Tahoe-LAFS logo and branding assets

[anxhelo]

After reading through older Trac tickets ​https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1185 and repository files, I couldn't find the original source files for the Tahoe-LAFS.

I am now working on creating a new Tahoe-LAFS logo and all the branding assets, including usage for social media purposes, templates, communication assets and more.

I will most likely come with 2-3 proposals for a new logo and we can discuss it here, one of them being the current logo but re-created.

This plan will be laid out on a document, sort of a style guide, which will help everyone regarding how and what to use when it comes to comms, both inside and outside the organization.

[anxhelo]

To add to the discussion, the font-face used for the current logo is not openly licensed, so that can create problems down the line. A new font face will have to be used, preferrably from Google Fonts or any other service that offers OFL fonts.

[anxhelo]

The current Tahoe-LAFS logo has been reconstructed and is using the Poppins font, licensed under OFL. Included are also assets to be used on social media accounts. ​https://github.com/tahoe-lafs/new-website-prototype/tree/main/brand-assets

[maylee]

I heard back this morning from Kevin Reid, the creator of the original logo (Kevin's response below my quoted text):

On Fri, May 28, 2021 at 9:11 AM May-Lee Sia wrote:

Hi Kevin,

My name is May-Lee and I'm the Community Manager for Tahoe-LAFS. We had a discussion at our meeting today about the origin of the Tahoe-LAFS logo, in particular the red circle with the arrows pointing to nodes.

After finding an old ticket, it seems you are the one who created the logo we've been using.

We're all quite fond of it, and would like to do a minor refresh, but before proceeding, we became curious as to what the origin of the image was.

[I've included hyperlinks to the relevant original discussions.]

It was based directly on the same “Tahoe-LAFS Architecture” diagram currently on the site and documentation — the relied-upon client/gateway (red) using the numerous storage servers (black). I do not think there were any other specific sources; the remainder of the design was integrating the diagram and “Tahoe” in a way that looked good ("LAFS" was a later addition). Perhaps there was some “hot air balloon/parachutes” in it.

I'm pleased by my work having served well for 11 years. If you're planning to revise it, I'd just ask you to keep in mind that the original circles and arrows — and the usage of color within that portion — have the abovementioned specific meanings. That's just a suggestion, of course — it's licensed CC-BY-3.0 and also under the project's GPL license and so you're free to create any derivative work you want.

[anxhelo]

Thanks maylee, that's good to know. I'll add the CC-BY-3.0 license terms on the repo and also write about the changes that were made to the logo.