From the very first the seagull is the main brand element of Openoffice.org.

An icon transports information and should be easy to recognize.

Make a clear difference between the applications and their files
OpenOffice.org has single applications. It is important to see clearly which document comes from which single application. We have to differentiate between: application, document and template. The application is the main icon of them. The form of the application icon is the biggest one, too. The document and the template icons are smaller and less colorful and have a look like "a bit of the application".

Use application identifier

Use clear and simple symbols to make it easy to recognize an appliaction. It is helpful for color blind people to differ the icons, too.
All icons of one single application (application, document and template) have the same symbol. The symbol at the application icon looks a little bit invers to the document and template icon. This effect give them a look like "a bit of the application", too.
See all symbols for OpenOffice.org icons. For designing use the vektor file.

Colors

Colors are a great way to distribute the emotions and the look of the branding. Sun reach a harmonic, corporate look when all applications use the same color table!
See more about the new branding colors.

The color language
The color language of OpenOffice.org is based on the color language of MS Office. This color code is very popular by Office users. Do not confuse users with a new color mapping.