[IAEP] IAEP Digest, Vol 15, Issue 114

[Frederick Grose]

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Jim Simmons <nicestep at gmail.com> wrote:

> Fred,
>
> Your points are the same ones I had.  There is no animation in the
> icon, though.  Not sure what you're seeing.


Interesting..  The .svg file opened in Ubuntu9.04 and showed a box being
constructed from the base up.  I thought that was intentional, not an
artifact in the file. (It implied the building of the file drawer and
filling it with content--once I figured out what the object was.)  So
without the animation, it is a lot simpler.

Books on a shelf would be even simpler and might be rendered in the bolder
Sugar strokes.

 I'm going to have to go
> with this design unless someone comes up with something better,
> though.  I need a symbol that suggests what the thing is for.  My
> brain just doesn't work that way, and I'm not happy with any of my
> icons.
>
> Personally I liked the perspective and was pleased to discover that
> Inkscape supports drawing objects like that.  My first attempt at this
> object was a freehand Isometric drawing that looked like crap.  This
> one at least looks like what it's supposed to be.  Which would be OK
> if anyone younger than me could recognize it.


Perspective with an unshaded line drawing is tricky.  You might try raising
the point of view enough so that the eye level is more naturally above the
front, right, drawer edge.  The prominent perfectly vertical line is
overpowering the rest of the image (and may be a distortion from the rest of
the content).  Tipping that corner down will remove the perfect vertical
line, change the ratio of the two front draw edges, and should help in
recognition.

But I would prefer the books on a shelf as perhaps a more common object
token for your project.

Thanks for the correction, and best wishes!    --Fred


>  Or a carousel slide
> projector, or a scroll either.
>
> I agree about the letters.  I considered them more a decoration than
> anything else and I'll be leaving them in for the time being.
>
> Hopefully some of us on this list are right-brained types who can
> suggest something better.
>
> James Simmons
>
>
> > Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:48:53 -0400
> > From: Frederick Grose <fgrose at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [IAEP] Art criticism needed on Get IA Books icon
> >        (attached)
> > To: iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org
> > Message-ID:
> >        <f3383f810906261448u651fe070pa79f5f5b6e08de3a at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> >
> > Sorry to offer a negative review, but I struggled to understand the image
> at
> > the small size and perspective.
> > Perspective recognition can be difficult for anything but the simplest
> object.
> > It took me a second look in another context to figure out what the final
> > object was.
> >
> > The animation might be interesting the first few times, but may easily
> > become a distraction.  Icons are best when they are nearly instantly
> recognized and
> > display a token of what's to come, not too much information.
> >
> > The letters,  I A , conveyed that there was textual content, but the
> > initials would not match the name in other languages, and be another
> burden
> > to change.
> >
> > Thank you for you contributing and braving your art!       --Fred
>
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