In https://github.com/jethrokuan/org-roam/issues/533, we discussed needing a logo. We’ll use Discourse to proceed further with the discussion, and conduct a poll.
(EDIT: I guess the linkback works, but sucks that it’s posting from my user account…)
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I’ve designed a number of logos, the history of which can be tracked on the #533.
The two prime contenders for the moment are the following:
I have a preference for the one one the right because I think the rainbow-colours give a little more personality to the unicorn. I could tweak the colours to make something a little more low-key, but I like the general idea.
I agree; I like the rainbow.
But … the concerns about the name on the github issue; seems like might now be a time to resolve them. This logo, for example, has “ROAM” as the only text, which seems to me a problem.
When designing a logo, it’s important to keep to a few ideas rather than crowd them. I’ve elected not to include ‘ORG’ in the logo because I felt that the unicorn was enough. If I were to add it, I believe it would feel too crowded.
Now, we might be able to look into options in making that unicorn more ‘Org-roamy’, but I’m waiting for manageable suggestions that would fit well with the original design, since people seem to like it.
To be clear, by “problem” I only mean that Roam Research may not be happy about it, so a potential “legal” problem.
@jethro mentioned that the folks over at Roam Research were aware of the project and unlikely to be bothered by it. If things change in the future, changing the name will be trivial.
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My 2c on the logo — I prefer the simplicity of the left one.
Re: name overlap,
Given that the Roam Research creator has directed people to org-roam on twitter, when asked about local files / version control, I get the impression that they don’t mind at all ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Also, variant logo idea.
Since org-roam is a really nice long-term strategy for organizing one’s life I’m thinking a chess horse could be symbolically appropriate. Of course, the big thing with this is we get roam + org-mode in Emacs, so how about… (drumroll) a chess unicorn?
That could work. I’m booked this week, but I’ll try to give it some thinking next week-end.
Keep in mind that the current owner might not care, but the possible future VC-funded corp that ends up inglobating them might (and this is not an unlikely scenario)
I think if this project were called org-roam-reaserch that would be one thing, but from a trademark point of view: there are so many registrations roam that I can’t imagine it being an issue.
Regarding the nature of this project, from what I can tell is that these are established ideas, implemented well by Roam Research in an attractive manner.
So while I may have no legal experience, I can’t see there being anything to worry about.
Just my impression 
To be frank, we hardly care about the name or the logo, even if the symbolism is nice. Both of them can be changed with minimal friction.
Personally I think a name change would be a good idea. The project owes some inspiration to Roam, but it needn’t tie itself to the identity. I also foresee us being able to do many more things than Roam due to the extensibility of Emacs.
I would love to hear some ideas for alternative names. One I’ve thought of is “ergo”.
To call the systematic organization of one’s knowledge a “roam” sells it short. Ideas are a consequence of other ideas. I’m sure we could also come up with a backronym that nods to Roam’s inspiration as well:
Emacs Roam Graphing + Org
etc.
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Finally had the time to took a stab at the logo/symbol using @tecosaur’s idea on a chess unicorn:
Drumroll…
General idea would be to have a rather simple, striking monocolor symbol inspired by chess, hence the black an white. Regarding name/text I would like to keep the prefix org- just to tie it together with org-mode. Didn’t have time to explore the typesetting of the name at this point.
Oh and everything is a bit wonky regarding the proportions of the horse, this is just a quick WIP concept
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