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Custom logo and theme design
NOTICE: The following information is for organizations and individuals considering custom design. For licensees using the branding and design services included in their contract, please review the identity, branding, and design sections of the Basic information checklist and/or contact your project manager.
Paid Curatescape projects include customized logo and site design based on the current Curatescape themes. Compare, for example, Cleveland Historical and Adelaide City Explorer. Each uses a custom logo and a first-party Curatescape theme with some basic configurations (e.g. colors, image files, homepage elements, etc.) that help them establish a distinct identity. Cleveland Historical uses the Curatescape Echo theme, while Adelaide City Explorer uses the Curatescape Classic theme.
While basic brand design and a choice of Curatescape themes is included within your license agreement, other customizations may require you to hire an outside developer or designer. In so doing, please keep in mind the following considerations when customizing a first-party theme or when making major changes or designing your own theme:
For compatibility with the licensed native apps, every Curatescape site must include the following plugins: Curatescape JSON, TourBuilder, Geolocation, and Simple Pages (including an About page). As long as those plugins are activated and functional, designers/developers may alter Omeka's display or functionality however they like.
For full compatibility, the custom Curatescape JSON output for each section of the site must be accessible by the client applications.
For full compatibility with the Curatescape themes and apps, use the Curatescape Story item type. The item type and all of the required metadata fields can be installed automatically using the Curatescape Admin Helper plugin. For an example of how the custom fields are used and displayed, see the Content Layout Guide.
Master files for custom icons, logos, and other brand assets must be sent to Curatescape project manager in an editable vector format (AI, SVG, etc) for implementation in native client apps. (This applies only to paid projects that include mobile apps.)
The logo should be designed with the selected/customized theme in mind.
- For the Curatescape Echo theme: Logo dimensions should be approximately 1:1, 1:2, or 1:3 and legible at 85px in height. Because the logo will sit on a dark color field in a contained space, it is recommended to design a logo that has a transparent background and which maintains an accessible contrast ratio against the site's primary brand color (for example, if your primary color is red, avoid black text in the logo).
- For the Curatescape Classic theme: Logo dimensions should be approximately 1:1, 1:2, or 1:3 and legible at 90px in height. Because the logo will sit in an open field, laid in front of a custom fullscreen background image, it may use any color, provided that the background image does not present contrast or legibility issues. (It is recommended to use a background image that is relatively "non-busy" near the top of the page where the logo and navigation appear.) For best results, a transparent background is recommended.
Projects that include mobile apps will require an icon (or "app launcher" image). This is the image that appears on the mobile device home screen and/or app dock. The master file should be designed at a 1:1 ratio and be at least 1024 x 1024 pixels. Apple devices will automatically mask the image to add the rounded corners. Ideally, the icon will also be designed to work when masked into a circle shape (such as is used on many recent Android devices). The icon should not rely on alpha transparency and should be legible/recognizable at both very large and very small sizes.
While it is not required for non-app projects, creating an icon is still strongly recommended. The image can be used as a site icon for when a user bookmarks/favorites your website in their web browser. It is often also used as an avatar image for social media accounts.
The splash screen is the image that appears briefly when launching the mobile apps. The master file should be designed at a 1:1 ratio and be at least 2732 x 2732 pixels. This image will be cropped into dozens of different sizes (i.e. for phones and tablets, for landscape and portrait orientations, etc.), so critical content should be contained in the center third of the canvas. Typically, it will contain the project logo or icon.
This image is used for multiple purposes, including in the Google Play App Store and to create rich links when sharing certain pages on social media (including the Home and About pages). The master file should be designed at 1024 x 500 pixels. Typically, it will contain the project logo or icon. See examples on the Curatescape Projects page.
All paid projects include basic brand design services and configuration of first-party themes at no additional cost.
Significant customizations that drastically alter the appearance or functionality of the website design may incur additional fees and/or may be considered out of scope of the original contract, requiring a third-party designer/developer. Like any website design or development project, the cost of customizing a Curatescape site will vary greatly according to the quality and experience of the designer, as well as your location and the scope of your requirements.