I was chatting with Kasinja the other evening. Something we discussed was branding of SPACE assets. We talked about how the various projects can be linked together. I asked about whether they had a logo and Kasinja said they needed one. He also pointed out that it was very expensive to have that sort of work done in Uganda. I said I wasn't suggesting registering a trademark, rather simply making decisions about a look that the various assets of the project might share.

I don't know much about how to do graphic design. All the software on my computer and I know how to use a tiny fraction of what the software can do. I can learn, even if I'm a slow learner. But in point of fact it is really important to learn a bit about graphic design to be in the publishing business. Clearly we can't pay others to do it, but others may be helpful in showing us how to do it. I suggested that we try and Kasinja said something like, "Okay, you first."

I thought about ideas for a logo. One idea I like is an imprint called Rocket Books with a cartoon picture of a rocket ship rising into the sky. But of course what we want is a logo for the organization as a whole. Another thought was a histogram using the colors of the Ugandan Flag, but that didn't seem to convey any information really--I mean the attempt was to connect the Uganda with Science but graphically it didn't do it for me. So I thought of another obscure reference. Professor Ron Eglash has written about African Fractals. For those with fast Internet his Ted Talk is worthwhile. One of the African fractals he provides is the Ethiopian Cross. There is an applet that's interesting to explore about the pattern. The first iteration of the Ethiopian Cross is graphically simple and so I wanted to play around a bit more with it as a possible logo.

All right the shape is very simple, and should be easy to create using software I already have. But as I point out, I'm ignorant about how to use the software. I first tried using the Draw component of Open Office. I think it's easy, but couldn't really figure it out. I tried opening an ancient--and legitimate license--of an ancient edition of PhotoShop Elements, but it wouldn't open for me today. So I tried GIMP an Open Source image manipulation program. It's a powerful program, but I don't know how to use it. So I just drew the image.

I'm incompetent, and that's what Kasinja was worried about too I think. But we can learn and in particular we can learn from others. Creating a logo should be within our abilities, especially with advice from others. So I hope people will contribute to the discussion.

Photo Link

Also I uploaded a PDF of Uganda SPACE in various fonts as well as how the logo might look on a letterhead. I do think that the Ethiopian Cross has potential for the logo. It would be good to make the shape with computer tools. Then it could be scaled well and be exactly square to make good a Favicon. The image could be stacked or placed side to side with the text in between. I even found some cool manipulations of the image using the tools in GIMP, one example I put up at Flickr. So if you care to, play around with this image. Or better yet come up with your own ideas and share them.

There are Web sites that make it easy to create logos, and the cost is not too steep, for example at this site the cost was $70. I didn't read the license agreement because I think that this sort of graphic design is something the organization must develop in house. So the logo provides a learning opportunity. I hope that members will take an interest.