company/presscenter/imagelibrary/juniper_networks_corporate_logo_guide.pdf), which was produced last month. Usually people are doing these on such a large scale for big corporations which probably bite their tail on a daily basis because of problems with coordination. A simpler set of guidelines can be noticed on Mozilla Visual Identity Guidelines (http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/identity-guidelines/index.html) as well as on their Promotional buttons (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/buttons.html) page. Notice Mozilla's brands are a lot different than Juniper in their ambition. Even though Firefox is not an attempt to identify with certain values in order to sell a product better, it still addresses the same problem of consistency. It does so by providing a set of clear rules, as well as pre-fabs that serve to identify the same software application. If Compiz aims to make it's step towards a new visual identity that doesn't fail, it should by all means have a comparable set of guidelines.
Current state
It's almost a month since my design as won, and I still hadn't released a vector version, which is my fault. I've fallen badly ill right after new year's, and been away from my tools of trade at work (I hadn't yet ported my design to SVG or anything I could Inkscape). Since I hadn't provided a vector source file, a few progressions of the design have been made without them, which I'll call 'versions'. To round up the steps taken by myself and the community, I've made a special Wiki page (http://www.go-compiz.org/index.php?title=Identity) for the most current Identity to reside in.
Take a look at it (http://www.go-compiz.org/index.php?title=Identity), and let me know if you agree with my sense of direction for this issue, while I get a hold of my source design and synchronise it with the latest version Jimmac has provided, to deploy a consistent visual identity kick-off for Compiz. I hope that as the author of the winning design I still have some role in that process, and the community, as well as people in charge of Compiz, will support these steps towards consistency.
As Compiz chose a new logo (http://forum.go-compiz.org/viewtopic.php?p=1839), it re-branded itself in a way. If you can remember a successful product or a company whose visual identity was recently overhauled (Brand new (http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/) or CiDoc (http://www.cidoc.org/) should help ring a bell), try to remember when it was last changed. Most often, visual identities are updated either very subtly, or have a drastic change after the previous identity goes out of date. Brands that were recently updated, haven't had a major update, or a visual identity for quite some time.
The reason why, is because brands are actually quite similar to people. Imagine your loved one changing his or her phisyque every morning. Though you might have fun every night, after a few days apart, you could hardly recognise the person you've known for so long. That means that when the Compiz logo is changed, it should be done right, because it should stay that way for a long time.
Consistency is key
The same way a logo should retain the same founding design over a longer period of time to become recognisable and synonymous with the thing it represents, it should also be applied in the same manner. Factors in the success of identifying a logo extend beyond it's construction to include properties like color, background color, typography, placement (margins), and possibly a bunch of other things relevant to the application and product type (like areas which are backlit and ones that are not on a lightbox sign). A software package requires just as much attention in that area, because of the versatility of applications in digital media.
Consistent versions of one design should be applied in icons, web design graphics, flash animations. Some, because of it's purpose allow for high fidelity graphics. But in places like watermarks, the purpose limits the complexity to a level where the shape is still well recognisable. "The bling" only comes back into mind through association to the most prominent design. Same goes for ink-jet applications on cheap office paper.
The next important step
To ensure that a visual identity doesn't show signs of a split personality, clear guidelines must be set. That is usually done in a document which can be referred to as The Visual Identity Guideline Manual (there are plenty of names, depending on the nature of content). An example of how overwhelming such a manual can be is the Juniper networks manual (http://www.juniper.net/company/presscenter/imagelibrary/juniper_networks_corporate_logo_guide.pdf), which was produced last month. Usually people are doing these on such a large scale for big corporations which probably bite their tail on a daily basis because of problems with coordination. A simpler set of guidelines can be noticed on Mozilla Visual Identity Guidelines (http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/identity-guidelines/index.html) as well as on their Promotional buttons (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/buttons.html) page. Notice Mozilla's brands are a lot different than Juniper in their ambition. Even though Firefox is not an attempt to identify with certain values in order to sell a product better, it still addresses the same problem of consistency. It does so by providing a set of clear rules, as well as pre-fabs that serve to identify the same software application. If Compiz aims to make it's step towards a new visual identity that doesn't fail, it should by all means have a comparable set of guidelines.
Current state
It's almost a month since my design as won, and I still hadn't released a vector version, which is my fault. I've fallen badly ill right after new year's, and been away from my tools of trade at work (I hadn't yet ported my design to SVG or anything I could Inkscape). Since I hadn't provided a vector source file, a few progressions of the design have been made without them, which I'll call 'versions'. To round up the steps taken by myself and the community, I've made a special Wiki page (http://www.go-compiz.org/index.php?title=Identity) for the most current Identity to reside in.
Take a look at it (http://www.go-compiz.org/index.php?title=Identity), and let me know if you agree with my sense of direction for this issue, while I get a hold of my source design and synchronise it with the latest version Jimmac has provided, to deploy a consistent visual identity kick-off for Compiz. I hope that as the author of the winning design I still have some role in that process, and the community, as well as people in charge of Compiz, will support these steps towards consistency.