Changing to high resolution icons

[richardba]

No description provided.

[BafS]

Why changing the icon ? It's an SVG, you can already render high resolution icons with "icon.svg".

[richardba]

The icon is not only changed, but its design was also polished as commented as an issue

[BafS]

Ok. I personally don't like the reflection and the shadows, it looks a bit old.

My try to "modernize" the icon :

[prikhi]

I've been holding off on this - been thinking we should ask the mailing list or more users about which they prefer...

If one of you would like to make a post to the pencil-users google group, go ahead - otherwise I will at some point.

Also, feedback from contributers would be appreciated:
@nathanielw @jdittrich @mvdw @just-paja @horacimacias @joemirizio @Zyzle @ovruni

[just-paja]

Drop the shadows and light, it looks so 90s :) I like proposal from @BafS much more.

[BafS]

I can also propose some different prototypes

[horacimacias]

I don't really mind; I actually like both :)
Is there any reason for the dark blue pencil border on @BafS proposal not to "reach" the icon big circle?

[BafS]

@horacimacias I will fix that, I agree it was not a good idea

[nathanielw]

Is the project going to risking any copyright or trademark issues by using and modifying the original logo? Obviously the code is open source, but usually the logos, names, etc. from open source projects are explicitly all-rights reserved (or similar) to ensure the project isn't misrepresented (see Arch, Blender, Firefox). I know Evolus has seemingly disappeared (I've had no luck contacting them and I know others have tried too), but it would suck if there was any trouble for the project because of the icon. I suppose all they could do is ask us to change it, so it's probably not a big problem, just something we should be aware of.

Regarding the design - I'm not at all a fan of the reflections and shadows added in this PR - I much perfer @BafS's suggestion, although agree with @horacimacias re: the dark border.

I'm keen to see what prototypes you come up with @BafS, but would it also be worthwhile reaching out to the wider community? There's Open Source Design, but I'm not sure how active it is. If I get time (unlikely) I might try sketching out some ideas too.

[jdittrich]

OpenSourceDesign ist still active as far as I know.

[BafS]

Some ideas (I stayed close to the original one)

And some more modern

The original one to compare

Hope you like it

[just-paja]

@BafS, thanks for the time you've put into it.

This is how the icon looks from where I sit right now.

I think that there is a problem in the concept of the icon: it's head of a pen, not a pencil. Also for head of a pen, it's missing some detail. See how google images see pen's head. I will not associate this icon to Pencil application if I'm looking for it in the GNOME 3 Application list.

How does it look like if you scale it down to 16x16?
It reminds me of door to a blue building more than a pencil. I know it's supposed to be a hi-res icon, but scaling it down works for me to see if I made all the important stuff big enough.

The blue background does not really make sense to me, because even with pen, you usually write to white paper.

Pen is for writing, pencil is for sketching.

Perhaps leaving the old icon might be a good idea after all.

This is just an idea, my intention is to provoke and inspire somebody that could make something more decent.

[mvdw]

I agree with dropping the shadows and light.
Switching to a pencil instead of a pen is a good idea, but showing the full length of a pencil is an over-used icon.
Can we stick to showing just the head of the pencil, pointing up like the old logo - so that it still resembles the old logo?

(Search on Google images for "pencil head close up" to get an idea.)

[BafS]

Thanks for the feedback

An other try with a more realistic pen head

[nathanielw]

Here's my super-quick attempt at modernising the original icon:

Layout, scale, colour, and everything else is all very approximate - I just wanted to get an idea of how it might look.

@BafS I like the last one there, but as others have said, a pencil makes more sense. Plus, fountain pen + blue background is very similar to the Scribus logo. That'd make a great alternative icon for Scribus though 😄

[prikhi]

These are great.

Maybe it's a pen because we are manipulating stencils, and pen + stencil = pencil ??

[just-paja]

@mvdw, thanks for feedback.
@BafS, very nice, but I think the blue is not best choice. For example, if you look closely, you can see a lightning rod being hit by lightning in the first pen :) The line behind the pen gives me even bigger impression that this is going to be a tool for writing more than UI prototyping
@nathanielw, I really like your super quick attempt. Makes me wonder how a usual quick attempt would look like :)

[mvdw]

@nathanielw: Great! That is what I had in mind. I like this one very much, but the geometry is not yet correct: the blank wood part should be a cone (round), not a pyramid. And no shadow please.

IMHO it is enough to just show the pencil or pen as a tool, while not trying to express the action of writing or drawing. Hence, the tip of the pen should not be pointing down on paper, and may point up - which is the way you inspect a pen/pencil.

[BafS]

It can be nice to have the new icon for the next version :)