A new logo for Lichess

@Skittle-Head LOL. Break out the torches and pitchforks!

Actually, on a more serious note, for over a year I have been wanting Lichess to change the icon for blitz to a lightning bolt and the icon for bullet to a ... bullet -- both of which I consider to be no-brainers. At this point, I'm beginning to accept that such obvious changes will never happen, for some reason. *sigh*

First off, this starts to be only very losely connected with the topic in hand. If you are interested in continuing to discuss the topic (i, in fact, am) we can do so in another thread but this will be my last post dealing with the point here.

@GSP0113 said (#289):
> Ars gratia artis. Honestly, I think the non-utilitarian nature of art is self-evident.

Obviously it is not "self-evident", because, as you yourself observe subsequently, we can and do hold different views on the topic. I do NOT confuse art with artistry - i am well aware of the difference between a painting and a wallpaper, a sculptor and a mason, etc.. But the notion that art has no practical purpose is historically a very new one: art (and its practicioners) had, grosso modo, two purposes: the glorification of the respective emperor and the glorification of the respective deity. This changed only recently, namely in modernism. i.e Bach wrote most of his "well-tempered clavier" in jail because the duke of Saxe-Weimar had sentenced him to it because he wanted to leave.

Second, i find your source rather baffling. My definition is more like Merriam-Websters: "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects". (see: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art). I don't think a Lamborghini is the same as a landscape painting (although i have seen lots of landscape painting which are rather elaborate wallpapers and not works of art), but even if art has lost its original purpose of glorifying emperor and/or deity, it still serves *some* purpose. Brecht once said that "in the alienation lies the difference between art - and agitation". So, he insinuated a purpose for art - propaganda. Art is just another aspect or the continuation of class warfare with different means. This actually is more in line with the definition given by M-W above than your sources.

This is also in accordance with my own experience: when i studied (composition, actually) i learned a lot of technical aspects of the "trade of composing" - harmonics, counter-point, ... - but nothing about "being creative" or the like: what you need to learn to compose music is technique, nothing else. Art may be free, but it is not arbitrary. It follows laws of how and what to do under which circumstances and as an artist you need to follow these laws - in the same way a lawyer follows the jurisdictional laws. You can - again, under certain circumstances - break them, but first you need to have understood them very well and you need to exactly know what you are doing, otherwise the result would be disastrous.

What i had to say about art (a recurring theme here, it seems) you can find here: lichess.org/forum/off-topic-discussion/young-poet-seeks-approval#2

or in this thread: lichess.org/forum/off-topic-discussion/k-rino-our-worlds-greatest-artist-can-you-name-one-better? (see #23 and #26)

krasnaya

@krasnaya Honestly, it seems to me you are straining to find points of disagreement here and getting lost in the clouds.

Also: You know your username appears at the top of every comment, yes? There's no need for you to sign every comment with your username; it's redundant.

haha

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylV7QtfkBFQ

@rickrenegade LOL! Nailed it.

I like the old logo better. I don't like the new roundish shape. It looks less like a Knight when it's round like that. I don't care for the tapered lines that get thinner toward the end. The new logo is ok, but not as good. I don't think there was a need to change it in the first place, especially to a logo that's inferior to the previous one. The new logo is more abstract-it doesn't clearly represent a knight. All of this is of course just my own opinion.

At first, I didn't want to shed negativity by criticizing someone's artwork. Especially when I noticed many supportive comments. But after some thought I decided to voice my opinion. So that's why I came back to the forum today to say that I really don't like the change.

As a matter of fact, the more I think about it, the more I dislike it. I would like to see the old logo come back, or else at least replace the new one with a different new one. And not one from the same pool of suggestions. None of those were any better, except maybe a few toward the bottom that were from the new piece sets. Thanks.

Before you say something negative, think about a few things:

1. it has already been approved and implemented, so why insult anyone?
2. they create the best free chess website in the universe, and you want to be negative. really?
3. are you going into every business around the world and saying, "I really don't like this!"
4. to make this world a better place, maybe this negativity isn't the right battle

it's like giving someone free money, free meals, free housing, and then he comes back and says, "you know, that steak was cold and I would like you to change it."

some advice: faking positivity is better than being honestly negative when it comes to a site you love you use.

I disagree completely #297. Sites grow and improve because of feedback. If there is no negative feedback; there is nothing to improve. Faking positivity is probably the last thing any of the devs want.

I liked the old logo better.

@rokoroks You hit it head on
@BisoMiso It's exactly because it's free and not a business that honest user input is needed even more because you can't say "I'm going to take my business elsewhere". What business?
And it's not being negative, it's being honest. You don't seem to grasp what being negative really means.
Giving constructive criticism and honest feedback helps the site to improve and shows you care enough to take the time.
So many times in this thread already people have prefaced their comments with words like "Lichess devs we are truly thankful for this wonderful website you have created, the best chess webiste in the world. And we are so appreciative of the fact that you do it all for free BUT... your new logo looks like a LITTLE PENIS(or choose your own example), for god sake please!! noooooo Bring back the old one.
Really.

So, you see you can do both. Show your gratitude and at the same time tell it like it is. It's not rocket science.