Logo for NixOS 26.11 "Zokor"

[Scrumplex]

Hi, we are @Scrumplex and @yayayayaka, the release managers for NixOS 26.11 ("Zokor").

The next NixOS release is planned for 2026-11-23¹. We would like to have a logo early this time, in order to get potential shirts and other swag made for it in time for the release.

The animal for this release is a Myospalacinae, also known as Zokors.

Footnotes

1. Unlike previous releases, we are starting the search for a logo early this time, so there is no official schedule yet. ↩

[Scrumplex]

CC @Sigmanificient

[Sigmanificient]

Hi, please note that i am no longer part of the marketing team. I handed my personal resignation privately, during the month of August.

That said, my work on the release illustrations predates my involvement with the Marketing Team, and the team was not really involved in the process, so I am still personally interested in doing the artwork for 26.11.

There are a couple of things I would like to clarify beforehand, namely:

The previous illustrations have had a somewhat informal status: their main use was in a side image within the release blog posts, and they were previously stored in the artwork repository alongside other community artwork. See the note in https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-artwork, that the repo "previously contained a mix of official and community-created artwork", the release illustration not being disambiguated.

Moreover my illustrations use CC BY-NC reference photography as the starting point for the animal. I simplify and redraw/vectorize it substantially, and later iterations diverge further from the original, but I am not confident enough about the implications of commercial use to say that if this causes an issue. The work itself was stated as CC BY-NC in this continuation.

There is also the question of where the artwork should live, which has yet to be answered. The primary source for the latest illustration is still a gist i spontaneously created as of now. I previously closed the issue about integrating the release artwork into this branding repository after leaving the Marketing Team. Personally i would prefer to keep it independent from that repository.

Finally, I want to set expectations around time. I have been slow at doing theses illustration in the past, because i took - honestly way to much - time to slowly iterate it. With my upcoming (starting very soon btw) year in exchange program at Koç university, i am unsure about my schedule.

I am happy to contribute, but I cannot promise a particular turnaround yet, and I would prefer to clear up the situation.