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From: Paul Davis <paul.joseph.davis@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:24:10 -0400
Message-ID: <s2te2111bbb1004130424ja16919b0ubde181e8bdcd18b6@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: CouchDB brand identity and design of couchdb.apache.org
To: user@couchdb.apache.org
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I always quite liked it.

Anyway, this is open sauce as they say. The quickest way to changing
something like that is to check out the site sources and mock up
something you think is better. Then submit it to JIRA and we'll ask
the community for consensus.

HTH,
Paul Davis

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 7:17 AM, Gregory Tappero <coulix@gmail.com> wrote:
> I dare to say that i agree, it is repelling at first sight.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 1:12 PM, James Fisher <jameshfisher@gmail.com> wr=
ote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>> I've recently fallen head-over-heels in love with CouchDB. =A0However, t=
his
>> (my first) email will probably be at best, constructively critical, and =
at
>> worst, offensive, but:
>>
>> Does the CouchDB project have any agreed visual brand identity, or is it
>> being worked on? =A0I speak mainly of the pages at
>> http://couchdb.apache.org/. =A0I'm the kind of person that judges a book
>> by its cover, and it took
>> consIiderable effort for me to stop my eyes being repelled from that pag=
e.
>> Compare it, for example, with the simple design at http://www.mongodb.or=
g/ ,
>> where many newbies (like me) to document-oriented DBs will be making an
>> active comparison.
>>
>> CouchDB's slogan is "relax", but that web design gets me all agitated.
>> There's no room to breathe: logotype squished into a corner, small font,
>> subheadings imprisoned in dark green cells. =A0No ample footer telling m=
e I've
>> reached the end of the page and where I should go next; just a niggardly
>> copyright notice. =A0Rather than relaxing, the guy on the sofa looks lik=
e he's
>> trying to squirm as far away from the page as possible.
>>
>> The sofa logo I'm not particularly opposed to, but: entirely saturated
>> primary red? =A0That's the universal visual symbol for "PANIC!". =A0I ha=
ve this
>> passage from The Vagina Monologues indelibly imprinted on my memory:
>>
>> ---
>> Then he began to undress me.
>>
>> "What are you doing, Bob?" I said.
>>
>> "I need to see you," he replied.
>>
>> "No need," I said. "Just dive in."
>>
>> "I need to see what you look like," he said.
>>
>> "But you've seen a red leather couch before," I said.
>> ---
>>
>> ... blech.
>>
>> And: who could ever relax on such an angular sofa?
>>
>> The index page just doesn't sell it. =A0A needless <h1> "The CouchDB Pro=
ject"
>> tells me what I already know from looking at the logotype. =A0The messy =
design
>> schema, which could be a quirky feature (though its appearance on the fi=
rst
>> page is questionable), instead sits awkwardly on top of other headers an=
d
>> squashing text out of the way, with an inappropriate yellow background t=
hat
>> together with the green suggests vomit (oh dear, on my nice new sofa).
>> There's no big bold text telling me that I should use CouchDB.
>>
>> The first paragraph: =A0"Apache CouchDB is a document-oriented database =
that
>> can be queried and indexed in a MapReduce fashion using JavaScript. Couc=
hDB
>> also offers incremental replication with bi-directional conflict detecti=
on
>> and resolution." =A0This jumps into jargon way too soon -- as a prospect=
ive
>> user, the first thing I want to hear is something simple, comforting, an=
d
>> whetting my appetite: "CouchDB is a new kind of database; it will change=
 the
>> way you work; come with me, and I will take you on a tour of its secrets=
."
>>
>> Next, the colour scheme. =A0Red and dark-half-saturated green (I'm not e=
ven
>> sure whether that colour has a name)? =A0Under no system of colour theor=
y is
>> that an appropriate combination. =A0I suspect it hasn't consciously been
>> decided upon as a palette -- the red appears nowhere else.
>>
>> What's with the needless breadcrumb trail across my entire 2000px-wide
>> screen? =A0It might be appropriate for a massive site where getting lost=
 is
>> easier than finding anything, but not here where every page is easily li=
sted
>> down the left.
>>
>> And the diagonal pinstripe background -- that's so 2003. =A0Nothing else=
 on
>> the site implies that 45 degree angle. =A0Get rid of it.
>>
>> Futon displays a different scheme: red with shades of grey. =A0The sloga=
n,
>> "relax," sits in a different place to the same slogan in the logotype on=
 the
>> website. =A0The text sits under, rather than aside, the sofa logo. =A0Th=
e
>> "contract the sidebar" arrow inexplicably points up rather than to the
>> right.
>>
>> I'm getting into nitty-gritty now, but I hope I've made a point: CouchDB=
 is
>> surely losing users by pushing them away with bad design. =A0The main sl=
ogan,
>> "relax," I really, really like, but it unfortunately doesn't come across
>> anywhere. =A0It should. =A0The whole visual design specification should =
use this
>> one word as its starting point.
>>
>> I don't just want to criticize. =A0Perhaps I can help -- I have no exper=
ience
>> with Erlang, and I'd be much better suited to PR in this case. =A0AFAICT=
 the
>> site is hand-written static HTML/CSS, so a redesign is not a massive
>> undertaking.
>>
>> Opinions?
>>
>>
>>
>> James Fisher
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Greg Tappero
> CTO co founder Edoboard
> http://www.edoboard.com
> +33 0645764425
>