The earliest splash screen used the Gnus logo with the words "Welcome to GNU Emacs". |
In early September 2000, I received an email from Gerd Moellman, the primary Emacs developer at the time, inquiring about using the splash-logo I designed for Gnus (the Emacs newsreader cum everything developed by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen, aka. Larsi) as a splash-logo for Emacs 21 proper:
I've talked with Larsi about this, and he wouldn't mind if we used the Gnus image for the splash screen. We both think that we should ask for your opinion, though. Do you think it's okay?Naturally, I agreed (one should not squander an opportunity at achieving immortality).
However, I thought that having the same splash for both Emacs and Gnus could be confusing and visually wearisome, so I decided to see if I could design another, unique, logo for the Emacs splash screen.
The horns became an "E" rotated counter-clockwise; the "G" became the nose; the "S" became the tail; the "M" became the gnu's rump and rear-leg. |
This looked worse than before! So I attempted something new...
Tried to morph the word "EMACS" into a gnu. |
Tried "GNU", then tried "GNU EMACS". |
Added forelegs; an alien 3-legged animal. |
This iteration streamlined the shape of the gnu...
Stretching the lines, the standing gnu became a leaping gnu; the "M" formed the left fore-leg. |
Finally, a few more enhancements...
The "S" became the tail/rear-leg. |
The Emacs logo: the word "EMACS" shaped into a Gnu. |
Per Abrahamsen agreed, with some reservations:
You are most likely right, given that few users understand that the current Emacs 21 pretest logo spell "GNUS" in fancy script.As did Francis J. Wright:I think the "GNUS" logo looks better, but the "GNU Emacs" logo make more sense as a logo for GNU Emacs. Also, it look like some exotic character set, which is appropriate for a multilingual editor.
I thought it was very clever, once I figured out it was the word Emacs written in the shape of a GNU. (Well, I assume that's what a GNU looks like, we don't get too many around here.) It might just about remain intelligible as an icon. However, it's not immediately obvious that the icon I currently use is the head of a GNU, either. Nevertheless, I know immediately that it is my shortcut to GNU Emacs. So, I don't think it matters what the logo really is, but if there's a neat joke in there when you look closely then so much the better. I think this one would make a nice change, which is perhaps appropriate for a new major version of Emacs.I also hinted that I had a variant that could replace the XEmacs logo. After Hrvoje Niksic asked to see it, I posted this on Dec. 14, 2000...
XEmacs variant of the Emacs logo; the "A" and "C" combined to form an "X". |
On eve of the new millennium, I sent Gerd the following email:
I received about 4 email comments-- all positive. I looked through the web logs and counted 185 hits for the emacs logo and 120 for the xemacs logo. The first hit came 1:39s after I posted the announcement on emacs-pretesters (it looks like you're doing all the work and the rest of them are just sitting around :-).Next PartAfter some contemplation, I find the xemacs version (pretest-x01.jpg) the nicer of the two (it's more refined and subtler) and if the xemacs camp also chooses it (the murmurs I heard indicated that) then we are one more step closer to The One True Editor.
And let's not forget the fund raising for the GNU Project that would be possible with Emacs logo T-shirts, mugs, caps (and perhaps action figures).
Happy new year!
Last modified: Wed Jan 18 21:29:30 2006