Think back to the first computers you knew. For many, their first acquaintance came in the 1980s. I can recall my first encounter in a school library on a rainy day with an Apple IIe. Before touching the keyboard or flipping on the monitor one thing stood out that I will never forget. On the case of the computer was the silhouette of a small apple with a bite out of it. By itself, it would not have been remarkable, however, the logo was filled with a rainbow. To a child, the effect was magical. As an adult, I realize the logo was simple, noticeable, and memorable.
In the 1980s the rainbow was incorporated into many computer manufacturers logos. Their appearance coincided with the arrival of 16+ color monitors. Amiga adopted the rainbow check in these days, and it served as their logo for years until the boing ball came along (and it was not a coincidence that it arrived during the beginning of the 3D era).
The point of all of this is that AROS needs a new logo.
Currently, the Cat serves as a sort of mascot in place of a logo. To borrow a Yodaism, a mascot a logo makes not. BSD has their Demon, Linux their Penquin ...neither take the place of a logo, they augment it. Mascots are normally personifications of the things they represent. Logos are textual, they scale well, they explain themselves to some extent.
Which brings me to the text logo of AROS. In terms of what it /says/ to me, it recalls the Enlightenment window manager of the late 1990s. The style of the font brings to mind a sort of techno-excess from bad Sci-Fi which is difficult to reconcile with Amiga's friendly nature. The "R" is particularly confused, and has been filled in with horizontal stripes. The cats-eye is related to the mascot, but not to anything Amiga. The color, steel gray/blue, is far too tame to catch the eye and is uninspiring. As a whole, the logo looks like that of a Klingon commode manufacturer ( which you'd find right under the toilette lid ).
AROS (and Amiga) would not be alive today without a certain amount of nostalgia. If the AROS project wants to tap into more interest, it should hearken people back to the halcyon days of the Amiga. Through a logo AROS can link, rather than divorce itself from its Amiga past.
Here is a first try:
The arrow-check recalls Amiga's check, the arrows are a play on the name "AROS", the rainbow recalls that of the original Amiga logo, as does the font, and the bullseye-"O" links the text with the arrows.
Below is a smaller version:
Below is the current AROS logo for comparison:
What do you think?
