The Gnome Logo Website Debate

I found this blog post that caught my attention. Long story short: I’m not a Gnome user, and hence I’m not the right person to talk about the ongoing change that seems to happen to the foot logo of the project. However, reading the blog post, something popped up in my mind and I want to share my thoughts. The Gnome logo is the well known foot that reminds, somehow, a G, the first letter of the project name:



According to the the blog post, there is the will to change the logo into something that can fit better into the current social media rounded styles. Moreover, since the project has evolved a lot, an evolution of the logo seems a reasonable path. I’ve seen October Gnome, let’s say pretty much the first edition of this great project, and I remember the initial appearance of the desktop, of the panel and, of course, of the logo. If my memory serves me well, Miguel De Icaza told in an interview that while choosing the icons for the various applications, a footprint was left apart. Since the footprint was reminding that of a gnome, and could have been melted to remember also a G, Miguel chosen the footprint as the main logo of the project. The logo has been slightly and constantly changed across the years, becoming much more fluid and fascinating, according to me. After all, even KDE changed its logo across the time. Therefore, I don’t see this great deal with changing and adapting the Gnome logo, assuming the main footprint is kept as the basis, because after something like thirty years it identities the project itself. The important part, according to me, is to keep the logo visible. Today, the web site seems to have re-established the logo in the top area again.