What should our logo and site design look like?

This is number 5 of the 7 Essential Meta Questions of Every Beta. The current design and logo is ... well, there is no design. So how about logo, colors, borders and all this little nice stuff that makes a site pleasant and distinct to other sites. I found browsing around existing stackexchange site very inspiring.

My personal opinion: the design should not only mirror the "book" metaphor! Libraries are not about books but about documents, which can be articles, images, films, files, audio etc. And libraries are about the use and exchange of documents. How about a gust of papers, videos, cds, bits, reels, tweets, books etc. falling from the sky and a meadow with chairs, sofas, children, researchers etc. at the bottom?

Jakob

• discussion
• design

Comments

Answer by Fisher

I agree that the logo and site design should be worked on. Your suggestion is interesting; I like that it includes the data & media as well as people. Were you thinking about that for the header? Would it be too busy/too small for something that size (considering the top/bottom orientation of falling material & people)?

Comments

Answer by Melissa

Maybe something a bit simpler -- like the same item in several formats: a period script of Macbeth, Macbeth in a book, Macbeth on a DVD -- representing libraries as keepers of the past and providers of the material in changing formats.

Comments

• Ashley Nunn: I like the idea of showing libraries as keepers of the past, and also showing how they embrace the future. That is rather neat.

Answer by phette23

I think we should also reflect the values of the profession in how we release our logo. We should strongly consider either A) using a logo that is already available under a Creative Commons or similar license, or B) releasing any logo that is created under a similar license.

Ideas:

• The Noun Project provides great icons under CC licenses. Maybe something combining a book, library, museum, & computer?
• There's already a lot of great "Ask a Librarian" logos out there, for instance on Flickr. Could we reuse one or ask the artist to create a new one?

Comments

• Jakob: Well, the most popular noun project "library" icon does not depict a library but someone reading a book, but nevermind. The logo can only depict one aspect but the general design should include more than books.