A logo for GNU Shepherd

December 10, 2024 14:23 -0500

GNU Shepherd version 1.0.0 was released yesterday and the logo I contributed to the project back in August was published for the first time with the announcement.

«The Shepherd is a service manager written in Guile Scheme that looks after the herd of daemons running on the system. It can be used as an “init” system (PID 1) and also by unprivileged users to manage per-user daemons.» — From Shepherd's website, 2024.

Figure 1. Logotype in its light and dark variants.

The logo is practically literal, so there's not much to say about it. One thing that might not be obvious is that the hook in the shepherd's crook is shaped like a G, which is a reference to Guile Scheme, the programming language in which Shepherd is written, configured and extended.

The lettering is not my own, it comes from the libre font Passion One, designed by Fontstage.

Part of the ideas presented in the logo proposal included services represented by little four-legged rectangles. The intention is to one day use these characters in animated scenes about the life of services, which could be used in Shepherd's website or its announcements to illustrate or to entertain.

Figure 2. Logotype variants presented in the proposal.

If you think the shepherd looks better in smaller sizes it is because I designed it to exist in miniature interactive worlds, where one can save time in details. I'm hoping these simple and small shapes will make it easier for me (or anyone else) to develop those animated scenes I mentioned earlier, which, in my head, would be part of a little world shared by Guix and Guile too. Although, I don't know if this project will ever make it to your screen...

Figure 3. Initial attempts at the logotype.

As always, the logo and the accompanying graphics are libre cultural works. You can find the source files in the graphics repository of the project.

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