Mimetype
Oxygen progress is going well. Right now we are finishing core Kde icons, (thanks Aaron for the detailed list) but I also found time to do some improvements here and there.
One of the last retouch was the mimetype sheet. I was not happy with the page curl effect. In my opinion it was too “hard”. I also thought the sheet itself was too tight and dark. Compare the new version.
Much better ha?
Another problem of the previous design was the shadow. When scaling down, specially at 64×64 and 32×32 size, the top part of the sheet was looking ugly and not sharp. Centering the shadow under the sheet solved this problem.
PS: Please you a name or a nick when leaving a comment! It will be easy for me to reply.
Update:
Below I’ve reduced a bit shadow on 128×128 svg, and that what I get when scaling down.
nice :)
Indeed, new looks much better.
Thumbs up!
Looks much butter. Makes me wonder if the curl is necessary at all…
Anonymous #3 (why nobody write his name?): Do you mean “butter” or “better”?
details, details, details :)
Thanks for the effort!
I noticed only the lower left corner is rounded. Is that intentional?
I meant better :)
Now comes the hard part of updating all the icons that include the “sheet of paper”, such as the ODF icons and PDF icon.
Why don’t you re-use icons from Ubuntu’s default Human Icon Theme? The SVGs are licensed under a Free Software license (a free version of Creative Commons) and many of the icons are really high quality. Why do all the work again?
You can download the SVGs from here (click on the .tar.gz file).
paul pacheco: yes it was intentional.
In the beginning I did all the corners rounded, but then thought the small icons were looking too cartoonish. I left the bottom left corner rounded because it was enough to make the whole sheet look softer while not cartoonish.
Anonymous #4: it will take a couple of hours or less to update all the mimetypes. Probably we won’t do that at all, since we are thinking in using one svg for the sheet, and then to overlay the symbols that make the mimetype. That in order to save loading time, CPU usage and keeping files smaller.
Have you thought about:
- making the shadow in the bigger version less heavy? While the smaller versions look just fine, the bigger one has too much contrast with the background.
- moving the curl to the top-right corner? Maybe it’s just me, but it gives me an unpleasant sense of “instability” as it is now.
If the SVGs needed to be updated, wouldn’t it be possible to automate the process, since it’s all XML?
Scripting, Regexp, Diff?
Wouldn’t it be possible to add shadows in software (ie. an underlay as opposed to an overlay)?
Every size is made by the same 128×128 svg icon. If I do a too light shadow 32×32 will probably look bad.
Just updated with a lighter shadow version of the sheet.
Another possibility would be making two SVGs, one with a light shadow that will be used for 128, 64 and 48 px sizes. Another SVG with dark shadow for 32 and 16. Let’s see.
Using overlays for the mimetypes is a really good idea! This will help keeping the icon theme consistent. Also, I believe that using a thicker shadow for the smaller icons is the way to go.
Keep up the great work!
I think it is quite an improvement over the old sheet, but I do like the darker shadow there more, honestly.
Good job, and I eagerly await more previwes!
There seems to be a problem with your feed through PlanetKDE - it looks as if the actual HTML source of your blog is shown as plain text instead of being interpreted as HTML encoded.
I’d go with a more subtle shadow in the bigger versions, maybe even more blurred.
Smaller versions look great with a dark shadow instead, as in your original improved version.
Rather strange bend. When it’s round it looks like the sheet of paper is made of cloth or rubber. Feels very unnatural for “photo-realistic” set.
Just saw the new empty mimetype icon on the Commit Digest..
It looks COOL!
Glad you liked my proposal for moving the curl top right!
And the “wider” base gives a very unique feel, a lot different from Vista or OSX.
GREAT WORK!
(Ma perché sto scrivendo in inglese?! Ottimo lavoro!!)
First of all, thank you very much for creating these icons! You guys are doing a great job.
Now comes my comment and I must admit that it is mostly nitpicking. When I first looked at the sheet of paper icon with one bent-over corner it didn’t look right but I couldn’t tell what bothered me. Now I know why. When you bend over a corner of a sheet of paper and produce a diagonal (as viewed with one eye directly from above) there are no corners where the diagonal meets the side of the sheet. There is a round transition. You will only get corners if you really fold the paper! Also the new version doesn’t seem to have a diagonal but rather a slightly bent curve, which cannot be achieved with a usual sheet of paper as you cannot cover a ball with a sheet of paper without making folds anywhere. Furthermore the shadow is too dark an both versions. I know that contrasts are crucial for the tiny versions but a circular shadow comming from a corner seems rather artificial to me. And, yes, I know that ot is an icon and not pure realism. Thanks for reading anyways!
I think updating all the icons with a sheet of paper in them would be nice, considering that some users might want to keep using kde 3 but use oxygen icons (but of course this is not really importent)
What’s important is that in the end all icons look consitent, which means they all should have the same sheet of paper.
But as mentioned above there will be probably taken care of that.