Added new app icon.

[snwh]

Just a commit to give Beru a new application icon with the new Ubuntu icon style. :)

[rschroll]

Thanks for doing this! Are you willing iterate a little bit with me? (If not, I won't be insulted; I appreciate that you're donating your time.)

I have two concerns with your design: one aesthetic and one more practical.

The feeling I want to associate with Beru is that of cuddling up in a comfy chair with a favorite novel. The icon needs to be warm and human and a little bit imperfect, I think. I like your design as a design, but it feels a bit too smooth and too clean. It's a bit more of a glossy magazine than a dog-eared novel. I was trying to do this by using a serif font in my design, but I missed dog-eared novel and got 70s branch library instead.

I don't have any specific suggestions for how to accomplish this. (After all, if I knew, I'd've done it myself.) And I recognize that you're trying to fit in a general style based on bold colors and clean gradients. But I feel like just something small to disrupt the symmetry may be enough.

The more practical concern is that I have another design project: I want to make covers more prominently displayed (#16), but this requires synthesizing covers for books that don't have them. My current plan is to use the icon in the middle of the cover, with the title above and the author below. (And if I can get it to work, a color scheme based on a hash of the title.) I don't think this icon will really work for that.

Now this isn't a hard requirement; if I fall in love with a design that doesn't work for the covers, I'll figure out something else. But I'd rather fall in love with a design that can do both. :)

If you'd like to consider another idea, Lucas Romero did this design. I like yours better, but maybe there's something there that inspires you.

I hope I've made some sort of sense here. I like the boldness and the simplicity, but it's just a bit too perfect. Let me know if you're going to keep working on this. And feel free to toss out ideas before putting work into them.

[snwh]

Oh sure, it's your application. Perhaps I'll fold a corner.

[rschroll]

Good to hear. The longer I think about this icon, the more I like it.
I've come up with two specific ideas you may try, if you think they'd help:

1) I don't like how the two horizontal gradients in the background join right on the same vertical line as the spine. (Actually, in the SVG file, these gradients are over both the book and the background.) I think this alignment is a bit factor in what's making me think that the icon is too perfect. As a test, I clipped these gradients to the book, and I like the result better. I won't say that those background gradients shouldn't be there, but maybe the seam should be offset from the spine, or not running vertically.

2) Perhaps you can add a little bit a texture to the pages of the book. I think it should be subtle, perhaps subliminal, but it might help humanize it a bit.

Of course, I don't know what I'm talking about, so feel free to ignore me.

[snwh]

1. The gradients are in place to create the fold illusion that is prevalent throughout the new icon style; clipping it to the book defeats the point.
2. Texture will be lost considering the size at which the icon will be seen at (on mobile devices).

[snwh]

No feedback on the updated icon?

[rschroll]

Sorry, Github didn't tell me there was an additional commit added.
I'll take a look later this evening.

[rschroll]

Thanks for the hard work, but I'm afraid that change isn't doing it for me. I like that the symmetry is broken, but it's still too precise and clean. A few ideas I've had:

• Adjust the angle of the fold, so that it's not precisely 45°. This would keep the edges of the fold from being exactly vertical and horizontal.
• Switch from a fold to more of a bend, with the edges of the sheet curved. It could bend slowly enough that we don't actually get to see the back of the page at all.
• Move the seam between the two top gradients to 45°, and shift it to just get the corner of the book. Then use the gradient to suggest a slight fold in the page. (If you can't visualize what I mean, I can send you a mock-up I made.)

FYI, I'm going to be busy the next few weeks, so I may not be able to reply in a timely manner.

[iBelieve]

@rschroll I've seen both your current icon and the icon @snwh made, and here are my thoughts:

Your current icon seems very out of place with the new Suru-themed icons. I know you're trying to get the comfy chair, dog-eared novel look, but that seems out of place as an app icon. I really, really like the icon @snwh did. It seems a perfect fit with the new icon theme, and looks good for a book reader app.

[fitojb]

I’m looking forward to see this icon merged as well ;)

[rschroll]

I've been playing around with another design: My thinking:

• It will echo the default book covers, to a degree.
• It moves the fold away from the center, decreasing the symmetry that was bothering me.
• It'll work without the background on the desktop.

The colors are preliminary, though I am digging the lilac. I'm not sure about the B; maybe it's better to have nothing on the cover but bulk up the spine and corners, for better visibility at small sizes. I'm open to all suggestions, and I can share the SVG if others want to tweak it.

And I still may go with Sam's. Feel free to tell me why that would be the smart decision.

[rschroll]

I've merged a new icon in. While it's a different design, this pull request was very helpful in demonstrating how to achieve the folded-paper effect. Thanks!