[libreoffice-design] Fwd: Re: LibreOffice Icon

Dear LibreOffice teams,

My apologies if you have already got my message (below) - I tried 
sending it a few days ago, but only seem to have succeeded in 
subscribing to mailing lists!

From my message below, you can see I believe it is essential that the 
LibreOffice main icon be replaced by one that aids in the recognition 
and identity of LibreOffice, which I believe the current one icon fails 
to do.
From some of the messages I've seen since subscribing (especially 
marketing), it now seems to me that it is crucial that the icon is replaced.
I would suggest that the following are essential requirements of the 
main icon for LibreOffice:

  a) colourful and eye-catching, i.e. an attractive "wrapper".
  b) equals (or at least hints at) the sophistication of the program.
  c) something that aids with  "brand" recognition.

I'm sure it is (and will continue to be) an uphill struggle to achieve 
the recognition that Apache OpenOffice has automatically inherited from 
its predecessor.  Without an icon that helps to achieve this, I could 
see a day when LibreOffice disappears into obscurity, and that would be 
a great pity.  It wouldn't be the first time a great product has failed, 
not because it was unworthy, but it didn't have the recognition (and 
therefore the following) necessary to carry it forward.

Best regards,
     Alistair Bain
Kingswells Computercraft
Aberdeen, Scotland


-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: LibreOffice Icon
Date:           Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:50:31 +0200
From:           Florian Effenberger <floeff@documentfoundation.org>
Organisation:   The Document Foundation
To:     Kingswells Computercraft <support@kingswellscomputercraft.co.uk>
CC:     info@documentfoundation.org

Hello,

thank you very much for your feedback and interest in LibreOffice! The
topic you raise fits very well for our design team, and I strongly
propose you get in touch with them directly.

All information as well as the official mailing list is available at
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-involved/ux-visual-designers/

Thanks again,
Florian

Kingswells Computercraft wrote on 2012-10-11 10:41:
> Dear Document Foundation,
>
> First, thank you so much for LibreOffice!  I have been a user since
> OpenOffice.org version 1.1.2, and I have recommended it to many friends
> and customers over the years.  I recognise LibreOffice to be the
> legitimate successor to the earlier OpenOffice.org, and believe it to be
> a better suite than the Oracle/Apache's version (I used both until recently).
>
> I am writing to you today to plead with you to change the main program
> icon currently in use for LibreOffice as I believe it is seriously
> underwhelming!  As an icon for the Document Foundation it says it all to
> me - clear, simple, document.  However, considering it as the "flag" or
> "packaging" for LibreOffice, it is far too bland:
>
>   • It is not easy to pick out among hordes of other icons
>   • It lacks colour and warmth, is not striking or eye-catching
>   • It says nothing about the elegance and sophistication of LibreOffice
>   • It doesn't inspire confidence.
>
> In my experience I often introduce LibreOffice as an alternative to
> Microsoft Office to people who have never heard of it before.  To these
> new users, the desktop icon is the "shop window" for the application,
> and it is frankly uninspiring!  I have considered replacing the desktop
> icon with another (third party) icon, but I am aware that this breaches
> your guidelines about branding & icon usage, so I don't want to do that.
>
> Please, please change the icon for something that does the application
> justice.
>
>
> Best Regards,
>      Alistair Bain
> Kingswells Computercraft
> Aberdeen, Scotland

--
Florian Effenberger, Chairman of the Board (Vorstandsvorsitzender)
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