Use non-binary imagery/branding

[heyakyra]

Popular media commonly reduces trans people to a binary split. It's a catchy image to put on the cover of magazines, but it's trite and degrading. Is there imagery/branding that can be created which does not replicate this?

[gnarf]

👍 I've always hated that "dual gender" stick figure.

[backspace]

I’m cis, so I don’t have a personal stake in this and certainly defer to trans and non-binary opinions, but I’ve felt weird about the logo. Maybe it would be helpful to suggest an alternative though?

[nataliegroman]

I can try to work out a different logo. I'm the one who did all the assets,
and I can see what I can do, The logo was deliberately trying to convey a
neutrality between two extremes, but I guess it doesn't come off that way
to some.

On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Buck Doyle [email protected]
wrote:

I’m cis, so I don’t have a personal stake in this and certainly defer to
trans and non-binary opinions, but I’ve felt weird about the logo. Maybe it
would be helpful to suggest an alternative though?

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Natalie Roman - Ball State University - Telecommunications
Student Recreation and Wellness Center - Web Manager
Muncie OUTreach - Program Facilitator/Marketing Intern
Gamma Rho Lambda - Web Mistress/Herald (Public Relations)
765.713.9558
http://natalieroman.com

[tkwidmer]

If somebody can suggest alternatives that would be cool.

[tkwidmer]

I don't have the energy or the design skill to do that kind of rebranding work, But i can talk with whoever is interested in talking about ideas and obviously approve assets.

[nataliegroman]

In the same vein, I would welcome viable suggestions for alternative
designs.

On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 2:17 PM, Teagan [email protected] wrote:

I don't have the energy or the design skill to do that kind of rebranding
work, But i can talk with whoever is interested in talking about ideas and
obviously approve assets.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#187 (comment)
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Natalie Roman - Ball State University - Telecommunications
Student Recreation and Wellness Center - Web Manager
Muncie OUTreach - Program Facilitator/Marketing Intern
Gamma Rho Lambda - Web Mistress/Herald (Public Relations)
765.713.9558
http://natalieroman.com

[hkellaway]

How about the toilet image ?

[tkwidmer]

I'd rather not have a toilet as the logo, I don't think its a very powerful image, and its certainly not very unique for branding wise

[mi-wood]

Hmmm. What about some sort of swirl (representative of a toilet) that is flushing away the images of the current binary signs. I'm not much with designs or mock-ups, but it seems like it could look cool. Since it's difficult to umbrella everyone affected by restroom norms into one image, maybe it's best to show what refuge is fighting against?

[nataliegroman]

Initially tried a swirl, but it didn't look super great, no matter what I
did.

The problem is that a rebrand is a bit soon, as the existing imagery has
not even been live for a year.

On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 7:43 PM, Mike Wood [email protected] wrote:

Hmmm. What about some sort of swirl (representative of a toilet) that is
flushing away the images of the current binary signs. I'm not much with
designs or mock-ups, but it seems like it could look cool. Since it's
difficult to umbrella everyone affected by restroom norms into one image,
maybe it's best to show what refuge is fighting against?

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#187 (comment)
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Natalie Roman - Ball State University - Telecommunications
Student Recreation and Wellness Center - Web Manager
Muncie OUTreach - Program Facilitator/Marketing Intern
Gamma Rho Lambda - Web Mistress/Herald (Public Relations)
765.713.9558
http://natalieroman.com

[mi-wood]

Yeah, definitely agree. While identifying non-binary, I'm personally not bothered by it, but would also hate for someone else to be :/

[kiesia]

I wonder if the man/woman symbolism could be retained, as that is an internationally (I think) recognised sign for 'restroom'. But perhaps this symbol could be subverted in a non-binary way? I defs agree with @tkwidmer that a toilet itself would be terrible as a logo. Eww. 😄

[tkwidmer]

@kiesia I think that was the thinking and goal of the current imagry. (May not be effective). But to draw from the traditional m/f signs for bathrooms, but subvert in combining the two.

[heyakyra]

Is there a way to shape two capital letter R's back to back to look like a toilet? Or just be stylized enough to be a nice logo?

I think it's worth noting that the logo of the website doesn't have to be the symbol that people put on their bathrooms! Those will always be culturally and institutionally specific.

[DeeDeeG]

Other than the ideas for alternative icons presented here, which I think are interesting and worth looking into, I did notice something about the current logo. The arms/legs are borrowed from the original icons, but this ends up being thinner on the left and wider on the right. I think it would look less unusual if the arms/legs were the same width on each side.

Since the width of the arms/legs conveys scale, and is valuable visual design information, I suggest the width should be somewhere between the original two widths, rather than just picking one of the original widths. That said, whatever looks best is fine to go with and it's only a suggestion.

[DeeDeeG]

Quick mock-up in MS-Paint (sorry, my art skills aren't the best) of the back-to-back R style of logo.

Would probably be done with much-nicer letters, so this is just a rough sketch.

Edit: Here's another one with nicer letters (probably way more grunge-y than they should be, but the right general shape):

[DeeDeeG]

Hi folks,

It has been quite a while since this thread was opened, but I think everyone who commented here would be the right people to ask about this.

Once again there is a proposal to update the logo. Does anyone have thoughts, opinions, feedback, anything to add? I'd like some discussion before I would want to give a yea/nay answer on this design proposal. Please see RefugeRestrooms/refuge_assets#3 and #642 for details.

Thank you.

Best regards,

- DeedeeG