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songbirds new icon not so good, wheres the bird?
whats the go with the deal with the new songbird icon? Ive liked watching the icon change as the egg slowly cracks i was hoping that when version 1 hits a songbird would burst forth but instead Ive got a set of headphones. i dont get it.
I’m wanting to see the bird
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Good work guys. The feedback is much appreciated. The bird + headphone design is pretty sweet -- with or without note as it suggests the bird is singing along! \m/ \m/
A few things to remember:
1. Remember that design is not a job for a committee. It's an individual creative process that evolves with feedback, but creativity shuts down under committee rule. Ultimately, Pioneers of the Inevitable, the organization w/ more than 20 people working full-time on Songbird, has to make decisions with respect to a release. Everything you post is and will continue to be read, considered and often directly responded too -- as I'm doing here. :)
2. Songbird release dates are scheduled, meaning that there's not time between now and our 1.0 release to Windows, OS X and Linux assets from a new app icon design at this point. We shall revisit app icon in our next and each subsequent release.
3. Songbird is highly customizable with add-ons so by all means free to build an add-on for the app icon of your choice. Or use the tools per OS to change the icon. App icons as add-ons is fairly common ex. see Adium's app icon add-ons. And if there's a myriad of app icon add-ons, I'll see to it that there's an app icon add-on section in Songbird add-on site.
So, thanks again for the major helpful feedback. Please remember that we're doing the best we know how to serve you, others like you and probably some others unlike you to the best of our ability. We thrive on your passion, constructive and well-considered feedback.
Chirp!
Rob
The company says
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Hey all, I'm Rob Lord of Songbird.
I do appreciate the feedback. FYI, the new app icon design above comes from the great design shop of MetaLab Design. Expect to see more great work from them from Songbird!
First, our 2D B&W incomparable farting mascot bird, designed by the incredibly talented Jonathan Koshi, will continue to be Songbird's mascot on the Web site, wiki, bugzilla, etc. forever. We love the mascot bird as much as you do.
That said, our mascot bird isn't effective as an application icon. App icons (over-simplifying OS HIGs) are to be a blend of photo-realistic, vector-comic and colorful. Our mascot isn't any of those things and, moreover, we don't want our mascot to change!
FYI, here were some criteria for a new app icon:
Pragmatic Criteria
- Works on light/dark backgrounds
- Looks good at 16x16 to 512x512
- Directionally consistent w/ current Vista, OS X and Ubuntu icon best practices of warm palette and a blend of photo realism and vector
iconic visual design
Esthetic Criteria
- Character personifies the apps qualities e.g.:
--- Engaging, approachable -> cute, warm
--- Badass, innovative -> tussled head feathers, wing and chest feather texture (this one is a bit lacking IMHO, but subtlety is a
virtue)
--- Music-centric -> bird is singing a note
- Embraces our character-as-metaphor-of-app; appeals to inveterate hipsters, innovation champions and maybe even mainstream users
So, my sincerely apologies if this disrupts anyone's expectations. I ask you to give the new birdie a little time to grow on your heart. ;)
Thanks, Rob
I’m thankful.
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Inappropriate?
Check out this one: http://subnexo.deviantart.com/art/Son...
I like that one!
Mr. Lord -- I have been watching Songbird a long time, and you guys have done a great job!! I don't really like the new icon, but I understand why you did it.
Would you consider having a contest for a new icon? You mentioned an Adium-esque icon change coming up-- a contest might be a really good way to jumpstart the creation of lots of different icons for Songbird.
I’m excited for new icons
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Awesome idea for a project that respects its community so much. I certainly second this idea. -
Oops, you already posted that picture!
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Inappropriate?Question: if i want to "use the tools per OS to change the icon", how would I go about doing so (in XP)? I know how to change the shortcut icon, but I'm more concerned about the tiny goldfish and worm I see in the system tray and taskbar.
I’m curious
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Inappropriate?I don't like the new Icon
Try these:
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Ooh, I really like the second one!
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This reply was removed on 07/30/09.
see the change log -
Inappropriate?I really enjoyed the old songbird icon and I feel like the new one breaks with the them settings on the player and the general way the icon has been progressing until now. I miss the song change notifications with different birds popping up.
I’m confused
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Inappropriate?Thought I would post this just to show how fuzzy the Songbird ICOn is. This is on Windows VISTA.
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Inappropriate?@deomega it's because you are using a dock with a low-resolution picture
try this one : http://timeline.songbirdnest.com/clie...
I’m confident
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Inappropriate?I've followed Songbird since it first came out. The two things that really stand out in my mind are the music blog download/browse capability and the BIRD! And by the "bird" I mean the sassy, black, jigglypuff-looking bird. The "goldfish" (I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks this) doesn't even compare.The goldfish seems completely generic and I was like "Huh?" when I read here about the reasoning behind the change. All you have to do is think "Coke" and you know that a simple, flat brand/logo can be iconic and work just fine, and I personally think it would look great down in the taskbar.
Songbird to me was the anti-Apple. Apple has their white apple logo and their generally white design language, while, Songbird with its black bird was the antithesis to that.
It may not be a community decision, but sometimes you gotta admit when something's just better, and give the people what they want.
And I see a lot of people missing the REAL Songbird.
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I couldn't have said it any better myself!
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Inappropriate?I use a large monitor and usually have 20+ things in the tray at a time. The colors are similar to the vista folder icons and sometimes get lost in the crowd. An icon that has more contrast and more distinct shape and color would help.
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
The Songbird tray icon is not distinct enough.
I’m confused
CHAMP
CHAMP
