[Mageia-dev] Art, Logo and Branding

Thu Sep 23 22:17:32 CEST 2010

I think in the grand scheme of things, we should all acknowledge that 
+should the name "Mageia" not work, that a name change would be a 
+possibility, just as a logo change is still a possibility. We have seen 
+this from many OSS firms who went through this process.
+
+We should be careful in making the distro too "cottagey" or "home grown" 
+in looks and flavour. I would suggest that the long term vision for the 
+distro also include a commercial aspect. There should be a community 
+driven distro and a commercial distro (read server). If we organise 
+under these terms, then the choice of name, logo and branding changes.
+
+A name and logo for the Mageia project should exude a community spirit 
+as well a professional corporate spirit. Would a business have a problem 
+repeating "We use the Mageia distro to run our servers and our 
+desktops."? I personally think that the name is solid in this case, 
+whether for community or corporate use. Side note: I prefer the "soft g" 
+sound of the name --- " Mah jay ah " (more like the French "j'ai" sound) 
+-- it sounds classy.
+
+So, the logo should then follow suit and exude the same feeling. It 
+should reflect both a feeling of community as well as bear the scrutiny 
+of corporate world. Would they feel confident in hanging our shingle 
+(read logo) on their website's front page? I too tend to sway more 
+towards the simple logo concept. I don't personally think that a magic 
+wand would not work in a corporate setting, this would then limit it's 
+use. We would then have to adopt a corporate logo. I am not sure if this 
+would make good sense as, in a way, we would then be fragmenting the 
+distro. A solid logo for both, in my opinion, would make the most sense.
+
+Marc
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