I'm moving this to the design list, as it were, and I'm re-including the icon sheet at the bottom.
Comments inline for the thread; my comments on Lindsay's icons themselves at the end.
On Apr 30, 2012, at 11:37 AM, Heather Walls wrote:
> Forgot to mention the part about how they look great and go together well :)
>
> (The two open arrows and the x are slightly rounded while the rest are sharp, if we want to hold to one or the other.)
>
I don't think that we need to cleave to one or the other as a religion. I kind of like rounding things off when it makes aesthetic sense, but not otherwise. For example, a pencil tip should be sharp, but the point on the "location marker" doesn't need to be exactly sharp, or the edges on the dies.
> On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 11:21 AM, Heather Walls <hwalls(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> I might be insane but here goes.
> So what I mean by “future” is less the look than the concept, although the concept is usually tied to the look. What I am saying is, in 2050 are we going to use a piece of paper to express something that is possibly no longer related to paper in any way. Like, why will there even still be paper? Why is there paper now?
> Is it silly and too early to talk about this? Maybe. Probably. I decided to write about this on a Friday night after dinner and drinks so... I digress.
> At the same time, we do currently create and read things that are basically flat and square anyway, and it is also possible that humans will retain the same symbols until their original meaning is forgotten because after all, we do that all the time.
> </rant>
I agree. There's a conversation to be had about this, about the expiration of iconography. Consider that the symbol for "save" is a floppy disk. That made sense. . . in 1995.
I always see the "paper" thing as a "file" but it could be that I've been conditioned into that.
> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 3:56 PM, Lindsey Smith <lsmith(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Started throwing together a more "modern" set of icons after our Tuesday discussion and included a couple of Brandon's that I think fit in well. Any thoughts so far on the direction of the style? I think if we can get that nailed down then we can get into more specifics of which icons should represent which actions/sections and work more on a complete set.
>
Comments on Lindsay's icons:
I absolutely love the direction for "random" that we have here. It's a much better attempt than my fumblings by a strong measure.
I'd like to see a version where both dice are "solid" (so that we can use it in invert), and maybe some slightly rounded edges.
I like the ideas with the globe icon, where the actual continents are abstracted out. That actually helps solve for a lot of problems with this type of icon (mostly having to do with euro- or america-centrism).
I like the trashcan icon's top, and I'm going to steal it for the stuff I'm doing on page triage.
Actually, I really like all of these. They're clean and simple. My one issue, if anything, is that I'd like to see stronger line-weights on the forward/back and X icons in row 2.
---
Brandon Harris, Senior Designer, Wikimedia Foundation
Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
I managed to finally get the admin password for the list, and then fixed the file size limit so we won't get crap held for moderation or bounced when it's too large.
---
Brandon Harris, Senior Designer, Wikimedia Foundation
Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
Hey all,
I'd like to have a discussion about what makes the most sense for the icon for the menu that has actions for the article. Would any of the attached make sense?
If we should move this discussion to a wiki page or something else, let me know. I'm not exactly sure how that works.
--
Lindsey Smith
Mobile UI/UX Designer
Wikimedia Foundation