Freegle Doodles

Freegle Doodles

Freegle Doodles are Freegle logos altered to celebrate particular events, adding a little extra interest to the Freegle site. We took our lead from Google Doodles: http://www.google.com/doodles/about

Who can come up with doodles?

Anyone. Please have a go - you'll be credited for any doodles that get published. Email graphics@ilovefreegle.org to let us know you'd like to have a go, and we'll add you to the list of doodlers.

What events do we want doodles for?

We're keeping the list fairly modest for now. It leans on saints' days, which tend to mark a day of celebration for that country, but if you think other days should be added, email graphics@ilovefreegle.org.

• Jan 1st - New Year's Day
• Feb 14th - St Valentine's Day
• Feb 21st - Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day)
• Mar 1st - St David's Day (Patron Saint of Wales)
• Mar 17th - St Patrick's Day (Patron Saint of Ireland)
• Mar 18th - Mothering Sunday (Mother's Day)
• Easter: 8/4/12, 31/3/13, 20/4/14, 5/4/15, 27/3/16
• April 22nd - Earth Day
• April 23rd - St George's Day (Patron Saint of England)
• June 5th - World Environment Day: http://www.unep.org/wed/intro/intro.html
• June 18th-24th - National Recycle Now Week: http://www.recyclenowpartners.org.uk/index.html
• Sept 19th - Talk Like a Pirate Day
• Oct 31st - All Saints / Halloween
• Nov 5th - Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night
• Nov 30th - St Andrew's Day (Patron Saint of Scotland)
• Dec 25th - Christmas Day

There are lots of other events and dates we could add, such as:

• Spring into Reuse (March, April, May)
• Mar 8th - International Women's Day
• April 22nd - Earth Day: http://www.earthday.org/2012
• June 1st-7th - National Volunteers' Week
• Jubilee bank holiday: 5/6/12
• Olympic Games: 27/7/12 - 12/8/12
• Paralympic Games: 29/8/12 - 9/9/12
• Waste-free winter
• #FreegleFriday
• #WastelessWed

And plenty more - my favourite being "National Doughnut Week"! But we need to see if there's enough interest before we expand the list.

Guidance on producing a Freegle Doodle

What a doodle should contain

A Freegle doodle needs the word "Freegle" to be distinguishable within the design when sized to 160 by 160 pixels. Where possible it should include an element of the Freegle heart too, though how much is up to the artist. It should also reference the event.

Selection

If we're lucky enough to get several designs for one event, we'll email the contributors to get opinions. If a casting vote is needed, the doodle organiser will make the final call.

Format

Pick up the standard Logos in SVG format as your starting point.

Once you've created a Freegle Doodle, send it to graphics@ilovefreegle.org, again in SVG format, so it can be resized for different uses.

Credits

Any doodles used will be credited to their creator.

Copyright

By creating a doodle and sending it in for use, you give Freegle the right to use it on its pages and websites free of charge. If you want Freegle to stop using your design, email us and we'll remove it.

Old designs

Some old designs are stored here: http://photobucket.com/freegledays

Geek guidance

First, decide on a filename that doesn't conflict with existing doodle filenames. Make sure the doodle fits tightly within its bounds, with no white space around it.

The small website logo needs to be 160x160px. Create a jpg or png file at this size, log in to Perch and add a new ornament, uploading the image file - this goes to ilovefreegle/images/doodle on Spock. A task every hour copies all the doodles over to web1. The create_daily_tips script runs overnight on Spock and web1, but can be run manually when required. If there's a doodle for today, the sitelogo and directlogo symlinks are updated to point to it; otherwise the standard ones are used.

Now upload various sizes of the doodle to 'shared' on web1 and Spock. In Perch, create suitable shortlinks for each image uploaded - use only alphanumeric characters in the shortlink.

The Facebook profile photo should be 960x960 pixels and the cover photo 851x315 pixels, though Facebook will resize for you.

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