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brand: use the selected Open Herd icon-only organization avatar #18
Description
Current decision — R2: Open Herd icon only (2026-09-09)
The owner explicitly selected the icon from bytefolk-concept-c-open-herd.svg: the open-herd-mark group, without the ByteFolk wordmark. This direction supersedes R1's minimal monochrome horned B. The attempted R1 restoration earlier on 2026-09-09 was an assistant source-selection error, not an owner request to revert the design.
Status: in-progress. The owner authorized the live avatar correction directly. Canonical repository assets and reproduction instructions must now follow this selection; no further restoration from the old black B asset is authorized by R1.
R2 requirements
- REQ-001: Use the exact Open Herd icon geometry from the owner's selected SVG. The existing
bytefolk-concept-c-open-herd-mark.svgis the icon-only equivalent: 4 paths and 5 rectangles, with no text element. - REQ-002: Preserve the selected blue
#1677ff, purple#722ed1, ink#141414, and white#ffffff; do not redraw, recolor, or stretch the mark. - REQ-003: Export an opaque white 1024 × 1024 PNG with proportional scaling, centered padding, and no wordmark. Apply that PNG as the centralized organization avatar under the owner's direct instruction.
- REQ-004: Correct canonical export documentation and validation so they cannot silently restore the superseded black B. Preserve all unrelated organization settings and profile copy.
R2 acceptance criteria
- AC-001: XML comparison proves all 9 icon elements equal the selected source after expanding fill variables; the avatar SVG contains no text.
- AC-002: The upload PNG is opaque RGB, 1024 × 1024, with a white background and the original icon's aspect ratio and palette. Visual inspection confirms no lettering and sufficient crop padding.
- AC-003: Repository source, raster artifact, render command, documentation, and validation agree on Open Herd. Governance checks and whitespace validation pass on the candidate head; normal review and CI apply before merging repository changes.
- AC-004: The owner-settings UI confirms successful upload. Download and inspect the public avatar after the change; record actual hashes and dimensions. GitHub may keep the same avatar URL and resize/re-encode the image, so neither URL change nor pixel equality to the 1024 px source is asserted.
- AC-005: Record before/after protected public organization fields and verify no unrelated fields changed. Keep this issue open until remaining repository alignment and product acceptance are complete.
Source identity
Repository alignment: PR #31, head 94766dca09dcc30c1bbbe0fd0f788a1a48866fdd. The original Open Herd SVG, icon-only SVG, and exact uploaded PNG are now published in that candidate. They are not yet merged to main.
Icon-only SVG SHA-256: f7d58df169d6270ff40da11b038d64d6f7c5f7435851eb32f2fe1554c578f32a.
R1 material below is retained as historical evidence only. Its old asset selection and monochrome requirements do not govern current avatar operations.
Historical R1 — superseded by R2
Problem
ByteFolk now has an approved public name and organization profile, but the GitHub organization still lacks an intentional, repository-backed avatar. The selected visual direction is the minimal one-color horned B symbol. Without a canonical asset and usage rules, the live organization image can drift from the brand source or become unreadable across light and dark surfaces.
Desired outcome
The ByteFolk organization uses one simple, recognizable avatar everywhere GitHub renders the centralized organization profile picture, and the .github repository contains the exact scalable source, upload artifact, reversed variant, horizontal lockup, and concise usage rules needed to reproduce it.
Approved direction
R1 — Minimal horned B
- One-color geometric symbol derived from the capital
B. - Two block horns retain the cow/horse/digital-employee character connection.
- The extended lower bowl hints at an animal muzzle without illustration details.
- The organization upload uses a black symbol on an opaque white square so it remains legible in both GitHub light and dark themes.
- The full-body mascot remains a separate expressive asset and is not used as the organization avatar.
Requirements
- REQ-001: Store the approved ByteFolk symbol and its reproducible organization-avatar export in the canonical
.githubrepository. - REQ-002: Keep the symbol structurally valid in primary, reversed, and horizontal lockup contexts without adding gradients, shadows, mascot detail, or extra colors.
- REQ-003: Apply the exact approved PNG to the centralized
bytefolkGitHub organization profile after merge and successfulpush/mainvalidation. - REQ-004: Preserve the organization handle, repository names, permissions, pins, descriptions, profile copy, member avatars, and all unrelated settings.
Acceptance criteria
- AC-001: The repository contains a responsive primary SVG, reversed SVG, horizontal lockup SVG, and opaque 1024×1024 PNG generated from the same symbol geometry.
- AC-002: SVGs parse successfully, contain no embedded raster image, gradient, filter, script, external resource, or fixed root dimensions, and remain recognizable at 16, 32, 64, and 512 pixels.
- AC-003: The PNG is exactly 1024×1024, RGB/RGBA, opaque, and has a white background with the approved black one-color mark and sufficient circular-crop padding.
- AC-004: Brand usage documentation records clear space, minimum sizes, primary/reversed usage, exact colors, the avatar export command, and prohibited modifications.
- AC-005: Repository governance validation and
git diff --checkpass on the exact PR head. - AC-006: After merge and green
push/mainvalidation, an organization owner uploads the exact tracked PNG through GitHub Organization Settings. - AC-007: Authenticated API and anonymous-page readback show a changed organization
avatar_url; downloading that URL produces pixels matching the tracked PNG after GitHub's expected resizing/cropping, while protected non-avatar organization fields remain unchanged.
Scope
Included: canonical brand assets and usage notes in .github, deterministic raster export, the centralized GitHub organization avatar update, and post-change readback.
Non-goals
- Changing personal member avatars.
- Assigning separate avatars to repositories or teams.
- Changing the organization handle, name, description, pins, repository metadata, profile copy, permissions, topics, visibility, or product branding.
- Replacing the full-body mascot or defining product-specific icons.
Validation plan
- Parse and lint every SVG and check prohibited constructs.
- Render the primary symbol at 16, 32, 64, 512, and 1024 pixels; verify dimensions, opacity, palette, and circular-crop padding.
- Run repository governance validation and
git diff --check. - Merge only after required CI and independent review pass.
- Record the before-state organization JSON and current avatar URL; upload the exact tracked PNG in GitHub Organization Settings.
- Read back the organization API and anonymous organization page, download the served avatar, compare its perceptual/structural pixels with the tracked source, and verify unrelated protected fields are unchanged.
Risk and rollback
Risk is limited to public brand presentation. Preserve the previous avatar URL and before-state JSON. If acceptance fails, restore the previous image only when the current avatar still matches this change; do not overwrite a concurrent owner update.
Activity
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 1, 2026
The selected minimal C direction is now tracked as reproducible SVG/PNG assets in PR #19. Local SVG, PNG, deterministic-export, governance, and whitespace checks pass; the exact-head Governance job is green. Live organization-avatar upload and E4 readback remain intentionally pending until independent CODEOWNER approval, merge, and successful
push/mainvalidation.chore(#18): sync avatar branch with latest main
docs(#18): update brand issue link for ByteFolk
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 1, 2026
Asset merge gate passed: PR #19 was independently approved at exact head
3c82dccf965dbcfa57ab23b384899632202445c9, squash-merged as18c398f7d05601559b764a13e3e81d70283b083d, and the exact merge-head Governance run succeeded: https://github.com/bytefolk/.github/actions/runs/33482321755 .This issue was automatically closed by the PR keyword before AC-006/AC-007 were complete. It is intentionally reopened so the public requirement state remains truthful. The live GitHub organization avatar has not yet been changed; upload and post-change API/anonymous readback remain pending.
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 1, 2026
Post-upload public readback (2026-09-01T16:54Z)
The live organization avatar has now changed after the earlier NOT VERIFIED comment.
bytefolk/.github@18c398f7d05601559b764a13e3e81d70283b083d,brand/bytefolk/avatar-1024.png08a2ebb326503dee75344ddd95b3007d0266ead1564fc9194ad8c6d8f0232dd9avatar_url=https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/309981672?v=4,updated_at=2026-09-01T16:30:28ZCurrent public API fields are
login=bytefolk,name=ByteFolk, descriptionOpen, self-hostable infrastructure for digital teams., null location/blog/email/social handle, both organization/repository project flags enabled, and seven public repositories. The persisted rename ledger in #20 matches the login, display name, and seven-public-repository baseline.Gate status:
Keep this Issue open until an Organization Owner records the missing sanitized protected-field/audit readback. Do not infer that missing evidence from the source asset or public profile alone.
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 9, 2026
Current avatar drift and owner remediation — 2026-09-09
The owner has authorized restoring the exact tracked approved PNG. Fresh authenticated organization metadata and an anonymous avatar download confirm the current live image differs from the canonical asset:
brand/bytefolk/avatar-1024.png08a2ebb326503dee75344ddd95b3007d0266ead1564fc9194ad8c6d8f0232dd96349d8954e1c5894d3c91e26fddba98411117c98964821d9798d76a43308bb0dThe earlier September 1 readback is preserved as a dated historical report and now explicitly marked as superseded for current-state claims. It is not evidence that the current image matches. The
?v=4suffix is not used as image identity; upload/readback must compare downloaded pixels, allowing GitHub's resizing.PR #30 independently approved at
7d81cf4c44913db0342107f2e75aa250403fa38ddeliberately makes both homepage headers follow the organization's live avatar. Its Governance and brand checks do not establish external homepage-link availability or avatar-image identity. This drift belongs to #18, not a change to the already approved header diff.A sanitized before-state snapshot of protected public organization fields and the previous image has been captured. Owner upload and post-upload protected-field/pixel comparison are still pending; no upload or successful readback is claimed here. This issue remains open.
fix: use the organization avatar in both homepage headers (#30)
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 9, 2026
Owner execution / fresh readback — 2026-09-09
Restored the organization avatar through GitHub's organization profile UI using the exact approved tracked file
brand/bytefolk/avatar-1024.png. The full square was selected; the UI confirmed the profile picture was updated. No redesign or source-file change was made.08a2ebb326503dee75344ddd95b3007d0266ead1564fc9194ad8c6d8f0232dd96349d8954e1c5894d3c91e26fddba98411117c98964821d9798d76a43308bb0d6223bf01ce3c182a2cfd155fd6ffe338115046490303b80e839c17d2efe32ac2Anonymous readback of the live avatar now shows the approved black horned B on white. GitHub serves a resized/re-encoded 460px derivative, including when requesting
s=1024; this is not byte-for-byte or pixel-for-pixel equality with the 1024px source. I am not repeating the earlier “pixel identical” claim. The evidence is the exact approved upload file, full-image selection, GitHub's successful update confirmation, changed public image digest, and visual readback.The avatar URL and
v=4stayed unchanged;vis not an image revision counter. The two headers merged in #30 use that URL and therefore follow the restored organization avatar. Public organization name, description, URL, location, email, social field, project settings, identity and public repository count were compared before/after with zero changes.The earlier readback comment has been explicitly marked historical/superseded. The existing governance and brand-asset CI still does not validate these external avatar URLs; this manual readback is the evidence for the owner-side change, not a claim that CI would catch future avatar drift. Issue closure and product acceptance remain separate.
[-]brand: adopt the minimal ByteFolk symbol as the organization avatar[/-][+]brand: use the selected Open Herd icon-only organization avatar[/+]PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 9, 2026
R2 owner-selected Open Herd avatar: live correction verified
The owner explicitly selected the icon from
bytefolk-concept-c-open-herd.svg, without its wordmark. I mistakenly restored R1's old black B earlier today; that restoration was an assistant source-selection error. R2 supersedes R1: use the selected Open Herd icon only. The issue body now records this decision and marks R1 as historical.Applied and verified
bytefolk-concept-c-open-herd-mark.svgmatches all 9 shapes in the selected source'sopen-herd-markgroup after expanding fill variables: 4 paths and 5 rectangles. It contains no text.f7d58df169d6270ff40da11b038d64d6f7c5f7435851eb32f2fe1554c578f32a.#1677ff, purple#722ed1, ink#141414, and white. No redraw, recoloring, wordmark, or aspect-ratio stretching.aefe9f3494bff30ff93809f929b04f709f5f36eedbfabdb5f5764efe78578461.86b69ad8314961d2ce5270878a36b3cee6ef672241c4ee9cf313d9a01af9552b. Visual inspection confirms the selected Open Herd icon, no lettering.6223bf01ce3c182a2cfd155fd6ffe338115046490303b80e839c17d2efe32ac2.https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/309981672?v=4. URL stability does not mean unchanged pixels. GitHub resizes/re-encodes the upload; no source-to-derivative pixel-equality claim is made.Repository follow-through
The live correction is complete under the owner's direct instruction. Canonical asset/export/validation alignment is being prepared from current main so the old black B cannot be restored by stale instructions. This issue remains open for that repository work and final product acceptance.
fix(#18): use the selected Open Herd icon-only avatar (#31)
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 10, 2026
verification-ledger:v1 — R2 delivery
94766dca09dcc30c1bbbe0fd0f788a1a48866fdd.0aaff626914385ad8acd20cb2b7b47e300417a68, 2026-09-10T04:04:54Z, no admin bypass.Repository delivery is complete. This entry records merge and CI evidence; it does not invent a new product acceptance decision.
PeterGuy326 commentedon Sep 10, 2026
Closing as completed on the R2 delivery evidence.
0aaff626914385ad8acd20cb2b7b47e300417a68—fix(#18): use the selected Open Herd icon-only avatar (#31), 6 files, ordinary squash merge, no admin bypass.94766dca09dcc30c1bbbe0fd0f788a1a48866fdd.verification-ledger:v1entry above; the icon-only source SHA-256f7d58df169d6270ff40da11b038d64d6f7c5f7435851eb32f2fe1554c578f32amatches all 9 shapes of the selectedopen-herd-markgroup, with no text element.PR #31 carried no closing keyword, which is why this stayed open past delivery. Reopen if the live organization avatar is found to diverge from the selected Open Herd mark.