On Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:30:38 +0200 Emanuel Palm mail@emanuelpalm.com wrote:
Hey guys!
Hi, Emanuel.
*1. To single out the application from the crowd.*
Of course - but half of my free Win~1 software uses circles or near-circle ellipses with something inside. The proposed icons will be lost among them.
*2. To communicate the ambition that has been, and is being put into the software.*
As a light IDE, Geany is mostly complete. It's supported, but "enthusiastically developing it" would be an overstatement. Though new or improved plugins are not rare.
With that in mind, I'd prefer a solid icon, more so that we released Geany version 1 recently, and should have done that at least 10 months ago.
*As of today most professional looking icons/logos are based on simple curves and/or shapes to make them explicit and harmonious. They use few, but carefully chosen, colors. [...]
Looking at my Linux panel [attachment], the best icons are pseudo-3d, and not that simple. Now, I know that the latest trend is flat UI-s with few colors - just look at Metro - but what may look fresh and simple to novadays programmers reminds me of the early 90-s, when we used such things due to lack of resources. (Care to comment, Lex?:)
*3. To communicate the purpose of the application.*
"Programming" is a somewhat abstract concept, and I have yet to see an icon that expresses it. (Except for Matrix Layout, where block schemes were used to describe the control flow.)
4. There is one more practical requirement: the icon should look good in sizes 16, 22, 24, 32, 48 and 64 pixels (size 22 is very often used for 24 too).
Both proposed icons are good in >= 48, _v1 is acceptable in 32, and the lower sizes are bad - run GIMP and see for yourself. The current icon 16x16 icon is bad too. To make the small sizes look really good, one must save the svg as png, and then edit it manually.
Personally I'd be happy with the current icon, but with the perspective of your _v1 icon (which will simplify it somewhat, the isometric POV makes it too complex), less flashy yellow, larger body, and of course, the bright red gems changes to something else, they're an eyesore. Which means rewriting it completely...