Icon Details
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Kenichi and I have been trading e-mails back and forth about the last icon draft. I asked him what he thought and he said that he would like the pencil to be more original.
I spent a little time digging around Flickr for pictures of colored pencils. I found this one that I like:
Notice that pencils are sometimes stamped with foil lettering and that the tips are rarely perfect once they have been used. Maybe adding some more fine detail like this will bring the icon to life.
I also wanted to play around with the arrows on the timeline and see if we can get them to look more like a sketch without loosing the clarity at smaller sizes. I took the last design and ran some Photoshop effects on the arrows (noise, motion blur, smudge tool, and color adjustments), to get a quick idea of how more sketchy arrows might look. I like it and think it helps separate the pencil and the chart.
I sent this back to Kenichi, so we'll see what he can do with these ideas. And thanks to all those who have provided feedback via the comments or e-mail! A big reason why I am blogging all this stuff is to harvest the wisdom and ideas of the community.
Labels: colored pencil, icon design, t2, timeline software
Icon - New Layout and Eraser
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Here is a new draft of the application icon that I received from Kenichi today. Note that he has shifted the orientation so that the binding is at the top and used one pencil instead of the box in order to make the icon more visible at small sizes. The clock face represents a clock sitting on the page.
Instead of the clock, I asked Kenichi to try adding an eraser to the design. I've always like the soft erasers that come in a cardboard sleave like the one shown below. He brought up a good question about whether erasers work with colored pencils. I believe the soft kind do, but I'm not sure...
If you have experience with colored pencils and various types of erasers please share in the comments!
Labels: colored pencil, eraser, icon design, timeline software
Icon - More Sketches
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Here are the second round of sketches provided by Kenichi in response to my feedback on the first round of designs.
Kenichi describes them as:
- Sketch pad with a wooden pencil box
- Sketch pad with a feather pen
- Chalk board with chalk
I like the colored pencil metaphor the best (#1) as it is the most representational of how a timeline chart would be created without software. I asked Kenichi to continue his design process based on this concept.
In the next entry, I'll show the first 3D rendering of this icon design.
We're still very much in the design process, so please feel free to use the commenting feature to let us know what you think!
Labels: colored pencil, icon design, sketch, timeline software