Introduction

This is Iteration 3 of exploring ideas for logos for the Neuro-Symbolic Systems AI research community that is emerging within the Computer Science department at City, University of London.

I got positive feedback from some people regarding Iteration 2. One concern I have with the brain icon used in the logos of Iteration 2 is that it may be a bit too busy — too detailed. That is, it may be trying to pack too many neurons and too many symbols into the image. When viewed at a large scale one may get a positive impression because one can readily discern all the detail, but when it’s compressed to a small scale the detail appears to me to be harder to discern, and the image loses some of its visual impact.

So the purpose of Iteration 3 is to explore refinements to the brain icon of Iteration 2. The concept remains the same, but here in Iteration 3 we’re going to explore a courser (less granular) brain cortex that admits fewer but larger neurons and symbols. We wish to check whether such brain icons, when viewed at small scales, have greater visual impact than the brain icon of Iteration 2.

A second purpose of Iteration 3 is to explore the option of placing a refined, more discernable brain icon within a human head figure. We wish to check whether having a surrounding human head figure makes for a more visually appealing icon or not.

We begin by presenting two samples of brain images, followed by two samples of head-with-brain images. Some of these images are sourced from flaticon (a site discovered by Ernesto). A couple of the head-with-brain images are sourced from Pixaby. The rest are from miscellaneous sources.

The plan is to choose a preferred brain image, and a preferred human head image, and use these to create: 1) an Iteration 3 brain icon, with associated NSS logo, and 2) an Iteration 3 head-with-brain icon, with associated NSS logo.

Flaticon brain images

Some brain images downloaded from flaticon.com. I'm interested in the manner in which the outer edge of the brain cortex is represented, not in the internals. The internals will be replaced with neurons in the left hemisphere and symbols in the right. I'm looking for a simple, minimalist rendering of the outer edge of the cortex that leaves plenty of clear space within whilst still strongly evoking **brain**, much like 7a. I'm also keen to explore renderings that have clear space between the hemispheres, like in 3 and 8.

Other brain images

More brain images from sources other than flaticon.com

Flaticon head-with-brain images

Some head-with-brain images downloaded from flaticon.com. The idea here is to explore whether it's visually appealing to place our eventual brain icon within a human head figure, or whether our brain icon has greater impact without being surrounded by a human head figure. A key step in this regard is to first select an appealing human head figure. I'm not interested in the icon that's within these head figures; that will be replaced by our brain icon. It's just an appealing head figure I'm after. Amongst this sample, I have a preference for number 4 because it has simple lines, rounded lines, and the least discernable attitude/expression.

Other head-with-brain images

More head-with-brain images downloaded from sources other than flaticon.com. For some reason I have a strong preference for head figures that are facing left rather than right. Why would this be? I like number 4 for its simple, rounded, minimalist lines, and its absence of attitude/expression. But images 7 and 8 were sourced from www.pixabay.com. The Pixabay license stipulates that all Pixabay content is free to use and amend, without attribution, even for commercial purposes. Because of this, I also fancy image 7. I wouldn't need to create a slightly modified trace of this head figure; we can safely use it exactly as-is, if we choose.

Community icon & logo motif 1: brain

icon development

I chose to begin composing Iteration 3 community icon & logo motifs by working with Flaticon brain image number 3. I created a trace of the outline of the right hemisphere, added a rotated copy, introduced a reduced number of neurons/symbols, and came up these:

Left image This brain cortext trace is less elaborate than that of Iteration 2, but the idea is to explore whether this simplicity contributes to greater visual impact in the final icon, especially when viewed at smaller scales. There's lots of open space inside the hemispheres. The absence of internal cortex lines may make their content easier to discern at small scales.

Middle image The hemispheres are populated with fewer and larger neurons/symbols than in the Iteration 2 motif. I've chosen to explore an approach for rendering the networked neurons that's different from Iteration 2. Here, we experiment with fat, open neurons, and connections that are equally fat and of the same colour. For the symbols, I've selected a subset of those appearing in the Iteration 2 brain icon motif, but I've also introduced a new one --- the one at the bottom. Hopefully, academically-oriented people (the target audience for our community logo) will recognise it as the entails symbol, from logic. So two of the five symbols have an 'academic feel', the summation symbol (to evoke math) and the entails symbol (to evoke logic). We can refine and finesse the choice of symbols later.

Right image Same as the middle image but with a steel grey (rather than black) cortex outline and a somewhat thinner cortex stroke.

If we add some backing colour, we get an icon that looks like this:

Same icon image viewed at a range of scales.

Or like this:

logo development

If we add a community name and tagline, we get a logo that looks like this:

Same logo image viewed at a range of scales.

Or like this:

Community icon & logo motif 2: head-with-brain

icon development

To explore motifs involving human head figures, I chose to work with image number 7 from the ‘head-with-brain’ images displayed above. This is a Pixabay image. Masking the original neuron contents yields a blank slate human head figure.

If we now fit our brain icons within the empty human head figure, we get head-with-brain icons such as these:

The right image is the same as the middle image except for the two dark red lines explicitly connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain (to more explicitly suggest neuro-symbolic integration). Does this device add value? Not sure.

These images help to explain why I started to consider our brain icon with a thinner, grey outline of the cortex, as opposed to the thicker, black cortex outline. For me, the black brain cortex outline clashes somewhat with the human head figure when the two are juxtaposed, as in the left image. The softer, thinner, grey cortex outline feels a bit easier on the eye.

logo development

Adding a community name and tagline gives a logo like this:

Community icon & logo motif 3: head-with-contents

Motif 3 explores the human head figure with the neuron-symbol contents but without the brain cortex hemispheres.

Community icon & logo motif 4: two heads facing each other

Motif 4 considers the use of two heads facing each other, one containing neurons, the other containing symbols.

The two images are identical except for the fact that the right image has a few wavy, grey lines in the right-side head. The right-side head in the left image looks a bit empty. The wavy lines are meant to fill the empty space a bit, whilst being suggestive of cortical matter or regions or something like that. Not entirely happy with the result. The idea may be ok, but the execution could be better. Another option for filling the empty space, I suppose, is to make the symbols a bit bigger. The dark red jagged line connecting the two heads is meant to suggest a kind of digital signal representing neuro-symbolic combination or integration or something.

Using icons like these, a logo might look something like this: