Creating an Icon for my blog

When I moved the site from Jekyll to WordPress, I was asked to create a site icon by WordPress. I was trying to play around with the letter from “t” from my screen name “tecoholic” in a couple of Vector editors using different fonts, handrawn symbols …etc., and finally landed on what I know best. Write a Python script for it. So here it is, my blog icon and the generator. It is just a stacking of “T”s but somehoe looks like the corner of ancient Chinese houses.

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
A script to generate SVG icon for the personal blog.
"""
import svgwrite

width = 256
height = 256
mtop = mbottom = mright = mleft = 256/8

dwg = svgwrite.Drawing(filename="blog_icon.svg", size=(height, width))

def draw_pattern(width, color):
    xpos = 256/8 + mleft
    ypos = 256/8
    increment = 256*2/8
    vlines = dwg.add(dwg.g(id="vlines", stroke=color, stroke_width=width, stroke_linecap="round"))
    hlines = dwg.add(dwg.g(id="vlines", stroke=color, stroke_width=width, stroke_linecap="round"))
    while (xpos < 256*7/8):
        vlines.add(dwg.line(start=(xpos,ypos), end=(xpos, 256 - mbottom)))
        hlines.add(dwg.line(start=(mleft, ypos), end=(xpos+mright, ypos)))
        xpos += increment
        ypos += increment

draw_pattern(20, "black")
draw_pattern(8, "white")

dwg.save(pretty=True)

That creates the SVG, then it is just using imagemagick to create png files of all required sizes:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
python blog_icon_generator.py
convert -background none blog_icon.svg blogo_256.png
convert -background none -resize 512x512 blog_icon.svg blogo_512.png
convert -background none -resize 128x128 blog_icon.svg blogo_128.png
convert -background none -resize 64x64 blog_icon.svg blogo_64.png
convert -background none -resize 32x32 blog_icon.svg blogo_32.png

blogo_256

Icons/Font related to Indian Culture

There seems to be a clear lack in availability of icons and icon fonts for using in the Indian cultural context. I realized this when we were designing a wedding invitation and we couldn’t find any free available material. So I am creating a list of known objects with cultural relevance and create them in my free time. All the icons you see here are available in Wikimedia Commons in Public Domain License. Feel free to do whatever you want with it. I suggest you upload your derived works to keep the spirit.

  • Nadaswram – Nadaswaram
  • Mridangam – Mridangam
  • Murasu – Murasu
  • Bullock Cart – Bullock cart icon
    • Bullock face – Bullock face
    • Bullock Full – Bullock full
  • Tea Tumbler – Tea Tumbler icon
  • Catapult – Catapult Icon
  • Garland –
  • Pot –
  • Two hands Vanakkam –
  • Cycle Tyre –
  • Cycle tube Catapult –
  • Mango –
  • Banana tree –
  • Full Boil / Half Boil – Half boil Icon
  • Biriyani –
  • Betel Leaf –
  • Head with towel –
  • Head with ear rings and pottu –
  • Kumbam –
  • Banana Leaf with Food –
  • Kolam (Thanks Pravin) –

If you happen to read this and have an idea of what more could be included, kindly leave your suggestions as comments. Or if you happen to find these icons in some form for free usage post the link.

People’s Mobile

Caution: This is a bit wild man.

Here is my idea.

Open a part of the spectrum used for mobile communication for public non-commercial use

Really!? What to do with it?

My plan is to run a community/volunteer/enthusiast/philanthropist sponsored mobile network which is free for everybody to use. That is, if you could bear the initial installation charges. If we could put enough towers in enough places, we could all talk to each other for free, send messages for free, access internet for free throughout our lives. And we can put an end to all this noise that projects messaging apps as technology disruption, we can engage in more serious pursuit that shout on the road internet for net neutrality, do away recharge coupons, payment gateways like PayTM, freeCharge etc., …… oh my, we can actually do away with a lot of unnecessary stuff.Then, we would have an open internet with all the bandwidth that the technology could offer -say “bye bye data plans”.

Wonderful!

Exactly. Isn’t this the best thing you have heard in a while.

Yay, I am the man from an utopian future.

Sadly this won’t happen – Money.