The server icon should have the unreal U, it feels a bit random / generic as it is

[hollow reef]

title

[fervent parrot]

I don't work for Epic Games., hence the independent logo.

The website and this Discord are both community owned and operated.

[hollow reef]

Ah ok that makes sense! Looking at the icon I had though it was a cube

but I see now that it may actually be a U?

[fervent parrot]

Yeah, it's a sort of abstract, rounded U with the "source" coming down the middle.

I made it a little bigger. I think that will help. It was a bit small before.

[hollow reef]

Nice yeah just to sell the "U" shape a bit more

I had lost this server for about 30 seconds before I had to mouse over each one to find it

(understandable with a rebrand) but the more clear U shape should help

[fervent parrot]

Yeah, no worries. I knew that might happen with the change. I kept the color palette familiar, so hopefully that helps folks.

[granite furnace]

would be good to make it redder 🙂

it was very recognizable before, now not so much

inverting the white and red/orange part could help

[glacial magnet]

It does look a little bleak

[floral shadow]

I like it looks awesome

[thick charm]

looks a bit like a toilet seat

[sick crag]

I heard someone mention it looks like a baked egg, which I found pretty cute :)

[warm grotto]

I like the new logo its idk, it looks unique

[boreal cloak]

Logo is fine. I just worry about SEO. Searching for "Unreal Source" is just going to find you the source code or content about the source code... :/

[mild robin]

maybe increasing the 'source' part of the logo may make it read more like an U?

[mellow mantle]

yeah maybe just have the middle part come down a little more. The bottom part is very very thick at the moment which makes it kind of difficult to instantly recognize as a U. U usually comes down to the very bottom with its inner rounding, its shape is not as centered as it is right now

[untold prism]

no choices made by a single individual without any valid reasoning or discussion will last. We'll see how up-to-date the website will be in a year, gl

[sick crag]

I can assure you Pfist has gone through more then enough considerations for these changes

[alpine fog]

Not gonna lie, i liked the old logo way much, it was kinda unique and immediately recognisable , the new one feels meh, not that special, more liek very odd.

Also seems its very small, i would say this is an oversight.

And why almost all white?
Maybe add black background where the padding is instead of making it bigger.
Also it is U and supposed to be recognisable as U, but due to the design it does not look like U immediately.

Can we have some iteration of it? Maybe i will do some visualisations.
I mean im on ton of discords, but this is the only icon now that feels off, not sure why, but it must be something in the design.

[glacial magnet]

Have to agree it doesn't look like a U at all.

[wild light]

Not a fan of the new slack channel image.
It looks like a computer mouse rather than a U

[autumn dune]

lol, brand changes are always polarized.. its either love it or hate it
looks good to me nice, clean, minimalistic, readible ticks all the boxes for a graphic designer

[wild light]

Its not really readible its literally almost a full circle lol I have both the UE channel next to the Blender channel in a Dev Folder and blender has gone a few brand changes channel icon wise over some years and its always looked great. Its always the logo in a visible style. I can tell what channel it is right away.
Also clean can be clear as well.
Its always been minimalist.
Seems to be missing checks on some boxes for a graphics designer 😄

[alpine fog]

Now just look at this

[glacial magnet]

That does perfectly fit discord and unreal.

[hollow reef]

Yeah I'd prefer any of the 3 U's above for sure

The red backround one was easy to spot and the purple one has the style of unreal while being unique

The current icon just looks like a portal laser cube or something, it's so abstract that it feelss completely unrelated to unreal

[glacial magnet]

If you wanted to keep the orange colouring, you could replace the purple background with the orange one.

(from the current logo)

[mellow mantle]

clean - yes, minimalistic - yes, readable - as in readable in multiple sizes - yes. readable as a capital U - on the second look with context, yes sort of. on first glance, not really.

which imo has to do with the inner part, it not being the same color as the dark blue background, you start to look for meaning in it (is it a thermometer? a cooked egg?) and then the U loses its recognizability because it just becomes a second layer of background.

I'd reduce the scale of the inner circle a bit and bring it down further. Make the first look be "oh of course that a U" and the second glance be "oh there's a cooked egg in there, neat"

but if you don't I'll just get used to it and won't bitch about it forever

[amber spire]

our avatar looked like half a laboratory flask heated in the bottom
then being pushed into a square piece of styrofoam

[vital pond]

as the new logo is, looks like a 🌡️

[glacial magnet]

Well, Unreal is a hot topic.

[ivory copper]

You and AI both 😅

[vital pond]

what's this one from? cool it can ID

[ivory copper]

it's windows copilot

[midnight tree]

I just see a rounded rectangle with a slot and a dot in it.

The dark blue background really blends into the Dark Mode UI on some monitors if your viewing angle is off even slightly.

the gradient on the slot also doesn't show up good in these situations, but now that I'm looking at it dead on it kinda looks like a thermometer like people are saying.

Also kinda looks like a very flat volcano

[amber spire]

yeah just don't use gradient color at all

in any case

discord icon is small bruh

[ripe venture]

@fervent parrot why Unreal Source though ?
I mean, what's up with the "source" ?

[midnight tree]

I think it's supposed to be a "source" for information... but yeh it just sounds like you're talking about the engine source code when you say "Unreal Source"

[glacial magnet]

Gonna be an SEO nightmare too.

[fervent stag]

tbh the name makes me ask: Is someone porting Unreal to Source Engine?

On-Topic tho: Yeah seems very unclear what this icon is supposed to mean, I expect all my Unreal servers to have an Unreal logo worked in.

[alpine fog]

hah, would never came up with an idea to ask "AI" about it

[fervent parrot]

Because my vision is for the website to be a source of news, insight, and inspiration, and for the Discord server to be a source of joy, encouragement, and camaraderie.

[glacial magnet]

And that's great, but it has some crossover!

[fervent parrot]

I considered all of this when creating the new identity. I don't think it will be a problem. In the future, if it turns out I am wrong, I will re-evaluate.

[glacial magnet]

Fair enough! Let's hope it works!

[ripe venture]

Otherwise we know @fervent parrot 's location.

He will be punished with 2000 pushups

[fervent parrot]

That's a lot of pushups, but I will do my best. I enjoy doing pushups.

[alpine fog]

Well ok then, but i will still insist the icon is bad, it does not resemble anything, not unreal nor any source, it does not associate with basically anything, it has no vibe at all.
I don't know what was the idea behind it, i just dont get it, and not even the U looks like U.

So i will just drop my quick tests and thats it, but im sorry i didnt have any other U letter for tests.

and a couple of discord tests, even a single old white U letter on black background looks better, i dont get it at all...

[hollow reef]

I really like these tests, any of the icons on the right hand side would work 50000% better than the current one I think, you can really see the difference when they are next to one another

[thick charm]

this one looks nice imo

[boreal cloak]

but it looks so similar to the actual unreal engine logo... which is copyrighted/trademarked and not affiliated with this place? it's an impossible change

[hollow reef]

do you think Epic would try and sue the largest unreal engine learning discord for having a similar logo? you can easily apply for official permission in case worried (Which they'll grant, they are very fine with 99% of uses and this learning usecase is one they would 100% support)

Can you even sue for using a logo on your discord server?

pfist's site aside, the server is what most people are here for

[alpine fog]

yeah thats was my goal, u see the difference way better when its side to side or u see the icon on discord just like u use it everyday

well i dont think epic would have any issue with the logos, i mean their logo is basically one letter with special styling, i bet if asked they would allow it anyway

this server is also practically like an official one, there is no better one, and this is what this server is all about, epic and Unreal engine
and at the end, we can have different letter style, i just didnt have any other special letters or fonts and its just a quick test, just make sure it looks like actual U 🙂
But not gona like, epic U style is great

[glacial magnet]

I think teh issue they're going to have is a link named "unreal source" in the community section of the website/launcher/whatever.

If they have an issue.

[alpine fog]

and what issue is the link?

[spice lichen]

Well naturally you'd expect a link in the unreal launcher called "Unreal Source" to go to the unreal source code. That's the issue if it ever crops up.

[alpine fog]

Ahh, the name, yeah, seem very bad in that context, not thought out all the way up

[buoyant halo]

There's no longer a simple/casual way to reference the server, I say "slackers" and people know what I mean, I say "source" and it can mean anything

[icy ice]

We are sauciers now? Sourcers? Unrealists? SourceSquad!

[glacial magnet]

Sourcerors!

[alpine fog]

the original name and icon are the best, changing something just for the change is pointless, what really changed for discord users, nothing at all

[buoyant halo]

I think its fine in essence, as is always the case there is always a vocal minority who will complain and given the lack of complaints relative to the amount of people who use this, not many people actually have any issue with it - like, at all.

But it is a shame that it feels like a downgrade in a few regards. Either way, its too late now, there's no way they're undoing anything, I do wonder where the consultation went wrong though because this is stuff that was clearly missed or disregarded.

[gaunt bone]

I also worked on some ideas for it using the S in source and Unreal's font language for the U.

i wanted to marry the style that unreal chose for their U and pfists style.

[glacial magnet]

Unreal Source: Bringing US together.

[gaunt bone]

So i came up with variations that involve loading and emblems.

[gaunt bone]

Yeah, the S for source definitely carries the whole "all of us, together" vibe.

I really loved the whole idea of the passion that comes from this discord server as being a "source" of inspiriation. So i wanted to work that in with Unreal's "edgy" style for their U.

Unreal = U, Source = S
US. cringey, but i like it lol

They're supposed to work like sister logos.

Anyways, i'm done. Thank you for looking. 🫂 nonetheless, i will keep supporting this server as it's amazing on how much knowledge i gained from it.

[glacial magnet]

Maybe make the styles consistent between the letters.

[gaunt bone]

I thought about it, I even went through with flipping it upside down and around constantly, but it felt awkward. So i flipped each one and made the top right it's own thing so it's not taking too much from it. It still has to stand on its own. I can maybe add the the spike from the bottom left of the u to the top right of the S to keep it closer.

[glacial magnet]

Fair enough!

You could also extend the button of the u to create the s

idk something along these lines. I'm not an artist.

[gaunt bone]

That would still be using Unreal's U. Which could be a problem.

[glacial magnet]

Maybe

[austere cape]

changing something just for the change
FWIW Pfist stated part of their motive behind the name change was because they didn't like the association that came with the term "slackers". It wasn't "just for the sake of change." #lounge message

[alpine fog]

Well there was not consultation at all with the community, not sure what went wrong behind the scenes, as the outcome is worse, both in case of naming and the visual representation, that is the icon.

[alpine fog]

Yeah i get it they wanted to change something, but the issue is mostly, sadly, that they didn't even think to talk about it with the community before changing anything and the result it clearly worse, maybe not even the icon itself, but the naming "source" part seems like not exactly thought out

[alpine fog]

Also its never late, they can easily change it if they wanted

[spice lichen]

There absolutely is a too late. A server as big as this can't just rollback willy nilly, especially when a lot of work has been put into updating. I.e. the discord, website, informing epic about the change etc.

But also tbf what use is a community vote on this

Why do they need to ask us to change their name

A rework has been in progress for a while and has been known about. It's not like it was a shadow change

[buoyant halo]

I don't personally like these
It just looks like its trying to be a snake

[gaunt bone]

I appreciate the critique. I can see how it looks like a snake.

[alpine fog]

not really, icon can be changed in seconds, both website and discord, u can inform epic again, im sorry, but this was not done in a proper way

[fervent parrot]

Thanks for your feedback.

[soft sparrow]

Not everybody likes everything.

That said, I really liked the name ‘unreal slackers’ as it has a warm cozy feel to it, familiar, a collective; while ‘unreal source’ feels colder, sterile, more authoritarian… and maybe that’s that’s the idea with the new name…can’t make everyone happy, but tacos usually do.