[fpc-pascal] Proposal for new Free Pascal logo

[Michael Van Canneyt]

>
>> Please look at the lazarus logo/icon. It has no whiskers.
>>
>
> I opened lazarus.freepascal.org and I found it's using a paw as its logo.
> Did I miss something? Sorry… I haven't been following Lazarus news for
> quite a while, so I don't know the current logo.

I meant the icon it uses for the IDE.

>> It looks much more like a cheetah, not like a kitten.
>> So you can do something about it: remove the whiskers.
>>
>
> But cheetah do have whiskers. Other people complained the old logo weren't
> really look like a cheetah's face.

Which "old logo" is that ? As far as I know, the only logo FPC has is the
little running cheetah on the website.

>> As an exercise I have done the job for you. See here:
>> http://www.freepascal.org/~michael/pascal_logo2.png
>>
>
> Perhaps I should make the whiskers a bit less visible? Thinner perhaps?

A lot thinner :)

You may also want to experiment with the direction. Upwards, downwards -
horizontal. Drooping...

>> It's of course better to improve the original, I am not an artist.
>> (I even would get rid of more elements, but let's start with this)
>>
>
> I'm not a professional artist either, but I love art and I do drawings for
> a hobby.

The quality of your drawing shows it !

>> If we're talking branding anyway (a subject I loathe), then a logo should
>> represent the company/product group, whatever.
>> So, the FPC logo should exhale maturity, strength, prowess,
>> self-confidence.
>>
>
> Modern logo doesn't necessarily have to represent the WHOLE values of a
> company/product, because a company/product should be dynamic that
> could/should change over time. So is the logo. Take a look at most modern
> logo of big companies today, i.e. Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc. For
> example, I can't see any of Apple's values (both the company and the
> products) got represented on a bitten gray apple fruit. It looks dull, at
> least to me. But the Apple brand image is so powerful and what people think
> about Apple is far from dull. Or… what values can we see from a G shaped
> with four bright colors of Google's logo? It looks like a letter toy. Or
> Linux logo, Swift logo, Kotlin logo, etc.

True, but these logos are not animals.

And here I will stop: as said, branding is not a subject I am particularly
fond of or interested in. I am more interested in the contents of the box
than in the packaging...

> Hardly things one associates with a kitten.
>>
>
> I don't think it looks like a kitten, especially the updated one. But of
> course it looks like a cat, because cheetah is a cat.
>
>
>> FPC is an open-source project dating back to the days the word "open
>> source" did not exist. So maturity is important.
>>
>
> How do we put "maturity" onto a cheetah's face?

At the very least by not making it look like a kitten :)

> Cheetah is known as the
> fastest animal on land. That's what the most recognizable value of a
> cheetah logo. And that's what people should think about (Free) Pascal: it's
> FAST. By making the logo looks more modern, it also brings modernity value.
> So, the new logo should represent something that's fast and modern. And
> cheetah is also cute as a mascot. And cuteness is attracting young people.
> :)

If we're looking for 'My little pony' kind of people, then we should
definitely aim for cute :)

But this is not exactly the kind of people I think we should attract.

A cheetah is not cute. It's a wild animal which will have no compunction
about slashing your throat or ripping your intestines out if you get it
cornered.

I don't see a kitten do this. Well, it may try, but will fail utterly... :)

>
> Using marketing/branding talk:
>> Given that I think your version looks like a kitten, you will understand
>> that for the reasons explained above, I would not want to be "associated"
>> with the logo as you proposed it now.
>
>
> I understand. But I'm not fully agree with you either. The main reason I'm
> proposing new logo for Free Pascal –or even Pascal language in general– is
> I want to bring Pascal to the young people. I want these kids know that
> Pascal today is as modern, fast, and dynamic as other well-known
> programming languages. I hate it when I told them I'm writing a software
> using Pascal and they look at me like I'm a dinosaur. Some of them even
> asking me, "how do you make a web app using Turbo Pascal?" :D

I get this often too, but now I show them pas2js.

But unfortunately, I don't believe a flashy/cute/whatever logo will change 
this...

>
> In fact, I'm currently designing of another Pascal logo that's more
> abstract, simpler, friendlier, and more colorful. It's still based on
> cheetah's face though. I'll present it as second alternative, once I'm done
> with it. :)

I am curious :)

And last but definitely not least:

I really do appreciate you taking the time to do this. It's not because I
think differently about what the result should be that I don't appreciate 
the effort you put in this, so thank you for that !

Michael.