What do you all think of this icon/logomark concept for #bitchat?

🎨 " #PermissionlessDesign " for bitchat* @jack & team Hi. I'm Bee and I love design + permissionless, decentralized, and open-source technology. While new to #Nostr network in the past few months, @JSKitty and I have started to build @V E C T O R , and since then I've found out about bitchat* and it has reignited the spark in me that really drove me heavily into open-source tech and communities. PS: Special thanks to the Nostr community. 📎Quoted below more about bitchat* (Original Source: Twitter) ◤◢◤◢◤◢ Branding Concepts ◤◢◤◢◤◢ I took some time, while I was on the plane after testing out bitchat* at ~35,000 ft above ground, and started playing with some icon/symbol design concepts. With anything creative that comes to you, you have to act on it or it will forever rest in the graveyard of "what ifs". One of my favorite styles of design is heavily influenced by cyberpunk/cypherpunk terminals and narratives, as well as pixel art. So, with this design concept I got to merge them both, largely due to influence in the name itself "bit"chat. I broke down the Core Elements of the brand in my perspective for this proximity-based privacy messenger app: ◤◢◤◢◤◢ Core Elements ◤◢◤◢◤◢ ◤◢ Bit(s) > Information, Data, Storage ◤◢ Mesh Network > Nostr Protocol, Decentralized Network, Nodes ◤◢ Communication > Bluetooth Technology, Encryption, Privacy One of my favorite aspects of design is taking different elements and merging them (largely trying to simplify them) to create a unique and new symbol, that broadcasts a unique message. In this particular example, I took most of my inspiration from the pre-existing app where it uses a terminal-like GUI (surely inspired by cypherpunk themes and the Matrix) and wanted to build with the foundational pillars that are most likely set in place with a lot of thought and intention vs. creating a random, new brand direction and style guide. Factoring that into the equation, I wanted the emphasis to be on the "b" for "bitchat*" to help users easily remember, identify, and connect with the brand. In the second image, you can see this represented visually. I merged the shape of a lowercase "b" with the general shape of a two-way radio, representing communication between 2 or more parties. So, we have the elements of "bit" covered by the simple pixel style (boxes), the "b" to help reiterate the name of the tool, app, and brand, and the same shape of a two-way radio to represent a form of encrypted communication. Since this icon is incredibly simple, I also did some research and checking to see if there were any companies, organizations, or logos that were the same... as a lot of design is a really just a puzzle and people at this day and age are bound to put some of the pieces in the same order, especially with the most simple and basic geometric shapes. I found similar examples, but luckily didn't find any that were the same. I kept the same brand colors and primary "cypherpunk" green: HEX#: 2fd159 used in the app. ◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢ C o n c l u s i o n ◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢ Absolutely enjoyed this design experiment and I'm curious to see where it leads... overlooked, irrelevant, appreciated, LGTM? That is the beauty of doing what you love, there is no losing. Working on many open-source projects that have failed to this day, only have taught me so much along the way and in some sense, helps you to be unattached to your potential expectations and desires to focus on the present, the task at hand... If the team, contributors, and community behind bitchat* are interested, DMs are open. I'm happy to contribute what I can to build out the branding, based on what currently exists at no cost. 🤍 //.FormlessLabs/YuurinBee

What are you doing to help onboard people into #Nostr? For me, building @V E C T O R with @JSKitty to provide people on the outside a simple UX for an end-to-end private and encrypted messenger app. I want it to feel and operate on the user's side like the mainstream, centralized apps that most people are used to, but the backend private and encrypted thanks to NIP-17 and Nostr.

Finally tested out BITchat by @jack & team 💯 (bluetooth, proximity-based privacy messenger app) The courier, Terminal UI look largely looking like it drew inspiration from "The Matrix", a message or series of messages, warnings, and guidance that still ring true today. We have somewhat of a similar influence building @V E C T O R, our open-source, privacy messenger-based app on #Nostr. I love the inspiration behind the minimal GUI and even the intro/about us with terms like "ephemeral identity". I often think in my head of "ephemeral existence" because that is what life is and all we do as people is mimic and copy life, hence the term biomimicry. Love the artistry and creativity behind something that feels so simple, but once you start creating applications you realize how much thought goes into every single and seemingly trivial detail. Great designers know this. Everything is incredibly straightforward and intuitive for the UX, largely to removing unnecessary features and details (I'm assuming their team had to go through a long process of what to remove vs what to add :kek: ). Everything worked like a charm, other than a connectivity issue I had with one device. One device connected perfectly to the other device, but the other device couldn't detect the other. These were tested on cross-OS, iOS and Android. I think that there were permission issues for bluetooth, location services, etc. that may have caused the issue, though I tried troubleshooting and enabling features to no success. We live in a time where our freedom and privacy are tested daily. There are forces that wish to control, oppress, and exploit--whether that sounds extreme to you or not. We compromise ourselves daily online, largely to mere convenience and a lack of knowledge. I love to see experiments like this come to life and this is what we should be contributing to as a collective, projects and protocols that protect our privacy and allow for true digital freedom and self-sovereignty.