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I just don't get that here on hacker news, on an announcement of a new version of software that someone probably put a lot of work into, the main conversation i

I just don't get that here on hacker news, on an announcement of a new version of software that someone probably put a lot of work into, the main conversation is the icon change? I am sure most people here have the ability to change it to anything they want - but that is not even the point. I am a UI/UX guy and nothing erks me more than complaining about such a subjective non-important issue during product development. Great work on this release tumultco. If icon complaints are your only issue, you are doing well.

pavlov 15y ago
For a software product sold on an app store, the icon is probably the most significant individual piece of branding and marketing work there is. Hence I assume that nobody changes the icon just for kicks, and I was curious to know why they decided on this change. Isn't discussing a product's marketing strategy completely ordinary on HN? Why complain about it?
- lukeholder 15y ago
  Comparing the icon to an outhouse is not a discussion on marketing strategy - it is a slight at those that put a lot of thought into the new icon. The new icon is obviously of a much higher quality, and is a good representation of the apps purpose (markers, html5, design feel). I just thought HN would be a place to discuss things over and above personal taste.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - pavlov 15y ago
    "Obviously of a much higher quality" is also nothing more than an expression of your personal taste. My first reaction after installing the upgrade was "Darn, my Dock just got uglier" -- of course there's an element of resistance to change involved, but first impressions are important.
    - tumultco 15y ago
      I'd be curious if after some time you still hold that opinion, feel free to ping me in a couple weeks. The good thing is Mac OS has always been great about allowing icon changes by copying/pasting in the get info window. I probably spent too much time as a kid redoing all the system 7 app icons :).
tumultco 15y ago
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts. Discussion of the icon isn't unexpected given: - it is the first change users will notice - the style is quite distinct from the old icon; even large software changes like the redesigned animation interface aren't as visually different - software is a personal experience
cabacon 15y ago
Here's the thing, though - I clicked through, and started to watch the video about "25 features in 10 minutes". The icon change is listed as feature #1. I stopped watching around feature #3-4, because the product wasn't interesting to me. But as a rule, I think videos like this should be structured like the canonical newspaper article - put the biggest news up front. That way, at any point someone stops reading/watching, they have gotten the information that you thought was most important for them to get. In other words, if you don't want people to focus on the icon change, don't highlight it as feature #1 in your time-limited chance to educate people about the product.
- tumultco 15y ago
  That's a good point. I put it at number one because I knew it was the first thing that would be noticed anyways and would only take a couple seconds to show. While I believe it is an improvement I wanted call it out to help manage the change (as any change can represent friction). Probably the end would have been a more appropriate place. Many other places showing what has changed in 1.5 have the "top ten" feature list in more of a priority order in which I put the icon change in the last position. The video I made as more of a comprehensive guide to the changes for our existing users than a highlights video. Ordering in many cases was somewhat set by the features themselves; for example it is hard to show of smaller feature of the new animations timing functions without first discussing the more significant redesigned animation interface, etc.

pavlov 15y ago

For a software product sold on an app store, the icon is probably the most significant individual piece of branding and marketing work there is. Hence I assume that nobody changes the icon just for kicks, and I was curious to know why they decided on this change. Isn't discussing a product's marketing strategy completely ordinary on HN? Why complain about it?

lukeholder 15y ago
Comparing the icon to an outhouse is not a discussion on marketing strategy - it is a slight at those that put a lot of thought into the new icon. The new icon is obviously of a much higher quality, and is a good representation of the apps purpose (markers, html5, design feel). I just thought HN would be a place to discuss things over and above personal taste.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- pavlov 15y ago
  "Obviously of a much higher quality" is also nothing more than an expression of your personal taste. My first reaction after installing the upgrade was "Darn, my Dock just got uglier" -- of course there's an element of resistance to change involved, but first impressions are important.
  - tumultco 15y ago
    I'd be curious if after some time you still hold that opinion, feel free to ping me in a couple weeks. The good thing is Mac OS has always been great about allowing icon changes by copying/pasting in the get info window. I probably spent too much time as a kid redoing all the system 7 app icons :).

tumultco 15y ago

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts. Discussion of the icon isn't unexpected given: - it is the first change users will notice - the style is quite distinct from the old icon; even large software changes like the redesigned animation interface aren't as visually different - software is a personal experience

cabacon 15y ago

Here's the thing, though - I clicked through, and started to watch the video about "25 features in 10 minutes". The icon change is listed as feature #1. I stopped watching around feature #3-4, because the product wasn't interesting to me. But as a rule, I think videos like this should be structured like the canonical newspaper article - put the biggest news up front. That way, at any point someone stops reading/watching, they have gotten the information that you thought was most important for them to get. In other words, if you don't want people to focus on the icon change, don't highlight it as feature #1 in your time-limited chance to educate people about the product.

tumultco 15y ago
That's a good point. I put it at number one because I knew it was the first thing that would be noticed anyways and would only take a couple seconds to show. While I believe it is an improvement I wanted call it out to help manage the change (as any change can represent friction). Probably the end would have been a more appropriate place. Many other places showing what has changed in 1.5 have the "top ten" feature list in more of a priority order in which I put the icon change in the last position. The video I made as more of a comprehensive guide to the changes for our existing users than a highlights video. Ordering in many cases was somewhat set by the features themselves; for example it is hard to show of smaller feature of the new animations timing functions without first discussing the more significant redesigned animation interface, etc.