Logo for the Fortran Package Manager

[aslozada]

It will be nice to have a logo for the Fortran Package Manager.

This is a simple example,

I saw some logos of other package managers. These use a box or some type of packaging in their images.  

P.S. I am not sure if this issue has been discussed.

[urbanjost]

I like the OP idea and the logo. I was thinking about this too, and had one with clasping hands in a circle which I seem to have misplaced and this one. This is mathematically constructed and in need of someone with more artistic skills than I; but it's another possibility.

Matching the fortran-lang F logo color

I think this one

from the presentation with a little adjustment to make it smaller and at the same time making the text proportionally larger is a winner.

I also found my first one, which I am tempted to actually draw myself (I started with a file I am not sure about the pedigree of) and put the same labels into to compare

It had potential, and I think someone more artistically inclined might still do something with that, especially using labeling similar to the above.

[awvwgk]

The circle graphic is already used in the French wikipedia page on Fortran to introduce fpm, thanks to Vincent @vmagnin. I would consider it as an overview graphic rather than an actual attempt to create a logo. But I maybe the color scheme is worth keeping around.

[awvwgk]

I like the idea of having a logo for fpm. Some technical details on the fortran-lang logo for anyone giving this a try, the color is #734f96 and the font is taken from the cover of the IBM Fortran manual. But we don't necessarily have to stick with capital letters here.

[LKedward]

... the font is taken from the cover of the IBM Fortran manual.

The freely available Clarendon BT font is a fairly good match.

[LKedward]

Thanks @aslozada, I agree some branding is required for fpm in the long term, starting with a logo.

I'd recommend introducing some noticeable distinction between the branding of fpm and that of the parent organisation Fortran-Lang; specifically by using a colour variation/combination and/or by using a different font. My preference would be to adopt a lowercase non-serif font to emphasise the modernity of fpm.

Also worth considering with logos:

• How well does the logo scale? Can you produce a favicon for it?
• What does the logo look like on light and dark backgrounds?
• What does the logo look like in monochrome?

I think we should keep this discussion going and invite people to submit/discuss their ideas over time. fpm is still quite young and so there's no need to rush the branding at this stage IMO.

Below are some rough concepts I started last year using colour and font variations, but I didn't have time to pursue them further:

[vmagnin]

For the moment, your first logo is my preferred one: simple shape, simple colors, pure, dynamic (fpm in italics). As an icon, would it be without any letter (why not, it would be recognizable by its shape and colors), or with an F somewhere?

[vmagnin]

About the creation of another build system logo:
https://nibblestew.blogspot.com/2019/02/mesons-new-logo-design-process.html

[arjenmarkus]

Designing logos is not my area of expertise, but I like the box logo above. However, I would combine it with the font used by the Fortran-lang logo, only in lowercase. Just a few cents, slightly less than 2, I'd say. Op di 9 mrt. 2021 om 10:49 schreef Vincent Magnin <[email protected]

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[aslozada]

A logo without boxes.
The original format is SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

[vmagnin]

Makes me think to a stork:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stork+baby+logo&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

[rouson]

Same here. The stork brings the best packages ever, but we probably don't want to suggest that everything fpm delivers will be as precious and cherished as a newborn baby. That sets up very high expectations.

[vmagnin]

A logo with a Penrose triangle? (or square)
https://www.istockphoto.com/search/2/image?assetfiletype=eps&mediatype=illustration&phrase=impossible%20penrose
or an hypercube:
https://www.iconshock.com/image/Stroke/3d_graphics/pivot_point/
or axonometric cube:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Axonometric_cubes.svg

[aslozada]

A logo with a Penrose triangle? (or square)

Used here

---

How do we build a logo for fpm?

• Only with fonts

• With an object that explicitly represents packages, v.g., boxes, bags, envelopes, etc.

• With objects representing packing, for example, Bravais lattices, Klein bottles, knots, etc.

• With an object whose name sounds like an acronym. As in GNU.

• With an object without a direct relationship.

P.S. Acronym FPM here.

[urbanjost]

Just with letters, there are the "fpm" examples above already; but fedora took "f" as infinity (that would have been good) and any single "f" would probably just get some confused Facebook users; and the only tool (connoting "building", which fpm does well) that I can think of that looks like an "F" is a monkey wrench, which probably is not the best symbol to use.

Tried to work || into it as that makes a lot of sense (Coarrays, OpenMP, MPI, pvm, ...) and it all looked ugly or the parallel symbol no longer looked mathematical.

The old Digital logo for Fortran sans the pictures (which all had something to do with Fortran -- Voyager, and so on ....it was maybe the best Fortran logo ever) was really nice and (without the pictures) looks just like the logo on the Dr. Fortran page. If you look at that I think it has some potential. You can see how that might work if you make the squares into some kind of shipping package?

Maybe a pun between "fpm" for feet-per-minute and shipping could be a winged foot but that is probably too obscure.

I am a fan of Klein bottles and topology (as a small child I had a friend who was worried about me because I spent hours making a GIANT mobius strip and then continuously splitting it down the middle, so I watch myself with that, though :>) but I do not see a strong association with Fortran.

And I think complicated shapes would be hard to make into small icons so (I could be missing something) although crystal lattices are beautiful I am not sure they would make good logos, ....

Maybe we are concentrating too much on the "packaging" and should look more at the "building" and "developing" aspects of fpm?

[aslozada]

Maybe we are concentrating too much on the "packaging" and should look more at the "building" and "developing" aspects of fpm?

Thanks, @urbanjost.
Build a brand is not an easy task. Although I opened the logo issue, I have studied some technical parts of fpm, and I am following its progress, I do not know the original motivations for its development. I think those motivations are essential to define what the brand should look like.

[urbanjost]

Opinions may vary, but anything that helps you Develop, Build, and Share Fortran-based projects is in scope. The building components are already powerful; with the biggest issue being allowing compile and load options that let you incorporate Coarray, OpenMP, MPI, CUDA, and the many special-purpose load and build requirements in a format that supports packaging.

The major development capability is currently the ability to incorporate external dependencies.

Sharing primarily relies on github and the nascent repository and package searching via fpm-search.

Anything that helps development (stdlib (especially via an fpm package), preprocessors, document generators, interactive Fortran, ...) is fair game IMO.

Improving the quality of development (unit testing tools) and hooks into spack, jenkins, Cmake, meson, apt-get, ... packaging seem reasonable.

Improving the ease that you can use debuggers, profiling tools, coverage tools, optimization, ... seems like a noble goal.

I thought I saw a "Mission Statement" somewhere but so far the growth has been largely organic and concentrated on implementing in Fortran the basic capabilities of the Haskell fpm version and the basic functionality of other source package managers (Cargo, meson, pip, ...). There has been enough basic functionality to do that there has not been much discussion about what not to do but something as broad as "Facilitating Fortran-based program development" does beg questions, I suppose. There are several other Issues concerning a project plan and related issues such as developer documentation that have started to firm that up.

[milancurcic]

Thank you all for the creative ideas and effort. My comments:

• I like the simplicity of @aslozada's 1st logo. It says exactly what it is, and it keeps the same look as the Fortran-lang logo.
• @urbanjost's hand cart logo is creative, but I imagine pushing that thing and it feels like hard work. Fpm shouldn't feel like that.
• @aslozada's bag logo looks cheap, like we couldn't afford a box.
• @LKedward's 1st logo is simple and nice, a box is a classic and simple shape that everybody associates with packages. It could work. How would this logo look like if we re-aranged the lighting on the box--brightest at the top (sky), darkest opposite from "fpm", and styled the word fpm using the traditional Fortran font (e.g. Clarendon BT)?
• @LKedward's other two logos (F|PM) to me resemble a sleep-aid product. It would not be consistent with fpm, which often kept me up at night from excitement.

[ivan-pi]

Personally, I like to imagine fpm as the modern equivalent of sending a box of punched cards by mail.

If the box in the first concept image of @LKedward was full of punch cards that would be a nice a tribute to the history of Fortran. I should note that @awvwgk is already using a punch card logo for his toml-f package.

[awvwgk]

The original punchcard for TOML Fortran should disappear in the near future: toml-f/toml-f#43. It was fun to encode something in EBCDIC, though, but not really worth to keep up as a project identification.

[rouson]

I think the packages most universally liked are gifts, especially when delivered by hand from a close friend or family member. A celebratory gift would often be wrapped in a ribbon tied in a bow. The following sketch demonstrates these basic concepts:

Possibly someone can draw it better.

[aslozada]

Combining some ideas presented here​​​​​​​

[milancurcic]

With all respect, please, no punchcards. Also this. 🙂

[vmagnin]

No punchards for the next decades, please...:-( Unless it is an IBM millipede ;-)
Reading Backus papers about Fortran, you can see that all the effort at the very beginning (1954) was about accelerating the coding phase (get rid of machine language) and have a compiler which generates the fastest possible code. I think the logos around Fortran should embed the original idea: something fast, efficient...
Just as an example, there is a lot of "falcon" logos, some looking like an "F": https://www.qwant.com/?q=falcon%20logo&t=images&client=brz-moz
Let's think at everything that evoke speed. For example I think that "fpm" in italics look more dynamic than with the normal font "fpm". A color gradient can evoke speed. What shapes, what objects, what animals, etc. evoke speed?
F stands for Fast! ;-)

[ivan-pi]

I agree about the italic (sans-serif) being better than the Clarendon font. It also helps to evoke the point of fpm as a fast package manager, both in the sense of resolving dependencies, and being easy to get up and running,

Personally, I am not a big fan of animal logos. Animals come with many connotations in different cultures. I also recall reading a paper from some biologists how stuffed animal toys might be affecting wildlife conservation negatively.

If you want something fast, perhaps a fighter jet or rocket is more suitable: https://www.behance.net/gallery/28169613/Logo-fortran-2015?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7CFortran. Unfortunately aircraft come with other negative connotations (military, pollution, noise, etc.).

Coming to think about it, the logo from Doctor Fortran (@sblionel) looks like a small collection of packages: https://stevelionel.com/drfortran/.

[vmagnin]

Note that Clarendon fonts can also be found in italics:
https://www.1001fonts.com/clarendon+italic-fonts.html
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/clarendon-text#fonts-section
@ivan-pi you're right, the logo should agree with all cultures. And it's true that objects can also have negative connotations. Geometric shapes can be more neutral.

The Dr. Fortran logo is the Digital Visual Fortran logo, without the pictures inside. It could be adapted for fpm: the six squares could be the six sides of a cubic package...

[sblionel]

I would prefer that any logo you end up with not be too similar to the one I am using. It was indeed inspired by the DVF logo.

[jacobwilliams]

I liked @LKedward's cube. Here's an idea with putting the letters on the cube:

Not super wild about it though...

[note to self: Inkscape Extensions -> Modify Path -> Envelope was how I got the letters to skew to the cube sides.]

[sblionel]

I like this.

[vmagnin]

I like this one. Can you try to turn the "F" 90° clockwise? I am not sure it will be better, but the "F" (the more important letter) seems a little difficult to "read" for the eye. Perhaps putting it at the place of the "P" could be better. Or not... Or watching the cube by the bottom, with the "F" on the left and the "M" on the bottom side.

[epagone]

I agree with @vmagnin and I was wondering if it would be very complicated to change the isometric view to represent the cube according to a dimetric projection (an engineering or cavalier projection, for example) that would give more emphasis on the "F" of fpm drawn on the more prominent face.

The other suggestion that comes to mind (that is more generic) is to use a series of parallel horizontal lines on the side of the cube to convey a sense of speed in a "cartoonish" way (i.e. the cube is moving fast sideways).

[vmagnin]

The other suggestion that comes to mind (that is more generic) is to use a series of parallel horizontal lines on the side of the cube to convey a sense of speed in a "cartoonish" way (i.e. the cube is moving fast sideways).

Or a curve like in this cubesat logo: https://cubesat.ufsc.br/2020/images/Marca_Evento_LACW_2020_white.png

[jacobwilliams]

Yeah, I can make a couple different variants and post those.

[awvwgk]

The idea came up to include one of the logo drafts in the FortranCon talk to get feedback or encourage people to contribute their vision of an fpm logo. What do you think?

[certik]

As long as the version I like is there among the options. :)

[epagone]

I think it's a terrific idea and whoever came up with it should be awarded at least the Turing Award 😆

[aslozada]

For people to contribute ideas for the logo, can be useful to present a list of the main features of fpm and then show the logo proposals.

[1984logo]

I'd like to propose two slightly different concepts. I designed them with the following points in mind:

• express the idea of package or packages,
• show an F or an f to recall the Fortran logo (I also used the same color scheme),
• express the idea of speed and simplicity

On the technical side, they are suitable as icon and favicon, be readable at small or large size, and come in light and dark version.
Both concept is proposed in 2 versions, (making 4 concepts)

Concept 1a
Shows an italic F in a box.

Concept 1b
As same as 1a, shows an italic F in a box, but add an element to make the box more visible.

[epagone]

Great job @1984logo! We might have finally the long-awaited fpm logo 🎉

My preference, starting from the one that I like the most:

1. 2a
2. 1a
3. 1b
4. 2b

I have to say that 1a and 2a are really close first for me.

[1984logo]

Concept 2a
Shows an italic f made of multiple packages. (alternative: shows a unique gift package showed from the side or the top).

Concept 2b
Same as 2a but with a different approach for the name.

[vmagnin]

I love those logos, especially the Concept 2a.
But I don't like the Concept 1: my eyes have some difficulties to recognize immediately a package, an effort is needed.

[LKedward]

These are really nice! I like 2a the most. I'd also like 1a if it had the abbreviation 'fpm' instead of the full name.

[certik]

Very nice! Yes, I also like Concept 2a. I do not like that Concepts 1a/b are too similar to the Fortran logo (same colors, similar F). The concept 2a is similar but visually clearly distinct, so it's perfect.

[aslozada]

Concept 2a Shows an italic f made of multiple packages. (alternative: shows a unique gift package showed from the side or the top).

I like figure 2a. It would be interesting to try other colors in the squares.

[milancurcic]

Thanks a lot for making these, I also like 2a best.

[1984logo]

Thank you for your feedback. I'm glad you like the concepts 😃
Concept 2a seems to get the most interest. I'm not sure about having different colors per square ; a language is often associated with a color (see Github language chart) but fmp focuses on Fortran so multiple colors may be misleading.

I made some updates, along with some icons proposals.

concept 1c
Updated version of concept 1 to make it more readable ; name was also updated,

concept 2c
Same as concept 2a with a more angular font for the logotype.

[certik]

I like 2c with the font fpm from 1c.

[awvwgk]

The 1c draft looks a bit like an archive box to me.

I like the idea in 2c, it leans a bit into the style of the DVF logo, though.

[certik]

@awvwgk do you prefer 2c, or 2a? And if we go with 2a, are you ok with it, or against or for it?

[awvwgk]

The general concept of 2{a,b,c} with the boxes is very appealing. I'm not sure about the label yet. Having the boxes represent a lower case f makes the fpm label redundant. For that reason an idea similar to 2b would be preferable in my opinion, maybe with a different alignment to match the baselines of the rows of boxes.

[certik]

I can imagine would just use the "f" from 2a, such as in the website favicon. And the full logo if there is space.

[rouson]

I like all of the logos that play on the "package" metaphor.

This issue was posted ~7 months ago and has generated 24 comments and 41 replies. Hopefully that's enough time and feedback for a decision. Is there a process for deciding?

[certik]

Ok, I also didn't realize the fonts were different.

The 2a is the best from me also.

So 2a is the winner? People who like 2a as the logo so far: @ivan-pi, @milancurcic, @LKedward, @certik, @vmagnin, @aslozada, @epagone.

People who like all logos: @rouson.

Does anybody have a strong objection against 2a?

If I misrepresented anyone, please let me know, I'll fix it. I went into the comments above and if you said you like 2a, I put you in.

[awvwgk]

DVF was mentioned by Steve and I recall it was posted in this thread as well. Here is one I could find with a quick search:

[vmagnin]

Here is one I could find with a quick search:

(An old friend of mine...)
I think the 2a logo is sufficiently different from the CVF one and Dr. Fortran's one:

• colors,
• global slope,
• shape: one box is rounded, four have a small notch.

There is no possible confusion.

[vmagnin]

And the 2c "F" icons are really good. They give a clear and simple visual identity and they scale very well when the size is decreased.

[rouson]

I like 2a also. I would add a bow on top just to make it sort of festive. See my comment above.

[1984logo]

@rouson I tried to include a bow in the design 2a but that does not work well with the other elements. It is probably best to keep the "package" metaphor subtle, even if it means it is less visible.
Nevertheless, I made an update in that direction. It's the concept 2d below.

concept 2d
Update of logomark 2abc with a subtle bow, logotype with font of 2a.

[certik]

The concept 2d is fine with me too.

@rouson let us know if you like this one more than 2a.

[1984logo]

@zoziha Interesting! Could be a great idea for Fortran lang logo itself :)

[awvwgk]

An attempt to stylize the tree as logo, I hope it captures the shape of the F as intended and still gives the impression of standing on a mountain looking into the distance:

[urbanjost]

A little difficult to reduce to a small icon, I'm afraid (a necessary feature). It would make a beautiful cover for a Fortran book though.

The symbolism is great but even though I have used fifty-year old Fortran code without alteration 1 300 years is a high hurdle to match!

I would bet anyone who has stood there on a misty morning watching the sun come up would be inspired to be optimistic though.

[vmagnin]

You may be interested to discuss "Choosing a license for logo and other artistic assets" here:
https://github.com/fortran-lang/fortran-lang.org/issues/342

[awvwgk]

I created a version of the 2a concept with a bit more color:

[certik]

Can we finalize this logo? It's time.

[1984logo]

To put the logo in practice, I made some banners examples. Some are in monochrome and some with color, following the idea of @awvwgk.

Monochrome:

Color:

I wish this will help to decide!

[jacobwilliams]

Love the second column monochrome one! Very nice.

[milancurcic]

I like all of the second columns. Agree with @LKedward on more space between the bullets. Further, since there's an implied left-to-right sequence here, I suggest re-ordering them to, perhaps:

create -> build -> test -> run -> install -> update

or similar.

[certik]

I like all of them. Thanks @1984logo! Let's do a final selection and by done.

[awvwgk]

The license should be chosen for the benefice of the project. If you contemplate commercial uses, retaining trademark could be better (e.g. CC-BY-NC-SA, in this case, I will transfer the copyright to the fpm project if it is possible). Otherwise, the open "CC-BY" 4.0 is an option.

Sounds good. We were discussing something similar in https://github.com/fortran-lang/fortran-lang.org/issues/342 already, maybe we can continue the discussion there and arrive at a solution for all artistic Fortran-lang assets.

[awvwgk]

My vote is for the colored version, it leaves the logo clearly visible on light and dark background. I think the primary identification for fpm could be the shape of the boxes and the bow, with the coloring being more flexible and adaptable for the respective context.

[1984logo]

I edited the banner as requested. After a few trial I also made a slight modification of the bow to make it look more like a bow (only visible at larger scale).

Let's confirm the version below and finalize if it works for you.

[awvwgk]

I have to admit I liked the previous smaller bow better.

[epagone]

I had to bite my tongue not to ask for another version with a bigger bow (that is actually visible) to be compared with the previous version. Otherwise I agree that the previous version is better but not by a long shot IMO. On the other hand, I don't want to be the one trying to delay the finalisation even further, so feel free to ignore entirely my comment.

[vmagnin]

I don't like the new bow, too visible.
The previous version was perfect for me (concerning the bow aspect). Very nice work!

[milancurcic]

I love it, and +1 for no bow. Thank you!

[1984logo]

Got it! Let's roll back to the previous version. I will prepare the final files.

[1984logo]

I prepared the files. Please find them here fmp-1984logo.zip.
It includes logos, icons and the banner.
Hope this can help!

[awvwgk]

Also, there is now a preview of the linked PR up at https://awvwgk.github.io/fpm-docs/en/design/logo.html, still needs some updating, which I'll get done by the end of this week (hopefully).

[zoziha]

Based on interest, I tried to write an FPM icon with letters and symbols like screenfetch. At present, it does not look simple enough. If it can be improved and become beautiful enough, and added the corresponding terminal display color, maybe it can be embedded in the description information of FPM software. ?

           .oFPMrun   Fortran&
          obuild:o   o:Lang~&
         ###>::o.   .o::Org~
         
       /FPM::o.   .o::LGTM!
      update:o   o:@FPM@&
     implicit   none:FPM
     
   Fortran/
  Package/
 Manager/

[awvwgk]

@zoziha If you have to create an ACSII version of the logo, please make sure it is also valid Fortran ;)

             program fpm   ;;implicit&
            none(type,    external);!
           print '(*(    g0:,1x))',&
          "Fortran",    "Package",&

        "Manager",    new_line('&
       newline');    print'("*"&
      &,1x,g0)',    "build","r&
     un","test"    ,"install";

   print'("*&
  ",1x,a)',&
 "update";!
endprogram

See https://www.ioccc.org/ for inspiration.

[certik]

Ha, that snippet found a bug in LFortran's prescanner, I just fixed it: https://gitlab.com/lfortran/lfortran/-/merge_requests/1661

[zoziha]

             program fpm   ;;implicit&
            none(type,    external);!
           print '(*(    g0:,1x))',&
          "Fortran",    "Package",&

        "Manager",    new_line('&
       newline');    print'("*"&
      &,1x,g0)',    "build","r&
     un","test"    ,"install";

   print'("*&
  ",1x,a)',&
 "update";!
endprogram

Cool, results:

Fortran Package Manager 

* build
* run
* test
* install
* update

[gnikit]

@1984logo We have moved all the assets of fortran-lang into a centralised repository https://github.com/fortran-lang/assets. Could you please verify the license of the fpm artwork you submitted? We have assumed that it's licensed under MIT, but please correct me if I am mistaken.