Arch Linux is the name of the software, developed by Levente Polyak in 2002 for Linux. This simple and easy-to-use operating system was created for x86-64 computers, and today is also available for i686 and ARM, being regularly updated.
Though the visual identity of the Arch Linux operating system has been changed several times throughout history, one thing always remained untouched — an arch. Drawn in different color palettes and styles, it has always been there as the central element of the software’s insignia.
The very first logo for Arch Linux was created in 2002 and o my stayed with the software for a year. It was a black rectangular badge with a background full of “1”s and “0”s, representing the programming language. The “Arch Linux” inscription in the lowercase typewriting font was set in white color on the bottom part of the badge, and “covered” by a stylized contoured in the red arch with a funny penguin sliding from it and additional “Arch” lettering written inside.
The redesign of 2003 simplified and modernized the logo, making it look stricter and more professional. The new composition included a cleanly contoured emblem formed by two elements and a lowercase logotype in two thicknesses of letter lines, written in black in the right from the graphical part. The Arch Linux emblem boasted a vertically solace’s blue arch and a horizontal gray one, crossing it and making it look like the letter “A”.
The lines and contours of the logo were refined in 2006. The color palette was also changed and now the blue and black emblem was placed in a white and blue rectangular, stretched and separated horizontally. As for the wordmark, it was written in the same style, but now set in white color and placed on the blue half of the rectangular banner.
In 2008 the Arch Linux visual identity is being redesigned again. The emblem was completely changed, though the typeface of the logotype — only slightly refined. The new arch, drawn in blue and placed on a white background, features a triangular top part and has some small thin white elements cutting its contour and making it look more dynamic. The wordmark is now written in dark gray and blue, with the “Arch” emboldened and having the same pattern of the letters as the emblem, and the “Linux” executed in a lightweight sans-serif.