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New GitHub Logo
- jawns 14y agoWhen the Octocat Mark is rendered at any size less than 75x75 pixels, it's pretty much impossible to tell that the "tail" of the cat is actually a tentacle. That's unfortunate, because on https://github.com/logos https://github.com/logos the only recommended use for the mark is in social buttons, which are going to be relatively small. Even at larger sizes, the tentacle just seems tacked on.
- tptacek 14y agoAgree. They should have a guideline about using the cat at small sizes, or provide customized low-rez versions. I looked at it and thought it might have worked better if they ditched the suckers and just used multiple waving tentacles.
- Oompa 14y agoIf you download the mark, it's a .zip including some smaller versions without suckers on the tentacle.
- trhaynes 14y agoExactly. Compare the logo in the blog post to the one in the masthead. And then go one step further and compare to the favicon (no tail there). The small sizes don't have to convey that the tail is a tentacle, they just have to convey "GitHub".
- addandsubtract 14y agoThere is a tail in the new favicon[0] It's also been the old logo[1] [0] https://github.com/favicon.ico https://github.com/favicon.ico [1] http://octodex.github.com/favicon.ico http://octodex.github.com/favicon.ico
- wfraser 13y agoOnly at larger sizes. At the 16x16px version, there isn't anymore.
- glenntzke 14y agoSee the home button in the upper left corner of the page. You don't see the suckers but it is recognizable. I don't think they're terribly worried about seeing those details.
- gojomo 13y agoMaybe that's OK: we know it's a tentacle, others can just blissfully think it's a tail.
- pacomerh 13y agoYeah totally, when small it looks like its waving a hello
- salahxanadu 14y agoPenta-cat, they must mean.
- dagurp 14y agoOr Tentaclecat
- Samuel_Michon 14y agoIt’s hard to tell whether this creature has arms or tentacles, or both. Octopuses have both. Also, 7-arm octopuses are still called ‘octopuses’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_arm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_arm
- Aqua_Geek 14y agoAccording to Zach Holman, it's four legs and a tail: https://speakerdeck.com/holman/git-and-github-secrets?slide=148 https://speakerdeck.com/holman/git-and-github-secrets?slide=...
- mimiflynn 14y agoI don't remember what it used to look like, which, I suppose, means they did a good job ;)
- larrydavid 14y agoOld logo: http://i.imgur.com/ge0P400.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ge0P400.jpg
- bmuon 14y agoIt seems that GitHub wants a more "serious" look. I wonder why that is. Do managers dismiss GitHub for Enterprise as a possibility because it feels hackish/unprofessional?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- tinco 14y agoThe b in the logo feels a bit strange to me.. anyone else get a comic sans feel with it?
- lasome 14y agoI'd really like to hear their thoughts around the capitalization of GitHub. Everyone who uses git interacts it with it in downcase. To see it upcased like that is unfamiliar.
- biot 14y agoI much prefer lowercase as well. I wonder if a not-insignificant proportion of their target market was pronouncing it as "jih thub".
- brodney 14y agoI think the difference is the command vs the product. Even the git homepage refers to it in uppercase almost everywhere [0]. A similar example would be capitalizing Java everywhere, but using java for commands. [0] http://git-scm.com/ http://git-scm.com/
- bonzoesc 14y ago"Git" is the system of software, protocols, metaphors, and storage. "git" is the executable. It's similar to "Perl" and "perl": http://perldoc.perl.org/perlfaq1.html#Whats-the-difference-between-%22perl%22-and-%22Perl%22%3f http://perldoc.perl.org/perlfaq1.html#Whats-the-difference-b...
- zalew 14y agomaybe because the small g is similar to google's.
- Oompa 14y agoGitHub has always been capital G capital H. The logo just did not communicate it
- calinet6 14y agoGiven the old icon was just a lowercase g in various containers, I think this is a good step. The octocat is already recognizable, and although it's a little too detailed for small rendering, it's still relatively unique and distinct. Nice work on this one. It may not be the perfect symbol, but it is uniquely and definitively github.
- addandsubtract 14y agoHow old are we talking about? As far as I know, their logo has been the same, only inverted [0], for the last year or so. [0] https://raw.github.com/travis-ci/travis-assets/6ce43a0eee505c18c8b5f37882811f75d15491e3/assets/images/icons/github-logo.png https://raw.github.com/travis-ci/travis-assets/6ce43a0eee505...
- sergiotapia 14y agoAnyone have before and after shots?
- skeet 14y agohttp://i.imgur.com/cKLkPPi.jpg http://i.imgur.com/cKLkPPi.jpg Pretty subtle logo change really.
- larrydavid 14y agoOld: http://i.imgur.com/ge0P400.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ge0P400.jpg New: https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/72919/381606/fffdd290-a5e2-11e2-8099-e1b5d8286da3.jpg https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/72919/381606/fffdd290-a5e2... https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/72919/381609/0cf7be70-a5e3-11e2-8943-6ac7a953f26d.jpg https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/72919/381609/0cf7be70-a5e3...
- aviswanathan 14y agoThe logotype reminds me of Font Awesome for some reason
- Samuel_Michon 14y agoIt’s probably a tweaked version of Secca Extra Bold or Botanika Bold. Compare and contrast: http://imgur.com/hdcz2Sd http://imgur.com/hdcz2Sd (Top: Botanika, middle: GitHub, bottom: Secca)
- ben_straub 14y agoIt's Apex Sans: http://vllg.com/Constellation/Apex_Sans http://vllg.com/Constellation/Apex_Sans
- Samuel_Michon 14y agoSo it is! I see that it was tweaked quite heavily; rounded corners on all the glyphs, altered ‘G’, ‘i’, and ‘t’, different weight, etc. Comparison: http://imgur.com/ggI204m http://imgur.com/ggI204m Were you involved in the design process? How was Apex selected? It’s not a particularly well-known font and it’s for sale at very few places.
- ben_straub 14y agoNah, I'm just repeating what @bryanveloso said: https://twitter.com/bryanveloso/status/324204710888357888 https://twitter.com/bryanveloso/status/324204710888357888 and https://twitter.com/bryanveloso/status/324214383989383168 https://twitter.com/bryanveloso/status/324214383989383168.
- wilfra 14y agoLooks like this came with a homepage redesign as well: http://github.com http://github.com If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Drew Houston ought to be feeling great right about now.
- bgentry 14y agoCan you explain on why you think the new Github homepage imitates Dropbox's homepage? They both look pretty standard to me.
- wilfra 14y ago-Very similar logotype -Signup form on the right, with huge signup button -Tons of whitespace w/ 'floating' elements -Footer styled very similar -Same location on the page and method of promoting their paid product -etc
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- mimiflynn 14y agoLooks pretty twitter bootstrap like, if you ask me. I feel that a lot of designs are ending up like this due to bootstrap influence, which, might be influenced by dropbox for all I know.
- markdotto 14y agoI wrote all the styles for Bootstrap and refactored GitHub's forms and buttons a few months ago for a similar approach. Not 100% the same, but definitely close. All those styles are tested thoroughly within Bootstrap and made it super easy to update and standardize our styles, while at the same time dropping mad duplicate code. The overall homepage though I think looks nothing like Bootstrap's docs, if that's what you're implying. Also, Bootstrap, and GitHub, was not influenced by Dropbox. We just iterated on that stuff internally in a pull request and shipped when we were happy with it.
- iandanforth 14y agoThe homepage now looks very bland. Perhaps to people who really know typography the GitHub name is very distinct, but to me it doesn't distinguish itself and reminds me of a bootstrap site with a couple hours of tweaking more than a unique and memorable brand / style.
- kepano 14y agoThe new logotype looks great. The capitalization is a non-issue in the long term, it doesn't matter if people continue calling it lowercase git. I have qualms about the Octocat mark though. Everyone wants to be Apple and drop their name in favor of a recognizable logo. What people forget is that the logo for Apple is actually an apple. That's what made it so easy for Apple to adopt this strategy early on. The same approach can work for companies that have a massively recognizable brand and an advertising budget dedicated to burning the icon into our retinas (Nike). But it still requires having a memorable mark. For applications of the logo where scale comes into play, GitHub's designers clearly haven't reviewed their branding 101 coursework. Read Paul Rand's IBM style guide for a refresher on the 8-stripe and 13-stripe versions of his logo. The applications they show on their site at 30x30px and lower are barely readable.
- jacques_chester 13y agoThe original Apple logo was doubly clever, as it referred to both of Newton's important contributions to physics (gravity and prismatic separation of light).
- digitalengineer 13y agoFunny. I never thought about it and just assumed it was a hidden wink to Adam and Eve eating an apple from the tree of knowledge.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- rafikdraoui 13y agoThere is also a story saying that it was a reference to Alan Turing, who committed suicide by eating a poisoned apple following a forced hormonal treatment after being convicted of the "crime" of homosexuality. But it turns out to be only a coincidence. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Recognition_and_tributes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Recognition_and_tr...)
- lifeisstillgood 14y agooh dear. I may be reading too much between the lines, but thy post, and the logo-page, are corporate, goal driven projects (maybe top down) that are then wrapped up in nice fluffy words. Its not the same as nice fluffy ideas, getting thrown out and tested, with maybe as much attention from lawyers as aspell. Of course it happens, but this is the time github went from that nice sparky startup, to the long slide into corporate beige. In many ways its a triumph, startups just don't succeed like this. And I would wish success and money and more success on them all - but my antennae twitched. Still paying monthly for it though. Octocat will cry all the way to the bank
- logn 14y agoWho cares. Lone founders are apt to redesign logos too. The fluffy language was probably added because a simple, "here's our new logo cause it's better" is probably a little too brief, especially for companies who may have incorporated those marks into their own assets, and need a little justification for re-work.
- lifeisstillgood 14y agoBut that's it. Back in the day, it would have been "here it is because it is better". It worked. Be careful changing a winning formula. And yes that's rose tinted glasses perhaps.
- tptacek 14y agoUh, what? Github is still run by its founding team. They're big because they sell something that is extremely awesome compared to the market substitutes. The good guys don't always win, but they did this time. Spare us the anti-corp agita.
- lifeisstillgood 14y agoThey are stretching past the ability of a founding team to be intimate with everything - which in many many ways is fantastic - top 1% of startups only. But I read an outsourced rebranding that came in nicely wrapped up, even with legalese in appendix A. And then octo-goodness sprinkled on top. This does not feel like a move and an announcement with GitHub DNA at is heart. It feels added on. Done well, but my antennae twitched. The move from scrappy startup to 100m in funding is fantastic - real poster-boy stuff. But losing your identity in that move, what makes that team great, is so common it should have a name. I want Preston-Warner et al to succeed. I want them to leap the chasm into a functioning corporate body that does whatever they have planned. But this one feels like the huge difficulties in running a fast growing high profile company might just be stretching them. I don't know - all I have are inferences and hunches. Maybe they have time each day to think and ruminate on what GitHub needs to become, have time for creativity. Or maybe they run from one to another meeting exhausted at days end. Who knows. But like I said, if they even read this, they can wipe the tears away with bunches of Benjamin's. good for them, good luck. Think of it commenting on growing pains, not diagnosing terminal cancer Anti-corp agita? I used to take over the college buildings in student protests, then sit up all night arguing market driven solutions beat socialism everytime.
- philipwalton 14y agoDoes anyone else notice the striking similarity between the new Enterprise design and Bootstrap? I guess that's what you get when you hire Mark Otto. https://enterprise.github.com/ https://enterprise.github.com/ http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/ http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- dangrossman 14y agoThey built the page with Bootstrap. Almost all the CSS classes are provided by it. What's wrong with that?
- dubcanada 14y agoNothing considering how many "start ups" do the exact same thing. At least github enterprise changed some stuff.
- philipwalton 14y agoI wasn't suggesting anything's wrong with it. Certainly the creator of Bootstrap has liberty to copy himself. I guess I'm just a little surprised he didn't want to showcase his variety.
- markdotto 14y agoMeh, I'm usually not one for variety :). The purple space background was designed by an illustrator here at GitHub and I just put it to use. That the page ended up being purple and blue like Bootstrap is kind of just a coincidence. Previously the Enterprise site's background was a custom-made OS X ish space background—lots of blue and gold. Beyond that I don't see a huge concern of the two looking similar. Bootstrap 3's homepage will be massively different from v2s today if it helps though.
- revx 14y agoAnyone know the reason for the drip of water that the Octocat is holding?
- cmelbye 14y agoIs it just me, or is the logotype very similar to Atlassian's? I like it a lot.
- callmeed 14y agoDoes this mean my GitHub hoodie is a collectors item because it has Octocat v 1? Should I stop wearing it?
- ctdonath 14y agoWhat's the story behind Octocat? That...thing...doesn't really do much for me as far as a corporate logo goes. Rather complex shape (see references to scaling problems), sorta catish but not, WTH is that weird tail (cat, four legs and a...), this post is the first reference to "octo" I've seen in the months I've used the service, there's 5 limbs not 8, etc. Makes me think of a little kid in a Halloween costume. "Github" name works fine. "Git" spoofs "get" a la archiving, "hub" is central connector/repository, concatenated the name just rolls off the tongue and instantly works as a coined term. Rendered in a nice unique font, great. But then there's that creature...
- jlgreco 14y agoIt was a stock image apparently. Here are a bunch of the others: http://octodex.github.com/ http://octodex.github.com/ I've always figured it fits because: 1) The internet likes cats. 2) Git can do octopus merges I guess?
- petepete 14y agoAh, thanks for that - I didn't realise they were stock images. The Github for Android logo is amongst those too http://octodex.github.com/droidtocat/ http://octodex.github.com/droidtocat/
- ricardobeat 14y agohttp://www.idokungfoo.com/ http://www.idokungfoo.com/ is the original illustrator, he sells artwork on istockphoto.com.
- Oompa 14y agoIt was a stock image that started on the 404 page. People loved it, so the octocat started showing up in more and more places and then grew to become the logo.
- dkuntz2 14y agoGit isn't a spoof of get, Linus named it because he's a git. Or at least that's what he said once.
- ryanmarsh 14y agoI'll probably get down-voted into oblivion but... Quick, find a way to make this about you.
- frazerb 14y agoI'm a little surprised by the striking similarities between Octocat and the "Octonauts" (www.octonauts.com) - a cartoon in the UK that my two kids are mad about. I'm trusting that these copyright/design right concerns have been contemplated at least - not least because of the similarity in name as well as in design. (See the google images link for a collection of octonauts: http://goo.gl/Xek21 http://goo.gl/Xek21)
- aspir 14y agoIf the Octonauts wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octonauts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octonauts) is correct, the show's airing was 2 years after the founding (and copyrighting of the octocat) of GitHub
- martey 14y agoThe Wikipedia page also notes that the Octonauts are based on books published in 2006, 2 years before the founding of Github. While I am not a lawyer, I do not think there is very much similarity between the two. Github's Octocat is half-octopus, half-cat. The Octonauts are 8 nautical animals (including an octopus and a cat).
- ricardobeat 14y agoNot really that similar, big heads and round ears. The artist who drew the octocat has plenty of other characters in the same style: http://www.idokungfoo.com/ http://www.idokungfoo.com/
- frazerb 14y agoAll very wise observations, folks. I feel better now. And thanks.
- instappen 14y agoWhile I love GitHub, and I use it on a daily basis... I'm really confused how news like this gets to the very top, but other submissions (many highly technical) sometimes barely get 5 votes. I'll get off my soapbox now.
- prezjordan 14y agoDoes this mean I have to get a new shirt? Logo looks cool, where's the new favicon? ;)
- staunch 14y agoIt probably feels to them like GitHub is so well known that the company needs to be called that. I think they're actually early enough on that they could just make it one of their products. SocialCoding, Inc. / | \ GitHub ??? ???
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoI'd prefer: OctoCat Enterprises, Inc. / | \ GitHub ??? ???
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- robert-boehnke 14y agoThey actually went down the opposite path, changing their company name from Logical Awesome to GitHub See https://github.com/blog/589-new-year-new-company https://github.com/blog/589-new-year-new-company
- staunch 14y agoWell, it's pretty common to have a generic name for your corporation. No one but their lawyers ever really knew about that name. I'm saying that I think they could actually build a corporate brand separate from GitHub.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Shtirlic 14y agoThey should add whiskers to the new logo.
- Tobu 13y agoFrom https://github.com/logos https://github.com/logos Please don't do these things: - Create a modified version of the Octocat or GitHub logo Do they have something against the Octodex? http://octodex.github.com/ http://octodex.github.com/
- hga 13y agohttp://octodex.github.com/faq.html http://octodex.github.com/faq.html The most relevant one: "Q: Can I submit an octocat to the Octodex? We make quite a few octocats here at GitHub. Since they probably wouldn't be seen by more than a few people internally, we created the Octodex as a way to show them to the world. Everything on this list is official GitHub artwork and is under GitHub's trademark license, so we only include submissions from people affiliated with GitHub." And their quality is indeed very high. Since others might be wondering about the implications of what you quoted: "Q: Can I make my own octocat? So long as it is created for personal/fan use, you are more than welcome to create and display your own octocat. If you choose to distribute your octocat, you may not do so with a license, Creative Commons or otherwise, that allows modification or distribution of the octocat."
- garyspl 13y agoI think it's a solid step forward. It's a more serious typeface for a more serious company.
- campuscodi 13y agoI still like the old one more. But whatever....
- juice13 13y agoI clicked on the link, and this made me chuckle: http://imgur.com/c2NKgO1 http://imgur.com/c2NKgO1
- Kristories 13y agoI don't recognize gist.github anymore Old : http://drupal.org/files/images/gist.png http://drupal.org/files/images/gist.png New : https://gist.github.com/assets/modules/header/github-gist-logotype-40d4cbbac0d65917e732449ebe4a0ff5.png https://gist.github.com/assets/modules/header/github-gist-lo...