Re: Logo for GNOME Accessibility



Hi All:

I'm just getting back on line after a lengthy business trip. I'm tired and I also see GNOME 2.21.91 just around the corner. Yikes!

I passed the current logos (one from sean and one from andreas) by a small team of folks with strong opinions. Ooohh...did I mention strong opinions? :-) The main criticisms were:

1) Andreas' was too much like Apple's, and not enough indication of what it was for. I personally like it. The blue reminds me of the standard handicap sign (dude in a wheelchair) and it has a universal feel to it.

2) Sean's didn't look enough like a wheelchair. :-( People with disabilities are very particular about how they and their tools are represented. For example, a blind person's cane should be drawn correctly, a blind person's guide dog should be presented properly (e.g., with a harness, not a leash), cliches need to be avoided (e.g., dark sunglasses), etc. This is a very sensitive and highly charged space.

So, some thoughts I had:

0) The universal sign for accessibility is at the following URL. It's simple and the blue color is very meaningful:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Handicapped_Accessible_sign.svg

1) If we include a human element, we need to focus on the human and not the disability. I kind of like the Vitruvian man concept. We also seem to have adopted it in "Universal Access" and "Assistive Technology Preferences" menu item icons. Maybe a larger Tango-ish version would work well? (PS - too bad we couldn't give the man a GNOME footprint tattoo or GNOME feet. Tattoos are cool: http://live.gnome.org/Orca?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=orca2-sm.jpg)

2) If we don't include a human element, we could focus on the tools: braille, speech, magnification, closed captioning, on screen keyboard, high contrast, external switching device, etc. I've seen octopus logos in the past that attempt to integrate elements of the tools, but they tend to get very busy. I think a creative type might be able to simplify things and I don't think we need to consider including *every* tool. The more common stereotypical tools might be sufficient. Maybe a high contrast footprint with various tool elements? Here's some interesting existing logos:

http://www.wsiconsultants.com/dynamic/upload/web_access_logo.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Nuvola_apps_accessibility-directory.svg/600px-Nuvola_apps_accessibility-directory.svg.png
http://www.winfieldks.org/images/pages/N239/accessibility%20symbol.gif

I've also seen themes that incorporate a keyhole, though these have never really meant much to me. The typical one is a globe of the earth with a big keyhole in it (can't find an image right now). Others include just a door with a key going into a keyhole. The notion is "unlocking doors"; it's always seemed kind of resentful to me.

Anyhow, I'm psyched some movement is happening here and I thank you all for participating! :-) No matter what is done, some people won't like it. My challenge to those people is to come up with a better idea. ;-)

Will

Andreas Nilsson wrote:
Calum Benson wrote:

On 31 Jan 2008, at 14:45, Willie Walker wrote:

Andreas Nilsson wrote:

Hi Willie!
Sorry that it took a while before you got any response.
Did this for the ATK section on the new gtk.org website:
http://andreasn.se/diverse/temp/a11y.png
http://andreasn.se/diverse/temp/a11y.svg

cc:ing tango-artists in the hope of more ideas.

Neat!  I'm going to be seeing some a11y folks today and will pass this
by them. It matches various other icons in the space and is very simple.

Don't wish to sound too critical here, but to me, this doesn't so much say "GNOME accessibility logo", as "identical to Apple's accessibility logo, but without the circle round it":

http://www.apple.com/accessibility/

No, I have no idea what a more GNOME-ified accessibility logo would look like, but it sure would be nice to have one :)

Hi Calum.
Yeah, you´re right, it looks too much like their logo. I guess they took the idea from our old friend Leonardo as well :). [1] Perhaps it would be interesting to do something on the theme of the Vitruvian Man, but in another style?
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man
- Andreas



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