Re: Slonik! - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

Hello PostgreSQL advocacy group,

I recently contacted the core team about a logo design I came up with. Bruce kindly directed me towards this group. 

As you can see in the forwarded message below, logo design is a bit of a hobby for me. If you and the community agree that the design has potential, I would be happy to iterate on the design based on your feedback.

If not, it was a fun project for me anyway.

Thank you,

Bryan Farrell

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>

Subject: Re: Slonik!

Date: November 26, 2019 at 20:26:11 EST

To: BFarrell915 <bfarrell915@gmail.com>

Cc: pgsql-core@postgresql.org

I would email the Postgres advocacy list, pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org,
and see what they think about it.  It is certainly a new direction in
design and has potential.

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On Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 12:37:29AM -0500, BFarrell915 wrote:

Hello PostgreSQL Core Team,

My name is Bryan, I’m a developer by trade, and I recently started using PostgreSQL in a Django project I’m working on!

Logo design is also somewhat of a hobby for me, and I enjoy researching the history behind logos and the like. Naturally, I started researching the history behind the PostgreSQL logo soon after I started using it. I came across this article <https://www.vertabelo.com/blog/the-history-of-slonik-the-postgresql-elephant-logo> which gives a fairly detailed history of Slonik and the choices behind its creation. In that article, I also came across this gem (pun intended).

While not what I would consider an outstanding logo, I really liked the idea of using a diamond to reinforce the notion of a strong, reliable product. So I wondered how I might design a logo that looked modern and sleek, while also incorporating that idea.

Here is what I came up with.

While definitely more abstract than the current logo, I think the elephant is easily recognizable. The rigid shapes were designed to mimic the luster of a diamond, and they further reinforce that solid, dependable feeling. The horizontal striations outline the shape of the elephant’s ears and are also somewhat reminiscent of common database icons <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Database_icons>. I don’t dislike the current design of Slonik, but it does seem a bit outdated (16 years old!) and it does lose some of its detail at smaller sizes.

I know this is a bit unusual, the community is probably fairly attached to the current iteration of Slonik, and a logo redesign is most likely not on your minds. But if you (and the community) like the design, it’s yours. I won’t ask for any kind of compensation; all I'll ask is attribution.

I’d be happy to hear your thoughts, and would be open to iterating on the design based on your and/or the community's feedback. I can also provide high quality vector assets and variations on the logo (monochrome, various sizes, horizontal lockup, etc.). Please feel free to email me back at your convenience.

Sincerely,
Bryan Farrell

--
 Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
 EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com

+ As you are, so once was I.  As I am, so you will be. +
+                      Ancient Roman grave inscription +