Design a logo for PyGMT

[weiji14]

Description of the desired feature

Discussion for a PyGMT logo has been brought up a few times already in meetings and the forum post at https://forum.generic-mapping-tools.org/t/design-for-pygmt-logo/1346. I think it's time for the PyGMT project to have a proper logo in place by the end of the year (for v0.5.0), ideally before the AGU 2021 conference (#1395) in December so we can give out stickers 😁

Logo Design Requirements

As pointed out by Leo at https://forum.generic-mapping-tools.org/t/design-for-pygmt-logo/1346/2, the logo should ideally:

1. Be roughly 1:1 proportion (to make it easier to use)
2. Must be recognizable/understandable at large and small sizes (no small fonts, thin lines, small details)
3. Ideally should work on light and dark backgrounds
4. No use of non-open art work/images

Are you willing to help implement and maintain this feature? Yes, this will be a fun and not very code-heavy project for the ESWN workshop running from 17-19 Aug

[seisman]

As proposed in #2579 (comment), I'm merging issue #2579 into this issue so that we can have a central issue to discuss the logo.

#2579 (comment) from @juanis2112

Hi everyone,

I'm Juanita, a contributor for PyOpenSci, and I'm excited to reach out to you regarding the creation of an official logo for PyGMT. Recently, I discovered that PyGMT doesn't have a designated logo, and after speaking with @weiji14, I learned that this is something the community desires. Hence, I volunteered to help with this initiative!

While there have been some informal discussions in the past, we haven't reached an official decision regarding the logo. Therefore, I believe it would be beneficial to utilize this GitHub issue as a platform to gather opinions and ultimately arrive at a final decision. To kickstart the process, I have compiled a few logo design proposals based on the previous discussion held here: https://forum.generic-mapping-tools.org/t/design-for-pygmt-logo/1346/7

I invite all members of the community to participate in this discussion by sharing their thoughts and feedback on the proposed logo designs. Feel free to express your opinions, suggest modifications, or even submit alternative logo ideas.

1. Original design proposed by @weiji14:
   

2. Same design but more legible and using Python Colors:

3. Inverting text and needle colors:

4. Similar design but overlapping PyGMT text with the logo and using the GMT colors.

4.1 Trying to make the P, G, M, T more visible in the logo (This one I implemented it in Inkscape based on @weiji14's idea about modifying number 4.

It seems that we are going towards having the original storyline with the map and needle but including the PyGMT letters in the logo and using the 3 colors, blue and yellow for python and red for GMT. I will like to hear opinions about this last logo and possible directions we can move forward to. I'm not an expert in Inkscape but I'm happy to help implement some possible ideas.

#2579 (comment) from @leouieda

Hi @juanis2112 thanks for pushing this forward! I like the last one but I'd suggest a few tweaks to make it more legible on smaller sizes:

1. Remove the dark gray outline from the snake and central needle. The contrast for the color is enough to stand out without the outline.
2. Remove or greatly simplify/smooth the continents. They have too much detail which makes the logo a bit messy.

[yvonnefroehlich]

I feel before we continue here, we should decide which tool we want to use to create the logo. At first ideas were implemented in Python using PyGMT (1. - 3.), but later versions (up on 4.) were modified with Inkscape. I have only little experience with Inkscape and I'm wondering about the reproducibility of the logo. When implementing the logo in Python we can easily share the code of the current version and people can experiment with it and build on it.

[sfrooti]

Hello Friends! I'm using Github to contribute for the first time, so please let me know if I've made a mistake. I took a stab at brainstorming for the logo based on the original direction/storyline. You can take a look at the process here if interested :

PyGMT.Logo.Process.mp4

Option 01 : I prefer Option 02 : B/W : . Please do share your thoughts/feedback, based on your responses I can create a polished SVG version that can be edited. I also have a few questions that might help to refine this further : 1. Can we experiment with the colour scheme? Are there any colours that we would definitely have to use? 2. Can we consider having a visual + wordmark as our logo? That way we can use different components of it as and when necessary. 3. What direction should the needle be? Maybe tilted?

[leouieda]

@sfrooti I really like your option 2! It's simple enough to look ok in a small size and has a bunch of elements that refer to GMT and the project history. Very good!

@yvonnefroehlich regarding tools, I think making the logo with PyGMT itself limits our options for design quite a bit and would make it very hard to experiment. Inkscape is open source and relatively easy to pick up (easier than having to script everything and learn cryptic GMT options at least).

But if people really want to make the logo with PyGMT then an option would be to try to recreate the ones above with code. Easier than designing with code directly.

[seisman]

@sfrooti Great design!

1. Can we experiment with the colour scheme? Are there any colours that we would definitely have to use?

I don't have a strong opinion on the color scheme. We want to use the Python and GMT colors but the colors don't have to be the same RGB values.

2. Can we consider having a visual + wordmark as our logo? That way we can use different components of it as and when necessary.

Definitely yes. @weiji14 once posted the OSGeo logo at https://forum.generic-mapping-tools.org/t/design-for-pygmt-logo/1346/14, which we may want to follow:

Some questions:

1. Are there some Python elements in the logo, except the Python colors? In your video, it seems you tried to have "P" and "y" in the logo.
2. For the tail of the needle, maybe make it like a snake or like the "Y" character?

[sfrooti]

Thank you so much @leouieda and @seisman ! I'm glad you liked it.

1.Are there some Python elements in the logo, except the Python colors? In your video, it seems you tried to have "P" and "y" in the logo. 2. For the tail of the needle, maybe make it like a snake or like the "Y" character?

I've tried a version of this, it looks a little heavy on the detail to translate well in smaller specs. But in in a bigger size it looks pretty cool.

[sfrooti]

I wasn't really satisfied how the one on top came out, so I've made quite a few minor changes. I think the logo looks best against a dark background with brighter colours, so I thought of adding that into the visual itself, to give it more of a compass feel.

I also experimented with a lot of fonts, and I think this one (Space Grotesk by Florian Karsten) which is an open source font, goes well with it :

Black & White :

Let me know what you think!

[michaelgrund]

Really like the logo as well as the combination of colors @sfrooti. How should we continue @GenericMappingTools/pygmt-maintainers ?

[leouieda]

I personally prefer Option 2 without the Python logo (I'm also not sure if the logo can be used like that since it's a trademark of the PSF). It's a bit cleaner and more elegant.

@sfrooti would you be willing to license the logo you made as CC-BY so we can use it and make tweaks in the future?

[sfrooti]

Yes ofcourse @leouieda, I'd love to. I agree about the python logo too, the design is more cluttered with it. How can I share the vector files with you? Shall I just post it in a comment here?

[seisman]

I think you could create a repository under your GitHub account, upload the vector files and also make sure adding a license like CC-BY.