- To new Textpattern community members
- by Destry Wion
- Issue 4 May 2013
- Textpattern wants you. Textpattern needs you. In return, you can become a star! All it takes is some time on your hands, a team spirit, and a passion to create great things. Reading this article will help too.
- The folly and promise of theoretical (re)designs
- by Destry Wion
- Issue 3 Sep 2012
- In early August, the Lithuanian design agency, New!, published a theoretical redesign of Wikipedia, The Wikipedia Redefined. Thanks to popular media like .net bringing attention to it, news of the project quickly spread through the industry grapevine. I watched as New! took quiet heat from prominent people, and criticism from members of the Wikimedia Foundation too. Even Happy Cog watched with interest and enquired of its followers whether or not theoretical designs hurt the design industry. In this article I’d like to rephrase the question: Do they hurt the agency or individual?
- Strengthening the Textpattern brand
- by Philipp Schilling
- Issue 2 May 2012
- In the first issue of the magazine, Destry Wion proposed a new family emblem that generated a lot of pushback, including from me. While it’s understood that Destry’s proposed emblem was simply meant as a fun mark to identify Textpattern’s own websites (not meant to be a change to the brand itself), the majority of people nevertheless felt it would still be confusing. Yet there is a problem with Textpattern’s branding. Not only might a family site emblem be a good idea (albeit more brand-compliant), but an evolution of the brand itself is needed—a well-thought refinement that improves brand clarity and retention. As creator of the existing Textpattern logo, and a new member of the editorial team, I outline a slightly new look and function for the Textpattern brand and invite you to discuss the new direction. Together we can help re-establish the level of respect the Textpattern brand name once had.
- Proposal for a Textpattern family emblem
- by Destry Wion
- Issue 1 Feb 2012
- In Textpattern’s history, stewards of the project’s various microsites (docs, themes, plugins, and now this magazine)—lovingly called family—have not had a simple way of identifying their sites with the project, nor coherently with the project’s brand. While a Textpattern brand strategy would be a good thing to produce, eventually, there is a simpler and more immediate way of expressing the relationship. I propose the family of sites adopt an emblem of some symbolic nature as an effective (and even fun) way to help show their affiliation to the Textpattern project no matter what evolutions the sites go through to become more brand supportive. Further, I offer one possible design, and invite community interpretations on it, or new design ideas in comparison.
