Icons

I agree while the icon makes sense... for what the product does, it is ugly... and the menu bar icon is well... to me I kinda looks like a stapler.

I'm afraid I disagree.

I didn't like the old icon which didn't make sense and had awkward perspective which always slightly annoyed me. I therefore prefer the new one which makes sense conceptually and blends in better with the other icons.
Having said that, there may be further refinements that could improve it or another metaphor that might work better, but overall I'm pretty happy.

One issue with it though is that it doesn't sit centrally within it's space (too much space on the right compared and too little on the left) making it sit unevenly. You can see this better by clicking on the icon to highlight it.

I'm surprised myself that I feel so strongly about it, but I absolutely hate the new icon. I loved and grew irrationaly close to the old one, to the point that I immediately fetched my system backup and changed all the icons in the new version to the old ones. The old icons are simple, distinctive and there is something very gut-feeling right about them. The new icons are too complex, undistinctive and (sorry, but I did say I feel strongly about it) repulsive.

I love ExpanDrive, it has made my work immensly easier and more pleasurable, I have great respect for the work put into the application and the improvements with each update, but this change of icon is a huge blunder in my eyes. As stupid as it sounds, if I only found ExpanDrive now, the new icon would be a tough obstacle towards accepting it, the way I had embraced the application otherwise.

Have to say I agree. The new icon looks like a design-by-committee. The old one was almost as strong as the Panic icons. The new menu bar is especially bad, where the old was was striking and simple.

Count me in with the others. I think the new icons are pretty bad. I don't understand the need to take the name of ExpanDrive so literally with the new icons. If anything, none of us are "expanding" our drives...

While I think this issue is low priority, I would think the compromise is to use a less literal interpretation in the icons. As with many things design related, people's preferences will be all over the place, but the new icons make no sense in relation to what ExpanDrive does.

The same designer did the Changes icon which I like. That icon works well because Changes is a diff tool so it's representing the analysis of changes in a file. When you go for a literal interpretation of a program, especially based on the product name, it's not going to end well when you call the product ExpanDrive (I'm not knocking the name, just pointing out the difficulties in representing that in an icon form). Literal interpretations of product names that work is something like Panic's Candybar. Even though it's an icon tool, the name is fun/quirky and the icon represents that.

It's understandable that you wanted to change the icon from the magnet to differentiate from Panic's Unison, but given company name Magnetk I think most people could see why you used a magnet. That said, I would think it's very difficult to proclaim how awesome the new icons are when the menu bar icon, as mentioned by someone here, looks like a stapler or a book opening up. Because I don't have ExpanDrive in my dock and I only see it at a small scale through a vertical stack, it's not as bothersome (I still find the icon awful though).

I like the new icon slightly more than the old icon. The old one simply stood out too much. But as is evident by the comments here, the new one could definitely use some polishing.

One suggestion from me is to follow a common metaphor and to have the icon dimmed if there is no server currently connected.

Sorry, guys - really hate the new icon. At the least the one in the menu bar is really unbearable. Please at least fix that.

Hard to put my finger on it, why, but for some reason, that magnet thing in the earlier icon appealed more to me. If nothing else, on a subliminal kind of level; like a fridge magnet keeping a note with the password to the fridge door... err.

The new icon is a disaster. I just purchased ExpanDrive with the MacZot, but had tried it months ago. The old icon was simple and strong, new one looks like a croos between an aligator and a swiss arm knife. How do I get the old icons back ?

re: Nick

The application icon is located at: /Applications/ExpanDrive.app/Contents/Resources/ExpanDrive.icns

Just replace that one with anything you like. Maybe the old icon could be retrievable from the nice developers? I have deleted my older ExpanDrive .dmg's, so I don't have it.

On another note: one rarely get to see ExpanDrive's application icon, as it's usually just a menu bar citizen, and the menu bar mini-icon isn't much of a big deal. But I'm still inclined to agree in the lines of what you (Nick) said. The app icon needs attendance. The idea is great (!). A tickler file with a hard drive case; why not. That part definitely works _as an idea_. But the image is too generic and anonymous, and I don't think it will sell the product more than the old icon did. Ideas and visual end results are an odd couple who doesn't always mix that well.

This criticism is of course a little unwarranted, since the application is really neato. But the moral of the story is that buyer attraction is not just a matter of gaining more custmers, but also something for the current users to be concerned about, knowing whether or not their app will see a profitable future, meaning further maintenance and more improvements.

Now, hit me with a baseball bat, please.

My problem is not the application icon, it's busy, but intelligible.

My problem is the swiss arm knife / alligator in the menu bar. Thankfully doing as you suggested and going to ExpanDrive.app/Contents/Resources/ it looks like the old menu bar icons are also stored there so changing them is not a big deal.

Simple and clear is great. The best option in my view would be to offer a preference by which one can set the old icon, current icon or any new icon as the menubar (or even application) icon. It does not even have to be a gui selectable option, but a terminal one - as long as it is a persistent setting. My worst surprise was when the icon changed from one update to the other completely throwing me off, being used to and liking the old icon. And I still keep replacing new icon files with old ones with each update.