Opening note: I'm new to the Ubuntu community, and Ubuntu itself, having only had the program for a little over a week now, but immediately falling in love, and wanting to participate in the community which has some design needs. My first point to start from was the Gutsy Icon Review, which pointed out help needed in a number of different icons installed by default, so I decided that was the best place to start. These icons are all pure vector.
Also, I've never been great at Wiki markup, so I've been able to attach these images, but not make them viewable, so instead I hosted them on my website, which worked, but I'd prefer they weren't on there. If some nice person would like to post them over onto the Ubuntu wiki and make them still viewable on this page, that would be lovely.
Anyway, on with the icons...
Tracker
The first needed icon I wanted to try to tackle was the tracker search tool, which right now is simply a computer with a magnifying glass on it. For association, the first thing that came to mind was the device in "Aliens", ("10 meters! 8 meters"), so I decided to work with that. I tried not to make the icon too terribly flashy, since it's for an accessory, so I just tried to go simple. Here's the result.
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/tracker128.jpg
And here's the icon in the standard icon sizes of 128x128, 64x64, 32x32, and 16x16
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/tracker-sizes.jpg
Open Office icons
There was also the complaint about the OOo icons is being too similar, and showing the documents rather than an icon for the programs. I did a Google Image search for different icons, and came up with what's below...
http://www.ikony.w.inds.pl/images/ikony/OpenOffice_Dock_Icons_v_2_by_ducatart-1.png
I liked what the artist put forth, except the whole thing felt a bit glassy to me, at odds with the Human interface, and possibly a bit blurred out as it got smaller. But I liked the design he had forth, so I put together this packet.
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/oooall.jpg
And here's a size comparison of the Write icon, same sizes as before...
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/ooo-write-sizes.jpg
X Sane
Next, it was off to the Xsane icon, which I personally feel is the worst of the bunch. I made a vector version of the logo, then played around with different scanner images, in the hopes of coming up with something immediately recognizable as being what it is. THe version of the scanner, no outlines, with the logo, is my favorite of the bunch, but I thought I'd put the whole pack online in case anyone felt differently.
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/xsane-icons.jpg
(the background in it is orange because I was trying to see how they meshed with the Ubuntu orange, plus there's one version where a white background would have knocked out part of the scanner.
And a size comparison of the version with the logo and the outline.
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/xsane-sizes.jpg
Serpentine
Finally, my favorite so far. The Serpentine logo as it stands right now is basically the iTunes logo, so that's no good. I started hunting around for good snake shapes, finally landing on a cobra because it's recognizable, and it looks nothing like a python, and I didn't want people to be confused about that, so the idea was a cobra wearing headphones. Here's my result...
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/serpentine128.gif
And again, size comparison...
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/serpentine-sizes.jpg
Bluetooth Analyzer
This one I forgot about when I did this update, but I changed the Bluetooth Analyzer icon, going for the sort of obvious correlation of a blue tooth. This could also take the place of "Bluetooth Preferences"
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/bluetooth128.gif
sizes...
http://hirelemon.com/forforums/ubuntu/bluetooth-sizes.gif
Comments
- Hi! nice icons ;-). Just a commentary about the bluetooth, it should be an anterior tooth and not a molar, sice the legend said that the Harald "Bluetooth" had an incisor blue ;-). Greetings, suribe
MarceloAtie : - Tracker - I don't like this ... and see that the smaller icon was bad - OpenOffice - Wonderful! I really wanna it on Ubuntu! - X Sane - Very better that original, i hope Ubuntu use it - Serpentine - Nice icon, but, the colors was not ok, it need more life, and the smaller was bad - Bluetoth Analiser - Nice Idea, but i still prefer the original.
Bluetooth - everyone already knows the official BT logo, and its very legible if done right. The only problem with the existing one in GNOME is the necessary embellishment to give it 3-dimensionality. Here's an SVG made in Inkscape that's simple and perfect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bluetooth.svg -Sumit, 2008|02|01
OpenOffice - these spherical icons are fine, but I feel like the default icons used under Windows are better:
They are essentially the same as the ones posted above, but retain the signature 'openoffice' icon shape, which better differentiates them from the billion other circular icons out there. They are also somewhat 'branded' and more clear than the current Ubuntu OOo icons. Finally, I think *standardization* across platforms is key. Where practical Ubuntu should strive to use the same iconography seen on other platforms, such as these perfectly fine Windows OOo application icons (the same shape/style is also used in the Mac port of OOo). -Sumit, 2008|02|01 - X Sane - icons aside, what the hell kind of name is 'X Sane' for a scanning program?! That is NOT NOT NOT suitable for 'humans'! (sorry, I know this isn't your fault) -Sumit, 2008|02|01
- Tracker - It really took me a while to figure out what this icon was meant to do, and then it suddenly clicked in my head that Tracker is the search tool in Ubuntu. This icon makes me think of something techie, makes me think of bittorrent or something. The magnifying glass is universal for 'search' in the computing world. I propose a simple icon: the orange circle with a white silhouette of a magnifying glass in it. The current Tracker icon is horribly illegible and looks like some bad British graphitti -Sumit, 2008|02|01
- I really think your icons need to conform to the Tango guidelines, which seems to be the adopted basis for all gnome standard icons. Also XSane is soon to be replaced by Gnome-Scan,a early version is already available for hardy, and it is designed from the ground up for gnome integration while also supporting the tango guidelines.-nw15062 2008|09|05
