Any graphic artists here? New AV Linux Logo... help wanted!!

[GMaq]

Hi!

I'm not sure if this is a good place to post as it isn't software development but I'm looking for somebody with Graphics expertise.. Since I've moved AV Linux to MX Linux as a base I haven't been 100% happy with my new logo idea (shown as my avatar). It's too busy and text heavy and it lacks visibility when it is sized small for things like Menu buttons etc.. I would like AV Linux to have a simpler and more instantly recognizable logo and I have a concept in mind with the letters coming out of a waveform since 'A' and 'V' are very angular letters.

I do OK with Text and image based Graphic design but I don't really know how to create 'line graphics' from scratch and if anyone here is handy with Inkscape or even GIMP and would like to lend their artistic skills to refining this concept I would really appreciate some help.

I'm willing to pay something to offset time invested and if we collaborate and come up with a final product I will of course give attribution for the design work on the AVL website and in it's documentation. I'm only interested in white and black variants (that leaves it open to coloring for various system themes) and I prefer simple lines and a 'flat' look rather than anything too glossy or 3D looking (these are just some guideline ideas to get started).

Here is a truly awful thumbnail sketch as a ROUGH guide to what I'm thinking of... I like the concept it just needs some finesse and an experienced hand with Graphics to bring it to fruition. Any help is appreciated in advance!

AVL-wave.png (41.45 KiB) Viewed 15325 times

[LAM]

Inkscape has a nice feature where you can turn raster images into vector (path) ones, it requires a bit of fiddling sometimes but usually it works well.

Tracing bitmaps

If you have problems with that I can try myself but I'm not a graphic expert.

[d.healey]

If you can afford a couple of hundred dollars then hire a pro. If you can afford something then hire someone from fiverr.

[tavasti]

If you can afford a couple of hundred dollars then hire a pro. If you can afford something then hire someone from fiverr.

Sounds like madness to me: working to create something which is given away for free, and in addition to work also spend money.

Hopefully from happy users there is someone who is willing and able to help.

[d.healey]

working to create something which is given away for free, and in addition to work also spend money.

Any job that you take pride in is worth doing properly. If I need artwork for my free software projects I almost always pay a professional.

[j_e_f_f_g]

Don't know how small the logo should be, nor whether you need it a "line-art" depiction, but here's my logo submission:

avl_logo2.png (183.23 KiB) Viewed 15240 times

[GMaq]

Hi!

To clarify before this discussion goes off the rails about paid vs. free...

I do AV Linux in my spare time and it is free to the end-user... I have associated costs (domain/hosting), I voluntarily pay Trulan for time spent on the RT Kernel work and Repo (at my own insistence, not his) and I support upstream things financially that help me make AV Linux (MX Linux, Ardour, KXStudio etc.) as much as I can.. So yes @tavasti aside from the time invested I am out pocket somewhat to give away AVL and that is all good with me, even in an Open Source world I strongly believe in the law of reciprocity so that is why I also ask for donations on the website in hopes that like minded people see this as a 'give and take' thing.

When I ask for help like this yes indeed in a perfect world someone would say "hey you're doing this so let me do that!" But after many years of doing this I see it is often not that simple and altruistic. Maybe we have a Graphics genius here or a Graphics Artist for a day job that would freelance to help me out. Some people are struggling financially in these current times so I never ask for anything that I'm not willing to pay for if necessary because FLOSS or not everybody's situation is different..

@d.healey what is a professional? Are they a professional because they are paid or because they have an innate talent and love for what they are doing? I completely get your point but I also have seen your attention to detail and the skill that goes into your sample libraries and my initial question is to determine if we have a Graphic Artist in our midst that has the skillset either by profession or intuition.

@j_e_f_f_g

Excellent work! I'll take it to our focus group this afternoon and we'll let you know if we're interested...

[GMaq]

Inkscape has a nice feature where you can turn raster images into vector (path) ones, it requires a bit of fiddling sometimes but usually it works well.

Tracing bitmaps

If you have problems with that I can try myself but I'm not a graphic expert.

Hi LAM!

Unfortunately I know GIMP much much better than Inkscape but I'll take a look at the link, it seems that would be more useful if you had an existing good concept that you wanted to duplicate from an existing image into a scalable vector..

[d.healey]

Are they a professional because they are paid or because they have an innate talent and love for what they are doing?

It's their day job. I'm quite picky about the people I work with. Everyone has their own skill set, style, and artistic tastes so I pick my artists for individual jobs based on their portfolio and previous work.

I completely get your point but I also have seen your attention to detail and the skill that goes into your sample libraries and my initial question is to determine if we have a Graphic Artist in our midst that has the skillset either by profession or intuition.

For one of my other, non-music related, software projects a designer approached me through github with some excellent design ideas that I was able to implement into the app. So if there is a good graphic designer here and they want to contribute I think that would be the best scenario. But failing that I would rather pay someone than compromise the look by doing it myself, even if I asked users for donations towards the design work.

I'm not totally incompetent when it comes to graphical work. I use gimp and inkscape on a regular basis in creating my sample libraries but I'm aware of my own limitations in the visual arts. I can never create a design I'm happy with or that I think looks professional. So I use these tools as a way of communicating with artists how I want things laid out and to give them a (very) rough idea of what I want. Now if it's a technical, CAD like, drawing with lines, arcs, and ellipses, then I'm all in doing that myself, no problem there

[LAM]

Hi @GMaq,

this is a 5 minutes effort to turn your logo into a svg in Inkscape, of course it can be worked on much better (shadows, colors, etc), I can see what i can do.

[j_e_f_f_g]

If you want to go with your initial design, here's my version of it:

AVL-wave.png (143.21 KiB) Viewed 15213 times

[j_e_f_f_g]

Here's a larger version of the 2 combined.

http://wikisend.com/download/123562/avl_logo2.png

[GMaq]

Here's a larger version of the 2 combined.

http://wikisend.com/download/123562/avl_logo2.png

Wow! I didn't know you were such a Graphics MASTER! You are OWNING this!! Your err... uhm... 'help' is really appreciated!

[GMaq]

Hi @GMaq,

this is a 5 minutes effort to turn your logo into a svg in Inkscape, of course it can be worked on much better (shadows, colors, etc), I can see what i can do.

Hi,

Got it! Thanks so far, will have a better look and open it in Inkscape tonight when I have more sit down time, appreciate it!

[LAM]

@GMaq
Second try, now it has border, shadow and it's filled with white.