Identity: use a white "diaspora*" wordmark instead of the black star logo in the navbar.

This is just for desktop UI, right? Mobile = no change?

I think we could use the wordmark on the mobile version for 480px wide and above, and keep the white asterisk for anything below that resolution, since the remaining icons wouldn't fit with the full logo on small screens.

I think the proposal looks nice. The current dark star on dark background is not very visible and looks a bit strange to me. However, I partly agree with @goob on that diaspora* should be clean, subtle and humble.

I personally would be in favor of a white asterisk: It's clearly visible, provides recognizable branding, but it's just a small, unobtrusive mark on the side.

@goob , @tirifto I see your point, but don't think in this case it's bashing the brand in your face as you see it, since we are not making Diaspora* signs to nail on public places (as Google or McDonalds do), this is about putting a signature to help people recognize the project and that signature it's on the project itself.
I think the Diaspora* logo states more than just being a "brand", it's the symbol of an idea and a community too, why hide it?

And last but not least, it's a tiny logo on a nav bar, it's not a full screen watermark on the background...

Well, think about it! :)

Well, think about it!

I already did, and wrote the outcome of my thinking.

I think the Diaspora* logo states more than just being a “brand”, it’s the symbol of an idea and a community too, why hide it?

We're not hiding it: the logo (an asterisk) is there in the header bar.

Oh, and there has already been discussion about changing the logo to white, which was rejected. It now goes to a light grey on hover, but remains low-contrast when not focused.

Okay, tl;dr warning ;)

Am I right if this proposal aims to communicate the diaspora brand, or rather the text "diaspora"? Because, as I stated in my vote, branding an application using the actual name of the company or whatever is really not good practice. People don't use diaspora in order to get to know about diaspora, they use it do communicate and test it. It makes sense on the other hand to do this on the official foundation site, wiki or blog for example.

the wordmark will immediately answer the question “what is that?”

The problem is that the logged in users on diaspora doesn't wonder "what is that". I think that we at least must try to identify which public that has that question, in order to logically fill the gaps of "what is that".

So, when do these people ask that question? I'd say when looking over the shoulder of a friend or when looking at a public post or profile without logging in (when getting a link for example). IMO the solution is not to brand diaspora super clear and obvious, for stated reasons, but rather work more in line of the start page. Most start pages of different pods have some basic information, branding and links to relevant sites. All the branding there is temporary until the visitor logs in, signs up or reads more.

If we imagine applying this to the public version of the site, i.e when not logged in, it suddenly makes more sense. An idea would be to add a subtle "popup" notification or dismissable header that states you're not logged to that diaspora pod, along with options to log in, show in my pod (which could be a really cool feature - auto push to the other pod if it hasn't got it!) or hide/dismiss. Then add in an What is diaspora? link taking the visitor to the diasporafoundation site and it's happy times.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Well, it's quite discouraging for me to see how this fairly obvious "identity 101" moves also start to add long posts.

Guess who uses a tiny icon instead of its wordmark for the header: Facebook. Why? Because they can afford it, because (sadly) every one knows how the f··k Facebook looks.

Maybe I'm not clear enough, of course I'm trying to catch those (maybe very few) "over the shoulder" users, the ones that don't know diaspora*, and even further, I would love to see people sharing screenshots or screencasts with the logo on it. As I see it, it's an strategic move. And an extra reason for me: I really like the logo, the word diaspora in small caps with the asterisk, gets to me. This is quite subjective, but I think it also looks good on the UI. It's a beautiful logo. I have absolutely no trouble in having the logo all the time on my screen.

The rest of the work you mention is of course needed, but it's already on its way (I hope):

Foundation: I already made a proposal for the foundation site ( http://pablocubico.github.io/fosdem2015/img/diasporasite-new.png ) , and I would love to have some help to finish it, I also started an Identity project on Github (
https://github.com/pablocubico/diaspora-identity ).

Identity: Last days, I got an email from @elliotlepers , he mentioned he was very interested in overhauling identity, would love to have his feedback on this.

Start pages: I mentioned Elliot the need to do something beautiful about those pages you mention (start, creating profile, first time users, etc), and I saw some of his work and I have to say I would really love to see those pages redesigned with an identity overhaul.

So, that is all coming next, I'm sure diaspora* will have a strong foundation site and nice pages.

So, maybe I'm wrong, maybe we should take this discussion out to Diaspora, and make the actual Diaspora users somehow vote on this topic, because I feel that we are all making assumptions here.

Your proposal was (and still is) fine.

It could not have been any simpler:

Use the white wordmark instead of the black asterisk

And the accompanying note of:

This topic is not for commenting about the looks of the navbar, ONLY for voting which logo should be placed there

...was equally as clear.

Never understood why the asterisk is white on mobile and black on desktop anyway :)

Yeah, @hola please don't let some disagreement distract your work. If community reaches a strongish consensus then we just go with that. We will never reach 100% consensus - that is why we have voting!

If the vote goes closer than 9/2 we just extend the schedule and invite more community members to give their voice. But we shouldn't let the process stop because some of the community disagrees.

I would be happy for the word 'diaspora' to appear in the header only for logged-out users, those who might have received a link to a Diaspora page and might not know what it is that they are looking at.

I’m trying to catch those (maybe very few) “over the shoulder” users, the ones that don’t know diaspora*

I would think the best solution for over-the-shoulder viewers would be simply to ask the person who is using the page 'What is that?' To add the word to the header and show every logged-in Diaspora user in the world what they already know just for the sake of the occasional occurrence of a person looking over someone's shoulder and thinking 'I wonder what that is?' seems to me to be counter-productive.

In my view, the header bar doesn't need more things filling it.