[mandelbrot
set] MATH DEPT Computer News, Volume 30

How to create an ASCII version of the Purdue Logo and other matters of e-mail etiquette

The Purdue logo...

... ah, yes, it is a thing of beauty!

The rules about how a Purdue employee must use the Purdue logo in everyday activities are very well documented. See the 29 page document, especially if you are thinking about stenciling the logo on your car.

Although the logo is a thing of beauty, it is a rather large graphic in electronic form, and I have found that it can hinder electronic communication. That is why I have taken it upon myself here to describe a means to obtain a much smaller electronic version of the logo in ASCII format to use in e-mail.

Here is a lovely example of the logo in ASCII format that I have painstakingly created (for official use by Purdue employees only, of course). Feel free to copy and paste it if you want to use it in an e-mail.

+---------------+
|  P U R D U E  |
|  -----------  |
|  UNIVERSITY   |
+---------------+

But I must warn you that there is a potential problem with this version of the logo. It was designed to show nicely in a fixed width font. If a recipient of the logo is not using a fixed width font, it might look more like

+---------------+
|PURDUE |
|--------- |
|UNIVERSITY |
+---------------+

and that might summon the Logo Police.

It would be more reasonable to do away with the outer boundary and extra spaces and to use something more like

PURDUE
----------
UNIVERSITY

Ouch! But that looks so off balance. And that line inbetween doesn't feel right.

PURDUE
UNIVERSITY

There. That's not bad. But you know, many spam catching programs tag a message with words in all capitals as spam. (e.g., CHEAP PHARMACEUTICALS!). They call it screaming text.

So I'd recommend using

Purdue
University

instead.

Finally, to avoid that jagged looking right edge, I like

Purdue University

... which is very economical in terms of computer memory and printer paper, too.

While I am on the subject of how to write crisp and readable e-mail, here are some maxims I have learned over the years:


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