mikelove Posted May 22, 2012 at 08:41 PM Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 at 08:41 PM We're redesigning the icon for our Chinese dictionary app - it will still have our trademark 魚 in the middle, but with a more calligraphic font (FZXingKai, see attached image though my wife refers to it as a "frowny face") and a background that suggests a calligraphy scroll (though we're keeping the basic iPhone icon shape). In order to make this look nice and realistic we want to put a name seal at the top right corner of the image, but we have to be very careful to choose one that's both appropriate to the setting of a calligraphy scroll (no "#3 Contract Signing Seal") and politically correct (not a seal from any person / organization that a significant number of people have a problem with). Also needs to be copyright-free, though as long as it's pre-Republic that's not likely to be a problem. Can anybody suggest a good name seal image for this? We were thinking something from a famous Qing emperor like 康熙 or 乾隆 (康熙 has the added associations with Chinese dictionaries but his grandson seems to has been much more colophon-happy) but technically I suppose if there was only one seal on an calligraphy scroll it's unlikely it would be from an emperor unless the calligraphy was done by him personally. We could have a custom name seal done for Pleco, but if we wanted it to look good to experts it might be a bit on the expensive / time-consuming side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:07 PM Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:07 PM How about a name seal for Mike Love? This name is associated with dictionaries , should be copyright free, You should be able to come up with some good looking characters for this phoneticaly. As you can tell from all the smileys that I am sort of half joking but also half serious, it could work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelove Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:38 PM Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:38 PM Heh, thanks, but my Chinese name is actually pretty silly - 罗麦克, assigned by a well-meaning Chinese teacher way back in 1995 (before people had gotten the idea of giving foreigners Chinese names that actually sound good in Chinese) - so I'm not sure if it would be the best pick here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted May 23, 2012 at 10:18 AM Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 at 10:18 AM I like this piece of calligraphy a lot. And there are many seals on it. Perhaps you could see if you like any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
character Posted May 24, 2012 at 08:43 AM Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 at 08:43 AM We're redesigning the icon for our Chinese dictionary app - it will still have our trademark 魚 in the middle, but with a more calligraphic font (FZXingKai, see attached image though my wife refers to it as a "frowny face") [...]Oh, so it isn't "dragon walking leftward while getting an x-ray."How about a seal with the characters 中文辭典 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
外国赤佬 Posted May 24, 2012 at 09:05 AM Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 at 09:05 AM How about just the seal 魚 character? Looks much better than the "frowny face". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelove Posted May 28, 2012 at 03:56 PM Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 at 03:56 PM skylee - thanks, those are indeed quite lovely. character - excellent idea, I just posted a rendering of that in our company forums - a little bit funny because the left half is so much more densely stroked than the right, but still pretty workable. 外国赤佬 - I'm not sure about using seal script for the main character because it's a little too much of a departure from what we have there now, but the "frowny face" is getting quite a few complaints so we may change it to something a little closer to 楷体 (separate strokes on the bottom, e.g.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted June 3, 2012 at 01:13 PM Report Share Posted June 3, 2012 at 01:13 PM Just wondered why you feel you have to keep a name assigned to you that you don't like. Can't you change it, I am sure there must be an alternative. Dare I suggest throwing it open to the forum to make some suggestions for a new name for you, as small gesture of appretiation for your efforts with Chinese Forums. Of course you can completely ignore the suggestions, but you never know it might be interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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