Yesterday I got a vision of Maemo Forum. The first vision was a big fest like going on in a medieval castle's main hall, with a big table filled with food and talks and laughter and music. There were jesters, knights, kings, monks, noble and druids. But it changed constantly as who was who, from wise to king to jester and so on. Abnd in the castle there were other parts too. Cigar rooms with a fireplace and couple of chairs where people talked privately. There were chambers with round table, where some noble ones had their own meetings. and there were study chambers, where people went by themself to study and learn before entering back to the on going fest.

That kind of vision I got yesterday of this forum. And then I thought how cool it would be that the castle would have its own heraldic colourful symbol, done about right according to some rules. I would really like that and be honoured to be marked by such somehow, would it be a t-shirt, a badge on a backpack, what each one gets in his mind.

So I thought to ask is there already some kind of symbol or mark of maemo, or is there someone heraldic oriented guy to think about this, or is there any interest with others to this kind of stuff, and would those interested like more some modern stupid symbol instead of a really cool heraldic one?

At least with this we could have a really entertaining fight about what would be a true mark of maemo or something. I think having the letter M and a keyboard would be obvious to include to it someway.

This pic is quite crowded and should have more air in it but just thought of throwing as an idea. In this there is GNU Linux Maemo with a debian mark mixed with maemo yellow e plus a sliding keyboard. Maybe someone could like to try making something out of this fast drawn idea, either rough edged medieval or polished modern, with more space around stuff plus colours and clear edges?

Interesting image in your noggin Maemish...
I bet everyone here has had similar flashes of how this place looks to them.
Know I have...
(I have sans the court jesters and Arthurian stamp...more like a cross between your library , sitting rooms and add in workshops ...on every level of a skyscraper with every level being one of the subforums and categories....some busier and filled with the bustle of people currently, some quiet with fewer people)

As far as heraldic work, I have about 10 odd years of study on the topic and understand the meanings behind colour, symbol, placement, etc.
Done some work for clients and organisations.

However, here we have had our time, and we are done with such I think.
We have had our maemo linux mascot debate,
icon debate
logo debate
I have quite a few varieties of t-shirts and iron - on patches, etc. ..
I have designed as well...
I wear 'em about now and then..

But there is no ...
or rather was no viable market to break even ....
cost wise ...
it is just a financial loss to produce in mass...
any product aimed for maemo ...
there just isn't the numbers / interest here to make it viable.

Been there, done that....on a few occasions...with a few projects here...
Plenty of folks love the idea..
(I call it "The "Ord" Issue" )
But don't get on board
can't afford
get bored

Not enough numbers...
community ennui ...

Whatever ...
take your pick ..

I didn't think to produce anything else than an image. Each and everyone could make it where and how they wish, so no money business involved here. "The Ord" issue. Nice.

Edit: Just checked the maemo mascot thread. I hear you Endsormeans. I see the difficulty of the matter. I don't mind.

a fun maemo arts and crafts time then....
great.
But if folks wanted something done as you said
"I would really like that and be honoured to be marked by such somehow, would it be a t-shirt, a badge on a backpack, what each one gets in his mind."

Then there is cost involved.
Time to do it is cost.
T-shirts cost
Badges cost
Printing / producing costs
and there will always be ones that don't come out properly ..in the process...that loss costs.

So whether it is individually done or professionally done.
Your suggestion costs.
It is always much much more expensive to produce one ..or a couple ...of a thing..
And always is cheaper to produce en masse ...

I have done quite a few such projects here in my spare time.
I didn't mind the cost then to produce the protos
It was fun and I wished to have at least for myself the aimed items..
whether it was t-shirts, patches, badges, replacement n900 body in a more durable and aesthetic casing..
Whatever..

I still make such ...but only for myself..

Since for the community it is not viable ...it is just a cost loss.

I meant to get the image only. If someone would like to put it somewhere he would put it, by whatever means. Nobody would be massproducing anything.

But I think I will only design and make one to myself. Maybe I will show the end product.

N900 charging. Writing this with my wifi iphone with slider keyboard.

As a suggestion,
If one wishes to do Heraldry as a project.
Then I suggest cursory looking up how it is done.
Just "putting stuff" on a shield does not make it Heraldry.

The exact placement of things, the exact types of things, their colours, their postures ..and their interactions with one another on the crest....and soooooo very very much more detail is critical.
It means something...
Every properly done crest or shield were are treasure trove of deliberately executed purpose..
meant to yield books and books of data on that one crest or shield

In the end it speaks volumes and volumes of information.
With one big flag, pennant, crest, shield ...
plainly seen from a distance ..it announced a great deal of important information of those under its banner.
That was the point of Heraldry.

Done without following the Heraldry "rules of engagement" (so-to-speak) in planning out the crest, what you have is not a crest based on Heraldry,
but actually just a ..."picture"..in the most rudimentary sense.

Just as an example ...
In our modern age..that thinks itself so educated, so intellectual, and so deep..
When actually, it is the reverse.
The majority of humanity today have cabbage for brains.
The letter "A" of the alphabet ...is just that...simply a letter to be used as part of a sentence, with zero meaning unto itself, or multiple meanings.
"A" is just a lone "thing" ...like each and every one of the other letters in the alphabet.

Older methods of study such as Heraldry (and even older still studies than that...) do not look at the letter "A" as just a letter.
The colour it is printed in,
the size,
the placement on the crest,
any slight or dramatically noticeable differences in exaggeration
or flourishes
or decorative of the letter,
how they interact with other symbols ...
etc..
Was the vast depth of exactly what that portion of data of the crest yielded.
The rules aren't just "made up", they've been around a long time, most of the said rules predate the art of Heraldry itself, and were adopted by Heraldry...
There are very specific rules to Heraldry, depending upon the rule book...and the exact time period... one follows.

Soooooooo funny! I had just spent like three hours with this shield and then came to read your post. LOL! If I would get embarrassed now would be the moment. Sooo funny. Maybe I should move the debian logo a bit and then it would be heraldic, right?

hahaha...
well it wasn't meant to embarrass Maemish...

Your preliminaries are a start..
the latest is getting there..
it is about the depth ..about the amount of information you are trying to squeeze ...tastefully into a crest..
The more you can, following the rules of Heraldry ...the more information you convey to not just the uninitiated ...but volumes more to those who have even the rudiments of Heraldry under their belt...or who wish to...and discover the reams of data buried in your crest.

Point in case.
do the 6 fleur-de-lis have any intrinsic meaning?
or the central cross?
was the placement of the logos and icons deliberate to those quarters and their meanings reflect that?
perhaps the penguin should be "rampant" facing to the left or right?
or perhaps the penguin and the gnu should be more passively demonstrated...say as tearing at their breast ..to signify the parent (os) giving to its offspring, our maemo animal logo...with the pair of them in a "vulning" posture.

the above is just a cursory and casual...not in depth ..
In depth would be much much much more...deliberately specified information ...one could call "Heraldrically encrypted information"
according to the precepts of the art.

Moving the debian logo ..?
that depends...on what you wish to convey..
You do not have to be statically bound by the "recognized official symbol of our time" for those icons.
You can change the colour of the debian logo
That colour red has a specific connotation in the debian logo...you may or may not wish it....specific flourishes depending on where they are put on the debian logo also convey info.
also its location on the crest conveys information.
But you can add much much more depth to just that one little quarter ...than just a logo which just refers to a link ...a familial link of debian to our maemo...

Think of Heraldry ...as something akin to any picto- graphic language.
like say ...egyptian heiros ...
each symbol in their system...meant something, and meant even more when in concert with other symbols...
To the point where...
The amount of deliberately planted meaning in a small space ..
ends up taking so much meaning that it starts running further on its own...past your own efforts..
Thus it takes on a life of its own.
With all such ancient languages ...a lie was easy to see...
A lie was a poor construction...
A lie was an omission from the whole ...
A lie was an "incomplete".
A lie had no life.

If you are not "constructing" or "building" or "shaping" the growth of this Heraldry ...
Then you are just putting ABC blocks together randomly ...
without purpose...
You are speaking gibberish in the language of Heraldry...
No different than randomly putting any words together in any language and calling that a beautiful sentence.

But if done according to the laws of that language..
There will be a point where the depth of meaning becomes so vast as to be considered beautifully sublime ..
as to be considered a living thing that once it begins to speak to the person who is viewing it..studying it...they realize it just keeps going deeper...past your initial intent...

Like a wind up toy...
The longer you wind it up...the longer it runs across the kitchen floor...
surprising everyone with the life of its own and the inevitable directions it takes of its own volition ..regardless of the initial intent and direction of the person who wound it and let it loose.

Darn. I wasn't taking this too serious and just put up something fast by taking from the net and putting together. And then you come and start to share your knowledge and stuff. You put me in a position where I know have to make one for real. Well ok. I will.