[Fireside Chat] Icon designers (Part 1 of 3)
Written by on April 16th, 2007 in Ajax News.
[Fireside Chats are round table discussions conducted using Campfire.]
The Chatters
Dave Brasgalla (Icon Factory)
Brian Brasher (Firewheel Design)
Jon Hicks (Hicks Design)
Corey Marion (Icon Factory)
Michael Schmidt (Cuban Council)
Josh Williams (Firewheel Design)
(Moderated by Matt and Jason from 37signals)
| Matt |
paste an icon or icon set that you’re proud of making and explain why.
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| Corey |
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| Brian |
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| Jon |
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| Jon |
I guess I had too!
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| Corey |
Didn’t know Hicks did the Firefox and Thunderbird icons, nice work
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| Jon |
It’s kind of my one-hit wonder!
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| Josh |
I did these icons for a Pawn Shop POS system years ago. The thought of Pawn Shop icons has always made me laugh a bit:
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| Josh |
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| Corey |
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| Corey |
One of our original three sets when stockicons.com launched
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| Dave |
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| Dave |
Cave Troll.
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| Dave |
Those LOTR icons, I love the CCave Troll, but the book… I’ve been after texture for so long, and that time I hit exactly what I had in mind
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| Jon |
I love the Cave Troll icons – candidates for the first animated icons me thinks
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| Dave |
Actually, I’ve always wanted to animate the cave troll to "Soul of a Man"
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| Josh |
Did you do that all in PS Dave?
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| Dave |
vector base shapes and millions of PS layers, Josh
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| Josh |
These are still my faves, created during my Dave Brasgalla phase…
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| Josh |
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| Dave |
Always liked the orange-y glow about those, Josh
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| Josh |
thx Dave, I’m a sucker for orange
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| Michael |
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| Brian |
I’ve been posting cursors on my blog. Not icons exactly, but sorta:
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| Brian |
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| Corey |
Classic Brian…
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| Michael |
nice & pixelly
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| Josh |
The texture is amazing
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| Dave |
Love the cook pot!
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| Josh |
we keep brian in a cook pot at the office
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| Brian |
But we try not to smoke it.
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| Matt |
What do you think about the new Adobe CS3 icons?
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| Matt |
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| Josh |
I like the CS3 box art much more than the icons.
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| Matt |
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| Dave |
The new CS3 icons are sort of bizarre to me
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| Brian |
CS3 icons: yawn
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| Jon |
Agreed
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| Jon |
BUT
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| Jon |
I’ve got used to them
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| Jon |
I despised them at first, but I’ve lived with 4 of them for a few months now, and I like them!
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| Josh |
With so many Adobe apps, they’re gonna run outta letters
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| Brian |
Are we on the cusp of a periodic table design phase?
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| Josh |
Fireworks, Flash, Flex… too many icons with Fs
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| Corey |
They are very…square
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| Dave |
It has so many problems
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| Dave |
Same silhouette – yes
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| Brian |
The boxes are lovely.
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| Josh |
the boxes are gorgeous
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| Jon |
Agreed
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| Dave |
Very nice boxes
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| Josh |
Wish the icons had the same level of character, and I’m really starting to miss Venus from the old Adobe icons.
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| Brian |
Lovely, yet across the room I don’t which app is in which box.
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| Michael |
Once you get used them to, the cs3 icons are easier to use in the dock, though.
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| Michael |
Compared to the CS2 ones – I mean, I still can’t remember which one is indesign CS2 and illustrator CS2
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| Josh |
you’re right about that Mike, the current CS2 icons aren’t terrific either
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| Corey |
The icons do stand out in the dock
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| Dave |
Just putting letters in a square seems a design cop-out to me
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| Jon |
It does, but I have to say, I think it works
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| Jon |
after I got over the shock
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“Just putting letters in a square seems a design cop-out to me.”
| Corey |
I agree, they are easier to "learn" than the CS1 and CS2 icons
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| Brian |
Abstract expressionists enter the icon design field.
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| Dave |
Well, as long as i don’t have to use more than two Adobe apps, it’ll be fine!
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| Josh |
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| Josh |
I liked these days
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| Jon |
memories…
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| Brian |
CS2: Adobe Feathershop
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| Jason |
Is something a design cop-out if it works?
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| Jason |
Don’t people prefer things that work over things that just look good? Unless we’re talking about art or something.
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| Jason |
FWIW: I like the new icons. I think they are functional in a way most icons are not. In that they are designed to live along side other icons that may or may not match. I think that’s pretty unique in icon world. A lot of icons seem to be designed to live in a controlled set, not along side a set you can’t control.
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| Jason |
They also seem to deal with context well.
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| Dave |
Well, I am talking about iconography
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| Dave |
Be interesting to see the Arabic localisation
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| Josh |
Jason: no, if it works, it’s not a cop out
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| Josh |
he he
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| Matt |
Related: What makes an icon a success or a failure?
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| Josh |
Ask Hicks…the Firefox icon has certainly been a success
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| Jon |
Failure: People don’t talk about it?
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| Jon |
At least the CS3 icons are noticed
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| Jon |
and discussed
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| Michael |
Do people talk about icons?
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| Dave |
Hmmm.. people talk about terrible icons, too.
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| Josh |
good point
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| Brian |
Noticed does not equal good. Think MySpace. Yuck!
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| Dave |
I suppose it depends on the purpose of the icon. I know that sounds a bit banal, but I think it’s true.
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| Michael |
Failure: you have no idea what it is you’re clicking on in the dock.
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| Jon |
my personal fave:
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| Brian |
It’s all a matter of whether or not you want to divorce it from aesthetics.
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| Josh |
Honestly, I do think icon design can be a bit overrated / overemphasized
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“Honestly, I do think icon design can be a bit overrated / overemphasized.”
| Matt |
Meaning what, icons don’t really matter that much?
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| Dave |
Things have definitely become… shall we say… rococco?
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| Jon |
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| Jason |
Josh: It’s good to hear you say that.
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| Jason |
I sort of feel the same way about logos.
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| Jason |
Lots and lots of time and money are spent — or wasted — on them.
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| Josh |
There’s only so much icons are going to do for your product. If your product is good (i.e., Firefox), then a good icon will be remembered with it.
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| Brian |
Very true.
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| Josh |
If your product is crap, than a pretty fox on a globe ain’t gonna help it
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| Josh |
Same with general UI, especially on the web
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| Josh |
Jason: we had the same discussion about logos here yesterday
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| Josh |
Logos are totally overrated.
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| Jon |
Conversely – with resolution independence, icons take longer to make, but I find the budgets don’t increase
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| Dave |
That’s a very salient point.
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| Jon |
so maybe we should do away with icons and logos!
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| Josh |
(It pains me to say this)
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| Josh |
I think we should.
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| Brian |
Well, somebody has to clothe the emperor.
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| Jason |
Re: logos and icons… I feel like good ones mean the company is paying attention at least. That’s what they mean to me.
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| Dave |
I agree, Jason
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| Matt |
logos and icons seem like the icing. def matter but if the cake sucks they ain’t gonna help much.
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| Josh |
Sometimes a good logo or icon is an indicator that they’re taking care of business in other places.
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| Michael |
True, but sometimes it also seems like the only people who care about these things are designers like us
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| Michael |
Which is a bit sad
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| Jason |
But spending tens of thousands or more on a logo and "identity package"… I just don’t get it. But anyway, that’s just me. Maybe it makes sense for some of the world’s largest companies, but I see startups blowing wads of cash on stuff like that and I just don’t get it.
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| Jason |
They have business cards before they have products. Wrong priorities.
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| Jon |
I think we should separate icons and logos here
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| Dave |
Take OS X: if I see an app with a very nicely executed icon, and the screenshots of the interface seem attractive, I am likely to try it out.
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| Jason |
Dave: I agree.
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| Brian |
Dave said what I wanted to say (and better than I would have).
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| Jason |
Just like I’m more likely to walk into a clean store than one with shit scattered everywhere.
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| Jon |
Icons are ‘the icing’, but logos mean far more to a company
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| Dave |
As Josh put it, it shows they are taking care in each step
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| Josh |
It’s very true. I don’t want a crappy icon messing up my Dock.
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| Jason |
It’s just a matter of presenting yourself well
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| Corey |
Corporate ID is definitely out of control
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| Corey |
and this filters down to icon and UI design
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| Dave |
People can "overthink" the icons (and logo)… reach a point where they are chasing thier own tails.
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| Dave |
Frank Herbert once wrote:
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| Dave |
One of the most difficult things to find is someone who is actually willing to make a decision
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“One of the most difficult things to find is someone who is actually willing to make a decision.”
| Corey |
Marketing departments…
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| Corey |
design by committee…
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| Josh |
Dave: you’ve hit it on the head
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| Jon |
Too right!
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| Michael |
That seems applicable to any sort of design project, though
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| Corey |
absolutely
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| Matt |
too many cooks in the kitchen
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| Corey |
we do it with our own projects
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| Brian |
I’d rather be working on an icon set designed by committee than a 30-page printed something!
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| Dave |
<- shudders at the mention of print work
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Coming soon: Parts 2 and 3.
Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/368-fireside-chat-icon-designers-part-1-of-3