Icons
New Icons for PodFeeder
Just completed a new icon for a Windows Podcasting application called podFeeder.
I've been really fortunate this month with all the icons jobs that have come my way. I really like working on icons. Producing icons has been a welcome change of pace from my normal routine of web/template design.
Icons require creativity within a strict set of established norms. While that sounds confining, it's not. Plus, discovering the proper metaphor to convey what an application or buttons does is an interesting process, that requires a lot of imagination.
This weeks IpodderX icon was a good example of metaphor and design gelling into a cool icon. When that happens icons can be very fun to work on.
Whereabouts
So I was glad when Jeff Hokit of Recurring Dream asked me to rethink the icon for his Whereabouts application. His previous icon was cool, but didn't convey what the application did, which is best described as "iSync" for Vcards (contact info).
Whereabouts helps you share address cards on the Internet. Friends and colleagues can automatically keep up-to-date with changes to each other's address, email, and phone numbers.VCards already have an established icon in Mac OS X, so making making a Whereabout icon that conveyed the refreshing of Vcards was an almost automatic process. I like it when that happens.
A New Icon for iPodderX
This weekend I worked on a new icons for a pod-casting application called iPodderX.
Pod-casting utilizes the media capabilities of the now ubiquitous XML based RSS feed. Individuals can now create and distribute audio/video though their RSS feeds, and others can subscribe to it. IpodderX automatically downloads the content you subscribe to, and places it on your desktop or iPod for later consumption.
Download iPodderX here, and give pod-casting a try.
I'm told a version of iPodderX with my new icon will soon become available (I can't wait).
So that's where the orange XML icon came from.
Even though I made the little icon, I've since forgotten how it came to be. Thanks to Dave Winer's Weblog/time-machine the exact conversation has been preserved.
"People always ask where the white-on-orange XML icons came from. Well, here's the requirements doc, written on this day in 2000. Bryan Bell read the doc and designed the graphic." - Scripting News
In retrospect, if I knew it was going to be so popular I might have put a little more sex appeal into it, but at the time I was just doing a favor for a friend who asked for an orange block with XML written on it.
Sure thing I said, and 5 seconds later this (
) pops out. funny how things workout.
A few new icons for Meridian
Jeff Hokit commissioned me to make a few new icons for his application Meridian. Meridian is a World Clock, Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, and Timer for Mac OS X.
The more icons I do, the more I learn that details are important even at these super small sizes. In the past I would have designed 32x32 pixel icons at real size, but i've been getting much better results when I design at 4 or 8 times bigger than needed. Seems obvious now.
Another trick I've been employing is to sharpen the center parts of the icon, but leaving the edge unsharpened. It's easy to do in PhotoShop by slightly shrinking your selection mask, then feather its edge by 1 pixel. leaving the edges untouched by the sharpen filter reduces the jagged edge effect that makes the icon look unnatural.