Favicon

[vinteuil]

I will agree with PML inasmuch as the "old manuscript square with IMSLP on it" makes for a very good logo - probably not a good favicon, but an excellent logo.
For a Favicon, I think even simpler might do it - who's for just a treble clef or something? It doesn't have to be completely unique and original, it just has to represent - it's not going to be the main thing that people judge.

[Philidor]

@ jujimufu - nice logo. A word of warning about using actual music in a logo: play it through on a piano to make sure it doesn't sound like, say, the old German national anthem. I've seen that happen to a Jewish-owned organisation and there were red faces...

[steltz]

I think it's a great logo, and will be even better when the quaver tail is fixed, though I agree the the rests look strange when inverted. Just one reservation -- these favicons get reduced very small, so it's best to reduce it and see if it has the same impact.

[jujimufu]

Philidor: really?! I swear I had no idea.. Which German anthem is that - the one I found on youtube doesn't sound like it.. (I just literally put random notes on the staff..)

PML: As far as I know, individual notes on the middle line of the staves can go either way, but usually follow the direction of adjacent notes, and it would only make things less neat if it was pointing the other way (if, for example, I added a slur line on top joining the four semi-quavers and the quaver, then it would have to face downwards).

Anyway, I agree with the semi-quaver rest on top. I will change it to a minim/semi-breve rest (depending on which way you're reading it).


I thought I wouldn't put a time signature because then I'd have to put barlines which wouldn't look as nice. I could add a bold "pml" as a time signature, but I am not sure how this would work out. Time signatures have numbers, and PML would consist of letters, so it would look a bit out of place and maybe not everyone would get the idea. What's more, this is quite a big image, so in smaller versions the PML might not be identifiable.

I do agree that the main IMSLP image we currently have is great. And in fact, I wish we could get our hands on the logotype that Feldmahler says someone designed a while ago, and see how that looks like. I would really like to see how the current logo could be manipulated into providing other logos and a favicon, if anyone has any ideas.

[vinteuil]

Philidor: really?! I swear I had no idea.. Which German anthem is that - the one I found on youtube doesn't sound like it.. (I just literally put random notes on the staff..)

That was just an example - not the truth.

[Philidor]

Philidor: really?! I swear I had no idea.. Which German anthem is that - the one I found on youtube doesn't sound like it.. (I just literally put random notes on the staff..)

That was just an example - not the truth.

Yeah, I was just highlighting the dangers of musical notes in a logos. Someone, somewhere will eventually play it. The other one to watch is the old USSR anthem - capable of p*ssing off several hundred million people. The Imperial Chinese anthem's another - good to enrage over a billion....

[jujimufu]

Oh, ok.. *phew* I thought I had *actually* written part of the german national anthem (or even worse, a nazi anthem) for a second there...

Well, this can be easily solved by just writing something very chromatic - I doubt any fans of Schönberg's would come screaming trying to find the infidel who used part of one of his rows

On the other hand, we could do something arbitrary like, writing an IMSLP theme (like a BACH theme). MSL could be "Mi Sol La", P could be a pause.

Bah, that sounds silly.

Anyway, I checked with Musipedia to see if there are any similarly-sounding themes, but nothing terribly famous came up. Of course, the notes are subject to change and completely arbitrary - if anyone would prefer to see another collection of notes, please let me know! (although please do have a reason for it, because it is a bit of a pain to change everything..)

[Carolus]

I really like the design. The letters PML and/or IMSLP will need to appear somewhere. Right now I'm thinking they might be best outside the circular staff, though another possibility would be to have the three letters make up the dove illustration inside the circle.

[jujimufu]

Carolus: woah, that sounds nice! I am terribly at drawing, but I will give it a try. If someone else is better (which includes pretty much everyone else ) please do draw something as mine is most probably going to suck terribly..

[imslp]

Just my two cents here: I love the idea of the logo, but I would suggest that the music itself be either taken from a real work (public domain obviously), or alternatively be symbolic of IMSLP in some way (hummable is also welcome). Random notes on the staff is probably not the best idea...

But again, I do love the general idea of the logo. I always find myself instinctively playing music in logos in my head, and it'd be nice if it actually meant something, or sounded good. or even better, both. Random idea: if you are stuck looking for a melody, perhaps you can use the first theme of Beethoven's first piano sonata, since it is IMSLP #00001. However, feel free to ignore this if you don't like the idea, since I was the one who uploaded it, and therefore might be biased...

The other tiny suggestion is (though do feel free to ignore this one too if you have reason to do so) that there be some symbol more specific to IMSLP than a dove. I don't dislike the dove per se, but it seems a little too generic. If there is no good symbol, perhaps putting the IMSLP or PML text (or maybe a slogan?) in there may not be a bad idea.

Regarding slogans: "Create. Collaborate. Share." is nice, but since that seems to only be part of IMSLP's goal, perhaps something more broad would be appropriate. I would suggest something like "Creativity. Freed.", though I would certainly welcome other people's ideas.

All of this is not to discourage you Jujimufu. I say all this because I think you are on to something, and I want to make sure the ultimate product is the best possible.

-- Ed

[Leonard Vertighel]

The logo idea is very interesting. The problem I see with it is that it is extremely complex for a logo. It's not something one could easily remember, and I'm not sure how recognizable it is. I'm not saying that we should aim for something as minimalistic as the Nike Swoosh, but the current proposal with its multiple elements is in a way even more complex than the Wikipedia globe, which has been repeatedly criticized for its complexity.

Doesn't anybody have contact to somebody at an art school or something? We can't pay for a logo, but I think the exposure on a relatively popular site could still make this an interesting project for an art student. (Obviously, they would have to accept that the final decision is still up to the community.)

Regarding slogans: "Create. Collaborate. Share." is nice, but since that seems to only be part of IMSLP's goal, perhaps something more broad would be appropriate. I would suggest something like "Creativity. Freed."

Sorry, but I hate both of them. They are in no way specific to IMSLP, in particular they lack any reference to music. Moreover to me they sound like the general abstract nonsense that might come from the marketing department of any major company. I would really much prefer something more specific and down-to-earth like Wikipedia's "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit".

[KGill]

Well, we do have 'the free public domain sheet music library' on the wiki main page...could that be worked into something?

[Philidor]

Famous logo disasters...











A good logo is actually very difficult to design, combining copywriting skills, artistic flair, graphic design skills and political nous. Get it wrong and you're a laughing stock. I'd advise keeping it simple, direct, light (in terms of kb size) and in your face, i.e. self-confident and immediately obvious what it stands for.

[jujimufu]

Leonard is very right - neither of the phrases has anything to do with music, which is primarily what IMSLP has to do with.

Maybe the five circles with a big quaver note on the left side? That would refer to music, and be quite simple. And if the stem extended outside the circles, PML could be written across it/on it/next to it/whatever.

Peter: awesome the last one is a classic; why would anyone, ever, think that this might be a good logo for their institute of oriental studies (let alone the colours ).

Ed: Absolutely - I am not very precious about my ideas/suggestions, which is why I don't mind seeing them being crushed, changed, or improved. And when there's more people working on something, it's more likely to be an improvement, even if that means an complete change Thanks for your comments (that also goes to everyone else who has commented) - I really hope more people will start posting ideas so we can have a wider variety of logos to look at.

Leonard: That's a great idea - I have a friend of mine at St. Martin's in London, and two or three friends studying architecture (I might actually know someone from the Royal College of Arts, which would be awesome - but I don't know if they study there anymore), so I could ask them if they could send an e-mail around their school asking for logos. I'm fairly sure students would be glad to do it for free - even more so if they can add it to their portfolios (and what better to say that the logo you designed is on a pretty popular website ). I'll let you guys know if/when I get any responses.