Worrying attitudes to the branding of the D language

Gary Willoughby via Digitalmars-d digitalmars-d at puremagic.com
Tue Jul 1 10:45:00 PDT 2014


There is currently an effort made by w0rp to redesign the D 
website. This is a good thing and i applaud his efforts. The 
website really does need an overhaul. However i find it extremely 
alarming that there is a casual disregard for any sort of 
consistency of the D brand.

http://forum.dlang.org/thread/mmoxalewsvwcgeaasvri@forum.dlang.org

Here are some quotes:

On Saturday, 31 May 2014 at 19:49:22 UTC, w0rp wrote:
> * The logo is something I quickly put together with InkScape. 
> Look at it as "please insert better logo here."

On Sunday, 1 June 2014 at 10:03:09 UTC, w0rp wrote:
> Branding does need to be worked on. Speaking of the site I'm 
> working on... I would love to see something like the current D 
> logo, but flatter.

On Monday, 30 June 2014 at 21:23:59 UTC, David Gileadi wrote:
> My opinion is that the redesign preserves the spirit of the 
> current logo while fitting in well with the flatter look. I 
> think someone who sees the one logo will recognize the other in 
> it (unlike some of the recent proposed logos).

> On Sunday, 29 June 2014 at 22:15:48 UTC, w0rp wrote:
> The old logo is a bit too fat and round to fit with the new 
> design, so I'd like something which is obviously still the same 
> brand, but looks a bit flatter.

On Tuesday, 1 July 2014 at 08:58:38 UTC, Dicebot wrote:
> Doing logo restyling together with web site update is not 
> unheard of. Why do you see this a big deal? As long as it is 
> recognizable and not fundamentally different of course. Having 
> logo that simply does not fit into new design is worse.

On Tuesday, 1 July 2014 at 10:04:50 UTC, David Nadlinger wrote:
> I'd say your zeal is a bit misdirected. "Professional" brands 
> are relaunched all the time.

On Tuesday, 1 July 2014 at 10:53:56 UTC, Jacob Carlborg wrote:
> Some companies also use different versions of their logo for 
> different purposes. One on the website, one on print and so on.

On Tuesday, 1 July 2014 at 12:38:39 UTC, w0rp wrote:
> Generally for the logo, I'm looking for someone who does know
> what they are doing with Inkscape or similar tools to produce
> something which fits instead.

These quotes are from people who are terribly misguided and lack 
any sort of sensibilty about what branding means and it's impact 
on perceptions of products. They show a complete lack of 
understanding what the brand is for and what it represents. 
Especially when dealing with users perceptions.

Yes logo changes do occur but they can be incredibly hurtful for 
companies and products if they don't get it exactly right. All 
logo changes of established entities should be managed with 
utmost care and respect. Simply by changing the icon for which 
you are recognised internationally, you pay an immediate cost of 
non recognition but it's the perception of users that create the 
biggest fallout.

Change for change sake is madness and something which should be 
considered very carefully. The current D logo has spread and is 
now associated with D. It appears on the website, t-shirts, 
slides, videos, etc. Heck i even use it for all the evangelism i 
do at work.

Before writing software i spent 20 years working as a 
professional graphic artist and the attitudes above not only 
incense me but make me dispair. D is a language i care about and 
use daily and to see this totally unprofessional side of the 
community leaves me speechless.

* D is a brand, whether you like it or not
* The logo is the essence of that brand
* D has a history of poorly managed change
* D's community has been destroyed once before (Tango)
* D has the preception of unreliability
* D is not seen as a professional offering
* D is perceved as half finished

This is something we need to remedy and updating the website is a 
good first step. Changing the logo however is not! Changing the 
logo is adding to the history of D's poorly managed change in a 
period when we are starting to see real interest and usage.

People need to have the perception that the brand is strong and 
that the product is stable. The logo reflects this. The logo is 
an icon of D as a product. Just casually tossing it aside is 
allowing further extension of user perceptions of 
unprofessionalism. We need to nuture the brand to create the 
perception and feeling of security, stability and professionalism.

Please re-watch the Quo Vadis talk given by Andrei at Dconf 2013 
about being corporate and professional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-0LFBP9AU#t=1h0m30s

Then tell me again that we need to quickly rehash the logo in 
inkscape?

I want that talk to become a reality as i am sure the community 
does too. Please think hard about your actions!

We need to design a robust, user focused site that nurtures the 
brand but also focused on giving people information quickly. A 
site that is immediately recognisable to users, that exudes 
professionalism and stabiliy.

Here is the present and official D logo:

http://media.sukimashita.com/d/d-5.svg

I suggest we keep it.


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