Re: Logo for GNOME Accessibility

[Willie Walker <William Walker Sun COM>]

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