New Icon Set...[echo]...

[Diana Fong]

Oops...forgot to add link [1] 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/BluecurveAndBeyond?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=iso01_29.png



Diana Fong wrote:
> I believe there might be a few things confusing the matter...hopefully 
> this will help to clear it up a bit.
>
> [Bluecurve, Tango, Echo...etc]
> For those that like Bluecurve, don't fear it will still be included in 
> our next releases.  However, this should not stop us from trying to 
> creating a new icon set.  Perhaps Echo might not be THE icon set ... 
> but maybe by exploring this together we can come up with something 
> better than it's starting point. By opening its development early on, 
> it is hoped that through the input of various people, the new set 
> could somehow be better.
> By saying that you just don't like it...is valid but perhaps by 
> creating a few examples with modifications, the rest of us can follow 
> your example to creating something better.  If you say further that 
> it's just not an improvement over the others and efforts should not be 
> spent on this...perhaps you could suggest better alternatives...even 
> if you've got a great idea in a completely different look, it would 
> also be great...and this start would have been all worth it...for echo 
> to serve as a starting point to something more usable.  At this point 
> no icon set is without faults, echo is an icon project intended at 
> creating, what I had hoped to be a better style, but more importantly 
> to really develop an icon theme that is from the collaboration of the 
> community.  If small sized icons are what's dear to you, please do 
> help with the creation of them.  By getting involved, you can 
> influence the direction of things rather than ...perhaps feeling a bit 
> antagonized by what other people create and throw at you.  If you 
> believe it is beyond help then...well...there are other icon sets, not 
> everyone has to use the same one.  However, I have seen some useful 
> suggestions even in the many emails this weekend and ask that perhaps 
> you can think of it as it's own project.  Bluecurve, Tango and others 
> aside, how can we improve echo.
>
> [smaller icons]
> Some people's overall dislike of the set was a bit confused with the 
> issue of it looking bad in smaller sizes.  My question is, therefore, 
> at it's current size...do you like it?  At this point...I'm looking 
> for feedback on the look and feel of the icons.  The angle, the 
> colors, the shadow.  Previous messages of the shadow being a bit too 
> dark was useful as well as someone's current mention of the "grave 
> cross" "add" icon.  With the shadow, this icon set is no longer a 
> simple copy and paste of icons into a square, accommodations have to 
> be made for the shadow, and therefore, with different shapes, icons 
> such as the "pause" might seem larger than the "skip forward" and 
> whatnot it's placed next to.  But these are exactly the kinds of 
> consideration that are useful when brought up.
>
> Each smaller sizes will have to be either cleaned up at the .png or 
> the vector stage to make it more readable.  Currently, smaller sizes 
> have not been created.  Help is greatly appreciated in this area.  The 
> package created by Leon was a quick test of the icons and should not 
> be criticized.  Even with this package, we learn that the icons cannot 
> simply be scaled down, work has to be put in to clean up the smaller 
> versions...but maybe we can see which icons did work by simply 
> shrinking and thus lessen the amount of work. At the smaller size I do 
> realize that the current perspective will cause trouble and thus the 
> suggestion for them to be head on and definitely simplified.
> Something I found interesting/useful was the small icon 
> discussion...when does the icon start to break down?  I had originally 
> thought of only the 16x16 as requiring the simplified version and was 
> on the fence for 24x24...but from the feedback, it seems that the 
> icons need to be simplified even before that size.  So, instead of 
> saying that it's just horrible and unusable at smaller sizes, if we 
> can figure out at what point the icons need to be fixed, then that 
> would be constructive.  I know in the Leon's package, there included 
> 22 and 24 in addition to 48...and the 22 was probably horrendous...but 
> there's also 32 and 36 versions that are used as well...how do those 
> look?
>
> I've also posted some of the early icons in the fc5 screen setting 
> [1]...those are actually cleaned up smaller icons.  Is that _still_ 
> bad...or maybe better?  A few pixels cleaned here and there can really 
> make a difference. =)
>
> [svg file size]
> Yes, they are large...horribly so.  Nicu's example of slimming it down 
> is awesome and I really hope someone could perhaps run through them.  
> I wish my original wasn't so large to begin with but at this point I 
> am trying to create as many as possible to provide for better coverage 
> and to also get to the smaller icons in time for release.  Maybe it's 
> wishful thinking...I dunno, but must be hopeful.  Attached is an 
> example from Andy Fitzsimon...when he first saw my svgs he laughed at 
> the ridiculous sizes...but instead of criticizing them...he went ahead 
> and showed what could actually able to get it down to 1.9k!  If you 
> want to check it out...fyi. it came with the warning of...
>
> "Warning: it uses an svg filter for the drop shadow ( gnome's librsvg
> displays this fine but Inkscape will only display it on our next 
> release )"
>
> So while he might not be interested in populating yet another icon 
> set, he is interested in optimizing svg files...and that's awesome.  
> It does make me hopeful to see this and really contributes to the 
> evolution of the icon set.  But this is what I mean...with the 
> feedback and talents of various people the set can evolve into 
> something more.
> There is, of course, always personal preference so while it might be 
> better for some, it might not be for others. We all have different 
> needs and are entitled to our opinions...let's just try to focus and 
> make what we write here useful to this project.
>
> Sorry about the long email, was just trying to address the many points 
> brought up over the weekend.
>
> Thanks,
> Diana
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