Analyzr - Help Choose an Icon

[iacas]

None of these icons are finished. They're all kind of a "work-in-progress." For example, for the "sideways" one the shadowing and lighting isn't right because it's just an SD card rotated 90 degrees.

But I'm curious what people like. Remember we have two versions: Home and Pro.

64 pixels - http://analyzrgolf.com/64.png
128 pixels - http://analyzrgolf.com/128.png
256 pixels - http://analyzrgolf.com/256.png
512 pixels - http://analyzrgolf.com/512.png

64 and 256 here for comparison (click the other sizes above if you want to see them):




From left to right we'll call them "Metal" and "Sideways" and "Upright."

Here they are in the dock:

http://analyzrgolf.com/dock.png


For Metal, I don't know what we'd do for Home. For Sideways we're somewhat limited, though we could change the color of the SD card for the two different versions. For Upright, we can do that or we can change the color of the label from green to orange for Home and Pro.

Update: Added dock view.

[MacBooky]

Upright (which is not enough letters I noticed)

[jamo]

I like "Metal" the best, but if you do go with "Upright" shouldn't you go from orange to green for home to pro? I say that because in icon the better looking swing is green, so it seems to me that that would correspond with pro.

[tristanhilton85]

I like the metal and upright icons... Maybe use the metal one for the pro version and the upright one for the home version as the SD card could imply it's smaller or not as advanced as the pro version.

Another idea is that you could go with the upright icon for both home and pro and just write either "Home" or "Pro" above the version number... maybe a different color label for each one as well... maybe leave it green for home and red for pro or something like that.

[Zeph]

From what I like most to least: 1, 3, 2.

I think the metal one will look very good.

[iacas]

I like "Metal" the best, but if you do go with "Upright" shouldn't you go from orange to green for home to pro? I say that because in icon the better looking swing is green, so it seems to me that that would correspond with pro.

That's what we'd do. Green Pro and Orange Home.

We will definitely NOT mix metal and SD card for Home/Pro.

[iacas]

I've updated the original post with the dock view. If you want to change your vote, that's not really possible, but you can change your vote effectively by posting again.

[Stretch]

In the dock, I think the upright orientation works best. Clean sheet, I think metal -- minus the film strip, minus the upper "LEDs" -- presented flat 2D like sideways. Less is more etc.

[Hollister]

I like the metal one, because it is clearer, simpler the grasp. I find the card a bit too tech (cheap these days). I feel that your software is about analyzing - and thats not conveyed by a card.

[iacas]

In the dock, I think the upright orientation works best. Clean sheet, I think metal -- minus the film strip, minus the upper "LEDs" -- presented flat 2D like sideways. Less is more etc.

Shows a revised flat metal - I darkened it, added a bevel and a shadow, and of course it's flat. Also shows two revised Upright ones showing the loss of the LEDs, the Home/Pro variations, a slightly lighter card (mostly towards the bottom), and a black ring to help add contrast to the buttons at 128px and smaller (Green Pro version only in the dock shot below). Here they are in the dock: I think the idea of using metal just tends to wash things out, particularly at smaller sizes.

I like the metal one, because it is clearer, simpler the grasp. I find the card a bit too tech (cheap these days). I feel that your software is about analyzing - and thats not conveyed by a card.

See I think the card almost looks like a bit of a... It looks like a "device" - almost like a futuristic Star Trek tablet - and then only when you look closely (and probably only at larger sizes) do you notice it's actually an SD card. Kind of like an inside joke since most cameras these days shoot video on an SD card.

[iacas]

Additionally, we're making strides on the other types of icons as well. For example:



We're also going to try this in the Sideways one - that might marry the "Star Trek tablet" with the simpler, revised interface.

[Stretch]

[QUOTE=iacas;550372]Additionally, we're making strides on the other types of icons as well. For example:



That I like! I don't think you need the two sets of buttons to represent the idea of a side-by-side analysis, and to me the upper row of "traffic lights" adds visual clutter and doesn't really convey anything meaningful.

(If you want to be really, really picky, it doesn't look like the play, back and forward symbols are perfectly justified inside those buttons right now either. )

[RubxQub]

The two icons inside SD cards are strange to me, as it almost seems to imply that Analyzr is something you load onto your camera and take out to the range with you somehow. Seems like by putting it on the SD card, you're making it appear more like your app is some kind of mobile app versus that it reads data that can sometimes come from an SD card.

Also, no icon in my dock or that I own or have seen actually says the name of the program on them (like your upright icon). It's more about creating an iconic image (for lack of a better word) than it is trying to spell it out for people, you know?

I'd still go with the first one out of these three, but I'd also recommend removing the play controls all together from the bottom. It kind of adds clutter, and I think you get the point across that it's going to be a swing analysis tool just by having two golf swings side by side in different colors. Personally, I think just one of those swinger guys would be a great image to go with. The graphic looks really sharp, and the grid lines and dots imply analysis. The current ones you're going with still feel like they're beating you over the head a bit trying to spell out what the program is going to do instead of picking an image that really represents it.

Sorry if this comes off as a bit critical!

Quick and dirty, but something like this I think would be sharp and still get the point across, while still offering you away to distinguish between pro and home by altering the color of the player:

[iacas]

Poll is somewhat irrelevant now.

Here are some updates showing the now four possible choices. Stretch may very well like one or two of them.

First the icons at two sizes: 120 and 240 (and yes, we can set different icons for various sizes to simplify things in smaller versions):




Here's the URLs to them directly PLUS a 420 pixel version:
http://analyzrgolf.com/120.png
http://analyzrgolf.com/240.png
http://analyzrgolf.com/420.png

Here's what they look like in the dock ( http://analyzrgolf.com/dock_4.png):


I'm sure you can see what was done in these images. Let me know what you like now... even if you already have. Things have changed enough, I'm sure you'd agree.

[jamo]

The "Flat" one is my new favorite looking one, but the "Upright" one (especially with the new updates) might be the most practical.

I think there are two (possibly fatal) problems for the "Flat" one. Like you said, the metal does tend to wash things out at smaller sizes. Also it seems like the metal would be harder to differentiate home/pro.

I guess that sort of leaves me liking the "Upright" logo the best, though I'm still not totally crazy about the SD card look.

[iacas]

The two icons inside SD cards are strange to me, as it almost seems to imply that Analyzr is something you load onto your camera and take out to the range with you somehow.

Devil's advocate...

You're overthinking it. Transmit - an FTP client - is an image of a moving truck. Mail is an image of a postage stamp - you don't literally use the stamps.

Seems like by putting it on the SD card, you're making it appear more like your app is some kind of mobile app versus that it reads data that can

Our app doesn't make golfers appear as orange and green silhouettes, nor does it load data from physical film strips. Very few icons do exactly what their icons imply - the trick is to get the implications in the right region.

Also, no icon in my dock or that I own or have seen actually says the name of the program on them (like your upright icon).

Some applications do.

Besides, the name of the application would not be included in smaller versions of the icon. When the name is too small to read, we'd simply remove it. Besides, SD cards have writing on them, so it'd be odd NOT to have anything written on an SD card. As for other icons with writing, I didn't even have to get past "A" in my applications folder: Even TextEdit was famous for having actual writing on it - writing that people deciphered .

It's more about creating an iconic image (for lack of a better word) than it is trying to spell it out for people, you know?

It doesn't have to be about that only, and if the writing helps it to remain more like the actual object, then I'd argue that leaving the writing off makes it worse and less "iconic."

I'd still go with the first one out of these three, but I'd also recommend removing the play controls all together from the bottom.

I can safely say that's not going to happen. Our inspiration for the icon was Apple Loops Utility, and if we just have a piece of metal with two big screens or holes in it the thing might very well look like a sink.

It kind of adds clutter, and I think you get the point across that it's going to be a swing analysis tool just by having two golf swings side by side in different colors.

The golfers disappear in smaller sizes. They have to because they turn into blobs.

Personally, I'm leaning towards the horizontal SD card at this point. We can change the color of the SD card to show Home or Pro. It looks like a Star Trek futuristic tablet (which is what "Current" is supposed to be) but has a bit of an "inside joke" with the fact that it's an SD card. It makes better use of space than the "Current" version. Rub, btw, I was just playing devil's advocate. I think you raise some good points, but in the end my true feelings are indeed closer to what I've said above here.

[Stretch]

All good points. Pick one and ship already. My swing isn't going to fix itself.

[iacas]

All good points. Pick one and ship already. My swing isn't going to fix itself.

In the end I think it's going to come down to what Dave likes of the four above and what we can do with that icon from there.