Out of the Black and White: Unveiling the LGM 2026 Visual Identity
We’ve officially upgraded from our minimalist black-and-white placeholder! Today, we are deploying the design update for the Libre Graphics Meeting 2026.
This year’s special focus is RE:WIRE—an invitation to reconnect broken circuits between code and craft. To reflect this, we re:wired classical halftone screening into a live, real-time digital effect to create a unique visual identity for the LGM.
By bridging analog printing methods with modern web technology, the new design is built entirely on generative foundations:
- WebGL2 Halftone Shaders: The core of the design is a custom WebGL2 shader that generates dynamic halftone screen layers directly in the browser.
- A “Pale CMY” Palette: We built the color scheme using lighter iterations of Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. These layers are combined using a “multiply” composition method to emulate authentic print blending.
- Animated Screen Angles: Traditional halftone effects rely on static angles. We chose to animate the halftone screen angles in real-time, combining them with varying raster resolutions and dot sizes to create a distinct, shifting texture.
- Live 3D Background: Running behind the halftones are three realtime-animated 3D cubes that resemble the LGM logo.
- Algorithmic Typography: We use the variable font Roboto Flex. A custom algorithm automatically fits the header text into its container by fluidly adjusting axes like optical size, width, and weight.
Testing, Source, and Collaboration
Because we are mixing several live rendering techniques, the implementation is a bit experimental. Please report any bugs or rendering issues to our issue tracker: https://invent.kde.org/websites/libregraphicsmeeting-org-2026/-/issues
The halftone effect itself lives in a separate repository. You can check out the source code here: codeberg.org @strong-type-systems/LGM2026-Design-Research
If you want to test the parameters, we built a small tool to play with the effect settings: LGM2026-Design-Research tool
If there are interested collaborators, I am open to helping develop this further. Feel free to reach out. (Lasse)