Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
Show HN: A 1000 auto-generated hexagonal SVG logos (dosycorp.gitlab.io)
174 points by graderjs on Nov 12, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 77 comments



I have experimented variation on this[1] -- random hexagonal svgs filled with colors.

I like how these are numbered and deterministic though.

[1] http://williamsharkey.com/Shapes.html


These look way better than the OP. Clever.


I like the fact that the graphics of the OP look distinct on first sight, whereas the colorful one all look similar.

I personally see the in the same realm as these generic blog post icons you get when you don't assign a picture to you account.


I really like what OP has created as well. Distinct is a good way to put it. It's given me a bit to think about with my own generator -- what sort of variations could produce more novelty than what is currently generated.


Gee thanks. I feel pretty bad for you that you didn't have a good experience of this, but aesthetics aren't something that generalizes. Plus you've got another group you like with the colorful ones, so that's good for you overall.


If you don't like what I say that's not my problem. That's exactly how I feel. Downvote all you like if you need to feel better, I don't care. If you got a problem with how I feel that's your problem, not mine. Thanks.


These looks much better, and I like that you refer to them as designs and not logos.


Oh, thanks. I feel pretty sad for you that you didn't enjoy these but at least you found some new ones that you like. That's good for you.


If you don't like what I say that's not my problem. That's exactly how I feel. Downvote all you like if you need to feel better, I don't care. If you got a problem with how I feel that's your problem, not mine. Thanks.


wow thanks for sharing, these are actually good, unlike OP


Geee, thanks. I feel sad for you that you didn't have a good experience of these, but at least you have other things you like. That's good for you.


Someone at Wolfram built something similar that I thought was cool: https://blog.wolfram.com/2009/02/26/exploring-logo-designs-w...


Why do you describe them as “logos” as opposed to just graphics? Are they intended to be a design system, maybe like the MIT Media Lab brand[1]? Or are you suggesting that people should grab one to use as a logo for their project or company?

1: https://www.pentagram.com/work/mit-media-lab


Why? Because they seem like logos to me. I feel it's pretty funny that you think they're not logos. Mitsubishi etc might disagree with you.

I like that link. I think that was original inspiration for me, added to how many logos are abstract and geometric. When MML originally came out with new logo I really liked the idea of a logo that can sort of evolve or be dynamic and not be a single static image. It seemed to fit well with a software company you know because software is on the move. plus I thought it's an easy way to create like a family of branded assets both conceptually because they're all you know from the same concept or base like, 3 way symmetric, procedurally generated, as well as visually. as I knew I'd be building lots of different products I thought it was an easy way to have a family of logos sharing the same brand identity.

But I actually haven't felt the need to use any of them so far because the overall looking feel doesn't really match with the way I feel about it right now. But I still think it's interesting that's why I posted it.

People can use the code and logos however they like.


> I feel it's pretty funny that you think they're not logos.

I didn't say they weren't logos, I asked in what way you intended them to be logos rather than some other type of graphics.

It was posted as a Show HN, which is an invitation for the community to look at it and give feedback. I found myself a little puzzled over what I was looking at. To be clear, it's fine that you think of them as logos! But in common parlance, a logo represents a specific thing. It's not the shape of the Mitsubishi logo that makes it a logo. It's how it's used to represent Mitsubishi.

These are 1000 generated designs that don't seem to represent anything in particular. The two interpretations I could imagine was either that you were offering them as "free logos" for anyone to use, or that you created a generative design system for your own use, where the logo might look different every time.

You don't need to get so defensive over some downvotes (fwiw, complaining about it is against the guidelines, and your complaints about it dominates the thread by now). You made a cool thing and it's an interesting design study, but as a Show HN it's just not very clear what it is or how it's intended to be used.


Please don't tell me what they are or not. I created them. If i say they're logos then they're logos.

Please don't tell me how i need to feel. That not up to you, I'm fine how i feel, if you're not, your issue, not mine. Please don't tell me I'm being defensive, you don't know that, and are just projecting into the story that I'm defending against some attack, or i don't know show. Just some story maybe so you can pretend to look down on someone else. Please don't explain to me how show operates, i think i know better than you. I don't see you having much good experience with show, I've got more. I'm not being defensive nor defending anything nor complaining. I'm being clear how i feel about it. Why don't you criticize people trying to put down instead of criticizing me responding... Unless you support people trying to put down? If the thread is dominated by people putting down, that's not me, and if you're against that, you can speak up against it.

I just feel sad for some people they couldn't have a good experience of this because they got hung up on the wording, and sad for others they need to put down to feel better. Be positive and supportive, not negative, mean or gratuitously critical, that's in a show, but guidelines or not, that's just being kind.


Wow, this comment is awesome. It's really got a lot of attention. People are extremely engaged with my response.

Them: Why say logo?

Me: Because is logo.

Others: !!!!!!!!

What can explain this? Is it just people jealous that some "design" thing got to top of Show and onto front page, and they want to find a way to try to pretend it's wrong, and they see a bit of grey comment and they jump on thinking, "Yes, this makes me right!"

The comment cannot be faulted on its merits. It directly addresses the questions and provides interesting and useful information.

Seems people are unhappy with the dissent. Do these people dislike it when someone speaks up against someone who questions you?... So they expect silence? And the purpose of the negative score is because they want to try punish for...they're own misplaced feelings?

It's an honor that my success so infuriates a handful of haters, it makes the success seem even more significant than without the hate. But I actually feel bad for you. I don't want to think you suffer because I do well. I want to think you can be lifted up by it, too, but honestly, your feelings are not my responsibility. So if you feel threatened by it, as much as I wish that weren't the case, for your sake, there's nothing I can do about that for you, and that's only your responsibility. So, as much as it's illuminating, to be a first hand witness to this sort of pathology, it really shouldn't be a part of the medium. But because there's no way to remove it without losing the power of fading out comments...I may choose to speak up against it, like today.


I don't think it's a personal attack, the word logo does has a specific meaning:

> A logo is the central element of a complex identification system that must be functionally extended to all communications of an organization.

For what it's worth, I think it's an interesting project.


I feel a little bit sad for you that you focused on the naming, because it seems you might miss out on the project, but at least you seem to enjoy that also, so I guess that's good for you. Also, I feel it's interesting for me, and sad for them, that so many people think about the name, and want to tell me, "you wrong."

The way I think about it is, I'm not even wrong by their definitions. So their statements are rationally illogical, and therefore must be emotionally logical. I don't feel "personally attacked", just sad for the people who didn't have a great experience of this, because the thing for them was "wrong name."

People cite their own definitions, all different, but the common thread is "if it is designated to represent a thing," which I do, so they already are logos, Because I Say They Are! I clearly state that here and in the source repo: these are designated logos, to represent my company.

I can understand if, people are questioning, how can you call them your logos but also release them? But no one articulated that clearly. I don't think it takes much imagination to consider that the method is also available for people to customize to make their own family of logos, plus the logos themselves. I get if people think, "if they're your logos, how can I use them?" So perhaps them being designs or graphics to some, is a result of the desire to be able to use them, without feeling scared it will be unjustified or nonsensical.

I get that could be confusing, but it wasn't for me. The way I think about it is, take whatever you want and use it. And if in future it seems we both use the same logo, then we'll work it out. I think it's based on usage, just like a trademark, but at the end of the day I'm not going to stop anyone using them.

Actually one other thing I have not been clear about is I don't want them to be used as just designs or just graphics, I want them to be used only as logos.

After all this, I just want to bellow, "OMG, don't focus on the name, I got a right to call it whatever I like and you can't call me wrong for that, and you have to respect my wishes because I created these! I don't mind if you call them something else, but don't try to force me to use your name for them or tell me I'm wrong, when I created them and I get to Decide!"

Also, I don't want you to use them as "mere" designs, but the truth is I can't stop you from doing that. I'll just feel sad if these are relegated to "mere graphics" rather than logos. You see I'm very proud of them and I love the tripartite symmetry and the way they were created. I hope people can feel inspired by the method and the designs, and use them directly or create their own family. It seems so sad to me that people got into what they're called.

But I guess I've got my lesson. Names are important, and people have a hard time assuming what you mean if this is some unfamiliar situation you place in front of them. I just wish they would spend more effort to understand my side, because then they would have a better experience of the project. I know my work is good, so I don't feel hurt that people criticize it, I just feel sad for them that they had a not-great experience, and I feel very connected to that, since the work I created is part of that experience they had. Even tho I'm not responsible for how they feel, and I know there will always be people's bad experiences, it's still a very strong feeling and something important for me. The effects of being an empath.


Usually a graphic is called a logo because it is used to represent a thing.

Since these geometric designs don’t represent anything yet, it seems premature to call them “logos”.


I feel very sad for the people who are upset because, or couldn't enjoy them because, they don't like how I call them logos.

I did not do this to annoy you, and I feel very sorry for you that this naming has gotten in your way of having a good experience of these. I understand how you feel, and i just feel differently about it.

The logos do represent my company and its products. I could pick some to attach to a particular product.

But so could you. Then that logo would come to represent the thing you attach it to.

Also, you're free to modify these however you like. All in the MIT license.

For me there's no other purpose to these beside being logos. I get if you feel differently about it and that's okay.

If you see them as designs, graphics, alien hieroglyphs, I don't feel angry at you, I'm totally okay with that.

If you want to call them that, I have no problem. But please don't expect me to participate in your naming of the things when my naming of the things makes perfect sense to me.

I feel happy for you that your naming of the things makes sense to you.

In a more general sense...This is not programming, we don't have to have singular unambiguous definitions. There's room for a variety of interpretations. If you want to insist there's only one true way, you go ahead, I'm not stopping you, but please don't expect me to participate in your way, nor in naming things the way you want them to be named. I'll name the things my way, and if you name them differently, I'm okay with that. I hope I've made that clear how i feel about it, and I hope we can all try to understand each other's point of view, rather than pretending that our way is the one right way and everybody else must be wrong. Thank you for helping to provide me with this chance to say clearly what i feel about it.


A lot of these are pixel-for-pixel duplicates. For example, the first one and the second.


The first is an isometric view of 3 cubes. The second is a star inscribed in a hexagon


Perhaps one is a pile of cubes in a corner on the floor, and the other is a pile of cubes in a corner on the ceiling?


Clever joke :) not wrong.


Hmm, maybe they render differently in different browsers? To me, 0, 2, 8, 20, 56, 68, and more all look exactly the same.


They render differently in different visual cortices.


This guy gets it.


To be fair, it says "1000 auto-generated," not "1000 unique autogenerated."

I imagine there is some procedural difference in how they are generated that just happens to result in the same visible arrangement.


204, 210, 222, 420, 432 are also the same as 0 and 2.

it's a popular pattern in the collection.




Nice reference


When I went to page, I was waiting for something to load. After 10 seconds I realised the background was the logos. I think you need them a bit bigger and with better contrast to demonstrate your work effectively



Fuzzing PNG files sometimes leads to interesting results as well, better than any of the other rasterized formats I tried and I’m not sure why.

Still tends to break the renderer so probably more useful as a muse than creating useful logo files.


The hexagon is the bestagon.


I was hoping someone would say it


Obligatory CGP Grey Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOifuHs6eY


Is this beginning of a Copyright trolling campaign or preventing accidental infringement as similar case in music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJtm0MoOgiU ?


No way. At all. I say the code and logo is MIT licensed. But funny nonetheless ;p ... I think there's better ways to make money XD


Since there's been a bit of pedantry around words in the comments I feel it's very funny that no one's mentioned that the title seems a little strange.

"A 1000"....? Shouldn't it be "a thousand" or 1000? Nobody seemed to notice


this is really neat, thanks for sharing. ironically Firefox for Android and Desktop (with mobile view in dev tools) pixelates them - not sure if this is normal behaviour


Those shapes are a bit complex for logos, but it's still very cool.

Generative logo systems or shape generators that can make distinct but still similar enough shapes can be a great choice for large open source projects, where the community would usually come up with their own (often crappy) logos and branding for libraries.

Having a project scoped system like that where developers can pick from would make such projects appear much more cohesive overall.


I just feel sad for you that you felt they were too complex for you to enjoy them as logos. I don't think all. Many of them are very simple and look great as logos, but some are very complex looking, like 1025... But you never know. Maybe someone will use them as their logo in future.


Ok, so view source to find out how they're made (or visit the github linked here.. but it's the same effect, procedurally generated in JS embedded in the HTML). If you're expecting people to use the shapes (how are they logos?), can I suggest upon click the SVG - the source is displayed? Also, clicking off the shape to get back to the set (vs the back button since the URL changes) is hardly intuitive.


And it just so happens to have created the Blume logo from Watch Dogs - https://dosycorp.gitlab.io/dosylogo/?v923418754891239875624v...

Edit: OK, the link doesn't work it seems. It's #66 which, at least to me, is identical to #134


0, 2, 8, 20 (on the first line alone) 56, 68, 118, 124, 136 (on the first page alone) 210, 222, 420, 432... and probably more... It's almost like I can find this shape on every random place I go.


And #196, and #430... I wouldn't be surprised if others.


A few of these are incredibly close to the logos of NatWest (#825) & Mitsubishi (#831, rotated 30°).

Very interesting!


Qbert would be stoked



I think these are a good alternative to gravatar... I really like the hexagonal ones.


All I see are quilt block patterns :-)


Lots of logos, but it still didn't manage to generate Propellerhead's Reason logo.


Marvelous!

This makes me want to finish and brand one of my many 99% finished projects.


That's a wonderful reaction! I feel so happy for you've had that response it.


There's a little Easter egg here, on desktop. If you click into the detail view, and then hold down tab, it will scan through all of them, and you get like a progressive animation effect.


What is up with the back button after you go there?

1) goto website

2) click on logo

3) I think I am on a new page

4) click back

5) wtf?


Clicking a logo just has it fill up your full viewport, it doesn't push an entry to the browser history or navigate to a new page.


They might want to add a zoom-in effect so that it's more obvious.


4) press Escape to exit image preview

This was done on a desktop computer. I have no idea what the experience is like on mobile.


Know to tap whitespace outside of the bounding box?

I presume, works like this on desktop. Only found this out after several muscle memory browser back attempts (mouse button)


Just tried this on desktop after reading your comment and can confirm it works. Didn't try it before because I didn't see an X anywhere on the screen.


2158 and 2224 are the exact same logo. Indeed, there are many many duplicates.


+1 for a stunning resource.

Btw - looks way better with Hackervision.


Unfortunately many of them look similar to a swastika with 3 sides instead of 4.


> Unfortunately many of them look similar to a swastika with 3 sides instead of 4.

Yeah, like the triskele logo for the AWB: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Afrika...


It is an unfortunate association because I love that tripartite symmetry and I think that particular design looks great. Perhaps if I added more colors, I could let people ignore those connotations.


Perhaps. Also try outlines of various styles and weights rather than just solids.


Mmmm. Good idea


I can't see my original comment. It's a good one:

I feel pretty scared for you that you had this experience... It must have been very disturbing. And it's a case of you find there what you bring to it. After i read these comments i couldn't unsee the connection you mentioned for about half an hour. Now it's back normal, to the way it was before i read your comments, for me.


Which would make it NOT a swastika?

Unintentional swastika are somewhat bad, but unintentional swastika among a bunch of other auto-generated forms aren't a crime I hope.


Yes but the human brain is very good at filling in the blanks.

For example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_contours

If I draw a dog very poorly, even with missing limbs, you can recognize that as a poorly drawn dog with missing limbs.


[flagged]


Here is another comment for you to feel better about yourself by putting down. I have lots of points, I can help you, if you need to feel better about yourself by putting down what others say, here's another comment for you to put down.


1) I don't have enough karma for downvoting. If you have been downvoted, that has nothing to do with me. This is a throwaway account, I do not care about its karma.

2) I took a look at your profile, and noticed that your comments contain the word "feel" a lot, often in the context of attributing feelings to others.

Attributing feelings to people you don't know based on short fragments of text is so speculative that it can be reasonable to say it's misleading and can be a waste of time.


I'm not saying you, just whoever needs to do it. So i think you got that a bit inaccurate.

I appreciate you spent time looking at my profile, I'm grateful you would want to look. But I think you've got that a bit inaccurate...I use feel mostly to express my own feelings, but where I'm empathizing with others, it's not speculative for me, I'm confident in that and fine doing it. If you've got a problem with that, it's your issue not mine. Please don't tell me what words you "think i should" use or how you "think i should" do. It assumes you know me and what I'm doing better than me, which is trying to talk down to someone else. If you need to try to talk down to someone to feel better, i get if you feel that way, but please don't expect me to encourage your need for that. But even tho i don't encourage it, i can still help you...I've put plenty of comments here that you can put down from your main account if you have one, if you need to do that.

Anyway, thanks for letting know how you feel about it.... if you want to know how i feel about it, i think you should try empathizing with people more, even tho you're only interacting over text. In my experiences it pays to be attentive to the emotions of others. I get if you feel that's a waste of your time, i feel a very sad for you if you think you're wasting your time on HN today... But if so, you can always do something else you enjoy, so things can still be good for you today. I feel happy to think this is possible for you.

I just hope to share this thing and brighten people's day as bit by it. I feel sad to think my work is part of an experience they didn't enjoy, but i can't control how they feel about it, i just express myself, like everyone express themselves. I feel sad for you if didn't enjoy your experience of this show.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: