Rebranding RISC OS

Richard Hallas explains the thinking behind the new RISC OS cogwheel logo which aims to take over from the old Acorn Nut device

[In issue 7 of Foundation RISC User, a companion article describes the creation of the cogwheel logo in ArtWorks, including source files which illustrate the creation process step by step.]

See the end of the following article for downloadable versions of the RISC OS logos which can be used in RISC OS-based projects. These downloads are active in this Online edition of FRU.

One of the problems with RISC OS as a platform is that it has never had an eye-catching logo that can be used to represent the operating system as a whole. Windows has the waving 'window flag'; Mac OS has both a 'smiley face' logo and the corporate apple-with-bite-removed design; Linux has the cute penguin. In case you're unfamiliar with any of these common operating system logos, here they are:

RISC OS 4 cube Linux penguin logo

Acorn Nut device RISC OS 4 cube Linux penguin logo

Apple device Mac OS logo Windows logo

Apple device Mac OS logo Windows logo

Traditionally, RISC OS has used Acorn's Nut device as its representative symbol, which of course was wholly appropriate while Acorn itself was the sole producer of RISC OS-based systems. Since the demise of Acorn, though, and the acquisition of its name by a third party, the Nut has become inappropriate for representing RISC OS as a whole; it now represents only RISC OS machines which still carry the Acorn brand name. Since the launch of RISC OS 4, a 3D cube logo has been used to represent this operating system. However, as the cube says "RISC OS 4" on it and incorporates a large figure "4" on each face, it's appropriate only for that specific version of the operating system. Besides, it's also a complex, colour-rich logo which makes it inappropriate for use in certain situations.

What was needed was a new device; a graphical design that could be used in lots of different situations to mean just "RISC OS" (any version). The launch of the Select scheme, and with it a new version of RISC OS, seemed as good a time as any to introduce a new logo along with a new corporate branding for RISCOS Ltd based upon it. It should be made clear, though, that the new logo is intended to mean any version of RISC OS, not just the latest update introduced with Select. So if you have RISC OS software on your Web site, for example, you may now wish to associate the new logo with it.

Wide-ranging design requirements

The most important aspect of designing a new logo for RISC OS was the question of what it should represent. After all, the name "RISC OS" in itself doesn't convey very much, except to computing cognoscenti, and as a 'word' in itself it's meaningless. Acorn was lucky: its name, like that of Apple, was easy to represent with an eye-catching, stylised logo, and the Acorn Nut device was actually one of the very best logos (if not the absolute best) in the computing world. It was certainly on a par with Apple's, and in some respects could have been considered better. The Windows logo is arguably less good (it's a little too complex for use at small sizes), but it's also eye-catching and easily recognisable.

All of these logos were 'easy' because they were designed to represent a real word. A RISC OS logo cannot benefit from that luxury, so it has to convey something meaningful in itself. It needs to have connotations that bring appropriate concepts to the minds of people looking at it.

As well as being somehow appropriate to RISC OS itself, the design also has to be very flexible. It needs to be complex enough to be interesting whilst also being sufficiently simple that it can be used effectively as a very small icon on screen. It needs to be a fairly regular shape so that it can be used harmoniously in many varied situation, such as Web pages, colour adverts, monochrome or spot-colour printed publicity, letterheads and so on, and the ability to use it as a component within something larger is also a benefit. To state those requirements more formally, any new logo should ideally satisfy all of the following conditions:

It should be graphically simple, but yet have a complex enough shape to be recognisable at a glance.

It should be simple enough to be usable purely as a shape in monochrome, but with a more attractive complementary colour version.

It should be visually interesting when viewed at a large size, but still recognisable even if used at extremely small sizes (such as in the corners of file icons).

It should be usable in isolation or in combination with other text, just as the Acorn Nut could appear either on its own or at the end of the word 'Acorn'; in which case it must form an appropriately balanced whole.

It should be a regular shape which can easily be used within other designs and which is not greatly affected by questions of angle or perspective.

In its colour form, it should make use of few colours in order to avoid over-complexity, have impact, and be capable of being printed with spot colours for limited-colour printing. Notably, there was a flat green version of the Acorn Nut as well as the nice, shaded 3D version.

Whilst the question of being an abstract design isn't a problem (lots of logos are abstract), it should preferably be a fairly even shape; not too tall or thin. The Acorn logo was taller than it was wide, but only by a little; the Apple logo is more or less square in terms of its bounding box; the Windows logo is a rotated rectangle with roughly 4:3 proportions. These are all harmonious, flexible shapes.

In summary, the basic requirement was for an emblem that could be applied to wide a variety of situations, and which would have some mental cues to give it meaning. These requirements are a tall order for any design, and the Windows and Linux logos fall short in some of the physical areas listed above because of their complexity. The Apple logo fulfils all of the above criteria, though, as does the old Acorn Nut.

Let's consider that Acorn Nut: it could be used as a flat green spot colour on letterheads or in other situations with limited colour, or it could be used as a simple black shape in monochrome printing. If more colour were available, it could be used in an attractive 3D design, as seen on much of Acorn's later publicity. That 3D design was also suitable for eye-catching use on Web pages, and, because it was basically a simple shape, it looked good at large sizes whilst also being easily recognisable even when made very small. As such it could be used as a bullet-point in text, either in print or on a Web page. Moreover, its broadly elliptical shape allowed it (with a stretch of the imagination) to be used as a letter "O", and Acorn used to use its Nut logo as the second "O" within its "ACORNSOFT" software branding in the 1980s, as in the following approximation to that original logo:

Use of the Nut device in place of the letter "O" in Acorn's Acornsoft branding from the 1980s

So, the Acorn logo was really the perfect design: simple but eye-catching, and hugely flexible. Whilst producing a new RISC OS logo that could be considered 'better' than the old Acorn Nut would be a virtual impossibility (after all, how do you improve on perfection?), the fundamental aim was to try to produce a new design that would at least go some way towards emulating the flexibility of the Acorn device, whilst also being meaningful and easy to recognise.

Concerning the cogwheel

This was by no means a trivial task; in fact, the large majority of time spent on the design of the new logo was not in the actual creation process, but merely in deciding what the logo was going to be. And the object that seemed best to represent all the right concepts was... a cogwheel. Not only did the physical aspects of this shape meet the criteria listed above, but it also succeeded in being appropriate to all the following conceptual cues:

RISC OS is an operating system which is designed to be at the heart of a range of devices. We therefore wanted a logo that could be used either to convey that RISC OS is the central component in a product (like the 'Acorn @ Heart' logo), or to show it as a component within something else (like the 'ARM Powered' logo of ARM Ltd).

As RISC OS is small, efficient and essential to the workings of devices in which it appears, it ought to be associated with a logo which features a reasonably sophisticated rendition of a simple basic object; ideally, a physical component.

RISC OS is a modular operating system, comprised of many components which fit together, interlocking to make a more complex whole. Indeed, RISC OS is both a 'component' operating system (in other devices) and an operating system which is itself comprised of other components. The cogwheel is ideal for representing this concept.

As an operating system is a highly technical product, an overtly technical logo is appropriate. A cogwheel is recognised universally as being representative of a small, essential technical component, and so it seemed an apt device to represent these fundamental RISC OS concepts.

RISC OS is an efficient operating system which, more than any other, can be associated with 'green issues': low power consumption, low hardware requirements and so on. Whilst not exactly subtle, it still made sense to make the logo predominantly green. By happy coincidence, Acorn's Nut device was also green, which gives us a link with the past.

For users familiar with RISC OS, it would be nice for the logo to have direct association with some aspect of the existing operating system, and by standing the cogwheel so that it's balanced on the point of a single cog (rather than sitting more securely on two cogs), it looks conveniently like an asterisk. As *commands are central to RISC OS, and as the new logo is to be used as the icon for the Task Manager, from where the user can issue *commands, the cogwheel design is particularly apt.

RISC OS is a 32-bit operating system. It has reached version 4, and there are four 8-bit bytes in a 32-bit word, so it would be appropriate (though far from essential) if there could be subtle allusions to these concepts in the logo, though they certainly should not be blatant as that would require much too complex a shape. However, the basic cogwheel has been given eight teeth to represent eight 'bits', and can be used in combination with three other copies to create a visually interesting four-wheel design representing a 32-bit system.

Four cogwheels in a diamond arrangement

Four cogwheels in a square arrangement

A final consideration in the cogwheel's favour is that it can be used as a letter "O", mimicking the use of the Acorn Nut either alongside a text-based logo (like "Acorn") or to replace a letter within it (as in "ACORNSOFT"). The cogwheel can therefore be used either to the left of the word "RISC OS" or to replace the "O" in "RISCOS Ltd"; in the latter case, it produces a simple, memorable and striking image with excellent balance:

The preferred version of the RISC OS operating system logo: the cogwheel device followed by RISC OS lettering in the bold weight of the Gill Sans font

The new RISCOS Ltd company logo, based on the RISC OS design and using the same font, but with the cogwheel replacing the central "O" of the lettering

Positive attributes

As well as meeting all those conceptual ideas, the cogwheel logo fulfils all the original design criteria in terms of being a basically flexible graphic:

As a single logo it's easily identifiable, but the very nature of its shape allows it to be used in combination with other copies to create graphical interest.

If four copies are used together, we end up with four 'bytes' (the cogs), each of which has 32 'bits' (the teeth).

If four copies are used in 'diamond formation' (a square arrangement standing on its corner, as shown above), then (a) that's appropriate for RISC OS 4, (b) it looks superficially not dissimilar to the RISC OS 4 cube logo, and (c) it's also reminiscent of the logo of the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement, which Acorn won a couple of times for its technology; all of which creates further historical links.

The octagonal centre can be left either as a hole or filled in a different colour, and conceptually can be linked with the OS itself: the centre is the kernel whilst the cogs are extension modules. The following diagram is taken from page 1-3 of the RISC OS Programmer's Reference Manual (near the start of the Intro file in the HTML version). The similarity is not coincidental; in fact, this diagram was a source of genuine inspiration for the cogwheel, which proves that inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources.

Inspiration for the cogwheel shape came partially from this diagram in the Programmer's Reference Manual (PRM)

Diagram showing the RISC OS kernel surrounded by system extension modules

Being a shape with a square bounding box and a great deal of symmetry about it, it can be used as a graphical 'bullet' device just about anywhere: a bullet on a Web page (as here) or in a printed document, a 'stop' at the end of a magazine article, a component in icons, on the front of a computer, and just about anywhere else.

Because it's shaped like a letter "O", it can be used in place of one to create a more graphical "RISC OS" logo (from which the rest of the letters can be dropped when not required). Remembering how Acorn used to use its Nut logo in place of the second letter "O" in "ACORNSOFT", we can do something similar but better, because the cogwheel shape lends itself ideally to such things, whereas the use of the Acorn Nut as a letter "O" was a little contrived. So the following image is an alternative version of the RISC OS operating system logo. It's not the preferred version because it's a bit too similar to the RISCOS Ltd logo, and the 'cogwheel-O' is not central; for greatest impact and visual appeal, the cogwheel is best either at the centre of the graphic (as in the RISCOS Ltd logo) or at the start (as in the preferred RISC OS logo). However, the following makes an acceptable secondary design:

Alternative RISC OS logo design; the version with the cogwheel at the start (shown earlier) is preferred

The cogwheel can be used not only as a logo in 'OS' icons (such as the Boot and System icons and a variety of standard filetype icons), but also as the source of the interlocking cogwheels in Configure plug-in icons.

The overall icon uses just three colours for each cog: the main colour plus lighter and darker highlights. As such it's well suited for spot-colour printing or other limited-colour use. The highlights can be deleted to give a 2D appearance. If used 'graphically' with a word, the other letters can be coloured in red and blue to contrast with the main focus of green, presenting colours in the order of red, green, blue (another technological connotation).

A red, green and blue version of the logo with two-dimensional cogwheel

The red, green and blue versions of the logos are a bit too overpowering in their use of colour for widespread deployment, but could occasionally prove useful in very colour-rich situations. Generally, though, the green cogwheel should be the only coloured item within the logo, in order to provide an obvious visual focus within the black (or white) lettering.

The shape has other, more subtle allusions, too: it could be seen to suggest a compass (implying 'firm direction), a clock ('time-saving and efficiency'), or even a sun symbol of the sort you see on weather forecasts ('summer', 'happy', 'good times'). This is probably all getting rather too far-fetched now, but the point is that it's a very positive shape with positive implications.

In other words, the cogwheel logo is an extremely flexible and adaptable design which looks good at large sizes while remaining instantly identifiable even at tiny sizes; it can be used in virtually any situation, including monochrome, spot-colour and full-colour printing, as a design in its own right or as part of something larger; and it conveys appropriate messages about the product it represents. Thus it fulfils all the design criteria, both physical and conceptual, which were set out for it.

But is it ART?

Of course, it's impossible to please everyone, and it always seemed inevitable that a certain percentage of RISC OS users who were used to the Acorn Nut would adopt an instant loathing for the new device (though hopefully a small percentage!).

So it turned out to be. On seeing the new logo for the first time, and not having realised that I had designed it, one Foundation RISC User contributor who shall remain nameless wrote to tell me that the new logo was "boring, unimaginative, dull, uninspired, ugly, and not nice either." His dislike for the design therefore seemed to be quite comprehensive. However, I believe that he missed the point of what the cogwheel is for, to some extent at least. It's important to remember that RISC OS isn't just a desktop operating system; it's also a operating system that can be used without its desktop, in consumer products such as Internet TVs, or embedded within non-computer devices. In other words, the logo has to be much more flexible than if it were only representing one kind of operating system.

The aim of a graphic such as this is not to be 'artistic' as such, but to be functional; to convey the right ideas, using a successful, well-balanced shape which is simple and memorable. The cogwheel is a 'device', after all; an emblem. It's not supposed to be a piece of artwork to sit and admire. Were it to be made in some way 'beautiful', or given greater visual interest, it would lose a lot of its fundamental usefulness.

To emphasise this point, let's consider some of those other operating system logos depicted at the start of the article, and see whether they work well as emblems rather than as pieces of artwork.

Acorn Nut device: As should be clear from the preceding text, I consider this to be one of the very best corporate logos ever seen. It's eye-catching and memorable whilst also being simple and attractive. It can be used at any size, in full colour or in a single, flat colour, and it manages to satisfy all the physical design criteria listed near the start. It doesn't say anything conceptual, but then it doesn't have to; it just represents a company name. It's one of the great logos of computing history, for lots of reasons.

RISC OS 4 cube: This logo has some very positive attributes; it's colourful, eye-catching and attractive, with lots of visual interest, and its three-dimensional nature (it has six different sides, including three that aren't normally seen) would make it very adaptable for certain kinds of merchandise, such as a Rubik's Cube puzzle, a telephone jotting pad holder or similar. As a device, though, it has a number of failings. Aside from the obvious factor that it's very specific to one particular version of the operating system, it is badly affected by questions of perspective (should it be truly 3D, as in the ray-traced version, or a pseudo-isometric design, like the vector original?). It's also too complex and detailed for successful use at small sizes, and too colour-rich for monochrome or spot-colour printing.

Linux penguin: There's no doubt whatsoever that the Linux penguin is one of the most appealing logos ever designed. It's friendly, cuddly, lovable and an absolute gift for merchandising companies in terms of the soft toy market. But looking at it dispassionately, does it work as a logo? And does it represent Linux in any meaningful way? Aside from the tenuous connection that Linux' creator, Linus Torvalds, is a Finn, the answer has to be a resounding No! to both questions. Linux may have a lot of advocates, but it's certainly not renowned for being friendly or lovable (let alone cuddly!). And the logo is completely hopeless for lots of practical situations. The original is a bitmap graphic, for a start, so you can't easily scale it. Then there's lots of subtle detail which immediately gets lost at anything other than very large sizes. As for monochrome or spot-colour printing, versions of the penguin do exist for these uses, but they're very much simplified versions of the original; a case of redrawing a semblance of the logo for use in new situations rather than a logo that's adaptable. So, hugely attractive though the penguin may be, it's not much use as a 'device'.

Apple device: This is unquestionably one of the world's design classics. It's one of the small handful of logos that almost everyone in the civilised world recognises at a glance, even if they know nothing of the products it represents. In the last few years (since the introduction of the iMac in 1998) Apple has phased out the rainbow stripes in the logo (so the rendition at the start of the article is no longer accurate), but the underlying shape remains the same. As a device, the Apple is very much like the Acorn Nut; and much the same things can be said about both of them. Neither conveys any substantial concepts, as they just reflect the name of their parent companies, but in terms of physical design they're both simple, effective shapes which are extremely flexible and adaptable.

Mac OS logo: The Mac OS logo is a design which intends to represent the operating system product rather than the company; it dates from a time when Apple intended there to be third-party Mac clones, on which its Apple emblem was less appropriate (in much the same way that the Acorn Nut has now become inappropriate for RISC OS as a whole). The juxtaposition of a sideways-on 'human' face on top of a straight-on 'computer monitor' face gives the logo a strangely Picassoesque quality, and (without knowing for certain) I imagine that the combined smiling faces are intended to imply a happy, friendly interaction of user and machine. (The Mac has featured a smiling-monitor icon when it starts up since day one.) So in terms of conveying the right messages (that Mac OS is supposedly friendly and enjoyable to use) it does a good job. But as a shape it has a few shortcomings; it's a bit too 'fiddly' in terms of its detail to work well at small sizes, and whilst it uses tasteful shades of a single colour, there's nevertheless too much colour in it to make it suitable for monochrome printing. It's also a boring shape: aside from the line that sticks out in ungainly fashion at top and bottom, it's just a rectangle.

Windows logo: Being by far the most ubiquitous of computing logos, it hardly matters whether the Windows sign does a good job or not; everyone knows exactly what it conveys almost before they see it. In its favour it's colourful and not unattractive; it combines a four-pane window idea with a waving flag. But in execution it actually leaves quite a lot to be desired. In Microsoft's own large-size renditions it's not actually very well drawn (the balance of line thicknesses could be improved), and the angle at which it should tilt seems to be a variable quantity. (A cheap jibe here would be to say that it's as wonky as Windows itself!) As a graphical device it has its plus and minus points. It does scale reasonably well, and is quite successful at 'icon sizes'; but only up to a degree. The main part of the logo, with the four coloured panes, is fine, but the part to the left, where the frame 'fizzles away', is too fiddly and detailed for small-scale use. It's significant that, in the latest revision to this logo, Microsoft has abandoned the black frame part of the logo and pared it down to consist of no more than four coloured rectangles, flapping like a flag. That's both good and bad: the new, simpler logo is much cleaner and more effective, as the previous black border was very heavy and ugly; but against it, the Windows logo can only now be used in full colour. Previously, the black border could be used alone (with white 'panes') for monochrome printing. And what does the emblem convey about the product itself? Maybe the colours are supposed to imply 'colourful and fun' and the flapping flag 'freedom and flexibility', but it's all a bit tenuous.

So my personal conclusions are that the Apple and Acorn Nut devices are the undeniable design classics which stand the test of time. All the other logos have things to commend them, but it's these two in particular that shout "good design!" in every aspect. Whether the new RISC OS cogwheel can reasonably be considered alongside such masterful designs is not for me to say (and there would unquestionably be vociferous arguments from certain quarters if I did!). All I can say is that I believe that it does work as a design, and that it meets all the requirements that were set out for it at the design stage; and as such it's a more versatile logo than some of the better-known ones listed above.

To counterbalance the single instance of extremely negative feedback that I've had about the logo so far, quite a number of people have said very positive things about it; most individuals who have expressed an opinion about it seem to think that it fulfils its purposes very well, and I personally, as the designer, consider that the design works as well as could reasonably be expected of any new logo with so many objectives to meet. It would be very difficult to come up with another design that met all of the stringent criteria that were defined at the outset of the design process, whilst retaining such an apt basic design.

Admittedly the cogwheel doesn't have the immediate, friendly, cuddly appeal of a logo like the Linux penguin, but then neither did the Acorn, and no-one ever seemed to object to that logo once they'd got used to it! In terms of achieving what it set out to achieve, I think that the cogwheel performs as well as any new device could have done.

To finish off, the final illustrations are, first of all, a 'Software for RISC OS' label which can be used on RISC OS product packaging, CD labels and so on; and secondly, a compilation of different versions of the RISC OS logos laid out for a number of potential uses, from monochrome printing to full colour, featuring both two-dimensional and three-dimensional versions of the cogwheel.

'Software for RISC OS 32-bit computers' label, for use on product packaging, CD labels and the like

RISC OS branding in various permutations

RISC OS Web buttons

The following addendum to the article is adapted from the Editorial column of Foundation RISC User.

Have you used a RISC OS computer to create a Web site? If you have, why not include a Web button crediting the use of RISC OS in the production of the site, pointing to the RISCOS Ltd home page? In terms of raising awareness of the platform, "every little helps."

We have several different button variations for you to choose from, in four basic designs. The first three designs feature the cogwheel device and therefore promote the RISC OS platform as a whole. If you would prefer to promote specifically RISC OS 4, then the fourth design features the RISC OS 4 3D cube logo.

There is also a choice of wording on the buttons. "Revolutionary RISC OS (4)" advertises the platform snappily; "Rendered on RISC OS (4)" suggests that the Web site on which it appears was produced entirely on a RISC OS machine. Use whichever design most appeals to you. The buttons are all available in animated and static versions.

Revolutionary RISC OS (4)

Animated
	roa.gif (4K)	rro1a.gif (5K)	rro4a.gif (6K)	rroqa.gif (19K)
Static
	ros.gif (1¼K)	rro1s.gif (1½K)	rro4s.gif (2K)	rroqs.gif (2¼K)

Rendered on RISC OS (4)

Animated
	roa.gif (4K)	roro1a.gif (5K)	roro4a.gif (6K)	roroqa.gif (19K)
Static
	ros.gif (1¼K)	roro1s.gif (1½K)	roro4s.gif (2K)	roroqs.gif (2¼K)

It should be possible to use your Web browser to save your choice of button(s) directly from the collection of images above. To use a button within your own pages, you should use code similar to the following:

<DIV ALIGN="center"><P ALIGN="center"><A HREF="http://www.riscos.com/" TARGET="_blank"><IMG SRC="r???.gif" ALT="RISC OS" WIDTH="88" HEIGHT="31" BORDER="0"></A></P></DIV>

(Change the "r???.gif" filename as appropriate for the button graphic you want to use.)

Alternatively, you may download an archive containing all the Web buttons via the link below. This archive also contains HTML code fragments for displaying all the various different buttons, and these may easily be saved into other HTML pages.

The files containing the cogwheel logo and Web button graphics described in this article may be downloaded by using the following links:

RISC OS Cogwheel logo in various permutations (ArtWorks format)
66K Zip archive

RISC OS Cogwheel logo in various permutations (Draw format)
43K Zip archive

RISC OS Web buttons (static and animated GIF images)
79K Zip archive

Note that, in the original CD-based version of this article, clicking on the illustrations causes the original files to be loaded instantly into an appropriate RISC OS application.