FOSSY Logo
I was approached by Software Freedom Conservancy for the purpose of delivering design assets for their new open source event FOSSY (Free and Open Source Software Yearly), held on July 13 to July 16 2023 in Portland, Oregon.
FOSSY (Free and Open Source Software Yearly) is Software Freedom Conservancy’s first conference, and it is to be held on July 13-16th 2023 at the Oregon Convention Center. FOSSY is focused on the creation and impact of free and open source software, uplifting contributors of all experience.
IDEATION
I was asked to think of the logo along the lines of a ‘tree’ theme. Now trees aren’t something new, but finding out elements in a tree that can be viewed in an interesting way was a challenge. For this, I would go out with my sketchbook on a walk and simply sketch from observations or if something comes to my mind.
I researched about tree elements and came up with four ideas:
The logo will be comprising of leaves and some meaningful pattern.
The fractal (a recursive structure) bark will produce a meaningful pattern
The annual rings (in the tree's cross sectional view) can produce a very beautiful logo
Tree elements such as flowers or fruits can be used
I tried to explore all the directions that were coming to my mind, and I was focusing on making the logo attractive and unique. I did not want to make a traditional logo for this event and had the flexibility of making my design a little more complicated than the general logos.
After some brainstorming, giving shape to my ideas and final inputs from the SFC team, I went ahead with the annual ring idea. The rings signified a deeper meaning of growth in contrast with the other ideas, and they were also very unique for a logo.
It took me a lot of hand scribbling, refining and vector sketching to finally get to the logo FOSSY has today.
EVOLUTION
Naturally, a tree’s annular rings are not perfectly at the center. However, they are also not as shifted as I made them as. I did so to make the center of the rings and eventually one of the rings could align perfectly with the ‘O’ (open) in ‘FOSSY’.
After the initial rough sketch, the simplistic and formal logo was rejected because of how unnatural and plain it looked. It could be easily confused for a telecommunication company or any other company with concentric circles in their logo, despite its wood-like colors.
From there, I made the rings more natural and artistic by hand drawing the lines and slowly smoothening them out, alternating their thickness and look to develop a richer logo.
I wanted to keep the logo monochromatic, so that it could be more versatile for print and digital media.
