5.5 KiB
Keyboard Vagabond
A collection of fediverse applications for the nomad and travel niche given as a donation for a better internet.
The applications are Mastodon (Twitter), Pixelfed (Instagram), PieFed / Lemmy (Reddit), Write Freely (blogging), Bookwyrm (book reviews), Matrix (chat / slack), (some wiki, possibly).
Right now I'm still setting up these services, so it's not ready for launch. I do want to include a general landing page at some point with basic information about the site and fediverse.
I'll likely handle that, as it should be a basic static website with 2-3 pages with the ability to sign in.
I would like to create a mascot and background banners with a common theme. The base websites tend to choose an animal as a theme, so I think a similar, cute animal for a mascot that's themed for each site would be fun. The current apps use Lemmings and a Mastodon, so I'm thinking a similar animal that would work for travel and adventure.
The Fediverse
The fediverse is the online world of federated services that all speak the same protocol and can interact with each other, like email. There is no corporation in charge, just servers that talk with each other by people, for people. Like email, there are different servers or "instances" that you can sign up with. Unlike regular social media, users on different applications can interact with each other, so someone can make a post on Mastodon and mention a community on Lemmy, to which they can reply.
This video is a great explanation of the Fediverse: https://videos.elenarossini.com/w/64VuNCccZNrP4u9MfgbhkN.
The Feeling
I'd like to have a more fun feeling that leans toward adventurous while avoiding feeling too serious, though the topics may also be serious.
I could use help picking tones or pallettes, the visual style, as well as the direction for the animal mascot.
The Goal of Keyboard Vagabond
To create a welcoming space in the fediverse for people to share and connect with the niche of travel, but without the corporate manipulations that come with sites like Reddit and X.
Here is the latest about page for the keyboard mastodon instance: https://mastodon.keyboardvagabond.com/about. Here are some other reference sites from bigger instances:
- The About: https://mastodon.social/about, Main Page: https://mastodon.world/explore
- https://pixelfed.social (click About and Explore)
- https://piefed.social
- https://bookwyrm.social
- My personal blog: https://blog.michaeldileo.org for Write Freely
These sevices generally support custom mascot icons and background banners. Themeing and custom CSS has varying degrees of support, though I have full access to the server, so I could override the built in CSS, though that could likely be an endeavor, which I'm not user would be worth the effort.
I think one of the more fun things would be to have a mascot character themed for the different applications, maybe something like "with a camera" for Pixelfed, or a book for bookwyrm.
Main Goals:
- Have a mascot with variations for the site. The fediverse apps often favor some kind of animal. Lemmy uses a Lemming, Mastodon a Mastodon. Some similar kind of animal would be fun.
- A background banner, themed for each website.
- An icon for the "no profle picture" default
This would likely result in something that looks like:
- Mastodon - mascot icon, mascot "empty image", background banner
- PieFed - mascot icon, mascot "empty image", background banner
- Pixelfed - mascot icon, mascot "empty image", background banner
- Write Freely - Limited customization, but an icon with either the WriteFreely "W" or something like a pen should be something I could work in
- Bookwyrm - I haven't even looked at this app yet, I just like the idea, but a mascot with glasses or book
What we may need to work out
- The mascot character (fun and adventurous feeling)
- Pallettes and tones. Customization across the apps may be limited, so the colors might mainly apply to just the banner and icons.
- How to get the theme and feel to create a fun character/theme.
Bonus
- 404 (not found) and 500 (Server Error) page assets. I'm only just thinking of this, but it's low priority.
Main Goals:
- Have a mascot with variations for the site. The fediverse apps often favor some kind of animal. Lemmy uses a Lemming, Mastodon a Mastodon. Some similar kind of animal would be fun.
- A background banner, themed for each website.
- An icon for the "no profle picture" default
This would likely result in something that looks like:
- Mastodon - mascot icon, mascot "empty image", background banner
- PieFed - mascot icon, mascot "empty image", background banner
- Pixelfed - mascot icon, mascot "empty image", background banner
- Write Freely - Limited customization, but an icon with either the WriteFreely "W" or something like a pen should be something I could work in
- Bookwyrm - I haven't even looked at this app yet, I just like the idea, but a mascot with glasses or book
What may be in the final
- 1 main mascot design (base character)
- 5 mascot variations (themed for each app)
- 3-4 background banners (adapted for different apps)
- 3-5 default profile images total (one for the main apps of Mastodon, Pixelfed, and Piefed)
- 1 main logo/wordmark for Keyboard Vagabond
- (possibly something for the landing website)
Ideal formats would be SVG, PNG, JPG. I can handle resizing and all that fun stuff. Some places it would get used would be:
Sizes likely used:
- Favicon: 32x32, 16x16
- App icons: 512x512, 256x256, 128x128
- Profile defaults: 200x200, 400x400
- Background banners: 1500x500, 1920x600