3 ms·

This is a beautiful icon, but I'm going to risk saying something unpopular here. This is less a design exercise than it is an application of current design tren

This is a beautiful icon, but I'm going to risk saying something unpopular here. This is less a design exercise than it is an application of current design trends. Linen textures, subtle gradients, noisy gradients, glowing text—even the controversial iTunes 10 glow—are all everywhere. And while they look cool, they do nothing to distinguish your brand from anyone else following the same trends.

spiralganglion 16y ago
Some people may prefer a "beautiful" icon to a clever icon. I sure don't. Unity3D is a great example. Their logo isn't especially pretty, but it's iconic and it fits the product perfectly. And, it doesn't seem especially trendy, or dated — I guess that means it's timeless. http://unity3d.com/ http://unity3d.com/
- tmgrhm 16y ago
  I don't understand how that icon isn't beautiful. It's pretty and it gives you a good idea what the product and company do.
  - spiralganglion 16y ago
    A logo can be beautiful (appealing) just because it is clever (well designed), but it won't necessarily be clever just because it is beautiful.
    - tel 16y ago
      But then, I still agree with tmgrhm in that Unity3D is both beautiful and clever.
tel 16y ago
Brushed Metal and Glow is the new Individualized Helvetica Nameplate on Stark White Paper (Just Like Everyone Else). It's hopelessly derivative and is rapidly having its meaning and impact sucked dry. It's also a pretty effective signal for (1) I hired a designer because (2) this is a high quality Mac/iOS application. I don't really have a problem with it and it kicks the pants off an icon that didn't get that kind of workup in terms of visceral Polish, but as others have noted, it pretty much tells no story of the app at all. I'm not even interested enough to click on their header and learn. That's fine though. Commodity design doesn't have to have an impact, and I prefer a world where commodity design is valuable and practiced over one where people just don't care.
- spiralganglion 16y ago
  I would prefer a world where people take risks attempting to forge their iconography with meaning at the expense of stylistic visual polish, to one where hollow aesthetics are seen as an alternative to ugliness.
  - tel 16y ago
    As would I, but the harsh reality seems to be that the demand is not direct enough to support that kind of effort. That intangible "passion" is not extrinsically motivated, and mass audience isn't willing to forgo convenience in the search of it.

spiralganglion 16y ago

Some people may prefer a "beautiful" icon to a clever icon. I sure don't. Unity3D is a great example. Their logo isn't especially pretty, but it's iconic and it fits the product perfectly. And, it doesn't seem especially trendy, or dated — I guess that means it's timeless. http://unity3d.com/ http://unity3d.com/

tmgrhm 16y ago
I don't understand how that icon isn't beautiful. It's pretty and it gives you a good idea what the product and company do.
- spiralganglion 16y ago
  A logo can be beautiful (appealing) just because it is clever (well designed), but it won't necessarily be clever just because it is beautiful.
  - tel 16y ago
    But then, I still agree with tmgrhm in that Unity3D is both beautiful and clever.

tel 16y ago

Brushed Metal and Glow is the new Individualized Helvetica Nameplate on Stark White Paper (Just Like Everyone Else). It's hopelessly derivative and is rapidly having its meaning and impact sucked dry. It's also a pretty effective signal for (1) I hired a designer because (2) this is a high quality Mac/iOS application. I don't really have a problem with it and it kicks the pants off an icon that didn't get that kind of workup in terms of visceral Polish, but as others have noted, it pretty much tells no story of the app at all. I'm not even interested enough to click on their header and learn. That's fine though. Commodity design doesn't have to have an impact, and I prefer a world where commodity design is valuable and practiced over one where people just don't care.

spiralganglion 16y ago
I would prefer a world where people take risks attempting to forge their iconography with meaning at the expense of stylistic visual polish, to one where hollow aesthetics are seen as an alternative to ugliness.
- tel 16y ago
  As would I, but the harsh reality seems to be that the demand is not direct enough to support that kind of effort. That intangible "passion" is not extrinsically motivated, and mass audience isn't willing to forgo convenience in the search of it.