Icon update proposal

[Colin Barrett]

I'm pretty much in agreement with Evan here -- eager to see the next round of icons.

-Colin

On Feb 19, 2012, at 8:23 AM, Evan Schoenberg, M.D. wrote:

> 
> On Feb 19, 2012, at 9:32 AM, Robert Vehse wrote:
> 
>>> I always thought the whole point of this vote was to get an idea which of the
>>> three sets was the most accepted allowing us to go with a particular set and to
>>> then work out the issues we have with this set with its author.
>>> 
>>> Choosing each icon by itself and thereby mixing different sets might seem the
>>> easier solution but it doesn't help Adium's appearance. We are left with an odd
>>> mélange of different styles.
>>> 
>>> So my proposal would be to choose a set and to improve it. Both George and
>>> Bogdan have shown they are responsive and open to suggestions.
>> 
>> Nobody responded to this (or Paul's email prior to mine) but I'd like to see this put back on the agenda.
>> 
>> There are two major reasons why I disagree with the selection of icons made by Evan and Zac:
>> 
>> 1. Icons from all three sets (current, Bogdan's, George's) were chosen which results in Adium looking pretty inconsistent. (Paul elaborated on this in his email from February 27, 2011 - http://markmail.org/message/4cehenuhfiu6z3xm)
>> 2. The choice is pretty random and doesn't reflect the results of the vote (http://wixardy.net/adiumIcons/;http://wixardy.net/adiumIcons/pics.php).
>> 
>> We really, really need to settle on one set and go from there if we want to achieve any kind of consistency.
> 
> 
> Looking back over this, I am fine with Bogdan's set overall with a few notable exceptions:
>  - I dislike using generic people icons instead of the Adiumy outline.  The two are equally understandable; the Adiumy outline is Adium personality.
>  - I like George's Advanced Prefs icon a lot better for larger display in the main preferences
>  - I would prefer if pref-personal used an Adiumy outline for consistency
>  - The drawing style on pref-defaultclient for Adiumy isn't consistent with his appearance elsewhere
> 
> I never saw Paul's detailed email. :\
> 
> Paul wrote:
>> I think some of the updates are a clear improvement, but in some cases there's
>> still problems. I've thrown together some quick comparisons to explain this
>> better, and to hopefully change your minds on the outcome.
>> 
>> Events Preferences (Top is present / Bottom is proposed changes):
>> http://cl.ly/4t6t
> 
>> I really don't get how these weren't deemed as an improvement over the previous.
>> The old ones are big images that scale down pretty badly, which in turn end up
>> blurred and hard to distinguish what you are actually looking at. The black
>> Adiumy on the alert icon could be anything. Contact list icon looks pretty bad
>> as well. The old Adiumy is also still present in the application.
> 
> 
> 
> I note that the Events section on the voting page is showing them larger than they currently appear in Adium, making pixellation worse.  Paul's comparison (http://cl.ly/4t6t) is more useful.  I think they are a small step forward.
> 
> 
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Get Info Pane:
>> 
>> http://cl.ly/4tSs
>> 
>> Same as the above - blurry icons. The chalkboard icon could say anything and the
>> user wouldn't know. The icon, and therefore tab could be for anything. First
>> icon should ideally be a contact card, but a better scaled one.
> 
> Agreed, though the new gear isn't rendered well, either, at that size.
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Preferences:
>> 
>> http://cl.ly/4sWe
>> 
>> This is where the idea of consistency isn't happening. The 'Status' and 'Events'
>> icons stand out so easily as belonging somewhere else. The outlines on the
>> Status icon are way too high in contrast to stand in line with the other icons,
>> and the Events icon is an entirely different style all together.
> 
> 
> I can see that.
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Message View: 
>> 
>> http://cl.ly/4sG8
>> 
>> Couple of icons which are styled different that could be updated:
>> 
>> 'Add Contact' (my own icon from years ago!) has a different style of shading
>> that doesn't sit well with the other icons
>> 'Add Group Chat Bookmark' has an entirely different design style
>> 
> 
> True.
> 
> -Evan