XUNET Logos
c. 1988
XUNET was the "eXperimental University NETwork" research project sponsored
by AT&T Bell Labs Research, Murray Hill, NJ. It started in 1987.
Primary university participants were the University of California
at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University
of Wisconsin-Madison.
The XUNET was a Datakit-style network. The previous generations
included (1) Research Datakit, (2) Production Datakit, and (3) Research
Hyperkit. The NCON "iNtelligent CONnector" could also be classified
with this technology. The XUNET switch architecture has a dual-bus.
Each feature module "card" has a to-switch and from-switch bus. The
switch module "card" maps an input port on a feature module to an output
port on a/another feature module.
The following are some of my logo designs for XUNET. Click on
an image for a larger version.
The name element is the obvious starting place. The connected
letters attempt to pull in the network element. The slant is more
readable, the stagger is interesting and nicely compact. The last
design is a vertical mirror for an attempt at symmetry, but it is plainly
unreadable.
The addition of nodes emphasizes the network element and improves readability,
a little. But the overall esthetics are not pleasing.
The "dual bus" architecture of the switch is the foundation for these
designs, giving clear significance to the logo. The added arrows are
just too messy, even when limited to the "X" switch module. The left-most
design was the eventual winner of the logo design contest. It was
used for documents and t-shirts.
NoBell Home - gjm
- last update 1/3/2004, created - 5/30/2002
