Re: [libreoffice-design] MimeType icons - template

Hi Christoph, everyone,

2011/1/6 Christoph Noack <christoph@dogmatux.com>

> Hi Bernhard, Jaron, Ivan, Björn, ... :-)
>
> Some days ago, I promised to help with the icons - thus I re-read all
> the feedback provided so far, and put together another proposal for
> Writer.
>
> The design is heavily based on the work by Bernhard, so please expect
> some familiar look ... on the other side, the devil is in the details.
> I've run into some problems when I worked on the different sizes,
> therefore I had to adapt some details which took quite some while ;-)
>
> But you may first want to have a look at it, right?
>
> Am Mittwoch, den 05.01.2011, 00:23 +0100 schrieb Bernhard Dippold:
> > Hi Jaron, *
> >
> > thanks for your comments!
> >
> > Jaron Kuppers schrieb:
> [...]
> > > I am not able to try my hand at anything at the moment but I would
> recommend
> > > you try horizontal binders, similar to the small icon.  Perhaps a
> gradient
> > > can give the binders a 3D ring effect.
> [...]
> > If anybody has the time to volunteer for a first draft of one or another
> > binder image (sorry, Jaron, that you can't :-( ), this would be great!
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7HzXZAAAGWFfgU0XzayU8Q?feat=directlink
>
> Here is some more information, e.g. the changes in comparison to
> Bernhard's last design proposal ...
>
> DEFAULT COLORS
>
> Document / Application Icons
>      * Document Symbol (basis icon):
>              * Shadow added --> matches (at least a bit) the icon
>                guidelines of the different platforms
>              * Resized background within symbol --> avoids problems for
>                template icons and for the different icons sizes in
>                general
>              * Removed "inner shadow" filters --> avoids alien look,
>                solves some problems for small sized icons
>      * Application Symbolism (Writer):
>              * More "block style" text with thicker lines to match the
>                rest of the (too) strong Document Symbol
>              * Picture "landscape" is manually drawn (the last one
>                seemed to be a traced photo) --> harmonized color
>                palette better matches the LibO style
>
> Template Icons
>      * Document Symbol:
>              * Binders and a tear-off edge have been added (the "in
>                between" proposal Bernhard asked for?)
>              * Colored contour according to the application color -->
>                more consistent in my personal point-of-view
>              * Gray area within the document symbol
>      * Application Symbolism: Same like before, but some transparency
>        added (75%) --> mimics the ODF icons behavior and works better
>        with the gray background
>
> HIGH CONTRAST
>      * Highly reduced complexity (incl. adapted application symbolism
>        for 16px version)
>      * No shadow --> each icon uses maximum height
>      * Accent colors are used for the applications --> more vivid
>      * I'm totally unsure if the HC icons will work --> Does anybody
>        have some experience with that? Help appreciated ...
>
> GENERAL
>      * Each of the document icons is adapted to it's size and thus
>        pixel-perfect (at least, I've tried ...)
>      * Only few color gradients used --> eases work in Inkscape
>
>
> And some points I'm not that happy with:
>      * The TDF symbol is still very strong and the derived icons might
>        look a bit alien on some platforms. But, it will work for one or
>        two releases and it'll help us to spread the good TDF news :-)
>      * The layout of the document symbol and the application symbolism
>        is a bit unbalanced, although (or because) I've reserved a fixed
>        rectangular area for it at the bottom.
>      * High Contrast version of the template icons are not that
>        distinctive. It might help to change the basis symbol, but then
>        we get "incompatible" with the TDF icon we chose initially.
>
>
> What do you think, might that work?

Here's my feedback:
I really like the colors in this iteration -- much more calming and refined
than initially. I also love the template symbolism.
The document symbolism I'm not so sure about -- the more complex and less
distinct these symbols get, the less quickly a user can distinguish between
them (just compare the icons for Adobe's CS 2 and CS 3). But as long as the
other icons stay relatively simple and distinctive enough, this change is
okay.
One thing that I would rather do without is the shadow below the icon (in
the default icons). Most operating systems add their own shadows and/or
reflections to icons, and when these icons have their own shadows too, it
just adds to the mess of effects that there are. Another thing: the text in
the default icons seems a bit crammed at the bottom, perhaps because of the
shadow below the icon or the margin, as the high contrast icons don't seem
to have this problem. Lastly, it'd be great if the smaller default icons
lost the landscape symbol, just like the high contrast icons do, because at
these small sizes, it loses both its meaning and its charm.
Anyway, great work. It's nice to see the icons progress so well.

> Anybody who might join to bring some life to the rest (quite some
> number) of icons?
>
> Cheers,
> Christoph
>
>
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