Wheel Reinvention - The Oolite Icon

[KZ9999]

I've finalised the shape and colour for my version of the Oolite logo, so here they are.


In order: B/W heavy outline for the use in printed material, Colour version with heavy outline, Tint only version, Experimental spectacular lighting version.


Following on the ideal of rank badges: here some ideas in order left-to-right top-to-down in from the rank of Harmless to Elite.





For your information, here are some of the experimental filters tests on the finalised design.

The design test examples have a cruder finish to them because the images a quarter the size of the 512x512 pixel master. If you would like to see some of those examples done larger, stick a post on the thread.

I can't <edit> help but <edit> wax lyrical about Inkscape as a program for doing stuff like this. The way I can experiment and overlay dozens of different effects while keeping the file size down is just brilliant. The current developmental snapshot version only crashes occasionally and it's so much more powerful than the current stable release.

[Diziet Sma]

Wow.. just... WOW...

[Thargoid]

I like the concept of the rank badges, but it looks a little odd to just have the pips free-floating above the badge like that. How about something a bit more "built-in", like for example rank "feathering" on the wings or something?

[ramon]

I like the rank icons exactly as they are, personally I wouldn't change a thing there.
As for the main logo, soooo many choices (which is brill), but I think my personal favs are,

3rd Fav: E.11
2nd: E.15

and best E.16 for me

[ClymAngus]

Sweet work dude!

One small thing, when peple are ok with a good one or several (I personally think any are cool) Then it might be handy to have a version which works well against a black background. I did some outlining on the vector you uploaded (it can be seen on map 4). Not sure if it cuts the mustard but it will do for the time being.

Anyway fantastic work KZ

[DaddyHoggy]

Fab - I love them all - erm, that's not very helpful so I will think about which I like best!

I agree with Thargoid (sort of) the practicality of having separate pips with regards to the main badge (if for example the rank insignia's were made for real and had to be worn) - but for a visual clue they're wonderful.

Just a thought - you could justify the positioning of the pips as they are, if you could imagine the whole insignia was mounted on some kind of transparent backing...

So, yup, leave them as they are - I've justified them to myself and I am content.

[JensAyton]

Hmm. Would those rank insignia work at a smaller size? E.g. the size of the rank insignia on the forum? ;-)

[Diziet Sma]

Hmm. Would those rank insignia work at a smaller size? E.g. the size of the rank insignia on the forum?

That crossed my mind too.

[KZ9999]

Would these do





Thinking about what Thargoid said about wings, I decided to take a cue from the flight crew id. In the process I realised that these would work on the BB. There is plenty of room to scale them down even further to fit in the side bar. It's easy enough to add extra in-between stages for more ranks, as well more ranks for post Elite grades....

• <edit>
  On a side note. The idea behind the pips was that I've often heard the Elite icon referred to as one of three things: the starbird, aviator-bot or astro-bot, or the angel. That what inspired me to put a star/halo over the the head of the figure.
  </edit>

ClymAngus Once I've cleaned up the new logo design I'll upload a svg/eps file of it. The new lighter colour schema and lack of borders should work on a black background. I'll also try a version with a inverting outer edge so it automatically changes to be the opposite of the background it sits on. More on that when I figure it out myself.

Is there any other directions that you folks want me to take the logos in? I would like to have the challenge as I'm having a (q-bomb) blast trying out all this stuff.

[Disembodied]

I like where you're going, KZ9999, but I'm not sure if making the "feathers" longer is an obvious-enough distinction. It's quite tricky, at a glance, to spot the difference between, say, "Competent" and "Dangerous". Plus I'm not sure about the bronze colour – and it makes for a rather arbitrary split between bronze and silver.

How about using the "feathers" as bars of rank? If "Harmless" was just a plain round (silver) button, no bird at all; "Mostly Harmless" could be the button plus the bird; "Below Average" would add the solid side-wings and no "feathers"; "Average" would get one little feather on each side at the bottom; "Above Average", 2 feathers; "Competent", 3 feathers; "Dangerous", 4 feathers, and "Deadly" would get 5. "Elite" would of course be a 5-feathered badge, but in gold, not silver.

[JensAyton]

Don’t forget about these:
(commander.png)
(pirate.png)
(assassin.png)
(clock-tower-nutter.png)

[ClymAngus]

How about a triangle out the bottom instead of the feather extension? Don't get me wrong I love the feathers and the fether hood design. It's just diffucult to distinguish one from another. That might balance out the wings a bit more?

Jet black and shiny log of assassin, bone for pirate and red for clock-tower?

[KZ9999]

Here's the re-jig of the the ranks...

Harmless, Mostly Harmless, Poor

As befitting for the under achievers in combat, they only get a white ceramic badge.

Average, Above Average, Competent

Bronze with a extra pair of feathers for each rank upgrade. I'll do some more fine-tuning on the last one.

Dangerous, Deadly, Elite

Following the feather patterns as before.

Supreime Commander, Clock-tower Shooter, Assassin.

These last three are more works in progress, but you can see where I'm going with them. Then again do different colours for the last two as suggested.

Ahruman Will you need the pirate symbol still? The only time it's seen is in use to show the ranks. With new unique ranks symbols, is there a need for it. If you want one would a skull and bat wing design do?

Insert ideas below....

[Diziet Sma]

Nice.. Above average and Competent need to be differentiated more though, IMO.

[JensAyton]

Ahruman Will you need the pirate symbol still? The only time it's seen is in use to show the ranks. With new unique ranks symbols, is there a need for it.

It’s used for a few unique ranks, notably Winston’s. It’s also used for the ranks - Banned - and Thargoid, but I’m not sure whether those are used at all…