As this project seems to have gained a fair amount of wider interest in the last few months it would be good to initiate initiatives such as this now as it’s easier than doing it later on and helps to communicate the brand and its values.
I also hear work has been done on the trademarking so this complements that work in terms of protecting the brand.
The timing of this post is perfect! I was just in discussions today about clarifying our trademark policy and how that would feed into any media kit that would be shared publicly.
It’s a hugely important topic and I for one am keen to discover what your policy is, having been involved in various ‘incidents’ in Drupal where I have made complaints about companies presenting as if they are representing in an official capacity at trade shows and promoting themselves without mentioning there is a much wider community. The system that had been built up meant that I was the one who was told that I was harassing them yet it did end up with them eventually being slapped on the back of the hand because they did do exactly what I said they were doing, but apparently you can’t just go around telling the truth these days and expect to get away scot free. Hey ho.
That was one of the times I left the community. Many others have too, some starting up their own communities like the co-operative https://drutopia.org/ and a quite successful fork of Drupal 7 which is supporting lots of nonprofits and similar who don’t want to upgrade to 8 which is pretty much a completely different system https://backdropcms.org/
In Drupal, the trademark is owned by the founder and he is keen for the name to be used by the community for community purposes - the info on how it all works is on the link above so worth having a good read through.
One big thing that worked in Drupal is the druplicon mascot, it is licensed under GPL so you can do what you like with it, and it gave people a chance to represent their local area or industry etc. - one of my favourite things is the hand-made hat I have from Peru which I got in Denver I believe, I asked what sizes they had and the woman replied “they’re all different, I’ll find a large one for you!” (I was a bit bigger then lol).
If, as I believe you are, trying to grow this community to be worldwide then these sorts of things are essential to get right from the start - of course they can change but the intent of the founders will be ingrained into the community forever and that will be hard to change.
Dries, founder of the project, does have some great quotes and I am sure would be great to connect with at some point. One I particularly like is ‘loosen, don’t lose control’. You have to give people a sense of ownership, especially if you want thousands if not millions of them to be building success with you.
I believe there actually exists a style guide, I’m just not sure where to find it or whether it’s actually Holo internal. @guillemcordoba do you know more about this?
Also a mascot. The bubbly holochain circle could have a face of some sort? Or it could be some kind of moss, or fungal growth. The first moss mascot in the world - future claim to fame of holochain. EOD thoughts.
I thought that at first however looking back I realise that was because I was carrying the past with me and since then I’ve seen some incredible HoloArt(?) created by the community.
The ‘bubbly holochain circle’ you refer to often acts as a kind of core component / link, and the individuality of thought that goes into each piece of art for me speaks to the nature of the project itself. It is what you make of it, and each piece of art shows what that person/group/etc. makes of it for themselves.
Stephen, holomonday is a goldmine! Looking forward to October 4th on Twitter.
And thanks Moritz and Brooks. It would be fun to compile a gallery of holochain community art, someday, somewhere.
Since posting here, my colleague located the Holochain logo use guidelines, which would form at least part of a future style guide: Holochain | App framework with P2P networking
This was of course prompted by my monkeying around with our Living Systems Network and the holochain loop for a networking event we’re hosting on Wednesday.
. You can find a bunch of conversation on Twitter around