Re: [libreoffice-design] MimeType icons

Hi Nik, all,

Nik schrieb:
> Hi Christoph, all,
>
>
> On 1/7/2011 9:45 AM, Christoph Noack wrote:
> > Shamelessly, I also BCC Thorsten and Nik - I'm not sure whether they are
> > aware of the current discussion. It would also be great to hear their
> > opinions, and maybe we can join all the forces :-)
>
> I have been following the icon discussion, but I didn't want to speak
> against the current icon any further because I didn't think it would be
> helpful.

Your comments are helpful as always :-)

Even if the time until the release of LibO 3.3.0 is too short to create 
a totally new set of icons, I like your simplistic approach:

> I created a *really* quick proposal to demonstrate the "paper-feel" I
> mentioned in an earlier post (here;
> http://tdf.nikashsingh.com/misc/writer_icon.jpg),
> but because the existing icons had so much work already done by
> yourself, Bernhard and Ivan, I just thought I'd let it slide so that
> progress wasn't hindered.
> And I ran out of time to contribute, myself.

Time is a problem to all of us - we try to find our way...

> But to be honest, I had a very big problem with the icons because they
> didn't resemble documents to me at all.
> They looked more like sim-cards or SD-cards for cameras. For me, the
> paper/document analogy was lost.

The basic idea of the TDF logo (being the basis of our icons) was to 
lead from the paper based documents to a broader approach.

(And an SD-card as medium to transport nearly every digital content is 
not too far away IMHO)

Perhaps this doesn't work so very well with the document icons.
> But your most recent proposal, for the template icon;
> (http://picasaweb.google.com/noack.christoph/LibreOffice#5558854821889918786)
>
> is simply PERFECT. The simple change of making the document WHITE again
> addresses ALL my concerns.
> I absolutely LOVE the way that large white+blue binder icon looks
> (bottom left corner).

Do you like their small versions (16px) too?

> I hope you would consider making all the icons White in the center with
> a coloured border (corresponding with the application).

So you would like to see the template icons as document icons?

What should be used for templates?

Do you think the inverted icons would be an alternative?

> The multiple paper colours of the different icons currently don't look
> very ... consistent, or sophisticated.
> I think that between the coloured border and the symbolic "contents" of
> the "pages", users will be able to differentiate file types.
> It might be just me, but the current approach of flooding each icon with
> one main colour seems a bit, for lack of a better word, insulting.
> As if to suggest users aren't capable of differentiating between more
> subtle variations.

We had the tiny 16 px icons in mind, when we added the colored 
background. But it might be worth trying to remove it.
> But that is just my opinion. I pay too much attention to these details =)
> I LOVE the template (binder) icon. Great stuff Christoph!

+1

At the moment I see one real problem:

We run out of time!

The length of a RC phase is very hard to predict: Every new Release 
Candidate could be considered as final version - so if we can't include 
our icons in one of the very next versions, it might be possible to ship 
LibreOffice with the old OOo icons.

Replacing an iconset by newly created better graphics might be possible 
later on, if there is still time.

Therefore I would propose an approach like this:

1. step: Create icons for all the document types based on the present 
design. As the icon background is the same (with different colors), the 
main work is creating the symbols for the different sizes.

2. step: If we still have some time left, we can switch the template 
icons to document icons and create different ones (inverted? other 
ideas?) for templates.

If the second step would not be possible before the release of LibO 
3.3.0, we could exchange the icons for the next micro version (LibO 
3.3.1) without major problems, because the user already know our design 
language. A switch from the OOo Mimetype icons to our new ones might be 
a more noticeable step - perhaps we can avoid it.

On the other hand we must be sure that our present icon design is good 
enough to replace the OOo icons on the user's desktops.

I think they are (even if they might not be perfect): They look really 
good to me - nobody (okay: nearly nobody) would think that LibO had a 
poor quality because of these icons don't look professional enough.

What do you all think - should we try to finalize this iconset in the 
two steps I describe above?

Best regards

Bernhard

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