🌟New logo design for Django Commons

[viscofuse]

Edit from Django Commons:

The request for a new logo has been completed, thank you to @Violette-Allotey and everyone else who helped push the discussion forward.

---

Original post:

Hello everyone! My name is Kirby and I joined the dc community to design a new logo. I'm excited to get going on this project!

Please answer the questions below to help me get a better feel for how to make the new logo reflect the community goals, themes, and principles. Any input is helpful.

1. Is there meaning behind the current logo? What does the current logo mean to you?
2. Which themes do you see in django-commons that you would like to be reflected in its logo?
3. Do you currently have a design or iconography in mind?

Is there any other information you think I should have before sketching some ideas? 💭 Let me know in the comments!

Glad to be here!

[akshayvinchurkar]

@viscofuse if you upload the current logo that would be helpful, I did find something but not sure it's a correct logo

[viscofuse]

Hi @akshayvinchurkar, you can find the current logo on the github overview page, or here. I'm not sure if there are variations or alternates.

[bckohan]

@viscofuse Thanks for taking this on!

1. The current logo evokes "grassroots" for me. I'm not sure if this metaphor extends to other cultures - but it's mostly used in America to refer to efforts owned and led by people at the bottom of a hierarchy. Most commonly seen in politics. I get the extension of this metaphor to django-commons, but I suspect it might not travel far beyond english speaking liberal democracies.
2. I think the two most important themes for me are "community" and "collaboration"
3. I do not! But if possible, it might be nice for it to evoke Django as well in some way.

[tim-schilling]

It was definitely created to represent the commons area of land for animals to pasture as a callback to the historical meaning of the commons. I personally think that the definition of shared natural resources is relevant to OSS and worth trying to evoke visually.

[ryancheley]

@viscofuse @akshayvinchurkar thank you for chiming in on this issue. One of the things we (the admins) want to be is transparent and respectful of your time. None of the admins are designers and we’re wondering what the standard practice is for picking a logo / designer.

Is it typical for us to ask several designers to submit a couple of designs and then pick one, or do we pick a designer and then ask for a few logo ideas that we then pick from.

Either way we believe that there will be many opportunities for design needs across Django Commons. We just really want to make sure that we’re adhering to designer expectations. The admins are all very excited about this, we just want to make sure we do it in a way that is well understood by both sides.

If you can respond back on this discussion with typical experiences / expectations we’ll work on helping to provide the best information we can as a team. Thank you again for volunteering!

@django-commons/admins if I’ve missed anything please be sure to chime in.

[viscofuse]

@ryancheley Great questions, here. I propose that we focus on the logo first, since that is what the original request lays out. I am also excited to work on this project. I had only heard of django in name before taking on this project, and I think more orgs should have goals like django commons'.

Typically, you should work with just one designer who will work through a few iterations until you get a logo you are happy with. Of course, you can ask multiple designers for designs, but the time and effort that goes into the research and artistic design of a logo is not minimal, so I just ask that you let anyone working on the same project know beforehand.

This is what I propose as far as process:
I can put together a few questions to guide you on what to be thinking about for your logo, after which I'll do maybe 3-5 rough sketches that convey different directions we could take. I'd send them to you (admins or whoever) for feedback, iterate on one or two based on what you decide, and send a more polished version to you. We can continue iterating as needed. All of this is flexible - if you don't like any of my rough drafts, I'll take your feedback and make some more sketches (or you could tell me to get lost 🏃‍♀️).

I expect this process to take a few iterations until we land on something everyone is happy with. From there, I will build out the logo's visual identity (variable styles and use cases) and provide the vectorized images.

Hope this makes sense and aligns with what you all were thinking.

[mzemlickis]

@viscofuse Hey! I'm a designer eager to contribute. I suggest we start by gathering drafts from multiple designers and then hold a community vote to move this forward together.

[viscofuse]

@mzemlickis Hi there, I'd be happy to work alongside you on the logo if that is the direction the admins would like to take. However, as @ryancheley mentioned in his post above, there may be many opportunities across django-commons for design work. It may be in everyone's best interest if we divide and conquer rather than both of us spending time on one logo. Is that something you are open to?

@django-commons/admins

[mzemlickis]

Yes, I can handle the UI part as well if needed, not a problem. :))

[tim-schilling]

Yup, yup. There are plenty of opportunities. I know the debug toolbar is something we've been wanting to revisit in terms of UI and accessibility, but haven't made time for. cc: @django-commons/django-debug-toolbar

If someone wants to take a peek there and start proposing incremental ideas, I'm pretty confident the team would be open to it.

[viscofuse]

@mzemlickis Which one would you like to take on? Logo or toolbar? Either way, I think we should bounce ideas off of each other as we iterate.

[johnatanmoran]

Hello everyone!

Before moving forward with the first sketches for the new Django Commons logo, I wanted to briefly introduce myself and express my gratitude for the warm welcome. My name is johnatanmoran, and I’m genuinely excited to help contribute to the project's visual growth. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the values, history, and vision of Django Commons through your contributions.

Thank you in advance for any time, ideas, and feedback you can share during this initial phase. Your experience and perspectives will be key in creating a logo that truly embodies the collaborative and open spirit of the project.

If any team member or @admins would like to help by answering a few questions to guide the design proposal, your collaboration would be greatly appreciated. I’ll wait this week for your responses; if I don’t hear back, I will begin my process based on the research and insights I’ve already gathered. The first drafts will be ready for collective review by mid-October.

Thank you again for your trust and for making this a great collaborative space!

Here are the questions:

---

Current or Previous Logo

1. Rate the current logo
   On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means “I hate it” and 10 means “I love it.”
2. What do you like most about the current logo?
3. What do you like least about the current logo?

The New Logo

4. What do you want as a member?
   Please describe what you want from the logo, also describe what you DON’T want.
5. How would you describe the django-commons to a non-member?
   Describe the Django Commons community as thoroughly as possible.
6. How do you want/expect the logo to look?
   What kind of design do you have in mind?
   If possible, share references (images of brands or logos you like or that you think fit the future brand).
7. Why?
   Describe the reasons why you want the logo to look the way you outlined above.
8. What do you want to convey to anyone who sees the logo?
   What feelings, values, or ideas do you want the logo to evoke?
9. History
   Please provide any relevant background about the community.
10. Context
    What media or platforms will the logo be used on?
    (For example: website, GitHub, social media, documentation, presentations, etc.)
11. Finally, three adjectives
    Describe the community/project using only three adjectives.

[tim-schilling]

Hi @johnatanmoran, please hold off on this. We're in the process with someone else already.

[johnatanmoran]

Hi @tim-schilling,

Thank you for letting me know—no problem at all.

If there’s any way I can help the team or support the process, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m happy to assist in any capacity, whether that’s collaborating on assets, providing feedback, or even organizing the design process in a repository-like environment for better documentation and collaboration. Would love to contribute however I can.

Wishing you a smooth workflow, and I’m here if you need me!

[Violette-Allotey]

Hello everyone, 👋

I’m Violette Allotey, and I’m excited to join this amazing community! My background is in finance and creative design, and I’m also building educational projects for children that combine storytelling, design, and STEM learning.

I’m passionate about using design to make technology feel more welcoming and intuitive. In Django Commons, I look forward to contributing to design-related initiatives—whether through UI/UX improvements, visual storytelling, or creating engaging resources that make Django more accessible to beginners and creative learners.

I’m thrilled to learn, collaborate, and contribute to open-source in a meaningful way. Looking forward to connecting with you all and being part of the journey!

[jeffreylkarl]

Hey everyone,

I caught this project a couple of weeks ago. It seems I may have missed the boat; however, since I've already put together a submission, I thought I would post it here. If you're already working with another designer, perhaps these logos can be repurposed for another project.

I was inspired by the reply from @tim-schilling in August about his understanding of the commons:

It was definitely created to represent the commons area of land for animals to pasture as a callback to the historical meaning of the commons. I personally think that the definition of shared natural resources is relevant to OSS and worth trying to evoke visually.

So I decided to do some research on the historical commons. I found some interesting imagery. One that jumped out at me was this conjectural map of a medieval manor:

I then researched what the actual word for "the commons" was in Old English. Turns out there's a pretty exact translation "gemæne.".

The word "Gemaene" (more accurately spelled as "gemæne" or "ġemǣne" in Old English) means "common," "general," or "mutual" and refers to something shared or held in common by a group. It was used both as an adjective (for describing collectively shared qualities or possessions) and as a noun (meaning "fellowship" or "intercourse").

Some Old English dictionaries have it listed as meaning "united."

---

There was also a happy accident: the LLM I was using hallucinated at first and created a new word: "Ƿæmaene" (pronounced "wamaene").

While this word is complete nonsense, I was interested in the first letter: it's called a "wynn." It is a letter from Old English that originally came from Old Norse. It was originally a rune that had its own meaning: joy or bliss

A few things that stood out to me about the Wynn:

• First, it's a homophone of "win."
• The obviously positive connotation with the real meaning: joy, bliss.
• The connection to Old English.
• Visually, it almost looks like a miniature conjectural map of a medieval manor.
• The Wynn almost looks like an inverted "d" and "j" from "django" merged together.
• It has its own Unicode character. So, if used as a symbol, it could be copied and pasted anywhere on the web.

So I thought the Wynn would make a perfect logomark.

---

However, I also wanted to create a unique logotype. I was looking for an original transcript that actually includes the word "gemæne". It took a little bit of digging, but I found an entry from the Junius Manusript, written in A.D. 1000.

---

So I took the two greens from the Django website...

...and used them to color a logomark version of the Wynn:

The inner part of the Wynn is the darker green. This is meant to symbolise this inner enclosure (the commons) being more fertile than the surrounding land.

---

Next, I created a logotype, using the Junius Manuscript as a reference. I deliberately added some jitter to the edges to give it the handwritten calligraphic look. I think this contrasts quite well with the smooth edges of the Wynn:

---

So the final set of logomarks and logotypes came out looking like this:

---

Again, sorry I came in a little late to this. If Django can't make use of the logos, perhaps they can be repurposed for another project.

---

Final logos as SVGs:

[tim-schilling]

Dang! I'm very impressed. I'll admit, I skipped to the bottom and was trying to read "gemæne" and failing, thinking "what in the world am I trying to read?!" Going back through the post properly, it makes total sense. Though I did laugh at the comment "While this word is complete nonsense" regarding an LLM hallucinating 😁.

I really, really like these images. I won't argue for it to become the logo, but there may be a place for it around the ethos of the organization or in the Django community. It feels like something that could be used to annotate points or quotes that are on-brand with the community's ideals.

Concretely, I would like to see us try to incorporate this into the values area of the website (https://django-commons.org/values/). I think you should also write this up as a blog post so we can bring some attention to you and mention it in on our media page: https://django-commons.org/media/

[jeffreylkarl]

Thank you very much!

And I would be quite happy to write the comment up as a blog post (where would I send that, btw?)

I really like your suggestion about using it as a more general logo to represent the community's ethos. Perhaps these would work better as merch or swag for the Django community. This gave me an idea to create a black and white version of the logo. But instead of knocking the logo entirely to black, I thought it might be interesting to return to the original inspiration of the conjectural map. Those lines on the map resemble hatching lines, the kind an artist would use to create a grey color.

---

And—obviously— there would need to be t-shirts with inside jokes/puns on them... "Django, for the Wynn."

---

I would be happy to develop these further if the Django community takes to them. And, of course, I will work these into a blog post, as well.

[tim-schilling]

I didn't want to lock this discussion, but I also didn't want others to continue to do work on something that won't be considered. I've edited @viscofuse's post to start with a note about this. Oh, I discovered I can close discussions 😁

[jeffreylkarl]

Hi @tim-schilling

I wasn't entirely sure where to send this, but I converted my original comment from this thread into a blog post below.

---

Integrating the Historical Commons into Django’s Visual Identity

The Django Commons project recently sought out the assistance of the Open Source Design community for creating a new logo. Below is one concept that came out of that design exploration. The goal behind this particular logo concept was to take the historical roots of the term "commons" and translate it into a visual identity that speaks to the ethos of the Django project and to the open-source community more broadly.

Inspiration from the Commons

The concept of the "commons" originates from medieval times, referring to shared land where communities collectively managed resources, such as pastures for grazing animals. A comment by Tim Schilling in the Django Commons discussion thread highlighted this historical meaning as a metaphor for OSS: shared resources that benefit all. This idea became the foundation for the design.

I began looking for visual inspiration that tied to the concept of the historical commons. One of the images that popped up was that of a conjectural map of a medieval manor, which visually captures the layout of a commons area surrounded by fields and settlements. This map, with its textured lines and organic shapes, would ultimately inform the final logomark.

Discovering "Gemæne" and a Happy Accident

In further exploring the historical connections, I researched the Old English word for "commons" and found "gemæne" (or "ġemǣne"), meaning "common," "general," or "mutual." It also carries connotations of "fellowship" or "united," aligning with the collaborative spirit of Django and OSS. The word’s authenticity and visual uniqueness made it the perfect basis for a logotype.

While researching the original Old English word for “commons,” a happy accident occurred: an LLM hallucination introduced a fabricated word, "Ƿæmaene" (pronounced "wamaene"). While this word is complete nonsense, it introduced me to a new character: the "Wynn" (Ƿ), an Old English letter derived from an Old Norse rune meaning "joy" or "bliss." The wynn stood out for several reasons:

• It’s a homophone for "win."
• Its visual form resembles a miniature of the medieval conjectural map I had found earlier in my research, or an inverted merging of the "d" and "j" from "Django."
• It has its own Unicode character (U+01F7), which means it can be copied and pasted anywhere on the web.
• Its positive connotations and historical roots tied it to the community’s ethos.

I thought this Old Norse rune would serve perfectly as the basis for the logomark design.

Designing the Logomark and Logotype

Taking the wynn as a base, the logomark was designed using the two green hues from the Django Style Guide, symbolizing growth and fertility. The darker green forms the inner part of the wynn, representing the fertile commons enclosed within a less vibrant surrounding landscape.

---

For the logotype, I referred to an image of an authentic handwritten version of the word “gemaene.” This was found in the Junius Manuscript, a 10th-century text.

---

To make the logo look like authentic calligraphy, I designed the logotype with slightly jittered edges, contrasting the smooth Wynn logomark.

---

The final set of logos includes various configurations of the logomark and logotype, offering flexibility for different use cases.

Expanding the Concept: Swag and Community Ethos

While the logos were initially proposed as a potential brand identity for the Django Commons project, they could also serve as a broader symbol of the Django community’s values—collaboration, joy, and shared resources.

Additionally, I think the logos lend themselves to merchandise, such as t-shirts with playful slogans like "Django, for the Wynn."

To make these two logos more widely usable, I created a black-and-white version inspired by the hatching lines of the medieval manor map. So while the “fertile” inner commons of the Wynn logomark is solid black, the parallel lines on the edges have a “hatching line” effect, creating the illusion of a gray tone.

Further Development

Whether used as a formal logo, a community emblem, or just swag, I would be excited to refine these designs further and welcome feedback from the community.

If you’re interested in discussing these ideas or contributing to their development, please connect with me on X, GitHub, or at [email protected]

---

Final logos as SVGs:

[tim-schilling]

@jeffreylkarl do you have your own blog?

[jeffreylkarl]

Hi @tim-schilling Yep! I added the blog entry here: https://world.hey.com/jkarl/integrating-the-historical-commons-into-django-s-visual-identity-4ff8a59f