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I 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: a

I 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 ago
Rogue 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...
- _cenw 3y ago
  You may want to try to use any of their products with VoiceControl and then revise your UX statement...
isodev 3y ago
In all fairness, Thunderbird could have opted to use the windows/Linux logo for macOS and it would look amazing in the dock. The silly white background squircle trend was set by the chromium/electron apps and it’s the opposite of the Human Interface Guidelines which recommend a distinctive and rich app icon.
- moritz 3y ago
  Unfortunately, Cupertino endorsed the squircle and encourages to “embrace simplicity”, so indistinct icons are recommended in the HIG now “In macOS, app icons share a common set of visual attributes, including a rounded-rectangle shape, front-facing perspective, level position, and uniform drop shadow.“ [1] [1]: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/app-icons#Platform-considerations https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...
  - Y-bar 3y ago
    Apple's new HIG is an exercise in marketing overriding usability unfortunately. I find it exceedingly hard to distinguish the squared icons on my Mac nowadays, and I also think they look worse than the more free-form ones from before. At least it is still possible to use custom icons in Mac OS. But don't tell Apple!
- eyelidlessness 3y ago
  I hate to be generous to Electron apps, but this wasn’t a trend set by them. The squircle thing happened directly in lockstep with macOS setting the expectation. Really good icons, even for Electron apps (VSCode is a prominent example), became indistinguishable practically overnight when the macOS design language was announced.

cglong 3y ago

Rogue 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...

_cenw 3y ago
You may want to try to use any of their products with VoiceControl and then revise your UX statement...

isodev 3y ago

In all fairness, Thunderbird could have opted to use the windows/Linux logo for macOS and it would look amazing in the dock. The silly white background squircle trend was set by the chromium/electron apps and it’s the opposite of the Human Interface Guidelines which recommend a distinctive and rich app icon.

moritz 3y ago
Unfortunately, Cupertino endorsed the squircle and encourages to “embrace simplicity”, so indistinct icons are recommended in the HIG now “In macOS, app icons share a common set of visual attributes, including a rounded-rectangle shape, front-facing perspective, level position, and uniform drop shadow.“ [1] [1]: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/app-icons#Platform-considerations https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...
- Y-bar 3y ago
  Apple's new HIG is an exercise in marketing overriding usability unfortunately. I find it exceedingly hard to distinguish the squared icons on my Mac nowadays, and I also think they look worse than the more free-form ones from before. At least it is still possible to use custom icons in Mac OS. But don't tell Apple!
eyelidlessness 3y ago
I hate to be generous to Electron apps, but this wasn’t a trend set by them. The squircle thing happened directly in lockstep with macOS setting the expectation. Really good icons, even for Electron apps (VSCode is a prominent example), became indistinguishable practically overnight when the macOS design language was announced.