creepy drupal logo

this is mentioned so often , a handbook page was created to explain it. http://drupal.org/druplicon
using search you can find many explainations about the logo of choice.

Personally the logo doesnt bother me at all. I have portfolio sities to show to clients and the drupal logo is already "branded" in me.

Better watch yourself... he might bite you in your sleep.

(And I like him. ;)

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Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org

But I have to admit, it kind of looks like a blue christmas ball getting ready to rob a bank. Or maybe a raindrop jack-o-lantern (seeing as haloween is coming up soon). Or perhaps an extreme skiing blueberry with ski goggles on. :D

Might be something to consider changing for the sake of promoting Drupal.

http://www.undoITsolutions.com
http://www.upadesha.com

First, let me quote one of the senior developers: "I eat, sleep, and breathe drupal. when I sleep, I wrap myself in a druplicon-covered bedsheet". I myself usually wear a Druplicon T-shirt when going to the gym so its smile encourages me forward. Oh, and have you seen my blog :) ? Another quote: "His mischievous smile represents the developers' view on the world".
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This is a creepy logo. Once you are used to it, you don't pay as much attention, but I have to say that when I first saw it I thought that this mustn't be Drupal the CMS I heard about.

If there was one thing to be changed in Drupal, it would be that! Make it a read nice drop, like a photograph of a drop of water would do a lot better. (okay, also I'd replace everything with objects instead of arrays, but that's just my coder point of view, probably not worth even worth one penny!)

Sorry in advance for the length of this post, but I sometimes lay awake at night thinking about the Druplicon so I have lot's to say about it:

I have to admit, there's something really creepy about the Druplicon.
But I think that's part of the charm.

One of those weird can't-quite-put-your-finger-on-it type of things.
Probably it's complete incongruity and lack of correspondence with anything in reality.
Sure, it sort-of looks like a drop of cartoon water... But not really... Or a cartoon face... But not really...

It's the kind of thing that probably would have left me perplexed/frightened as a small child.
Like circus clowns or women who wear too-much makeup.

Nevertheless, I love the Druplicon - and somehow - find it's creepiness intriguing enough to make me love it that much more.

I think this weird effect that it has on people is (at-least partially) a contributing factor in Drupal's overall success.
People seem to love things that they immediately 'get' and yet never really fully understand.
The allure of mystery perhaps - at least on a subconscious level.

It's probably the same principle at-work with weird neologistic names like: 'Drupal', 'Joomla' or 'Google'.
Or meaningless car-names like: 'Previa', 'Prefect' or 'Presida'.
Just irritatingly non-sensicle enough to stick in your head so you never forget it.

I considered writing an entire in-depth analysis on why I think this is the case but quickly realized that outside of certain marketing/advertising circles... Maybe psychology circles... No one really cares.
But maybe I'll still write it anyway.

Still I have to agree, Druplicon is not exactly the most professional looking icon to represent the platform.
But I just use that fact as an excuse to show-off my graphic design skills with my own custom: 3D Druplicon
Which, (BTW) y'all are free to download and use if you'd like:

My Version:

http://white-buffalo.com/sites/default/files/druplicon.png

I think it looks pretty hot.
I can't take full credit though...
It was actually inspired by a sweet Drupal graphic used on this Scribble Designs post:
(a very informative site for Drupalers, BTW)

Scribble Designs Version:

http://www.scribbledesigns.co.uk/2008/04/03/howto-configuring-triggers-a...

I cut-out the opaque background, removed the cheesy shadow and then basically just jazzed-it-up with some spectral highlights (reflections) and added a drop-shadow.
You're welcome to use my version, but I cannot speak for Gerard McGarry (or whoever designed that Druplicon graphic on his site/post).

Side note:

I always associate the Druplicon with my local water company.
Most municipal water-utilities around the U.S. have a mascot of a water-drop that they use in their mailers and educational materials.
He's usually called "Willy Water" or "Willing Water" and although bearing a vague resemblance - he seldom (if ever) is anywhere NEAR as cool as the Druplicon.

Municipal Water Mascot:

http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedImages/government/PublicWorks/Water...

Now with all due respect to the intern that probably drew that thing... THAT is un-professional looking.
It's so bad, it makes the Druplicon look like it was commissioned by PepsiCo.

So to wrap-up my post which at this point is already WAY longer than I intended...

I vote we keep the Druplicon exactly how it is:
Kristjan Jansen and Steven Wittens did a bang-up job on it and it's WAY more interesting than 99.9% of the logos out there.
Just imagine if our logo was as boring as CiviCRM or (god forbid) Plone!
So please: No changes!

That is of course, unless someone comes up with something so undeniably cool that it simply cannot be ignored.
But I don't really know how it could get much better than it already is.
The name is Drupal and the logo is... is... Well, it's a Drupal!

Of course, I would love it and would be truly honored/flattered if my version (above) went on to become the official D7 Druplicon...
But I'm certainly not holding my breath.

I think it just looks like a happy guy. Maybe a snowboarder with goggles cruising down a hill. Nothing too creepy.

There's an interesting discussion about it over here:

http://drupal.org/node/22251

Also, some other user-contributed attempts.