OpenMPT logo and icon redesign (was: Some custom MPT icons I made)

[ellobo]

I've never designed icons that small before but I'll brighten the colors for the smallest versions and hopefully that'll work out.

[manx]

As mentioned I want to keep the little water ripple effect working in the about screen, but that doesn't work if the graphics consist of mostly solid colours.

i personally do not think we should let suitability to that particular effect influence choices on the new logo design.
However, the about screen graphic is clearly the least important one of all required graphics, and thus could deviate somewhat from the pristine logo.

[manx]

Comparison of all icon suggestions so far, in 16x16 format (which will be basically the only format I will ever get to see them in, due to the way my systems are configured):

Sorry, I had totally missed exhales later suggestions. I'm sorry about that.
I have decided to crop the document-style icon suggestion and remove the sound wave that hangs over the document sheet. Otherwise it would be totally unrecognizable in 16x16.

Updated list of current suggestions:

[manx]

Also, for any further design suggestion, could anyone please, in addition to some overview huge image as posted in the past, include the properly cropped designs as intended to be used as individual files (in SVG and/or PNG format). Cutting out the icons for previewing comparison purposes was way too much work.

[manx]

Updated list of current suggestions:

As I had already hinted earlier, especially 16x16 icons (and probably other sizes up to 32x32, for high-dpi displays) probably do need dedicated special casing on the designers side.
All scaled done versions (which are all except Midori's) look unnecessarily blurry, in particular compared to the current website favicon.

[Rakib]

People are divisive, I prefer midori's. Simple colors and bold and has more legacy feeling than the other.

[ellobo]

It has more legacy feeling because it wasn't designed to be a redesign, but rather an update on the current design. Correct me if I'm wrong. The program is now about 20 years old, if you count the original ModPlug Tracker, and 2018 is right around the corner. By looking at the current design, you can tell it's from the late 90s or early 2000s. It was cool back then but I think it's time to move on, rather than to be conservative or nostalgic. A more modern look can attract new users, which has a ton of benefits for both the developers and the community. I believe that look is already here, it just needs some tweaks to be more effective. A waveform instead of the sine wave in the about screen and possibly a different tint of red, at least when it comes to the smaller sizes.

[Alice (Midori)]

I don't think icon desing plays that significant role in gaining pottential users, when a relatively niche software that usually caters to specific user groups like OpenMPT is concerned, also myself, I kinda have some positive bias towards the old icon design, and it's coming from someone who has been using MPT for less than 2 years, thus i can hardly put the blame on a years-long nostalgia
BTW, for what it's worth, if the final decision turns out to be favorable for the new design, it might be a good idea to keep the old icon set inside the executable for those who want to keep using it.

[Saga Musix]

I don't think icon desing plays that significant role in gaining pottential users, when a relatively niche software that usually caters to specific user groups like OpenMPT is concerned

Not necessarily, a "dated" look can easily give the impression that an application is not maintained properly, and thus steer away from it.

it might be a good idea to keep the old icon set inside the executable for those who want to keep using it.

People always say this but at the same time they will forget what the old design even looked like in about one week, so there is no point in doing that. There are a few hardcore users that are allergic against every single changed pixel, and those can just point any of their links to point to the old icon using an old executable or icon file from our code repository if they absolutely have to.

[Exhale]

manx, I saw what you did there and decided to go that small on my own since I know a few tricks:

I put the lot in the zip file and three examples are in my final attachment slots

[ellobo]

Sorry I've been away for a few weeks. Just got back to LA so I can get back to working on this. I did some color and size tweaks to the smallest icons. I tried to upload it but the display is way off so I'm going to email it to manx and Saga Musix. Hopefully they will be willing to post it for me.

[Saga Musix]

Thanks for the updates, I will respond in a few days (thesis deadline approaching ).

[ellobo]

Perfect. I'll try to work on the waveform for the about screen in the meantime.

[manx]

[ellobo]

Any thoughts? I think it looks fine right now. At theses small sizes, it almost looks identical to the current icon. I could make the red color even lighter but it would make it differ more from the icon at bigger sizes. I'll leave that choice up to you guys.