On 5/17/07, Andrew Whitworth wknight8111@hotmail.com wrote: Florence had written:
Whether we argue that one solution is best or not good for public perception, it is interesting to see that those who created and voted logos, naturally chose to "look" similar to WMF logo. And that saying "please change the colors" basically put a stop to any decision.
I would tend to see a different cause and effect pattern to this. The logo, when it was voted on originally, had been created by the artist using WMF colors. If it had been known at the beginning that the WMF colors were unacceptable, the artist would not have chosen those colors for his design, the voting process would have proceeded as was stated in the "rules" of the discussion, and we would have a logo right now. If the discussion has stalled, It's not because people are trying to make a logo that is a derivative of the WMF logo, it's because the process has hit a bump and nobody stepped up to clarify what to do next. This is precisely why I want to talk to you, Anthere, on this mailing list about this subject: because you are an authority figure who could step in and say "this is what we do now", even if that something is as simple as another round of votes.
Logos have always been a matter for each project to sort out, so it's not up to Florence to wave a magic wand over or kickstart this discussion - it's up to the community.
Funnily enough, in Wikiversity's case, we voted and decided on a logo - *then* it was suggested that it wasn't a good idea to have WMF logos all or mostly the same colour (i.e. blue), and it was the subsequent colour *differentiation* phase which was never really resolved.
What I think Florence is saying is that perhaps we should be thinking about project logos/taglines/names as a joined-up Wikimedia-wide discussion - in contrast to what has been done before. However, there should be nothing stopping the Wikibooks community from reviving the unresolved vote (if that's how the community feel about it), and perhaps, in the process, think through some of the issues that have been raised during this "branding" discussion that the Wikibooks community find compelling for them, and their place within the Wikimedia movement.
Cormac