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HDDigitizerMusic / lmms-alt-theme

Work-In-Progress Alternative Theme For LMMS
http://lmms.io/
GNU General Public License v2.0
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Update The Icons #16

Closed RebeccaDeField closed 8 years ago

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

Please see the discussion and updates bellow. Somehow I lost the original description for this issue :P

Umcaruje commented 8 years ago

I think he was talking about the controller icon (midi icon)

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@Umcaruje I see, thanks. :)

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

Tried something, but I'm the worst at drawing :(

step_btn_add < [add] click the invisible icon step_btn_remove < [remove] step_btn_duplicate < [dupl...whatever] This one for duplicate is a bad idea... Just wanted to share anyway

What about the first two?

Anyway how do I quickly test the theme? Will replacing data/themes/default work?

Umcaruje commented 8 years ago

@DeRobyJ The icons are invisible, since they are white...

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

Well you could have downloaded them :v

here they are onto black icons

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

Great ideas! I updated the icons based on your feedback and concepts. Does this make more sense?

stepicons

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

It does! But don't you think the plus and the minus should go to the block actually created/deleted, the one on the right?

Like them :)

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

Like so? stepicons

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

Yep :v:

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@IvanMaldonado I have made some tweaks to the gear icon. Does this look more gear, less flower? gear

Can you also give me some examples of what you would like the controller icon to look like? I based it off of the default icon, but I am very open to new ideas.

IvanMaldonado commented 8 years ago

Sorry, I was on a trip.

@RebeccaDeField Looks much more like a gear :+1:

I have to say I made a terrible mistake with the controller icon, I thought of it as a midi controller. I don't understand how the original icon resembles a control though, but this is something out of my concern.

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

No problem! I hope you enjoyed your trip :)

Looks much more like a gear

Good to hear. :D

Also no problem on the controller icon, there are many icons and I can see how it can get confusing.

I believe that it is supposed to look like the knob moving from one side to another. Here is one idea that I have been thinking about.

controller

Any other ideas/thoughts? @Umcaruje @tresf @DeRobyJ

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

Nice knob, but I believe LMMS has two different knobs of different sizes, doesn't it?

If I get any new idea, I'll open an issue :+1:

Umcaruje commented 8 years ago

Any other ideas/thoughts? @Umcaruje @tresf @DeRobyJ

Well, its ok as an icon, but I don't know how its gonna look compared to the other icons, because all of them are full-on white.

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@DeRobyJ For the knobs, I already have a different design in mind (will post in another thread here.) This is an earlier idea for the controller icon that I thought might work.

@Umcaruje Those were my thoughts exactly.

I'm not a producer so my question is: what comes to mind when you think of the controller and how can we use that metaphor to create an icon that makes sense to everyone?

tresf commented 8 years ago

I'm not a producer so my question is: what comes to mind when you think of the controller and how can we use that metaphor to create an icon that makes sense to everyone?

A robot. :smiling_imp:

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

I'm not a producer so my question is: what comes to mind when you think of the controller and how can we use that metaphor to create an icon that makes sense to everyone?

@DeRobyJ @budislav @LocoMatt @michaelgregorius @Umcaruje @IvanMaldonado @musikBear

Just want to check and see if anyone else has an opinion about this.

tresf commented 8 years ago

My feedback has already been posted. :+1:

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@tresf Whoops, didn't mean to mention you there again, sorry :P

budislav commented 8 years ago

knob

michaelgregorius commented 8 years ago

In lmms/#2528 it was decided to use an ADSR icon for the modulation tab. So for consistency it might make sense to use that icon here as well.

tresf commented 8 years ago

@michaelgregorius I think that was more visually around the envelope portion of things, not the LFO, etc.

michaelgregorius commented 8 years ago

@tresf Then the ADSR icon won't be a good fit for the plugins either because the LFO is on the same tab as the ADSR.

tresf commented 8 years ago

@tresf Then the ADSR icon won't be a good fit for the plugins either because the LFO is on the same tab as the ADSR.

Nor will we have the HPF/LPF, et. al. That doesn't make it bad at all IMO. We've lived with the obsure "ENV/LFO" for years and it suffers translation problems. To say ADSR "won't be good" I think is asking a bit much of a UI.

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

I did a bit of research into other LFO Controller icons and it seems to me that a sine wave might be a good solution.

Here is an example: sine

We could also always go with the knob as @budislav is saying. I'm not quite sure what @tresf has in mind with the robot, but this is what comes up when I do a search.

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

I haven't received any feedback on my previous idea yet, so I'm just going to go with a simple knob icon for now as Budislav suggested until/unless we can decide on something more specific. :)

@tresf @budislav @Umcaruje

claell commented 8 years ago

@RebeccaDeField I am not experienced at all with this, but I also agree that a wave might be better than a simple knob. You said that this icon is also used by other programs, so it looks good to me.

But as @michaelgregorius said it might be good to try to use a consistent icon. It seems that in #2528 a different icon is used for ENV/LFO, although I don't know, whether that is the same as a controller.

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@claell Thanks for the feedback! It is very helpful for me on when it comes to the aspects of producing that I know less about.

@tresf @budislav @michaelgregorius Would love to know if the wave makes sense to you as well?

tresf commented 8 years ago

Would love to know if the wave makes sense to you as well?

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

In my opinion a sine wave is a bad representation of a controller rack or controller icon in general. Per @budislav's feedback the fade-knob illustrate is more accurate to what the controller does. The sine wave is used throughout the software to represent noise and sound generation, I'd rather it not used for a controller rack too.

Had I were deciding, I still thing a robot-themed icon would get the point across, FWIW.

image

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@tresf Makes more sense now, thanks for the example. The robot icon actually seems to make the most sense so far. I can go ahead with this idea as long as I can get some confirmation from a couple of other people in the LMMS team that it works for them. :)

@michaelgregorius @claell

claell commented 8 years ago

@tresf So other programs don't use a wave icon for this? I don't really know, what a controller does, but a robot looks too geeky to me.

tresf commented 8 years ago

I don't really know, what a controller does

Perhaps you should before weighing in on this topic.

claell commented 8 years ago

https://lmms.io/wiki/index.php?title=Controller_Rack I read this now. Still I think a robot icon looks a bit too geeky and also fits more an automation option than a controller (at least how I understand a controller).

I understand the argumentation of @tresf that a wave is mostly used for a different purpose in the program. So it might be confusing. How do other programs handle this? Do they use this icon for both or do they have a different solution?

tresf commented 8 years ago

How do other programs handle this? Do they use this icon for both or do they have a different solution?

According to @RebeccaDeField's research, https://github.com/HDDigitizerMusic/lmms-alt-theme/issues/16#issuecomment-195207643

I think a robot icon looks a bit too geeky

You already said that. The goal with constructive criticism is to be constructive, e.g. construct. If you can't offer something to move forward, you should reconsider offering your opinion, or at least leave your opinion as a one-time read. i.e. We heard you and no one disagreed with you, so your opinion is already being weighed.

There a several problems with using a glyph to represent an action, but there are equally great risks with making a creative decision a democracy.

Some rather confusing glyph examples...

In this case, @RebeccaDeField is the final decision, so please direct your comments to her. I think the fading knob (https://github.com/HDDigitizerMusic/lmms-alt-theme/issues/16#issuecomment-190058577) was also well received, given @Umcaruje's contrast concerns...

claell commented 8 years ago

@tresf I meant whether they use the same icon for controller and

to represent noise and sound generation

or use a different approach.

I wrote that I still think so, because my previous opinion was not based on knowing what a Controller does.

This seems to be the current icon:

controller_rack_button_1 0 0

So probably a knob is a good decision.

tresf commented 8 years ago

So probably a knob is a good decision

Perhaps something that illustrates movement on the knob? (crude mock-up warning!)

image

claell commented 8 years ago

Yes that is a good idea. I could also think of a sine wave on the knob to illustrate that the knob is controlled by the wave, but I don't know, whether the wave is big enough to be visible then and whether it makes sense or is rather irritating to the user.

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

I mocked up a ton of ideas and here are the ones that I liked the best... controller

I'm leaning towards the second option. The two tone knob (icon 3-4) matches the rest of my icon-set because I have used some shaded flat elements in other icons, unlike the gradient that was in my previous knob icon.

Looking forward to your feedback.

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

Imho, having arrows in a window full of knobs will be confusing... I'd probably stick with the third, while the first is maybe too basic.

Lol at the sixth xD

Umcaruje commented 8 years ago

I like the 2nd and the 4th the best, but leaning towards the 2nd because of the contrast concerns. The 4th pic with a slightly higher opacity would be a winner for me.

DeRobyJ commented 8 years ago

I agree that the 4th would be better than the second if the dark part were not so dark!

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

@DeRobyJ @Umcaruje Updated per feedback: controller

RebeccaDeField commented 8 years ago

I think that the icon in the comment above is much clearer than my original design. I am going to use this for my theme.

Thank you for all of the ideas and feedback!