A symbol for the fediverse ⁂

pnutzh4x0r@lemmy.ndlug.org to Fediverse@lemmy.world – 256 points – A symbol for the fediverse ⁂
symbol.fediverse.info

We propose the symbol ⁂ to represent the fediverse.

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⁂ is called an asterism. In astronomy, it refers to groups of stars in the sky, akin to constellations. We suggest that it’s a very fitting symbol for the fediverse, a galaxy of interconnected spaces which is decentralised and has an astronomically-themed name. It represents several stars coming together, connecting but each their own, without a centre.

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@ is the symbol for e-mail. # is the symbol for hashtags. ☮ is the symbol for peace. ♻ is the symbol for recycling. ⁂ can be the symbol for the fediverse. ⁂ is standardised as Unicode U+2042, making it ready to copy and insert anywhere.

Git Repository: fediverse-symbol/fediverse-symbol

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a bunch of assholes conected to each other... sounds about right.

I'd rather see the current Fediverse logo added to Unicode than reuse an existing symbol. It's not impossible, considering that the Bitcoin symbol (₿) ended up making it.

I don't think it works well typographically but I'd like to see a mockup

And an emoji for moths too

I'm still fighting for a poutine emoji 💪

🍟?

🍟+ 🧀 + no sauce 😭

🍟+ 🧀 + 🥃 maybe? I guess it's supposed to be a whiskey tumbler, but it looks close enough in color...

I wish there was a simple glass full of water emoji. Also a hugging one with a concerned face.

Also a shovel. How can I visually indicate that I'm shoveling snow in winter smh

I think it's too complex to be a Unicode character

Looking at how current emojis tend to be hard to distinguish without increasing the font size (I see ~13 px on this page), I'd say the fediverse icon fits the criterion well enough.

Also, I can see the icon in here well enough

Most Egyptian hieroglyphics are in unicode. However, there are many other reasons for it not to be included.

What I'm hearing here is

Proposal to add current Fediverse symbol to Unicode

closest current one I can find is

⛥

or

⬠

Emojis used zero width joiner to combine multiple single code point emoji to a single combined emoji.

⛥ + ZWJ + ⬠ could form the combined character, and be rendered as desired.

pretty sure this guy is trying to trick someone else into summoning a demon. It's like telling people to hit alt-f4 to chat.

Which would hopefully give something like this

fediverse-unicode-black.png

fediver-unicode-white.png

I kind of like the idea of just using pentagram. ⛥

Close enough to the current logo in appearance, scales well, not used by other social media, satanic undertones.

I don't think the satanic undertones are a good thing 🤣

Booo!!! Satan hater!! Hey everyone, this guy hates Satan!!!

Why wouldn't I hate Satan? Man's literally responsible for everything wrong with our society 🤣

...you think Satan is a literal man and "responsible for everything wrong with our society"? 🤯 Allow me to ruin Santa Claus for you next.

I didn't say he is literally a man 🤣 It's an expression. He's an archangel specifically.

U+26E5 RIGHT-HANDED INTERLACED PENTAGRAM and U+2B20 WHITE PENTAGON, for those curious

I like it because it reminds me of the Japanese kanji 森 Mori (Forest).

Which is in and of itself brilliant because it’s the kanji 木 Ki (Tree) repeated three times and bunched together.

Technically, the words are adopted from Chinese (in this case both Traditional and Simplified are the same and have not diverged yet); but same meaning and reasoning, just different pronunciation.

I know that Kanji was originally derived from Chinese but I don’t know which Chinese characters are the same and which are different without doing research.

It is nice that in this case the symbols are the same all the way across the board. 5/5 design choice on both counts.

Am I misunderstanding this - you want to replace a recognised symbol with a symbol that's already being used by another group? That seems counterproductive at best.

I'm also wondering, have you spoken to anyone with poor eyesight? This is my reply to a comment below suggesting that the new symbol would be easier to read:

I'm reading this thread on mobile, and the fediverse logo next to the community name is much easier to see than the three stars. If I didn't already know what the three stars were from the rest of the post, I wouldn't have a clue what they were supposed to be in the body. They look like a blurry capital A. Obviously the fediverse logo is bigger there, which helps, but it's not significantly bigger, and would still be clearer at a smaller size

It's not being used by another group to represent themselves. It's a technical symbol like degrees or pi. This idea is similar to how the semicolon is being re-used as a symbol for a group of people. Nothing is being stolen from anyone.

I didn't say that it was being used to represent anyone, or that it was being stolen, I said that it was already in use. To use your examples, I'd think that using Pi or the degree symbol to represent the fediverse would be a bad idea too, as they could also lead to confusion. The semicolon is punctuation, so there's less chance of confusion with that.

If an astronomy group made a poster with the three stars, would the stars be representing star clusters, or advertising that they're on the fediverse? Given that the fediverse is still relatively small, is there more chance of the stars being seen as an astronomical symbol?

Oh my god, you're right. How could I have failed to see the risk. They must be stopped at all costs.

It looks like a bunch of snowflakes, making it very representative.

EDIT Why change something that isn't broken?

Damn, I wanted to make exactly the same joke.

Whoever decided that a logo should be standardised as Unicode? That is the worst criterion for picking a symbol that has and will have hundreds of other uses than inline text. If it's so important — work to have the current, pentacle fediverse symbol included in Unicode.

Registering a domain to introduce your dumb idea with a lot of empty bravado leaves you with ... an annual bill and a dumb idea. The pentacle symbol is so much more recognisable.

Stealing an icon already designated for something else? As is tradition

Having a unicode icon that can be copy pasted anywhere is nifty, but yeah I'm really not a fan of choosing this one.

Why do we need to have a unicode character that refers to the fediverse?

Are we trying to replace our alphabetical language with a language of ideograms?

Can you answer, "Why do we need a symbol that represents the Fediverse?" Because modulo that, your question becomes, "Why does the symbol that represents the Fediverse have to have a Unicode codepoint?"

We don't need it to be a Unicode character, but there are advantages if it is that are so obvious they don't even bear discussion.

If they can’t be articulated, I lose respect for those reasons

That's nonsense.

If you know what those reasons are, then whether or not they have been articulated should not influence how you feel about those reasons. To think I could control your mind by not saying things. Just think of all the things I am not saying right now. You'll go mad.

If you DON'T know what those reasons are, then you are simply not able to respect them less than you do now.

It's literally a character, like aitch.

⁂

I'm pretty sure we're cool to use it. The advantage of using a glyph that already exists in Unicode is huge.

Are you one of the three proposers mentioned in the git repository?

No I'm just so very bored and this is the classic bikeshed issue so I figure I won't cause any problems here.

Its use looks contrived to me on the linked GitHub page. The comparison with @ and # is flawed because those symbols are part of the resource name, whereas here the symbol is superfluous. It's like adding a 🌐 in front of every web URL.

Nah, It won't happen because you can't type it on a keyboard.

This looks like shit, is used for something else already, we already have an icon for the fediverse and this has 0 reason to exist

Why though? We don't need a symbol. Is it that hard to type "fediverse"? The fediverse logo is good enough.

Testing a little side by side comparison

⁂

And in white, for the dark mode folks:

⁂

But it's hardly a fair comparison, especially because it seems I cannot upload SVG files to Mbin. I also didn't make the lines thinner or any other adjustments that might be a good idea at this scale. Still, might be better than noting.

At least on my screen and font size, the three asterisks are way too small to be recognizeable as a logo.

What a bunch of snowflakes. I like the idea. This was my first thought though

Yeah, mine too.

Which I'm fine with. If the metaphor is that the Fediverse is a fucking blizzard of snowflakes organizing against corporate social media, I'm all in for it. If it serves to alienate right wing weirdos then all the better. In the end it's all about freezing out the fascists.

There is no real dichotomy between the logo we have and the proposed typographical symbol. They have different uses, neither can really replace the other. Keep the established colourful Fediverse logo in visual layouts and when desired use the typographical symbol in text. It is natural that they won't be exactly the same symbol because they are designed for different needs; one is meant to look pretty and one is meant to read well as text.

Did someone just slap this together by copying and pasting an asterisk three times? I know we're an open source, nerdy community but could we hire a graphic designer?

I'm more partial to the pentagram/star ⛤🌟 shape of the current fediverse logo. It would be nice to have a monochrome and emoji form in unicode, just have the pentagram encased in a pentagon.

I wrote about this on my blog. I like the notion and points made here, but I also think we're not helping by re-inventing things that already exist, so I'm torn on it. I have been happy with the existing one.

Especially when U+26E5 ⛥ is right there, and much closer to the current logo. Add lines connecting the outside and you're basically there. If we made a font that rendered the sequence U+26E5 ⛥ + U+200D ZWJ + U+2B20 ⬠ as the Fediverse logo, and set it as default on Fediverse web platforms, we could go a long way towards getting it adopted.

Do we need to address the typographical issues for the existing symbol? I am not using that symbol every time I talk about fedi. Fedi accounts are identified as @username@instance, so there's no need to use some obscure unicode.

Exactly. And if needs be, get the existing symbol included in Unicode. It might already be in FontAwesome.

Interesting, I'm currently reading about Plurality (digital democracy), which decided to pick its own symbol (⿻) too.

It looks like a bunch of snowflakes. I'd rather not associate with that image.

However, its design is a little too complex to be used at small sizes, as you would in text or in a button.

I wonder what the criteria are. Because ⁂ just looks like three blurry dots to me. It's not making things worse, but I wouldn't say it's making them much better either.

No this looks very primitive. It's not the 1970s. Add a circle and some colors.

Of note: ActivityPub (the protocol) has its own logo, seen in https://activitypub.rocks/ and other places. The protocol and the community are absolutely separate things, so this is really good.

I've never really linked the rainbow star icon, just because I don't really like rainbows (IMO the ace flag is the prettiest but I might be biased). I'm also still not convinced that Meta's icon is even supposed to represent the fediverse, as opposed to just a Threads feature that lets it connect to the fediverse. So overall I'm a fan of this proposal, although it does bug me that it uses 6-pointed stars in the font on the webpage and 5-pointed stars in most other typefaces. The 5-pointed stars create some nice negative space.

@fediverse@lemmy.world

How about, the same idea, but you use railroad couplers instead of buttholes? Everybody is connected! Rather than being full of shit.