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Update: Chess.SE is in the process of graduation.

A pretty straight-forward question ripped right from the 7 essential meta questions of every beta; what should the logo for the website be? I've got one in mind that I'll "answer myself" with, but I encourage other people to answer with their ideas for a logo or a sketch of a logo too.

EDIT:Textual ideas are welcome, but I am planning to mark the correct answer as an actual picture, so please keep this in mind.

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    I would have a look at some of the other Stack Exchange logos and sites for ideas: stackexchange.com or stackexchange.com/sites# . Also think about what chess invokes in your mind - for me it's a prestigious 1920's gentlemens club full of leather, lacquered wood, ceiling high bookshelves, cigars and expensive port :). A chess piece is an obvious candidate for a logo, but which one? Which chess piece is most associated with knowledge? Perhaps depicting pawn promotion in some way could invoke the idea of gaining knowledge, elevated understanding.
    – b1_
    Commented May 16, 2012 at 16:59
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    thousands of sites use the knight or the king, it would be interesting to use a pawn or a bishop ^^ (interesting, but seriously don't)
    – ajax333221
    Commented Oct 11, 2012 at 0:01
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    I don't think that this graduation means you get new logos and themes.
    – JohnP
    Commented Aug 2, 2019 at 15:14
  • A relevant post (on this meta) by one of our designers from earlier this week: Custom Chess SE design and logo - Information gathering :)
    – V2Blast StaffMod
    Commented Sep 30, 2022 at 16:34
  • Update: Your new site design is live!
    – V2Blast StaffMod
    Commented Apr 13, 2023 at 19:14

9 Answers 9

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I just made this logo. I thought it more in keeping with the existing Stack Exchange design and closer to the popular Stack Overflow logo.

Chess Stack Exchange Logo

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    +1 Very cool! I hope this gets chosen
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 11, 2012 at 23:50
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    Definitely my favourite of the bunch. I'm marking this as the correct answer, hopefully this gets chosen :D
    – JXPheonix
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 18:28
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    beautiful! ivoted for it :)
    – Caffeinated
    Commented Jun 23, 2012 at 19:13
  • Just saw this. It looks super snazzy.
    – Brandon_J
    Commented Jun 8, 2019 at 2:06
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    I like this one also because it's small and simple enough that it could be used also in the hot network questions (where the logos are 16x16).
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Aug 2, 2019 at 17:21
  • nice design. +1
    – user24344
    Commented Sep 14, 2020 at 4:56
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Greetings from Super User! I saw your community ad, so I thought I'd have some fun, too:

art

To be honest, I feel like this would make great promotional art instead of a logo. It is a bit tall... :P

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    Very nice, and welcome to chess beta! I like how you and @JamesTomasino have each combined chess pieces and the SE logo in different and interesting ways. This definitely has the makings of another good promo (as I agree with you that it probably works better that way than as a logo).
    – ETD Mod
    Commented Jun 30, 2012 at 16:55
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A stack of chessboards arranged in an offset pattern. The upper, clearly seen chessboard makes the theme very easy to recognize, while the stack plays with both the stackExchange name and the amount of questions asked.

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  • Hard to imagine, is it possible to add a visual? For example, here's a photo-based example, which was found searching for 'stack of chess boards'
    – blunders
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 18:58
  • @blunders: Feel free to add a photo or use the idea for your own answer, this time with visual. I am a totally inebt illustrator.
    – Ray
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 6:35
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enter image description here

[Visual just to give ideas, not to be copied exactly.]

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    NOTE: Mainly just the combination of silhouette, glossy 3-D drop shadow, and symmetry of the pieces. Style of the pieces not part of the "visual idea."
    – blunders
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 6:43
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enter image description here

[Visual just to give ideas, not to be copied exactly.]

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    NOTE: The point of the visual is black/white facing off as knights, not the solid black/white checkerboard background, which to me is too much.
    – blunders
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 6:31
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A chess piece with a question mark? :p /bad-at-logo-ideas

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    Logos are best expressed with visuals, even if through rough ones. I've posted a few answers as examples. I'd suggest trying an image search engine like Google images, getting the URL, then posting an image as one answer by clicking the image icon in the answer toolbar, then pasting in the URL for the image. That said, understanding how logos work is hard, and not sure that I'd be able to explain it even if I tried, thought do believe in crowdsouring ideas, so strongly suggest posting ideas if you have them!
    – blunders
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 6:40
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enter image description here

[Visual just to give ideas, not to be copied exactly.]

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    NOTE: The visual is the "glow", not the style of the piece used. The diagonal offset of the board appears to be okay.
    – blunders
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 6:35
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enter image description here

[Source: "Through the Looking-Glass" artwork.]

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    NOTE: Point of example is the metaphors presented, those being knowledge (tree), stability (rocks), and checkerboard field. Really not sure how it'd playout in a logo, but it does tell a story visually, and is not the normal visual logo you'd get in chess related ventures.
    – blunders
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 15:49
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enter image description here

[Visual just to give ideas, not to be copied exactly.]

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    NOTE: Point of example is the "time-lapse effect" of the checkmate, not the background, which may or may not be of use visually.
    – blunders
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 6:34

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