share-like-connect icons

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Thursday, February 23, 2012 18:27:30 Sam S. wrote:
> A) ICON SHAPES
> 
> 1. "share"
...
> it means "actually upload something from this device, off to another
> device (e.g. friend's PC) or a web server (e.g. facebook)" (or did I
> misunderstand the purpose of this icon in Plasma Active?).

it can result in an upload ... but that's not always the case, and really it 
should not be something the person ought to think about (in the same sense 
that we don't want people to have to think about physical file directory 
layouts)

> Therefore I would suggest to experiment with an icon like this...
> http://thenounproject.com/noun/upload/#icon-No643
> ...except with the silhouette of faces/people (like the shape of the
> current icon) instead of the silhouette of a cloud.
> The upwards arrow explains very clearly what's going on, and cutting
> it away from the background shape (instead of overlaying it as a
> separate shape) reduces clutter and should hopefully make it work at
> small sizes.

the cloud icon actually works pretty well at small sizes (just tested this in 
an image viewer) ... but i'm not entirely sold on the up arrow equating to 
"share". to me it says "upload", which is indeed in line with where you 
thinking of taking this, but i'd like it to focus on the act of sharing rather 
than of moving bits around. the human rather than the machine, in other words.

<brain-storm-mode> ... sharing in this context could be viewed as: 

* gifting
* broadcasting
* spreading
* ... ?

> (Note that such an icon would work especially well if its width is
> allowed to be greater than its height, see "General Presentation"
> below.)

agreed.

> 2) "like"
> 
> A heart icon seems to be a good choice here.

yes, i like it too ...

> 3) "connect"
> 
> Here, I think both the current icon and the one suggested by Bugsbane
> are far too technical and focus too much on the letter of the word
> "connect", rather than its actual meaning in this context.
> 
> As far as I can see from screenshots/screencasts of Plasma Active,
> "connect" in this context has nothing to to do with "connecting two
> cables", it rather means connect as in "pinning a postcard to a
> pinboard".

bingo, we have a winner! :)

> So I would suggest experimenting with a stylized rendering of a pin, like...
> http://thenounproject.com/noun/pin/#icon-No1490
> ...except maybe add some perspective, and maybe even delineate a piece
> of paper that is being "pinned down", or several pieces of paper which
> are being "pinned together", or something similar.

honestly, this is my favourite suggestion for "connect" thus far. now to find a 
suitable graphic for it :) we could quite easily start with the one you linked 
to as i think it would go nicely with the heart.

> B) ICON STYLE / COLORS
> 
> I don't agree with the other commenters who say that using a dark grey
> style for the icons would mean introducing yet another new icon theme:

well, if you look at the panel as it currently exists it is quite evident that 
there are a number of non-harmonized styles. it's not a huge set of 
deviations, but just enough to make it look un-designed. i think you actually 
pick up on this as well:

> The style chosen by Bugsbane is already almost there, adding some
> slight top-down gradients should do the rest.

exactly :)

> Independently of how they're styled, each of the "buttons" should be
> quite a bit wider than the current icons are (maybe two times as
> wide), with the actual icon (of possibly non-square dimensions itself)
> in the middle, so accessing them quickly and often is made very easy.

this will require some graphical design to make the spacing difference between 
these icons and others not look odd (or worse: accidental). it could be 
possible to create a visual "zone" in the panel for these icons; 
implementation wise that is straight forward. making it look good and not 
distracting would be the trick.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
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