Hacker News Reader

Comment by potch | Hacker News Reader

He's very particular about how this symbol should and shouldn't be displayed. Don't think that's a bad thing, but it's interesting.

View on HN

I'd say he's almost too particular for an M with a down arrow in a rounded rectangle.

However, what's the corner radius? What's the width of the stroke on the M? The depth of the point of the arrow or the width of its sweep?

It seems like he's got the spacing and sizing of line-width elements specified to a 'T' (or an 'X' as the case may be), but can we typeset the M in, say, Times? Can the down arrow be a chevron instead?

Particular, but if he's going for particular he's taking it nearly far enough. :P

Thanks, I was confused by the strange mix of very clear specs and no specs while referencing the absent specs, too.

Bullet points 1 and 2, for instance:

    1. Do not change the aspect ratio of the rounded box enclosure. 
    2. Do not change the border radius of the rounded box enclosure.

Neither of these properties were defined as far as I could see. Perhaps it's one of those cases where you're expected to "see" it from the graphics; I typically don't operate well that way. :)

also there's at least two more measurements missing from the spec graphic--the distance between the M and the arrow and the distance between the arrow and the right edge. i assume those are both X, but it doesn't actually say....

Like any good branding, it's particular.

Exactly. Logos, wordmarks, etc. come with strict standards for appropriate and inappropriate use.

If he really wanted to enforce those conditions, all of which have to do with not changing the mark, he could have just used a Creative Commons NoDerivative license (with some exceptions if desired) instead of BSD. Software licenses are better suited to software, whereas this is more like artwork (although the boundary between software and artwork is kinda blurry nowadays).

He's trying to set his fingerprint, and codifying the layout, attempting to formalize it, would be just such a method.

Personally -- and apologies if this sounds brash as I don't think we need empty back patting here -- I think his proposed logo is ugly and amateurish. The M already has an arrow in it if one really needs to make such a literal indicator.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com