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Why we need an ePub logo—pronto!

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

By Evan Leibovitch

Welcome to Evan Leibovitch, our latest contributor! Evan works at York University in Toronto and has written dozens of articles on open source issues. A longer bio appears at the end of this post. – D.R.

image During the workshop that preceded the IDPF conference a few months ago, someone mentioned they’d heard that Amazon or another company was working on Yet Another Format that wasn’t quite complaint with ePub. This rumored format, we were told, might be called “ePub plus” or something like that.

Whether the comment was a genuine notice of impending threat, a trial balloon or simply an innocent “what if,” the effect was chilling. Geeks in the audience easily recognized the tactic of spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to try to destabilize confidence in competitors.

The best way to tackle FUD is head-on. In this context, ePub’s creators need to protect what "ePub" means, promoting the name as a real brand, and not allowing it to be mutated or redefined by those who stand to lose from having a level playing field. It means logos and it means trademarks, done simply and quickly. Michael Smith, IDPF’s executive director, told me that an ePub logo contest is coming Real Soon Now. As far as this keyboard’s concerned, it can’t happen soon enough.

I hope the IDPF jury choosing the logo sticks to some basic objectives. The winning design must:

  • Be icon-like—simple, distinct, and easily recognizable.
  • Help indicate to consumers how to match file and reader.
  • Allow an easy way to indicate enhancements.

They keys are recognition and simplicity. This means not having a whole bunch of mutated variations of the logo for DRM, DRM-free, color, "friendly to speech synthesizers" or whatever feature doodads the format can optionally offer now and in the future.

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