[Geany-devel] About a new application icon.

[Dimitar Zhekov]

On Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:30:38 +0200
Emanuel Palm <mail at 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...

-- 
E-gards: Jimmy