New Logo for Folding@Home Perhaps?

[Ericson_Mar]

To be honest, I find this blue logo kind of dull. Not to mention quite ambiguous to most people. For example, most normal people don’t know what “folding” proteins mean. And upon glancing at the logo or that name…it looks more like it will link to some linen store than to a project to help mankind.

I liked the Oxford “Screensaver Lifesaver” one better. It’s catchy and sparks some curiosity in people who otherwise are not “biochemically inclined”.

Perhaps a different design is called for…one with more marketing appeal that would grab attention of more people and get them to download the app.

What do you think?

[7im]

The blue logo is brand new. I don't think it's going to change again for a while.

Logo's don't sell a product, they are for brand recognition. Salespeople sell products, or the products sell themselves.

Does the Nike "swoosh" make you think their shoes are faster than Adidas shoes? Is a single red swoosh more catchy? More attention grabbing? It's actually kind of dull if you ask me. Does that logo make you want to buy their shoes more than a few stripes down the side like Adidas? Stripes are boring too. Or do you identify with the brand and the company behind the logo? With Michael Jordan high tops? With Tiger Woods golf shoes? With NFL jerseys? Did you buy that Manning jersey for the Nike swoosh, or the Team behind it?

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of doing things to get people's attention, to advertise the F@H as a product, and to get more people to participate. And I think Stanford is already working on the best eye-candy. The Screen Saver on the PS3 is very eye-catching, and Stanford is working to bring a protein view with close to that quality to the PC client. You'll soon have a screen saver better than "Screensaver Lifesaver."

[Flathead74]

It does seem that the present logo invokes the thought of a protein helix.

You can take some of the most famous logos in the world... a prancing horse for example.
What is it about a prancing horse that would make one think of a Ferrari?

Perhaps a little better definition between the dark arrow, and the dark background would help,
but if you look at the logo, it does represent a helix, and that in itself is related to the f@h project.

To me, helix's do not invoke thoughts of linen stores.

In everything there is room for improvement.
Pandegroup's focus is on the study of the work and that is where they spend the best use of their time.

Perhaps you could design a logo that is project appropriate.
I'm pretty sure that they would not be adverse to good artwork.

[Ericson_Mar]

The blue logo is brand new. I don't think it's going to change again for a while.

Logo's don't sell a product, they are for brand recognition. Salespeople sell products, or the products sell themselves.

Does the Nike "swoosh" make you think their shoes are faster than Adidas shoes? Is a single red swoosh more catchy? More attention grabbing? It's actually kind of dull if you ask me. Does that logo make you want to buy their shoes more than a few stripes down the side like Adidas? Stripes are boring too. Or do you identify with the brand and the company behind the logo? With Michael Jordan high tops? With Tiger Woods golf shoes? With NFL jerseys? Did you buy that Manning jersey for the Nike swoosh, or the Team behind it?

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of doing things to get people's attention, to advertise the F@H as a product, and to get more people to participate. And I think Stanford is already working on the best eye-candy. The Screen Saver on the PS3 is very eye-catching, and Stanford is working to bring a protein view with close to that quality to the PC client. You'll soon have a screen saver better than "Screensaver Lifesaver."

Just because something is brand new, that doesn’t necessarily mean it shouldn’t improve. Besides, it doesn’t look to me that it took a real long time to create.

Well I think every bit helps, but if someone was to put a signature in email or banner on their page, the logo is the first line of advertisement. That’s the core of Google business, etc.

You are missing something about Nike and other such brands. That is a world recognized brand and that check or whatever has been imprinted on human beings since birth practically. That’s not the same case as Folding@Home or its logo. How many people would see that helix (is that a DNA or what?) and through the abstraction recognize that as FAH.

PS3’s are nice, but there are a lot more idle computers out there. For example, many kids have computers. No kid knows what “folding” is never mind linking folding to that arrow twisting thing. If had guess, it represents the direction of replication of DNA, right? Most people outside of college genetics would be like…What the heck does that mean??…never mind seeing the reference.

[Ericson_Mar]

It does seem that the present logo invokes the thought of a protein helix.

You can take some of the most famous logos in the world... a prancing horse for example.
What is it about a prancing horse that would make one think of a Ferrari?

Perhaps a little better definition between the dark arrow, and the dark background would help,
but if you look at the logo, it does represent a helix, and that in itself is related to the f@h project.

To me, helix's do not invoke thoughts of linen stores.

In everything there is room for improvement.
Pandegroup's focus is on the study of the work and that is where they spend the best use of their time.

Perhaps you could design a logo that is project appropriate.
I'm pretty sure that they would not be adverse to good artwork.

Actually, a protein helix is depicted here… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein

Ferraris have been imprinted into us via media, Hollywood, etc. as a symbol of high social status and sex appeal. It is desirable so a large % of a population remembers that. The Aston Martin is better, but fewer people perhaps other than the occasional car junkie who loves James Bond recognize that.

I’m guessing that is supposed to be DNA (where opposing strands replicate in opposing directions from 3’ to 5’ ends). I know this only because one day I read a genetics text-book on my commute to work out of boredom.

Even though I know a small tad about genetics, from a certain perspective, that logo looks like a weave of thread at the end of a sheet and the word “folding” in that context…I just thought of folding cloth. I was trying to put myself in a non-scientist perspective.

[John Naylor]

The blue arrow is not Folding@Home's logo... just the one used for the forum. The project's "corporate logo" (for want of a better way of putting it) is the large protein cluster on this page, to the right of the username search box. Although that is even less folding related, and more related to what actually does the folding in the natural world

[Ericson_Mar]

The blue one comes from this one… http://folding.stanford.edu/
That molecule is cute I guess, but it doesn’t say much about itself. What is it?

[7im]

You are missing something about Nike and other such brands. That is a world recognized brand and that check or whatever has been imprinted on human beings since birth practically. That’s not the same case as Folding@Home or its logo. How many people would see that helix (is that a DNA or what?) and through the abstraction recognize that as FAH.

You raise a good point. However, like you said, FAH is not a world recognized brand, so even a really great and brand new logo wouldn't help that much either. It's still a world of mouth thing. You still have to explain (sell) FAH to whomever asks about the logo. And in my opinion a really cool screensaver does a better job of getting people's attention than a really cool logo.

I do agree with the above suggestion, that dark blue arrow needs more definition, more dimension. I think it would give the logo more of that euphimistic "pop"

Any photochoppers here want to give it a go?

[Ericson_Mar]

Here's a little quick touch I did. LOL Hows this.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... bTgwTVE9PQ

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... bUEwTVE9PQ

I still think it can use some new ideas to make it better though.

[Ericson_Mar]

Hi again,

I whipped up a little banner. What do you guys think?

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... N0EwTVE9PQ

[7im]

Post (img tag) the image in the forum. Most people won't download a file from an unknown source location.

[John Naylor]

I'm one of the ones stupid enough to do so. The banner's good

[Ericson_Mar]

I whipped up the banner below. Let me know what you think!

[Ericson_Mar]

Also, here are the ones that have more contrast in the DNA strand...

[anko1]

I like! and that's exactly what I thought about, except maybe a more turquoise blue. (I like flash ). Like your new banner also, but I would suggest that perhaps it also suffers from the same problem as the current logo: the blue molecules are so dark, they're hard to distinguish from the black background. How about turquoise? Love the magenta!