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

[Midori Mizuno]

Felt like making some new icons for MPT, and thought I'd share them, along with the sources, maybe someone finds them useful.
For now the set contains icons of following sizes: 128px, 64px, 48px 32px (three versions) and 16px (two versions)
Edit: Added 48px, 32px and 16px 3D-style icons

[Saga Musix]

Nice, especially the first one.

[Midori Mizuno]

Thanks

[manx]

I actually like the MPT_*px.ico icons better than anything we are currently using (both as website favicon as well as mptrack.exe and module file icons).

I particular, I never liked the current mptrack.exe or module file icon. The film-like appearance gives the impression it had something to do with video, which is completely misleading.

[Midori Mizuno]

Yeah, the current icon might suggest it's a video editor rather than a tracker (I actually like it tho, because i got so used to it, lol). Module icons are pretty much spot on as they currently are, in contrast, with their tracker grid and C-5 note, they give away what the file contains at a glance imo (they might just need a style refactor, and that's it, but i don't feel like it's necessary)

BTW, random suggestion: If you're ever going to change the icon set to something new, be it mine or someone else's, i'd rather keep original ones inside the executable's resources just in case, because I can totally relate to people who got used to them, and want to set their shortcut icons manually to the old ones

[Saga Musix]

I think we could consider changing the icon(s) in 1.28. Especially at smaller sizes it's easier to recognize than the film strip. For that I'd like to use the variant with the black background (64px/128px), the lighter background doesn't look so nice IMHO. The file icon could definitely use a style update, so if you want to give it a try, be my guest. Nothing too drastic, but maybe having stronger colors like in the icons you showcased here. The original icon can be found at https://download.openmpt.org/resources/graphics/mpt_document.zip

[Harbinger]

I do like the 'm over the p' part of the logo, but the audio plug doesn't quite match. OTOH, I don't know what would be better. Perhaps a picture of an electrical plug, if we're focusing on the 'plug' part of Modplug. 

That being said, I do think it's time for an upgrade. Thanx to our devs, the new features and fixes have made the modplug experience better, and it promises to be even better with the upcoming 1.27. And this logo is an encellent push in the right direction for the modplug 'brand' (do we have a brand?)...

[Saga Musix]

Well, it's a faithful copy of the existing ModPlug logo, including the audio plug, and I think it matches quite well (both in the original and here). It might have to be edited at lower resolution to make the plug more obvious though.
An audio plug also delivers the message that this is an audio application much more directly than an electrical plug - which is a metaphor that I would like to reserve for other uses anyway, such as VST plugins or user scripts.

[manx]

https://bugs.openmpt.org/view.php?id=1028

[manx]

I have compiled a table of all current (and some older) OpenMPT icon and logo artwork.

When referring to specific current or older assets, please use the bold name on top of each asset.


I have not been able to determine proper authorship, creation date and license for all assets.


mpt-icons-svg-emf

uses	source	author	date	license
	zip(eps, svg)		2009-07-15

scalable

mpticons

uses	source	author	date	license
	zip(svg, png)	Saga Musix	2009-07-15

scalable logo

scalable mpticon 1	scalable mpticon 2	scalable mpticon 3

128x128 32bit mpticon 1	32x32 32bit mpticon 1	16x16 32bit mpticon 1	128x128 32bit mpticon 2	32x32 32bit mpticon 2	16x16 32bit mpticon 2	128x128 32bit mpticon 3	32x32 32bit mpticon 3	16x16 32bit mpticon 3

logo-less-bright

uses	source	author	date	license
	eps svg		2010-03-17

scalable

wallpaper1

uses	source	author	date	license
website logo wallpaper	png	Snu	2010-10-28

1600x1200 32bit	139x138 32bit with outline

favicon

uses	source	author	date	license
favicon	ico	Saga Musix

16x16 256 colors

splashno

uses	source	author	date	license
splash screen	png	Nofold	2004-09-10	BSD3

399x299 24bit

mptrack

uses	source	author	date	license
about dialog	png	Snu, Shableep	2004-02-24	BSD3

256x128 24bit

mpticon

uses	source	author	date	license
	ai	Nobuyuki	2009-06-18	BSD3

scalable

mptrack256

uses	source	author	date	license
forum logo bug tracker logo	png	Nobuyuki	2009-06-19, 2015-08-16	BSD3

256x256 32bit

mptgloss-32-8-4

uses	source	author	date	license
	zip(ico)	Nobuyuki	2009-06-19	BSD3

128x128 32bit	48x48 32bit	32x32 32bit	16x16 32bit	48x48 256 colors	32x32 256 colors	16x16 256 colors	32x32 16 colors

MPTRACK

uses	source	author	date	license
application icon	ico	Nobuyuki	2009-06-19, 2013-11-30	BSD3

256x256 32bit	48x48 32bit	32x32 32bit	24x24 32bit	16x16 32bit	32x32 16 colors

moddoc

uses	source	author	date	license
module window icon	ico	Nobuyuki	2009-06-19, 2013-11-30	BSD3

32x32 32bit	24x24 32bit	16x16 32bit	32x32 16 colors

mpt_document

uses	source	author	date	license
file association icon (original svg will not render properly without the required font for the pattern text)	zip(ai, svg)	Nobuyuki	2010-01-07	BSD3

scalable

mpt

uses	source	author	date	license
file association icon	ico	Nobuyuki, kuenzign	2010-01-07, 2015-10-25	BSD3

256x256 32bit	48x48 32bit	32x32 32bit	16x16 32bit	32x32 16 colors	16x16 16 colors

[manx]

I have changed the subject of the original post, as this thread is a good fit to discuss the whole redesign phase.
 

[manx]

Licensing of OpenMPT artwork has been unclear at best in the past. The current artwork used in OpenMPT itself is BSD3 licensed for the best I could tell.
However, BSD3 is probably not that good of a license choice for non-source-code/non-program data.

I suggest dual-licensing all future artwork under both BSD3 and CC-BY-4.0.

Please note that CC-SA (share alike) as well as CC-NC (non commercial) attributes are actually stronger requirements than what BSD3 demands, and I would thus strongly suggest against using these for OpenMPT artwork.

In any case: I Am No A Lawyer.

references:
CC BY 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
BSD3 license https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses#3-clause_license_.28.22BSD_License_2.0.22.2C_.22Revised_BSD_License.22.2C_.22New_BSD_License.22.2C_or_.22Modified_BSD_License.22.29

[Saga Musix]

In addition to Midori's suggestions, we also got a great offer from graphics designer Úlfur Kolka to rework the logo, splash screen and other graphical elements to unify them a bit more.

[manx]

we also got a great offer from graphics designer Úlfur Kolka to rework the logo, splash screen and other graphical elements to unify them a bit more.

We already had some discussion about this design privately, I am re-stating my comments here, for public reference. Further discussion should happen here in the public forum.

I like the general direction of that design.

However I would prefer (not require, though) if the "plug" aspect of the current logo could be maintained somehow. Where to put the plug could be changed though (like trying to use the lower part of the 'P').

[manx]

A general comment: We currently have many different icons used for different purposes: application icon, file association icon, website favicon. I do not think this is necessary or useful and would prefer to unify them and use a single icon design for all 3 use cases.