2.8 Outlined/Coloured Icon Adaptation

Yes, I’m thinking towards what I perceive as the ideal situation. One could flatten the set until then.

I’m not sure about others, but I prefer Antaioz colors and values on both light and dark themes.
Your’s seem to just mix into a bland grey where the colors are kinda worthless.

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My main point was to split up the set into a light and dark theme to decrease the workload while increasing consistency. I turned the saturation down in response to a remark by @Antaioz about the need for subtlety.

The best way to compare icons is in their natural environment, preferably on different screens by multiple people. What you experience as a bland grey now might be less distracting during use.

@Evandro_Costa Apart from the colors and a general verdict, are there other specifics you do like better about the last icons I presented?

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What do you think/plan about active/highlighted state of an icon?
mono->color or pastel/fade color -> vivid color?

And/or maybe groups of the icons/a question how to select criteria for such grouping/ should have their main color base ?

The UI handles a lot of those situations independent of the icon set, for instance on the default theme, a blue button background indicates active, or an icon might be faded.

For the ones that exist within the sheet, unless someone points out an issue with one I’m following Jendrzych’s system, which is generally a 60% opacity, possibly an inversion.

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Your other question, are you referring to how to select colours for specific categories? e.g. orange for object stuff, blue for modifier?

The design guidelines state I’m not strictly categorising things because I’ll just get stuck forever trying to fit things into neat categories.

A peek for anyone interested, The record button is red(ish) now :slight_smile:
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Another update, no fancy in-blender shots this time, so here’s a transparent PNG.

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that’s too pink for my :eyes:

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Like i have said elsewhere if colored icons will come then they must not include eye burning tones like neon or strong blue or any bright color that just make eyes “bleed”

Antaioz mockups are quite nice this far :slight_smile:

Yeah, sometimes these things are a balancing act trying to make things not too dark, but show their colour.

I can’t get proper red without halving the value, which would make the icon grey for themeability purposes, so it’s gotta be light red - so, pink.

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How’s that? a bit redder.

I forgot to answer this, Inkscape. No clue if there’s anything better, but it seems more than adequate and it’s what the blender_icons_update script uses anyway.

I think the auto-key (record) icon should maybe not follow the guidelines on saturation/value.

The color on it does not serve the same function as the color on the Properties icons for example…
-Color to aid the undestanding of the icon: the red circle is a universal software concept of “active recording”, everybody understands already what it means.
-Distinguish between other colored icons: it is not among others icons

The function of it’s color, differently from the other colored icons, is to be noticeable even on the peripheral vision… the user must see/feel that something is not on “default” mode even when looking elsewhere on the program, so that he understands that the consequences of his actions will maybe act differently from what he would expect.
That’s why it has always been (I think) the most saturated icon on the interface.

The “snap” (magnet) icon is another that also had red (not anymore), and also has profound effects on how the program reacts to the user actions, and one of the main reason for confusion among users (“why is my object not moving, it is not locked” etc). It is another one that in my opinion should have a bright saturated red.

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That tracks, I’ll make the change.

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Another update, mostly outlines.



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Hi everyone, I just wanted to say that I just discovered this and it’s sooo phenomenal, thank’s for investing the time.

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Hi, I’m not sure if this is the appropiate thread to post this, or if it was worthy creating a new one, but I was designing these icons for myself (most of them are modified but you get the idea) as they could be implemented in the toolbar for easier discoverability or to better remember they exist or what options are available phrased in other way.
They’re not even consistent or well aligned but I think you can get the idea.

One of the possible uses I first had in mind for this icons was an addon, as the T-shelf doesn’t seem to move forward, also in case they want to return the old T-shelf but improved following this approach or something that follows whathever the guidelines for color coded icons will do could be implemented.

I think this style can bridge better the new and old design of the icons, and/or could be prefered by some people who want more color.

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Update!

Lost some motivation towards the end of december after Jendrzych updated the icon sheet, optimising number of polygons etc which baked strokes into fills among other things, basically nuking the sheet and making modifications 10x harder. Then got busy, but I found some time recently to finish this.

All icons except modifiers are done, barring tweaks.

some previews (see first post for the whole sheet):

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Is this something that is going to be added to the main branch, or is this something we’d have to install on our own? I really like the direction this is going and could really use colored icons instead of this default monochrome scheme.

This is something I did because I was sick of the mono icons, and I got an indication from Brecht, that the devs would want something like this, if they had it.

My hope is they use it. But William has been staunchly against something like this because he doesn’t like the style.

Unless the devs take it on board, you’d need a custom build which includes it, or to compile blender yourself, to use the icons.

I personally support the addition of some color. The properties panel is a pain to navigate monochrome and the change in organization, layout, and icons means I have no idea where anything is anymore.
Some feedback:
I find that the icons on a light background are visually much weaker.
Personally, the record button doesn’t need to be red. It has a distinctive shape and there isn’t much visual noise there.

You’ve done really good work here and I hope this is implemented.

A lot of the weaker icons on the light background is the theme fading the icons in a lot of the menus. Most buttons/icons are faded when the mouse isn’t hovered over them, which is a problem when walking a fine line of contrast. Ideally, I would say the theme (or at least the light theme) should use the background colour of the buttons/tabs alone to differentiate hover and active, at least for buttons with icons that need to remain readable.

You can see it here in the difference between the object mode menu and the pie menu, it seems as though the pulldown doesn’t fade the icons. And these are some of the boldest icons in the set.
Fade

So from the icon side, there isn’t much to be done about it, I can tweak the outlines to be larger but if I do that they start becoming overpowering in many of them.
Either way, there’s still adjustments that probably need to be made, but if the program fades the icons, there’s only so much I can do.

As for the record button, there was discussion on the record icon earlier. Basically it’s an important button that significantly affects how the program is functioning, and also a record button isn’t really a record button anymore once you take the red away. I tried lighter versions earlier, but it was just pink and didn’t work so well.

I do compile Blender by myself, so I’d gladly add these in once they’re ready.

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