Yeah, INTiE his post clearly resembles a childish and baseless complaint.
Using "whining" as a catch-all for any comment that you dislike is worth a facepalm.
tokol wrote:
make icons that are better than the ones suggested then?
make icons that are better than the ones suggested then?
Have you even read his post?
I think the question should be, have you or INTiE actually read the whole thread or just jumped to conclusions?
BoB in the thread has hinted at themes being used which suggests the old icon set will still be available, and tokol has stated that cleaning and maybe updating the current icons could be enough like d3vnull has posted.
So from the information that is available if you take the time to read it all, it seems anyone who wants to do so will most likely still be able to use the current/old icon set.
Better ask tokol that, he's the one labeling an excellent, well argued post as "whining". Can't I applaud a person for putting in the effort to write such a post? They are quite rare on the Internet you know.
The eventual outcome of the competition does not change my current stance on it. Please feel free to point out where I jumped to a conclusion though. While you are it, tell me how tokol his suggestion makes any sense.
Better ask tokol that, he's the one labeling an excellent, well argued post as "whining". Can't I applaud a person for putting in the effort to write such a post? They are quite rare on the Internet you know.
I would guess the whining part comes from the fact that no matter how well written the post was, its still irrelevant due to the fact the old icons will still be in use for those who want them and the basis for INTiE's post was to state he doesn't want to see them removed from use.
Fine, substitute the word whining with something you think suits better and be productive.
So far the plan has been of having the category icons being user selectable, which was already hinted way back, but I guess this was missed due to the initial no-no-no-no-because-i-dont-want-this-to-happen-reaction. However knowing how well the coding department takes the negative feedback of anything that is on the to-do list, it might be the said option will not be done after all.
The post has excellent pointers regarding on what should be considered while creating the contestants for this competition, but what comes to the no-no-no-no part, it is absolutely useless. The competition is on and there will, most likely, be new category icons. The wiggling regarding that really is pointless and absolute waste of time, energy, keystrokes, CPU cycles and bandwidth.
After reviewing the current icones with new ones in mind, i must agree that they can be made better. For example TV/xvid and TV/HD look too much the same today
Also I would like to see a different Icon for HD 1080 and HD 720 so I dont have to read the torrent name to pick, is that planned or something that could be handy?
but I guess this was missed due to the initial no-no-no-no-because-i-dont-want-this-to-happen-reaction.
Or, the most likely scenario, people take "hints" at their face value. Perhaps stating what exactly is going to happen with and after the competition before starting it would prevent this kind of "absolute waste of bla & bla".
Quote:
However knowing how well the coding department takes the negative feedback of anything that is on the to-do list, it might be the said option will not be done after all.
Just like your previous suggestion, this makes no sense since that "theme" option is not the part receiving negative feedback. Or are you talking about the whole competition now? Then I can agree.
I don't get the whole "we had an idea and you are all whiners for not liking it"-atmosphere in this topic anyway... everybody here that is "whining" has stated that he loves the current website and doesn't want anything to change. I'd take that as a compliment.
Refuse to get it, that is absolutely fine by me. The competition is here because of the feedback in the past suggesting such a thing was wanted. Nothing to be changed? A lot of stuff has been changed since the start, but I guess you refuse to get that too.
were mine so ugly ? nobody said a thing or gave a suggestion or anything at all.... some feedback would be welcome, even negative ... this way i just feel is not worth trying on.
here random stuff made for this competition
This image has been resized, click here to view the full-sized image.
This image has been resized, click here to view the full-sized image.
I think those were disturbingly inconsistent. Some were quite simple where as some were downright messy due to amount of stuff on them. Some are "kind of photos" where as some are drawn.
One reason for not having separate competition for each icon, but a competition for the whole set was that we hoped to get consistent set of good looking icons, not a mixed bunch of them.
Refuse to get it, that is absolutely fine by me. The competition is here because of the feedback in the past suggesting such a thing was wanted. Nothing to be changed? A lot of stuff has been changed since the start, but I guess you refuse to get that too.
Ah now I know you are just taking the piss. I said current website, which means previous changes have been included and considered an improvement. Which further shows that people here are not simply "against change" as some previously stated. So how am I refusing to get that too? Your last comment makes no sense, yet again.
But feel free to keep using phrases like "whining" or "refusing to get it", it shows real class. The only thing I'm refusing to get is that there is a significant number of users here that wants the icons changed. The lack of enthusiasm in this topic as well as the relatively low number of submissions compared to previous header/seasonal competitions can be taken as a hint here, but I guess I'm not the only one refusing to get hints in this topic.
How can you tell this will not be yet another thing considered as an improvement in the end?
I can't say that with certainty, but you have to agree there is reason for skepticism. On all other private sites that have moved to their own unique icons, the result has been (way) worse than the originals imo. In fact, most of them are quite poor replacements.
However, as I said before, I have quite some faith in some of TBs finest artists but unfortunately I haven't seen a single submission that comes even close to the level of quality of the originals.
Which is not a surprise nor an insult to the artists, knowing how good the originals are.
I think those were disturbingly inconsistent. Some were quite simple where as some were downright messy due to amount of stuff on them. Some are "kind of photos" where as some are drawn.
One reason for not having separate competition for each icon, but a competition for the whole set was that we hoped to get consistent set of good looking icons, not a mixed bunch of them.
i was asking what about moving the color from the image to the sidebar, those werent my icons was just a image i made to explain my question ... as my english isnt that effective...the images in those icons are pics from internet just to fill and give a idea.. nobody answered tho
the only icons i posted was the joystick ones (well missing the orange pack one)...
Why dont someone try something minimalistic? Im not good at this so I wont. But say one color and the rest black and white (for example a colored side or underbar, a black and white icone, and black or white text under or by the side)
im going that way i think , but no bw, well apart from the piano keyb
on the other hand i like tengen's approach , i think color is important and filling with it makes the icon more readable somehow ... mmm oregon trail ?
I'm stepping in here... There's a lot of heat getting thrown around and a lot of unecessary noise. The competition is here becauseyou guys have asked for new icons in the past. We're doing it because you asked for it. We fully realise there are some people who like the nostalgia of the current icons and wish to live in the past - that's cool, hopefully we can keep you there while the modern folk can jazz it up with the new set. So... where is the problem? At the end of the competition you'll have a choice - new or old. Any argument for "don't fix what 'aint broken" (or along those lines) are completely crushed by that.
Now, back on topic and discuss SUBMISSIONS, not whether or not new icons are a good/bad idea or whatever else.
@ lol2k345, like you I like the minimalistic approach. If I can find the spare time I would like to give it a bash.
Here's one I'm working on. Ideas of improvements? If I can find the time maybe I'll make individual icons.
I did this from my crappy laptop so the colours may be 2 bright and saturated on a normal screen :p
#1403226 by unknown[379494] at 2011-05-22 18:41:43 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]
Generally, since icons that are instantly recognizable = familiarity = ease of use, that's why there's negative resentment towards change and why any new themes will be unpopular. Imagine if your government changed the roadsigns symbols to bring it up-to-date - not many people will be happy. But give it a year or so for new things to sink in, and the reception will be better over time.
INTiE: It's labeled as an icon competition, but you must look broader than its literal meaning; this is graphical design. The purpose of graphic design is to convey information in a pleasing manner, whether in form of stylized text, icon/symbols that represents the idea, or a picture. I rather like Smacksmash's entry because it is super easy to identify and categorize torrents, therefor has succeeded in doing its job. Typography has its merits.
Mastrofili: I think there's still too much extraneous information in your icons. You need to think more about common associations. For your keyboard:
Piano keys = classical music = music
Speakers = music
Speakers would be more direct and save the user from making an assumption. It's faster and easier on users that way. Allegories only work when it's commonly used (snowflake, wrench for mechanic, etc)
- Looking at your screenshot 4 days ago, when you resize down to 37x26 px effective size, you must be straight to the point. You movies/XVID picture is unclear and rather messy/crowded. The TV icon, likewise should either be resized to fit entirely, or the right edges cropped so it doesn't run off the side and confuse the viewer.
tokol wrote:
I'd be willing to bet a little something that creating an awesome set takes a bit more than 6 days.
I've done amazing art in one-sessions ending at 6am, for ~18 hours straight. When you've got the sudden drive time really flies by.
lol2k345 wrote:
Why dont someone try something minimalistic? Im not good at this so I wont. But say one color and the rest black and white (for example a colored side or underbar, a black and white icone, and black or white text under or by the side)
I'm trying to be as pure as possible. Some of my entries I have marked with asterik needs some reworking because although not apparent individually, when you repeat a lot of the icons (TV/XviD) in the mockup the end result is too much detail.
The problem with pure black and white is that there is only so much space (effectively 44x24px, because you need 2px borders, and 8px from the bottom border for readable text.) Good black and white silhouettes convey information because you see the entire object's form; when you start extreme cropping, the shape loses meaning. For example, the anime icon is extremely difficult to convey in pure black and white because there are very few elements that are distinctively anime; the anime eye zoom is extremely cliche and without meaning without context. At a space of 44x24px there's not a lot of detail to work around with.
A secondary problem I've identified with super black/white minimalism is not all subcategories are obvious. Categories like DVDR/DVDRip have no obvious distinguishing features/symbols; x264 has no connecting images which users are familiar with. This is the x264 icon pulled from Wikipedia:
- if I drew fires or a firery "X" for x264 subcategories most people wouldn't understand, unlike HD/BR ("B" icon.)
Third, colors are easier and faster for user to identify and associate than using text. For example, the WMV icon is easily recognized because of its Windows colors. Likewise, Xbox, Blu-Ray, and CD/DVD icons are best colored. My current objective is to reduce text dependency as much as possible. (I still need some work cutting out stuff, I agree.)
sawgspawn wrote:
Here's one I'm working on. Ideas of improvements? If I can find the time maybe I'll make individual icons.
I did this from my crappy laptop so the colours may be 2 bright and saturated on a normal screen :p
Sidebar text needs to be completely revamped for legibility. Otherwise, icons look pretty good. I'm not entirely sure what the yellow TV(?) icon with the P's are for.
Sidebar text needs to be completely revamped for legibility. Otherwise, icons look pretty good. I'm not entirely sure what the yellow TV(?) icon with the P's are for.
Bad attempt on the P2P icons . I'll give it another shot after work :p
Mastrofili: I think there's still too much extraneous information in your icons. You need to think more about common associations. For your keyboard:
Piano keys = classical music = music
Speakers = music
mmm im not sure i agree allow me pls
pianokeys = piano music (classical, jazz,pop, rock,wathever) so already music with even some style on it
speakers = hitler's speech ?=" inception the book read by arnold swarzanegger"=maybe music who knows ... am i wrong ?
but maybe speakers would be nicer anyway ill try if i got time ty !
well about that first image ill just delete it as seems to be misleading sry
#1403273 by unknown[220506] at 2011-05-22 20:38:20 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]
mastrofili wrote:
speakers = hitler's speech ?=" inception the book read by arnold swarzanegger"=maybe music who knows ... am i wrong ?
Off-topic but how does one come to such great associations with a common thing like speakers? Tho I agree with tengen about associations. Also if the icons will stick around for a while then they should be aimed at the concept that less is more as otherwise they can get annoying after some time.
#1403360 by unknown[379494] at 2011-05-23 06:56:03 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]
mastrofili wrote:
tengen wrote:
Mastrofili: I think there's still too much extraneous information in your icons. You need to think more about common associations. For your keyboard:
Piano keys = classical music = music
Speakers = music
mmm im not sure i agree allow me pls
pianokeys = piano music (classical, jazz,pop, rock,wathever) so already music with even some style on it
speakers = hitler's speech ?=" inception the book read by arnold swarzanegger"=maybe music who knows ... am i wrong ?
but maybe speakers would be nicer anyway ill try if i got time ty !
well about that first image ill just delete it as seems to be misleading sry
I'm just saying it's not as optimized as it should be. To critique my own, my Music/MP3 icon is currently "Apple earbuds" but it should really be an iPod, because the iPod has become synonymous with an MP3 player. The average thought processes:
To show earbuds means the user has to make an extra step in identifying the relationship to MP3 whereas the iPod is a direct association. It's a second quicker and that's really all it comes down to.
To directly respond, maybe you could try headphones, boomboxes, PMPs, etc. In iconography, as a very general rule of thumb, if you can't find a related picture in google image search, you should probably try something different.
Hey, finally we have some discussion going on in here
Anyway, even though I stand behind everything that was written in my previous post I do agree that it was written maybe too soon. I admit it was a panic reaction to some designs I've seen in the thread without realizing that competion just started and there can't be any excellent entries just yet.
I also admit that I missed BoB's >Anyone ever heard of "themes"?< as a clear staff proclamation that there will be an option to keep current icons I wouldn't have written the "no-no-no-sky-is-falling" part of my ramble. Seeing red fog when I was writing my previous post I understood competition as "We will change our icons. We'll pick best desing from competition even if it's horrible one and replace current lovely icons with it no matter what". This was of course stupid assumption and I apologize for that.
After reading my post again I also realized that in the end I clearly didn't get out the point I was trying to make. I'm not against new icons if they are great. I'm against new icons if they are horrible which seemed to be the case at given time. I was just trying to explain why I think old ones are so great and why we shouldn't change them just to get new shiny look. Or some principles new ones should follow.
So again - I stand behind everything that was written. But it shouldn't have been writtent on day 1 of competition Maybe 3 weeks into it when there's clearly no good design in entries would have been more apropriate
I like tengen's work - there's some serious thought and pixel pushing behind it. Seeing it in the mockup I still prefer old ones though. For me they are still simpler and more readable.It might be me just being used to old ones, I'd have to try and use yours for a while. But you are clearly aware of the issue and you are working on it which is awesome. Excellent work! Looking forward to finished set.
(Ms.OneOneNine) at 2011-05-22 00:49:32 (2 years ago) - [
(Sarcastic Admin) at 2011-05-22 01:54:46 (2 years ago) - [
. I'll give it another shot after work :p