Which icon looks better?
Posted by Harold Chu | Filed under Library Books
Which navigation bar icon looks better?
One of them is done by a pro. Can you guess which one?
The 3D looking one is by Glyphish and I drew the one on the right. I’m going to use the 3D looking one unless everyone reckons the flat one looks better.
(edit: I uploaded new images. The right icon was coloured blue because it was selected and that was confusing people.)
July 27th, 2009 at 7:42 PM
colour is nice…
July 28th, 2009 at 11:27 AM
I actually like the one on the right better!
July 28th, 2009 at 11:59 AM
The 3D icon would go well in the menu bar of the desktop app. The one on the right seems to fit better with the other Touch icons.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:37 PM
I totally prefer the monochromatic icon for the menu bar. For me, any color up there has to mean something in its own right. I don’t want to have to visually process color for it’s own sake when an unobtrusive shape will do the trick.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:48 PM
Oops. I guess it wasn’t a fair comparison. The blue icon is blue because it is selected. It would be gray when unselected.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:18 AM
The one on the right (blue one) is nice BUT(!) it does not look like a book at all.
The other icon is a bit to “back to the 90s”…
Continue to work on the right one, but make it more angled så you may see that it’s a book.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:22 AM
I dig the one on the left. More like a book. Glad to see the website back online.
July 29th, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Left. Go with the standard UI, don’t get fancy and deviate. Simple, clean consistent and standard.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:52 AM
Harold,
I agree with the consensus that the 3D icon is the winner. You shouldn’t try to be all things… you’re the programmer. Let someone else create icons. :)
I’m excited about the touch-OS version of Library Books and want to restate my hope to be a beta tester when the time comes. If you recall, I wrote a review of the app for MacApper a while back (under a pen name) and have told lots and lots of people about the app. Putting a version in the App Store should be a big hit.
This doesn’t belong in this comment thread, but I’ll say it anyway: I read in another post that you’re considering a free version and a for-pay version, with the bonus for cash being multiple account support. I don’t think this makes sense since most iPods and iPhones are single-user devices. Instead, I would suggest offering calendar-integration as the feature you get by paying for the app. That way, the free version gives you the full experience but you get more convenience when you pay.
Just my two cents.
August 1st, 2009 at 7:39 PM
Hmm. The score is 4 all if I’ve counted correctly. I think I’ll stick with the 3D one for the moment.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:46 AM
I generally prefer the “flat” look, but the 3D one is more immediately recognizable as a book, so 3D wins.