Analyzr - Help Choose an Icon

[mvmac]

After seeing what they'll look like in the dock, I say horizontal sd card, final answer

[RubxQub]

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.

No problem. Figured I'd throw my 2c in there again on this. Appreciate the time to provide counter-points.

As I've said before, I just want it! :)

[iacas]

Some more updates:

100:


384:


Dock: http://analyzrgolf.com/dock_5.png (the inline one is shrunk a bit)


This is the first version with my attempt at rebuilding the card with the proper lighting in the sideways/horizontal perspective, and it uses dark grey to signify "Pro" and lighter grey to signify "Home." Other versions of the Sideways card icon are included for comparison.

[iacas]

Heh, I can't help myself. One more version:

http://analyzrgolf.com/236.png



In this version, still working on the Sideways SD card style, but a darker icon for the Pro (it shows up really nicely in the Dock now) and a blue icon for Home.

SD cards tend to be blue for the cheaper or slower ones and black for the more "Pro" level ones, after all.

[Hollister]

Think you have to be sensitive/informed to see the difference of the two pictures. Well, well, I still think the above icon should be the output files icons (analysis, which live in raw on the SD card). How much has an icon to convey in the sales process? A lot. Loosing the LEDs and the double interface buttons is good, since they add no info to the product. Did you try the icon just with the green golfer? KISS (Keep it...)!

I'll be taking the light grey icon anyway - that'll be the home version :D

Plus I'll take the beta right away, too.

Edit: You are too fast for me. That blue looks too cheap. Really!

[Zeph]

Edit: You are too fast for me. That blue looks too cheap. Really!

Well yeah, the Home edition is going to be the cheaper one.

[Hollister]

Looks like 2.99... Oh, there might be in-app-sales efforts. Say, buy a couple of more green lines or the liquify to to get the transition smoother or ...

Hey, were is the beta, can't wait to measure my improvements in degrees :D

[iacas]

Think you have to be sensitive/informed to see the difference of the two pictures.

Which two were you referring to? The old "Sideways" and the new "Pro" Sideways? The LEDs are gone, there's a single set of buttons... etc. You saw those changes.

BTW, here's a movie showing the icons resizing... http://analyzrgolf.com/sideways.mov (or when it's done converting):

Well, well, I still think the above icon should be the output files icons (analysis, which live in raw on the SD card).

I'm not sure I understand what that means. The output files are movies and will have standard icons for .mov or .mp4 or .m4v files. Or PNG/JPEG images. There really aren't many "output" files though - you pretty much "input" only 98% of the time.

How much has an icon to convey in the sales process? A lot. Loosing the LEDs and the double interface buttons is good, since they add no info to the product.

I wouldn't go that far. The LEDs show progress and "bad to good" and the two sets of buttons show that each window has its own controls. It may be overkill (which is why they were removed), but they don't "add no info."

Did you try the icon just with the green golfer? KISS (Keep it...)!

We have two screens. You can't easily do an analysis of a before and after with one screen.

I'll be taking the light grey icon anyway - that'll be the home version :D

You mean the blue one.

Plus I'll take the beta right away, too.

We're probably going to release 0.9 by the end of the year and sell it for $39.95 and $395, with 1.0 coming out a short while later. 0.9 will do almost everything but won't have mainly some advanced video playback stuff.

Edit: You are too fast for me. That blue looks too cheap. Really!

Blue SD cards tend to be the slower, smaller ones. Black ones tend to be the faster, larger ones.

Well yeah, the Home edition is going to be the cheaper one.

Yep.

Looks like 2.99... Oh, there might be in-app-sales efforts. Say, buy a couple of more green lines or the liquify to to get the transition smoother or ...

Very funny Holger.

[Hollister]

Think you have to be sensitive/informed to see the difference of the two pictures.

I meant to the comparison of two swings being reflected in the icon. If Analyzrsss USP is side-by-side comparison, so be it. Joe Golfer tends to draw his lines and is happy with that (at least I suppose V1Home owners do it).

Analyzr.? GolfSwingAnalyzr would have nailed it, but is really too long. Swingr (:D), Planr, Stackr would create pictures in the golfers mind. Analyzr not really. Google Things - logo says it all. But not everything can be that easy. That is not to say that you created a nice and professional looking logo. I like them. It is just that the logo and the name have to go together. I just find it hard to "read" the analysis tool from the logo. Ah, don't listen to me, go ahead full tilt! There is always a v2 to keep or change things. Good luck!

[iacas]

I meant to the comparison of two swings being reflected in the icon.

That's kind of irrelevant. You don't have to see that one is better than the other. If you do notice, good for you. The smaller versions of the icon don't even have the golfers.

If Analyzrsss USP is side-by-side comparison, so be it. Joe Golfer tends to draw his lines and is happy with that (at least I suppose V1Home owners do it).

That's not the USP. Why do you seem to be making so many assumptions....??

Analyzr.? GolfSwingAnalyzr would have nailed it, but is really too long. Swingr (:D), Planr, Stackr would create pictures in the golfers mind. Analyzr not really. Google Things - logo says it all. But not everything can be that easy.

Holger, I've developed and sold software for years. The name is fine. Look at the Aperture icon above. And consider the name. "Aperture" really says nothing about what the software does except that it might be related to photography, and the icon confirms that. I could give you

hundreds of other examples.

That is not to say that you created a nice and professional looking logo. I like them. It is just that the logo and the name have to go together. I just find it hard to "read" the analysis tool from the logo.

I think our name and icon do go to together. An "Analyzr" is a machine that does analysis.

Tell ya what: if you come up with a name and an icon concept Dave and I like more, we'll give you five free copies of the software in whatever version you want.

[sean_miller]

I never voted, but my thoughts mirror the poll results, so there ya go.

I liked the vertical SD (XD?) card because the logo is present, and it's immediately apparent it has something to do with data (probably digital photography).

I liked the metallic version because it's reminiscent of a portable high tech device - something that I might take with me to the range to view lesson material.

Either way - thumbs up!

[JetFan1983]

Poll's over, but I like the metal (left) icon. They're all pretty nice though.

[iacas]

I never voted, but my thoughts mirror the poll results, so there ya go.

Poll's over, but I like the metal (left) icon. They're all pretty nice though.

I closed it because we've moved on so far beyond the original icons (see the later posts) that the original poll really didn't matter anymore.

Either way - thumbs up!

Thanks. Feel free to change your votes or opinions based on the later icons.

[zeg]

I like 'em in general, but have to say that I find the SD card motif to be a bit out of place. While I understand the connection, I don't think it really adds to the icon in terms of telling a user something useful about what clicking on it will do. That symbol, to me, suggests that it's a mounted storage device or somehow directly related to it, rather than being an analysis application.

At large scale, I like "current" the best, but I can see that it doesn't scale down as well. I'd vote for the 'flat' option, or perhaps the sideways SD card since it's a bit less suggestive of being a storage device icon.

[iacas]

At large scale, I like "current" the best, but I can see that it doesn't scale down as well. I'd vote for the 'flat' option, or perhaps the sideways SD card since it's a bit less suggestive of being a storage device icon.

Sideways doesn't imply a mounted device, particularly when it's just the shape that's SD-like... Did you see the later variations and even the movie, or just the first post?

[zeg]

Sideways doesn't imply a mounted device, particularly when it's just the shape that's SD-like... Did you see the later variations and even the movie, or just the first post?

Yes, I saw the other images. Even sideways it still seems to suggest storage to me as much as it does anything else. When shrunk in the video, it seems that the outline shape is the most recognizable graphical element as it becomes tiny, which just seems odd to me given the somewhat tenuous connection between the application and SD cards (at least, as I understand the application). I would think more emphasis on video or golf in the surviving graphical detail would be more meaningful (though maybe it is an indicator of my age that I don't strongly associate SD cards with video).

Visually, all the logos do look great, and I don't think you're doing badly at all if you choose any of them. My feeling, though, is that the SD looks good/cool, but doesn't particularly help the user (by hinting strongly at what the application will do) and isn't all that unique as a branding element. My inclination would be to use as much of the logo space as possible to achieve these goals.

[Zeph]

Why does the icon have to hint strongly what application it is? If you already installed the program you know what the logo means. It's not like you're going have to look through hundreds of logos to spot out the right one all the time.

If you got the icon, you already installed the program and don't really need to advertise it more to the user. A lot of the icons used on programs don't tell you anything about what it does, and I don't see the problem with that really.

[iacas]

Yes, I saw the other images. Even sideways it still seems to suggest storage to me as much as it does anything else.

I don't think the majority of people will immediately see "SD Card." I think it looks like a funny shaped tablet at first glance. After all, SD cards don't have buttons or screens on them, and SD card icons aren't arranged horizontally like this (and square on) in Mac OS X. I also think that the Upright one looks much, much more like an SD card than the Sideways one.

I don't see "SD card" in that shot and I could probably argue that I'm most likely to since I know where it came from. I see the buttons, I see the two screens, and I see a black border.

I would think more emphasis on video or golf in the surviving graphical detail would be more meaningful (though maybe it is an indicator of my age that I don't strongly associate SD cards with video).

At the core, the application is a drawing tool, a management tool (it organizes your models, your students, your lessons, etc.), a searching and filtering tool, a video playback tool... a printing tool, an instructional tool. Believe me, we batted around ideas on those topics for awhile and the "Current" is where we ended up - "turning our software into a physical looking, real-life type machine that 'analyzed' golf swings."

If the grey icon didn't go all muddy at smaller sizes, we'd probably have stuck with it. Do you have a better suggestion (seriously - I'm not saying that in a rude way - I'm curious and if you do we'll go with it)? Again, same deal I made Holger...

My feeling, though, is that the SD looks good/cool, but doesn't particularly help the user (by hinting strongly at what the application will do) and isn't all that unique as a branding element. My inclination would be to use as much of the logo space as possible to achieve these goals.

I don't know that the icon needs to "hint strongly at what the application will do." Rarely will someone just see the Analyzr icon, without the name, and not have a clue what it does, and even if they do they'll see (perhaps) an SD card and golfers and little buttons that play back and rewind and whatnot. The grid behind the golfers helps to hint at some sort of analysis or measurement. Wouldn't you agree?

Why does the icon have to hint strongly what application it is? If you already installed the program you know what the logo means. It's not like you're going have to look through hundreds of logos to spot out the right one all the time.

That's true, yes, but it still helps of course to have a good icon. People like to see nice looking things on their computers, and an attractive, unique, or interesting icon will attract eyes in reviews, etc.

If you got the icon, you already installed the program and don't really need to advertise it more to the user. A lot of the icons used on programs don't tell you anything about what it does, and I don't see the problem with that really.

Heck, guys, Safari's icon is a compass.

Just for the heck of it, in my dock: Finder: (your desktop and your file/folder navigator): a two-tone blue smiley face. SpamSieve: (filters spam) a bunch of letters being compressed into one letter. Mail: (email) a postage stamp. BusyCal: (a calendar) a desk calendar. Adium: (chat client) a duck with the stock icon. Tweetie: (twitter client) a purple shaded area inside a grey frame. Safari: (web browser) a compass. Transmit: (an FTP application) a truck. BBEdit: (text editor) a styled "B" in a diamond shape with blue portions. Terminal: (shell) a black window with a grey frame and an > prompt iTunes: (music, app shopping, etc.) a circle with musical notes in it. Cyndicate: (rss reader) a black fedora with a press pass that's also the RSS symbol in it (small). MarsEdit: (blog editor) a space ship going around a red planet. Stickies: (notes) notes So of the 14, only six have "good" icons that tell you what they do, and iTunes is vague, Terminal relies on your knowledge of what a command prompt is to even get the point across at all, and some of them (calendar, mail, Stickies) have the most blatant, obvious icons in the world... Does a truck convey the idea of transferring files? Kinda... but files are bits. Shouldn't it have a globe to symbolize "the internet"? You don't physically move files, why have a picture of a truck? MarsEdit is a rocket ship and a planet. Safari helps you to "navigate" the Web but it's a compass. It looks more like a compass or a GPS app than a web browser. Adium's a duck, BBEdit is a "B"... I could argue that in an ideal world your icon almost SHOULDN'T convey one thing unless that's the only thing your app does because otherwise you're pigeon-holing yourself. Since Analyzr can be used to analyze ANY video - tennis players, QBs or pitchers or batters, etc. - we debated long and hard about even putting golfers on the icon (the software does include some golf-specific things like "view" and "which club was used in this swing" and whatnot). Anyway, I'm not sharing all of this to refute anyone or anything like that... just sharing my thought processes. It helps to put them down, even if they are thoughts I've already had. Something new might click, or I re-affirm things, or whatever. Thanks for everyone's thoughts. Keep 'em coming if you have 'em.