This is a FOSS project with absolutely no funding.

There's no designer around to do a professional SVG logo, so we make use of what's there - AI to generate the (raster image) icon and then some tools to turn that into an SVG.

It turned out a little rough around some edges, but still good enough, I think. If anyone would like to polish it up, PRs are most welcome!

Icons may be a matter of taste. This one may be too detailed, but still scales well to small sizes. For now, I don't see why we should follow everyone else and go with an overly-simplistic icon.

As for the README emoji vomit: this may be a matter of taste as well. I find it makes it easier to scan through things, and I can assure you that each point on the README has been given much though and review by a human. Reducing it to "emoji vomit" is going too far.

Disclosure: I've been working on this Matrix chat app in my spare time over the past few months.