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The brand new Thunderbird logo
- id02009 3y agoI have high hopes for the Thunderbird resurrection. I was using it in the 2000s but then Gmail was just so convenient. I hope to make the switch back
- jacooper 3y agoCan't wait for the new Thunderbird!
- vsviridov 3y agoWhat's with the constant desire to rebrand things that work quite well? Also, is this a bird or a dolphin, not quite sure...
- b1n 3y agoBecause a successful rebrand (like this one) can onboard new users as well as keep existing ones. i.e. you are unlikely to stop using Thunderbird because of this redesign, but someone who doesn't use it now has an increased chance of starting.
- grt_thr 3y agoIt's been literally 5 hours. How could anyone possibly tell if this is successful or not?
- bigyikes 3y agoI’ve never seen a more positive response to a logo change. I honestly can’t think of any positive response to a logo change lately. The flattening of Google’s word mark a decade ago is the most recent that comes to mind. I’m sure there are others, but the point is they’re almost never this well-received, imo.
- graypegg 3y agoAre you arguing just against change? Like things should remain the same if there's no technical reason to change them? 2 decades is quite a long time for something visual to remain the same.
- kyleee 3y ago“2 decades is quite a long time for something visual to remain the same.” Which increases my chance of identifying the icon at a glance considerably, since most apps I use have either not existed for 20 years, or have had multiple logo changes in that time. All this change just means I am effectively icon blind in most computing situations, which is a real annoyance and hindrance to productivity
- Gigachad 3y agoYou are free to change the icon back locally if it’s really that much of a hit to your productivity.
- kyleee 3y agoI was speaking a bit more generally; this is an additional straw added to an overburdened camel, if you care for an analogy. That is something I could probably do in KDE, which I enjoy for it's configurability. Thank you for the kind suggestion
- account42 3y agoThis is not something that most users can reasonably do, especially for mobile.
- grt_thr 3y agoThe current logo was from 2018.
- account42 3y agoYes. Change for the sake of change is bad.
- jonas21 3y agoIn this case, the new Thunderbird logo is in a similar style to the Firefox logo, which makes it clearer that the two apps are from the same developer. This can help with user acquisition since Firefox has better brand recognition and a larger user base than Thunderbird. As an aside, when Thunderbird first launched, Firefox was called Firebird, so their names were similar as well. The browser was renamed to Firefox in 2004 to avoid confusion with the Firebird database.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- vlovich123 3y agoShould have renamed the client Thunderfox at the same time :)
- fsckboy 3y agoI liked when Firefox was forked as IceWeasel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_IceCat#Origins_of_the_name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_IceCat#Origins_of_the_name
- xp84 3y ago> from the same developer Oh, wow. I apparently missed that they were brought back under the Mozilla umbrella three years ago. Cool.
- dizhn 3y agoWe should then be expecting K9Mail's logo to change soon.
- grt_thr 3y ago[flagged]
- joegibbs 3y agoIt communicates to new users that this is a currently maintained project, that it has modern features that they expect, that it works on the latest operating system that they might have installed, etc. It's obviously important for a commercial project, but even for an open source non-profit it's important, because you want to have an active base of contributors and if you aren't getting new ones they'll slowly diminish over time.
- yawaramin 3y agoIt's weird that actual current maintenance, actual existence of modern features, and actual cross-platform portability doesn't communicate that, but a new logo does.
- scrollaway 3y agoIt’s not that weird.
- pmontra 3y agoPeople work that way. We have several ways to visually communicate that we are current with the general state of the world and we're not slipping away. Logos are one of them for corporations and projects in general.
- asutekku 3y agoBut these are not necessarily visible for the end-user and guess what, this is what an end-user notices, not if the service is using some of the new state-of-the-art encryption.
- account42 3y agoYour taking an argument commonly parroted by marketing designers who need to justify their jobs and assume that people actually work that way.
- KronisLV 3y ago> It's obviously important for a commercial project, but even for an open source non-profit it's important, because you want to have an active base of contributors and if you aren't getting new ones they'll slowly diminish over time. I feel like many here might disagree that this should be the case, even if realistically it kind of is for most people. To that end, I'm curious whether there are any projects out there that have decided that this is "silly" and instead are alive and doing well, without caring about UI and aesthetics that much, focusing on UX more instead. I think the logo and look of something like Audacity, Handbrake, ManicTime or KeePass comes to mind.
- sigmonsays 3y agowhat do people use a desktop e-mail client for.. ie thunderbird ? Going back to a desktop e-mail client seems like a step into the long past. Mine as start sending hand written messages and licking stamps..
- ranger207 3y agoMy email provider (me since I self-host) doesn't provide a web UI
- tashoecraft 3y agoAh yes, really living in the future loading up an entire browser, consuming all the ram, to type and read text.
- Gigachad 3y agoThe browser is already open, for most users, it’s the only thing open.
- charcircuit 3y agoYou do know Thunderbird uses the Gecko browser engine, right?
- rad_gruchalski 3y ago> what do people use a desktop e-mail client for.. ie thunderbird ? I use Apple Mail for reading mail because I have email accounts at a number of different providers and web UIs differ so easier to bring everything into one app. Also, sometimes it’s good to have email offline. > Mine as start sending hand written messages and licking stamps.. I do that too, sometimes.
- comfymatrix 3y agoHow is it worse than having to use up all my RAM in a few browser tabs with unresponsive PWAs such as Outlook for work? I much rather have Thunderbird or Evolution silently in the background popping up notifications when I get emails - not to mention it’s much easier to compartmentalise within a DE, i.e I know my email is workspace #4 instead of having to flash scroll through all my open tabs
- Berniek 3y agoWell it looks like Betterbird war is having an affect on Thunderbird itself. While not the same logo, it has a similar "feel" to the Betterbird logo. Now if Thunderbird will finally make it possible to NOT have threading as the default for new accounts or have an easy button to remove threading, rather than the cumbersome way they do it now, (listen to the endusers guys , not the sponsored contributors), we will all feel a little bit more love for the venerable Thunderbird. I do like the new logo though.
- technothrasher 3y ago> or have an easy button to remove threading I'm confused. Can't you just hit the "Display message threads" button to toggle threading on and off?
- Berniek 3y agoAnd when you add a new account you have to do that for all the folders individually. That doesn't apply to a folders sub folder either. There is a method to copy all settings to a folder and its sub folders but that does not include sub folders of the sub folder. So you end up for a while with some folders showing up as threaded and some not. And you have to do it for each account individually. (some of us have multiple accounts for businesses and personal emails) Nightmare when deleting, because you may delete a thread rather than an individual email. For most of us it means threading was foisted on us without notice or discussion. Ever tried to find out what is being considered? Good luck with that. Surely a global button to remove all threading can't be all that hard.
- jdsimcoe 3y agoThanks I hate it.
- tomtheelder 3y agoWow this is one of the best logo redesigns I’ve seen in a long time. Absolutely keeps the spirit and distinct identity of the old one, but looks a whole lot crisper and fresher. Huge props.
- kiawe_fire 3y agoFully agreed. I anxiously clicked, expecting to see an overly simple, flat, gradient filled shape with no character. But this is perhaps one of the few I’ve seen in a long time that manages to maintain a sense of character while also taking just enough from modern trends to feel fresh and like it belongs next to other current day apps.
- coffeebeqn 3y agoAnd ties in nicely to the Firefox logo universe
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoThe FCU
- fxtentacle 3y agoMCU, the Mozilla Cinematic Universe that other MCU is just a cheap rip-off trying to imitate moving app icons with CGI ;)
- eyelidlessness 3y agoI think it’s great too. It does an especially good job balancing its cleverness in a way that works well in each context it was designed for. Somewhat aside: as a long time Mac user, it bums me out how the current macOS/iOS design language distracts from the logo as an icon. The Windows variation is much better, and would’ve fit right in on a Mac just a few years ago.
- cglong 3y agoRogue Amoeba (whose UX work I greatly admire) agrees with your aside [1]: > Many of us inside Rogue Amoeba lament the recent "flattening" of app icons on the Mac, and the attendant loss of personality. [1]: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2022/09/09/the-design-of-audio-hijack-4/ https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2022/09/09/the-design-of-audi...
- RobotToaster 3y agoLooks a little corporate memphis.
- boosteri 3y agoNow it's just a fox looking like a bird. Not a fan
- junon 3y agoThat's literally the point, though.
- foobarbecue 3y agoSo they changed the envelope into a chat bubble... because envelopes are obsolete? Does this mean they intend to add chat features?
- Vinnl 3y agoIt already supports Matrix.
- Klonoar 3y agoHow do you even see a chat bubble in that? It's clearly a mail icon, the new Thunderbird icon is just taking a design cue from the modern Firefox logo.
- enw 3y agoThe silhouette of the white part with the envelope is in the shape of a chat bubble.
- phil-martin 3y agoThe shape that the mail icon/envelope sits in looks like a very cleverly designed chat bubble/single quote mark.
- eyelidlessness 3y agoI almost included in another comment that I was impressed they made this less subtle (so logo nerds aren’t the only ones who can see it) without ruining its subtlety. If you look at the space between the tail and beak you’ll probably see the rest.
- Klonoar 3y agoYes, sure, that wasn't lost on me - but that's not screaming "chat bubble". ;P
- eyelidlessness 3y agoI’m genuinely curious! What does the shape look like to you instead? I could see a highly stylized single quote character, which would be just as fitting.
- junon 3y agoI don't remember the last time a logo redesign actually came out beautiful and sensible. Well done!
- WWLink 3y agoNice logo. How much did it cost?
- kyleee 3y agoi wonder about that with big logo redesigns, I am guessing 300k here
- dathinab 3y agogood
- entropyie 3y agoNice!
- samwillis 3y agoReally lovely redesign. Designer John Hicks post about this: https://mastodon.social/@jonhicks/110424132785208582 https://mastodon.social/@jonhicks/110424132785208582 > It's inevitable that throughout my career, I've watched as work gets replaced and updated by others. It's rare to be asked to redesign old work, which is why I leapt at the chance when @thunderbird asked if I could design a contemporary update to the Thunderbird logo. The one I designed 19 years ago! More images here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lRkSA9YyHduCmDe2Fucv2DK2l9aRD7wj/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lRkSA9YyHduCmDe2Fucv2DK2l9a... Based on that file being "v7" I'm really hoping John does a post detailing the design process. I always love to see how these things evolve.
- timetraveller26 3y agoI liked the old one vibe more and the way it was carrying the envelope. This post makes some very good points about it https://mastodon.social/@KelvinShadewing/110424262996045829 https://mastodon.social/@KelvinShadewing/110424262996045829
- romwell 3y agoGood points? Whoever made that post reads too much into things that aren't even true: * Long, sharp beaks are characterestic of nectar feeders, e.g. hummingbird, not "lethal predators". * Hawk's beak is neither large nor particularly sharp; and while hawk is a deadly predator, and the new logo is hawk-like, I can't see the hawk as a bad thing; * Everything else is purely subjective, too. "Dead white eyes convey malice"? OK. Finally, re:"Message is mine, not yours"? Well, that's the entire point of an email client. It keeps the mail, it doesn't live on the server. If that comes through the logo, then it's a job well done. [1] https://www.dkfindout.com/us/animals-and-nature/birds/types-beak/ https://www.dkfindout.com/us/animals-and-nature/birds/types-...
- gruez 3y ago>* Everything else is purely subjective, too. "Dead white eyes convey malice"? OK. It's a well known trope https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProphetEyes https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProphetEyes
- doctor_eval 3y agoI hate Apple mail. Should I try Thunderbird? I loved Unibox because it grouped email by contact - this fit my workflow way better than grouping chronologically or by thread. It was not sorted by “from” but rather the main view was just contact names and clicking on the name would show a list of emails. It was so great. Much like other message apps. I only stopped using it - years after the developers stopped updating it - because I was worried about a future OS update breaking it. Does Thunderbird or any other mail client do this? My memory from a billion internet years ago is that the UI is similar to all other email clients, especially Apple mail.
- vlovich123 3y agoHow does that work with mailing lists?
- doctor_eval 3y agoIf an email comes from someone you don’t know it created a kind of virtual contact which bubbles up to the top of the contact list. If you click on the contact it shows a list of their emails. If you then click a button in the top email, that will give you a threaded email view which will show the whole mailing list activity chronologically. I don’t use mailing lists much so there were probably better ways of doing it. But I actually thought unibox’s threaded view was really great. That said, there are plenty of email clients that deal with mailing lists. What about one for me? :)
- sureglymop 3y agoThunderbird can do that and much more. It's very configurable and extensible, I highly recommend it.
- doctor_eval 3y agoOk. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m old enough to have used Netscape on Linux as my primary mail client. So going back to thunderbird after all these years… gives me mixed feelings. But I’ll take it for a spin and see.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Dwedit 3y agoWell it no longer looks like an Anime Girl with blue hair.
- sen_armstrong 3y agozomg teh DONATE TO MOZILLA!!1 ¹https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/152461 https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/152461
- amanzi 3y agoThis is a surprisingly good design. After seeing the headline on HN, I was convinced it was going to be terrible and lead to a ton of rants. But mostly positive comments so far.
- eyelidlessness 3y agoAfter seeing the logo itself I was expecting such rants, because it fits so well with the more recent Firefox rebranding which haven’t exactly been well received. I’m pleasantly surprised.
- abdullahkhalids 3y agoI just got a minor thunderbird update, but no new icons.
- brewdad 3y agoArticle says they are targeting the logo for version 115 over the summer.
- ravenstine 3y agoGotta say, looks really good! On brand and on-point. I was worried before clicking that this would be similar to the time the Firefox logo almost copied the Gitlab logo. Glad to see that's not the case!
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- ameminator 3y agoPersonally, while i like the new logo on its own, it seems too similar to the Firefox logo - enough to create some confusion. Further, since Mozilla has lowered its level of support over the years, I'm not sure it makes sense to commit more to the Mozilla brand, especially since Firefox itself has been steadily losing market share.
- rhaway84773 3y ago[flagged]
- rhaway84773 3y ago[flagged]
- bee_rider 3y agoIt is mostly positive though. I mean there’s an aspect of preference, so I wouldn’t expect perfect agreement. The overall consensus seems to be (correctly) positive.
- dontlaugh 3y agoI think it’s a good logo. But unlike most here, I prefer the old logo.
- guilhas 3y agoI think the issue people complaint is the excessive investment on image over substance But the new logo does look very good
- rdp36 3y agosuper nice work
- sneak 3y ago...because it was the logo that was holding Thunderbird back. More deckchair rearrangement from Mozilla, sadly.
- kej 3y agoIt's not like this is the only thing they're doing with Thunderbird, and it's not like the graphic designers would have been optimizing the SMTP code if they weren't busy with the logo.
- kibwen 3y agoThunderbird has been an independent project for years, Mozilla doesn't develop it. All that Mozilla does is hold the trademark, host the website, and possibly facilitate donations to the developers.
- input_sh 3y agoNo, it's back under Mozilla since 2020, now operating as its subsidiary. What you said was true in between mid 2017 and end of 2019[1]. [0] https://blog.thunderbird.net/2020/01/thunderbirds-new-home/ https://blog.thunderbird.net/2020/01/thunderbirds-new-home/ [1] https://blog.thunderbird.net/2017/05/thunderbirds-future-home/ https://blog.thunderbird.net/2017/05/thunderbirds-future-hom...
- kibwen 3y agoThis appears to reinforce what I wrote rather than refuting it. Mozilla graciously performed the legal legwork of forming an entity capable of collecting donations earmarked for the Thunderbird developers. However, as far as I can tell, this does not imply that any Mozilla developers actually work on Thunderbird (as part of their job at Mozilla, anyway), nor does it imply that Mozilla is setting the direction of the project.
- input_sh 3y agoIt's a subsidiary of Mozilla. They all work at Mozilla. It'd be like saying no Microsoft developers work on GitHub or LinkedIn. They all work for Microsoft. They're a distinct group within Mozilla/Microsoft, but they're not outside of it.
- kretaceous 3y agoI might just start using Thunderbird because of this. I'm only half joking.
- autoexec 3y agoIt's hard to get too excited about a logo change. It basically fluff and has zero impact on the functionality of the client, but I'll admit that I do like it over the old one and since I know they're also working on changes that matter as well, I really can't complain.
- gtirloni 3y ago> I really can't complain You just did :)
- ttoinou 3y agoPlease fix bugs, search and slowness. Pour time and money into that.
- wombatpm 3y agoGuess I should pay attention to urls more. I was all excited that this was a new logo for the Thunderbirds, as in Thunderbirds are Go! Again! With JMS hyping the B5 logo update just before announcing the new animated series, it makes one hopeful for other franchises
- bluedays 3y agoOh... it's just a movie? Well that's kinda disappointing.
- revolvingocelot 3y agoTo be honest, some strange underdeveloped artistic [0] part of me wants the logos to be oriented the same way, but I grudgingly admit that the current position of the thunderbird is probably best for the adaptive icon. I do kinda wish they hadn't included the eyes, which the firefox, of course, lacks. I should probably just be happy that the logo redesign doesn't look strictly worse, like they usually do. [0] possibly autistic, even
- bee_rider 3y agoIn both logos, it looks like the bird is protecting the mail, which was a nice touch to hang on to. It is also interesting that the basic shape is the same between the Thunderbird and Firefox, but it doesn’t really look like the fox is protecting the Earth orb thingy.
- contrarian1234 3y agoThey look way too similar in the green/black version. I could see having to look twice
- parrot987 3y agoSame with the Firefox Developer Edition logo. Damn near the same logo. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/
- TheRealPomax 3y agoGiven that the stable, dev, beta, and nightly logos used to basically just be palette swaps, they're supposed to be. PLus, "dev" firefox is literally the same version of Firefox as stable, but with a few about:config flags set differently by default. It's not even a different release version =)
- Infernal 3y agoI think GP means the new Thunderbird logo looks way too similar to the Firefox dev logo.
- arketyp 3y agoIt makes sense that the design converges with Firefox's, but the flame doesn't really translate the same way with Thunderbird. I never thought of the connotation with "firewall" before, though one could say that it's a bit unfortunate that the mail is set on fire. Firefox moved away from depicting a burning planet.
- stevage 3y agoIt's nice! Definitely better than the old one. Maybe a little bit too Firefox-y, but nice.
- boosteri 3y agoYeah, it looks like a Firebird now. It confuses the hell out of me
- TekMol 3y agoWhat? Why replace a friendly bird with a fierce, unfriendly one? I think the old logo was very good.
- qumpis 3y agoSame feeling. Doesn't look attractive at all - I wonder what others see in it?
- DoctorOW 3y agoTo me, it is good at being simultaneously distinct from and reminscent of Firefox. If I have both of these on my taskbar, I'll know they're related but never get them confused for one another. The old one didn't pair quite as well.
- vector_spaces 3y agoReal question from someone genuinely curious: why would one use Thunderbird, or any third-party email client? What benefits does this offer over using the UI provided by your email provider (assuming that you aren't self-hosting)? I assume there are benefits -- I guess one I can think of off the top of my head is that your email is accessible offline. Surely there are others though
- rf15 3y agoBecause you usually don't have a single email provider. Thunderbird allows you to have a unified interface for all mail accounts instead of having n+1 UIs and apps for each of your accounts. Having your mails accessible offline is more of a protocol question.
- testermelon 3y agoTwo benefits comes to my head instantly: - I can search all of my emails at once. - I don't need to worry that much about account management.
- pomian 3y agofirst and most important, is you can keep a copy of all your email, on your own computer both sent and recurved. You can store on a backup drive. Second you can use it as a collections centre for all your other emails, for example, your account at Microsoft, and or Google, and or Yahoo, etc. By having a copy on your own device you can delete old emails from the host that your provide. Saves room, and is less secure.
- stjohnswarts 3y agoAll my email in one place rather than flipping between tabs. I know I have a backup when the service fails.
- rationalist 3y agoThe service becomes a mailbox instead of a filing cabinet. Supposedly mail after sitting in your digital mailbox for so long, is available to law enforcement without a warrant.
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- smsm42 3y agoAs somebody who has been using TB for many years and still think it's the best mail client for my needs around, I... don't care? I mean, old logo was fine with me. New logo is OK too I guess. Neither is really on the top of my concerns. I'd rather have calendar integration working (still can't see stuff from my Google and Outlook calendars in TB). Or stuff like QuickFolders integrated.
- Zealotux 3y agoYou're not the target audience; at best, they should care about not upsetting you with a bad design, but rebranding is there to keep the product fresh-looking and attract new users.
- vntok 3y agoThis is a common misconception. Having basic features like "calendar integration" working "(still can't see stuff from my Google and Outlook calendars in TB)" is actually how you attract users and keep them using your product.
- smsm42 3y agoYes. If I had some other mail client as good as TB but with calendars working, I'd probably switch. But others are worse. So, for me it's definitely the features, I couldn't care less about logos and other fancy stuff.
- charles_f 3y agoIt's interesting to see the logo for android. Isn't the android version basically just k-9?
- mongrelion 3y agoThat is kind of correct. There hasn't been a Thunderbird Android client, really. Since last year [1], K-9 became under the umbrella of Thunderbird. But before it was a completely separare and independent project that had nothing to do with Thunderbird. [1] https://k9mail.app/2022/06/13/K-9-Mail-and-Thunderbird.html https://k9mail.app/2022/06/13/K-9-Mail-and-Thunderbird.html
- nirimda 3y agoI think they intend to make a bunch of improvements/changes to the K-9 UI, settle it back down again, and rebrand it Thunderbird. So today, yes, there's just k-9. But at some point we should begin to see Thunderbird branding.
- cozzyd 3y agoyeah my first reaction was, "hmm, should I switch from K-9 to Thunderbird on my phone?" followed by realizing that my K-9 will turn into Thunderbird. That'll be nice then, using the same e-mail clients and browsers on my phone and my computer...
- can16358p 3y agoI personally like it. Modern, reflecting current design trends, and refreshing. Congratulations on the team who worked on it!
- account42 3y ago> reflecting current design trend That's exactly why I hate it.
- hutattedonmyarm 3y agoLooks great, but I wish I could use the regular icon on macOS as well. Not a fan of the ensquirclification of macOS app icons
- bmacho 3y agoI liked this one, with the Ubuntu fonts: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/06/thunderbird-102-released-a-serious-upgrade-to-your-communication/ https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/06/thunderbird-102-release... (I like Ubuntu fonts, one of the few reasons I still use Ubuntu, despite it being more and more of a hassle)
- devsda 3y agoAre ubuntu fonts licensed in a way that prevents using them on other distributions?
- bmacho 3y agoNo. https://ubuntu.com/legal/font-licence https://ubuntu.com/legal/font-licence says that > This licence allows the licensed fonts to be used, studied, modified and redistributed freely. That is, you can use them on other distributions (or operating systems), and they can distribute them if they want (I believe for example Mint comes with Ubuntu fonts as default).
- TheChaplain 3y agoIt's not horrible, but I kind of prefer the style from BeOS or Gnome2...
- malodyets 3y agoI love the way the new logo shows the envelope as a speech / chat bubble (notice the tail formed by the wing). Subtle touches like these make a logo a lot more interesting for me.
- ilyt 3y agoIt's kinda funny that the more pixels our screens have the less detailed logos are
- Barrin92 3y agoeven though resolutions are better the most common platform these days, the smartphone, has a much smaller screen and that is why logos have tended to omit details.
- ilyt 3y agoCatering for smartphones making things worse yet again ;/ At least it's actually half decent design not... whatever the google though with their icons
- gtirloni 3y ago> Catering for smartphones making things worse yet again ;/ In all fairness, they're catering for the majority of users. Mobile has overaken desktop in web traffic.
- account42 3y agoThey're catering to the lowest common denominator and only that. Having more details would not make the mobile logo worse and it certainly would not negatively affect mobile users if the desktop logo had more details.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoVery cool, very Firefox
- Alifatisk 3y agoWhat a beautiful design!
- sepokroce 3y agoWhy does the bird look so angry? I think a more balanced approach to the positioning of the eye might look better. It looks much less angry in the Android Adaptive version.
- TwentyPosts 3y agoIt's okay? I think what bothers me the most about it is that the envelope is smaller, and not front and center anymore. I get that the idea was to make it look more like the Firefox logo, and it succeeds in that regard, but I liked that the envelope was the big, rectangular thing which dominated the logo. That's what my eyes are looking for and expect if I'm searching for 'the mail program' on my desktop or phone or anywhere.
- tpxl 3y agoThat's not an envelope, it's an arrow pointing down.
- KronisLV 3y ago> That's not an envelope, it's an arrow pointing down. Huh, I guess I can kind of see that? But at the same time, the shading also really makes it look like an envelope, which is more or less what you'd expect from a mail client. I rather like the bird part of the logo, but the envelope/arrow feels not as prominent or obvious as I'd expect. Still an okay logo, though.
- TwentyPosts 3y agoI think they were making a joke, namely that it looks like an arrow, even though it's presumably supposed to look like an envelope. The fact that we're talking about it shows that this is in fact a minor(?) design flaw. Ideally it should be obvious that it is an envelope, not an arrow, so that a user who's never seen the logo before immediately knows what it represents.
- KronisLV 3y ago> I think they were making a joke Haha yeah, though I could probably also imagine a down arrow logo, for mailbox folders or something. You're right that there's a bit missing for an actually distinctive letter shape, notably the rectangular edges. But those would clash with the circular shape.
- 2-718-281-828 3y agoI think it looks ~shit~ not to my liking. Why? Because the old one looked friendly and the new one looks fierce. This tendency is a disease with many objects nowadays. Cars especially. Everything and everybody wants to look angry and dangerous. And that's not a good thing.
- mongrelion 3y ago> Everything and everybody wants to look angry and dangerous. > I think it looks shit > And that's not a good thing.
- scoutt 3y agoAfter 10 maybe 15 years of "cute" logos and mascots, I welcome this change.
- JohnFen 3y agoI just don't really enjoy everything looking like it's about to attack me.
- Tepix 3y ago> I think it looks shit. Is there really no middle ground? It's either great or shit? Your comment sounds quite angry, is it the effect of the new logo influencing you? /s
- 2-718-281-828 3y agookay, okay, it's not shit. it's unbeautiful
- cubefox 3y agoYeah, I'm surprised most people here are so positive about it. Why would we want an angry logo? Also, the new logo is heavily inspired by the Firefox logo, with the flamey tail. Which doesn't make sense, as Thunderbird has nothing to do with fire.
- itvision 3y ago1. Why does it look aggressive/frowning? 2. It has become so generic it looks almost exactly the same as Firefox logo when the colors have been reduced to just one. Overall: unnecessary and detrimental redesign.
- nanowhiz 3y ago[dead]
- nanovision 3y ago[dead]
- nologic01 3y agoHonestly this is artistic genius at Escheresque level. The thunderbird outline (better reflecting the mozilla link) gets to shape with its body (suggesting hugging and protecting) both a mail envelope and a chat bubble! The economy of representation is just amazing. > carrying us forward into the next 20 years Thats the catch. The new logo sets sky-high expectations :-) Thunderbird is the natural client to the emerging fediverse. It can offer a consistent interface to help users organize locally and privately the torrent of information they exchange with others, whether that is email, rss or anything exchanged via activitypub servers (toots, events, book reviews etc). The era of "super-apps" is upon us [1]. Users prefer fewer and better apps that bundle related functions. The question is how the open source and privacy respecting universe will respond to the onslaught of walled-garden super apps. The browser/firefox is the obvious first super-app. It is powerful enough to be called an OS within an OS. It is invaluable to have a privacy-first window to the Web. But its true character is a sandboxed, stateless window. Users click and scroll and leave a behavioral footprint on somebody else's server. Which may be ok. Or not. Because you can overload the browser to create (among many others) webmail, but that is not an empowering, user-centric and privacy-first design. This is where thunderbird comes in. The personal agent/thunderbird super-app is the (largely under-developed) second opportunity for the open source universe. Its character is a stateful window to fediverse (or Web 3), helping to organize the world's subset of information in a way that is intimate to the user. Local information, local intelligence. Which brings to the natural (and unavoidable these days) conclusion: To realize the full potential of thunderbird as a personal agent it will be quite important to develop a versatile plugin ecosystem that can tap locally-run "AI" services. [1] https://www.theverge.com/22738395/social-media-super-app-facebook-wechat-shopping https://www.theverge.com/22738395/social-media-super-app-fac...
- wodenokoto 3y agoI like it. Gut feeling when a logo change is usually negative. Remember when Google updated their logo? Man that looked awful. But looking back, their old logo wasn't very good. The same for Instagram. The old logo might have had more character, but it is also so dated. I for one have swallowed my pride on those and admitted that, yes, the professional designer was right. They needed an update and the update was better.
- FredPret 3y agoThat bird looks so angry
- dizhn 3y agoIf you look at the old and new logos together: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/new-thunderbird-logo.jpg https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/new-t... The old one was bringing you the envelope whereas the new one is protective of it. The old bird had a neutral but confident expression. The new one looks angry and it looks like it's in free fall - no sure footing. I like to imagine it as a goalie who just saved a super fast shot and is now drifting backwards with the ball. It also looks like an infant, it might be because it is not depicted in flight and the way they chose to use the wing like a hand makes it look like underdeveloped wings. Plus the lack of confidence and or discontent communicated with the angry face. All said, I think visually it's quite nice. I don't mind an angry infant bird doing its best to hold onto my email.
- OnACoffeeBreak 3y agoThe new logo can also be seen as the bird opening a gaping maw about to devour the envelope.
- Sammi 3y agoOr protecting the envelope.
- silisili 3y agoYeah, it looks like a bird throwing up an envelope to me. Wish they'd just make it more apparent that the bottom beak is not a beak, because otherwise it's a slick logo...
- Slitted 3y agoThe bottom beak (which I now can’t unsee) is suggestive of being the bottom half because it matches the gradient of the top beak. Easy enough to fix, but the bottom beak and the gaping maw isn’t too obvious… unless it’s pointed out.
- cutemonster 3y agoWow you're right. The old logo can be seen as the bird holding the envelope with its wings, hence unable to flap, without dropping the envelope. But if the bird doesn't flap, it'll fall? It's caught between a rock and a hard place. Anyway I like both logos, beautiful
- hydroid7 3y agoI like it.
- hathym 3y agoI prefer the old one https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Mozilla_Thunderbird_logo.png https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Mozilla_Thunderbird_...
- benfrain 3y agoMy eye was drawn to the adaptive Android one first and couldn’t figure out why there was a clock in the middle. Took my brain a moment to realise it was supposed to be an envelope. Now I’ve seen the clock on that one, I can’t unsee it
- asymmetric 3y agoI had the exact same experience. It's hard to picture a circular envelope.
- Tao3300 3y agoIt's egg shaped, which keeps throwing me off.
- lucideer 3y agoLove it. My only critique is that the Android Adaptive version looks entirely different to the primary version. I think if they'd gone an outline route - like the Gmail/Photos/Settings icons on Android do - it would've retained more of the spirit of the primary version, rather than the inversion which seems to literally invert the general "feel" of it.
- andersrs 3y agoAndroid really screwed up icons with 'adaptive icons'. I really liked it when icons had different shapes as they were more distinctive.
- tux2bsd 3y ago[dead]
- codethief 3y agoThis is the first time I'm hearing about adaptive icons. According to the docs[0] there is a related concept called "themed icons" [0] and there should be a system setting in Android 13 to enable/disable them but I can't find it? (Running the GrapheneOS version of Android 13.) [0]: https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/views/launch/icon_design_adaptive https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/views/launch/icon_d...
- gtirloni 3y agoThe launcher has to support the underlying API. On Samsung devices running One UI 4.x you still have to install an additional app for that: https://galaxystore.samsung.com/detail/com.samsung.android.themedesigner?langCd=en https://galaxystore.samsung.com/detail/com.samsung.android.t... I'm not sure what's available in GrapheneOS (quick search tells me it's not supported).
- codethief 3y agoAh, so the system setting is hidden if the launcher doesn't support it. Makes sense, thanks!
- broodbucket 3y agoI adore adaptive icons, though it's somewhat moot when not all apps implement support. Looks great being able to set a colour theme of my choosing and have it apply to everything
- 3y ago
- prdct 3y ago[dead]
- yyyk 3y agoThe logo is nice. The bigger news is the expected iOS thunderbird version. Would it be new code or based on some existing iOS mail program (like the Android version)?
- pjio 3y agoI wonder if someone bothers to do a scientific study about how a more gentle or more aggressive icon affects the style and communication success of the mails written with thunderbird.
- causi 3y agoCan't say I'm a fan. The old logo was a bird carrying a letter, delivering it to you. The new one is a bird, but with a big furry tail, playing with a letter like a ball. It's just the Firefox logo but blue. You know just because Google turned all their app icons into the same thing you don't have to copy them, right?
- stewx 3y agoUnfortunate that the bird looks angry now.
- branon 3y agoLooks great! Evokes "Thunderfox" moreso than "Thunderbird" but that appears to be the point, and it works well. I especially like how the round envelope fold is contrasted with the background enough to be immediately recognizable as an envelope despite having a very non-envelope shape.
- slightwinder 3y agoLooks good. But personally it reminds me of an angry little baby-bird, because of the stance and the white pupilless eyes. Maybe I've seen just read too many fantasy-comics, where white eyes are a typical sign for an angry animal. And I guess at icon-size it doesn't matter anyway.
- sdfghswe 3y agoCompletely off topic. On that page we see the following conversation: > Jason Sneer > Using a white background and slapping the icon on top of that is just lazy… The adaptive icon exists for Android, which means that you can use a glyph on top of a colored background. Why go with the white background? > Jason Evangelho > Read the entire post? There is an Android Adaptive version. Does it annoy anyone else to see people who write statements and put a question mark in front? "Read the entire post" is not a question, and shouldn't have a question mark.
- racl101 3y agoPretty rad yo!
- audessuscest 3y agowhy not in the same direction than the firefox logo since it takes the same style ?
- crossroadsguy 3y agoIs it too crass to say that the old design is much better. Gentler and was actually self explanatory. I have often seen this. Products going through an identity crisis try to reinvent themselves and then fail miserably at it. So they end up doing things like logo change, font change, and more enterprising ones cite a new revolutionary made up design philosophy. I do hope I am wrong about Thunderbolts though.
- Ageodene 3y agoWell, I don't mind it but I don't exactly like it either. It looks too agressive.
- firexcy 3y agothey are apparently delivering emails in tarballs by default from now on
- WestCIDR 3y agoWhat is a Thunderbird? According to Wikipedia: "In Algonquian mythology, the thunderbird controls the upper world..." Its wings create thunder, while its eyes shoot lightning. What does this have to do with email, exactly? So here we have the color purple, an angry (vicious?) creature that looks like it is devouring your communications, and, as usual, a triangle in a circle. Nothing new under the sun.