Submitted by Time is up for the Haiku Icon Contest submissions, and it is now everybody’s chance to make their voice heard. Please vote for the theme that is more usable, clean, recognizable and less tiring.
Haiku Icon Contest: Time’s up! Go Rate Them!
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSAlert.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
some pretty nice designs there, i like it
But honey looks the best. All the other look kinda KDE-ish.
But honey looks the best. All the other look kinda KDE-ish.
I think Honey is the least Be-ish. Also some of the smaller icons in that set are very unclear.
It’s telling so many people like Mc Clintock and zuMi, since they’re closest to the original iconset
(Stippi would be better, more modern however)
I, I like Ponkan for it’s clarity, although it’s smaller icons aren’t ideal.
> I think Honey is the least Be-ish.
There are the same isometric perspective and the same colors. I’ve used the original color palette grabbing the primary color for each icon but the style not is the 80s Pixel art (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art) because I think that Haiku can “compete” with others modern OS also with an elegant look & feel. Honey not is only icons but a proposal that see to the future for a new operating system.
> Also some of the smaller icons in that set are very unclear.
Yes there are problems with the small icons because the icons not are “filled” but the problem can be resolved.
I think you did an excellent job. Honey was the only icon set that instantly brought back wonderful memories of working in BeOS back in the day. I would absolutely love to see this set make it into the OS, and I gave it high ratings in all categories. This set was especially relevant in the last two categories in regards to being associated with BeOS but maintaining forward momentum. Please keep up the good work! You are a wonderful artist.
While all the icon sets are certainly worthy of praise for effort, I’d have to disagree about Honey. It’s too dark, too drab and has no visual punch. It’s nothing like the original look and feel of BeOS.
I’ll concede that it seems ‘dark’ compared to some of the other icon sets, but it really isn’t majorly so. I’m not saying anyone’s wrong here (hell, I might be, pink/green colour-blind), but Honey’s extensive use of shading is what in my humble opinion makes it such an attractive icon set. Everything is clearly defined with-out being distracting like all the aqua-crap that’s been spawned since about 2000. They sit on the desktop quietly, and comfortably. Very invitingly too. I also admit to particularly loving the idea of the Haiku feathers on the drive.
Sure, Haiku’s visual style could instead be more of a direct follow-on from the BeOS days, or it could be an evolution of it.
Just my thoughts though.
–
Out of interest, are the tea-cup-on-a-head yellow men allowed usage outside of Lego? (575)
All the honey icons look good on a white background but on a darker background (which I prefer) noteably app, person and trash are really too dark. The image icon is also unclear @ small size, in such that I can’t tell what is should represent.
I have to admit Honey looks a lot better in the context of the example desktop, compared to just the overview.
I like your icons very much but they are not easily distinguishable! A bit to dark, but otherwise very nice.
Hm, honey looks like the author wanted to give a nexstep look to the Be icons. They don’t look very modern anymore. Too many shades everywhere.
I like them too but they are unrecognizable @ 16×16
> they are unrecognizable @ 16×16
Except for Tango, the others icon sets are just scaled down version.
My favs are Honey and Mc Clintock.
‘Honey’ is definitely too dark, but it seem modern, clear and it have a BeOS legacy.
‘Mc Clintock’ is really gorgeous, maybe a little outdated and too much like the Be’s original ones.
So overall, i think the Honey set, brighter with cleansed version for 16×16 would be perfect.
Good work from all artist !
Edited 2006-09-04 11:17
i liked alba the most. but whatever
+1 … I like it the best too.
doh…
I guess tastes and colors…. If I wanted a KDE theme I’d probably find some better ones.
I hope they don’t go for dropline neu or tango. Both are very nice iconsets, but they are already widely used on linux desktops. Haiku should go for an iconset that is distinct.
My choice would be either zumi, cause it resembles the old beos icons, or garum, because I like the perspective and the reflections. Though reflections need some rework on garum, e.g. the trash can.
Mozilla could learn from these guys. Firefox b2 is having some severe usability issues http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2006/09/new_firefox_the…
good icons. Several excellent hybrid sets could be made.
Several work for me as is, Tango, stippi, and Miglas is fun.
All were nice. Especially Honey!
http://iconcontest.bug-nordic.org/visualizer/?set=honey&size=&res=1
Honey is definitely nice, although needs some work.
It’s a bad thing they didn’t let me vote for the set instead showing these off as some final artwork. It would be better to vote for the general idea or direction rather than give lower points due to great icons looking bad in smaller sizes, like Honey.
Edited 2006-09-03 21:46
I like the ones that take the BeOS heritage and bring it up to date.
575, Mc Clintock, Stippi and ZuMi all do that for me. Honey and Alba look nice but could be on a Linux desktop – they’re not distinctively Haiku enough.
I’m leaning towards 575 at the moment for the toned down outlines. Of the ones with the black outlines, I like Stippi the most, but I’ll vote when I make my mind up.
Ugh 575 should change at least the people icon, bleh
+1 for 575. It’s very uniform, combines professionalism with a touch of cuteness, and doesn’t distort the perspective like a lot of the others do. The BeOS inspiration is also quite visible.
Stippi is also quite nice.
Edited 2006-09-04 10:39
OT I know, but I have a spare machine with a Sempron +2200, and was wondering is Haiku or Beosmax the best one to go for ?
Haiku is still Alpha (their 1st release will be around October 2007).
BeOS Max is complete, and good chance it will work for you (also good to find & install Bone7a – new networking).
Create 2 partitions (2.5GB or bigger) & try them both out. Though, you’ll probably use BeOS Max more until Haiku gets closer to completion.
Once the OS is installed, you’ll want applications. Lots are available from:
http://www.bebits.com
thanks for the pointer
Then Stippi and finally zuMi.
What disqualifies some are the lack of slanting of Be icons. Some are too cartoonish. Or bad colours. And what might works for Linux DEs, might not work for the Be desktop.
All in all, they’re beautiful.
Mc Clintock is my fav too, except for the bin, which looks a bit strange. To me it is the one that looks the most as a “modern beos”
CAn’t expect anything but Honey to win this thing =)
My problem with honey is that it wil probably look bad on any background that is not very dark, as the icon set is very dark itself..
I gotta go with McClintock and 575, they really feel Beos and also work quite well in 16×16 size. Garums was also a fun variation on the Beos isometric look. all in all, great efforts.
I like all of them except for Miqlas.Just dont look professional to me.
I don’t think Miqlas is a particularly serious entry as great as it is.
Personally I love Honey. I don’t love all the icons in the set, but I love the general direction. I think people need to remember that they’re not voting for these exact sets being in R1, but for the general artistic direction they express.
Stippi is my favorite.
Though, I also like, Tango, Zumi, Mc Clintock, Honey & Dropline Neu.
Quoted from Haiku site:
“while no single icon set is expected to be adopted in its entirety,”
It won’t matter who wins, because I believe they will go with one icon set and just change out a few icons that don’t look too good,
BUT I preferred they,
take icons that look best from all the different sets (ie: they look at all the folder icons, compare them, and decide which is best & select it, then do the same for hard disk icons, cdrom icons, etc). This I think is the best way to do it (users should have been able to vote for the best folder, hard disk, cdrom, …, icons on an individual basis). Then combine the individual icon winners to come up with the final Haiku set.
Edited 2006-09-04 04:05
“take icons that look best from all the different sets (ie: they look at all the folder icons, compare them, and decide which is best & select it, then do the same for hard disk icons, cdrom icons, etc). This I think is the best way to do it (users should have been able to vote for the best folder, hard disk, cdrom, …, icons on an individual basis). Then combine the individual icon winners to come up with the final Haiku set. ”
… which would result in a Frankenstein-ish icon set, because the icons wouldn’t fit together.
Exactly, styles wouldn’t match at all.
Completely agree… sorry to the creator but I couldn’t handle using thsoe for even a second.
IMHO, Honey is the best among those but I also like 575 (for that hint of a classic “pixelart” style).
I think zuMi best keeps in line with BeOS’s historical tradition of clean, simple, and crisp graphical design. My second choice would be Mc Clintock. The other choices just don’t feel natural enough for a BeOS-derived environment.
I love the bright colors on 575 and Kabuto personally (both made zuMi). Deborah also stands out nicely.
I expecially feel like Kabuto matches the Haiku colors moreso than some of the other sets.
The white shine on the near corners of the 575 icons is very nice, and definitely caught my attention.
While the Honey icons are neat, they just don’t do it for me. I just don’t like that style – too complex for my tastes.
If I were looking for nostalgia, I’d pick either Stippi or zuMi. But I don’t think that’s what I want from Haiku.
zuMi’s page has even more icons that didn’t make it into the contest (unfortunately) – and I suspect we’ll see lots more excellent options from him in the future as Haiku nears R1:
http://xoomer.alice.it/mushaspot/
Edited 2006-09-03 23:10
Alba is nice also – the flat look is actually somewhat appealing.
Anyhow – looks like PetterHJ’s page is OSAlert’d now.
Edited 2006-09-03 23:12
Mc Clintock definitely for me. Although the bin looks weird, I agree.
IMHO zuMI is the best icon set, modern yet faithful to the original BeOS design, and they scale better. Couldn’t make up my mind until i actually tried them in the Desktop Visualizer. Honey is to dark and to formal, Mc Clintock is cool but that cabinet icon for patitions doesn’t make much sense IMO. Stippi is to cartoonish. All in all, don’t forget to try the icons on the Desktop Visualizer, sacale them up and down before you make up your mind. Only then you’ll see the power of zuMI!
I agree very much with you altough those 3 come very close I think it’s really a matter of taste of a few icons which are weird, like you said.
McClintock is of course a perfect realization of the original graphics, plus it’s basically the only one that looks great at 16×16. It would make a good default.
I have to say I have some admiration for Ponkan because it keeps the traditional geometrical look of BeOS icons while bringing some new style. It looks bad in 16×16 though.
I don’t think Ponkan looks bad in 16×16…the only one that looks better in that size is Stippi…it seems to me that a great effort was put into Stippi @ 16×16, with a very good result.
Honey’s smallest icon’s look vague and hard to discern…
The default icons need to stay on the conservative side and match the rest of the desktop, and yet not get in the way of function yet still have a clear sense of aesthetics. (Icons need to match the classic yellowtab windows at least)
I think “Ponkan”, “Stippi”, “Mc Clintock” and “zuMi”(listed in no particular order of preference)
Do this very well.
While “Miqlas” is cute as a funky alternative set, really “Deborah” and “575” are more childish in a Tonka toyish like way.
While “Honey” and “Kabuto”)are very nice and progressive, They don’t match the rest of the Haiku desktop decor, for ‘punch’ as others have said.
As for “Dropline Neu” no.
And “Alba” and “Tango” no no no No!
A few set are bad but none say, “wow!”.
Zumi all the way!
Honey for me too; though I would replace the “Person” icon, it does not look as good as the rest.
Miqlas is interesting, too; I wonder how it would harmonize with my jEdit using the Napkin look & feel
But the others are nice too. Thumbs up!
How is a red smear supposed to represent a picture ?
I like Ponkan best, especially the Mondrian-esque picture icon, but not the blocky people icon.
On the classic beos look, I like Zumi (Sue me?) slightly over Stippi and Stippi over Mc Clintock.
I really like the package icon for Zumi that displays the file extension / file type on the flag.
I prefer Zumi’s folder over Stippi’s because I like the black lines. Stippi’s hard disk has better lights. I’ve often wanted to take a wrench (spanner to you Brits) to my monitor, but think it’s a little weird.
I like the “CD” text on the Mc Clintock cd icon, but not the yellowish paper in the folder and not the filing cabinet for the hard disk drive nor the soft shadow on the inside of the recycle bin. I prefer the crisp, hard-light look. It would be neat if the CD text changed for different media.
I like the Honey icon set, especially the hard disk icon, but why a translucent folder ? I also like the realistic looking trash bag, but do you actually use one in your recycle bin ? Where’s the dog ? The blocks are a bit dark. Lastly, I think the cd-rom’s hole is too big.
I really like 575 (3rd or 4th place in my book) I think the colors on the blocks and lego head are a bit over saturated, and the picture icon looks Windows-esque or a like a viagra tablet.
I love the green check mark. Green means go !
Miqlas, I like your individualism. Did you draw these with a stylus or a mouse? What did you do to the yellow block ? Why the small recycle bin? You went outside the lines (purple smear) in the cd-rom icon, otherwise I like the cd-rom icon. I like your text, picture, and people icon, but the archive icon is ugly.
Wait, how the heck do you know how a Viagra tablet looks like!? LOL!
I think the 575 people icon should be replaced with the maranza mime_user icon, or just be halfway in between in terms of saturation and color. The dark mouth and eyes look good.
It’s at http://xoomer.alice.it/mushaspot/maranza/mime_user.png
About that viarga, I have a tv, yeah, that’s the ticket.
Edited 2006-09-04 14:14
Hi mikesum32 ! : ) Oh I have a TV as well, but I don’t watch tellyvision
(only movies I rent)
and has the most subdued and elegant style.
Personally, I prefer subdued palette to bright palette. It is easier on the eyes after long hours of working at the computer. It also looks more professional.
Edited 2006-09-04 07:42
I love the updated Be look from Zumi and McClintock best. Can’t decide between the two. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.
While I think Honey is good, I also think it’s not quite there yet. Like said before, it’s too dark and not crispy enough. Maybe a bit too much gradients being used. This also results in bad 16×16 icons IMHO. No attack to the guy who made these because he obviously did a great job! I think it’s much harder to design flashy icons that work over a more traditional set.
McClintock got my highest rating.
I think all the icon sets have 1 big flaw! The 16×16 are not usable, because ppl just scale them down.
An icon is a simple representation of the real deal, that’s why I think honey is nice artwork, but not a nice icon set for haiku.
To be honest I think the icon contest was flawed to start with. I think they should have made stronger demands regarding the icons.
“To be honest I think the icon contest was flawed to start with. I think they should have made stronger demands regarding the icons.”
Exactly, the questions are overlapping more or less as well.
I think all the icon sets have 1 big flaw! The 16×16 are not usable, because ppl just scale them down.
Actually, that’s not true. I know for a fact that Stippi has created special versions for the 16×16 variation…
Honey has a professional look to it, but somehow that also makes it appear too dark and too detailed to be scalable. Have a look at the Tracker window in the virtual desktop view.
I like the simplicity of 575, but it doesn’t match the desktop well enough. The Lego head should be ditched for a more Be-like People icon, IMO.
Alba smells of KDE. What I realized about this icon set, though, is that it scales well. The flatness and simple design make it work on small sizes, while the gloss makes sure it doesn’t look too simple in 64×64. Disk and Folder are too bright/shiny, the pencil in Styled Edit could be bigger. Oh and the App icon is dull.
Some of the icons of Mc Clintock look like they are stretched vertically, like Folder and Screen. Also, I think of an archive rather than a disk when I see an icon that looks like a cabinet. I think zuMi comes the closest to the Be look, with Stippi being a bit more cartoonish.
I think Kabuto looks interesting, although a bit bright. Also, I would like App and Person to resemble the Be icons a bit more.
The contest is about overall design, so a single icon shouldn’t take away a contributor’s chances. I’ll vote when I have made up my mind.
Edit: typo
Edited 2006-09-04 11:50
I generally like the BeOS derivates, but the ones that I think stand out are Kabuto and Garum. Kabuto for being somewhat BeOS-neo, serene and consistent. Garum for being beautiful and crazy. Garum may be visually challenging at 16×16, but it’s the one I’d like on my desktop, to wow people. I think Haiku could make positive impressions with Garum, if they also include a few less crazy icon themes. People like that kind of choice anyway.
With today’s and tomorrow’s screen sizes, maybe we won’t be using 16×16 all that much in the future. A little less clarity in the tiny icon mode isn’t the end of the world, IMO.
Edited 2006-09-04 12:47
I agree…Garum is pretty avant-garde and a great achievement.
Ponkan is also a great step into a refreshing direction and has a very attractive, vivid colour-scheme.
Ponkan all the way
Stippi second.
Garum is nice too, but I think it might be a bit confusing if everything has the same rectangular base-shape. Compare Haiku, Archive, Image, textfile at 16×16..
Edited 2006-09-04 14:41
“Garum is nice too, but I think it might be a bit confusing if everything has the same rectangular base-shape. Compare Haiku, Archive, Image, textfile at 16×16..”
Same here. Read also my post on the openbeos list.
Zumi? Honey? McClintock? Are you serious? I never load a Desktop with this icons… think a bit:
visit
http://iconcontest.bug-nordic.org/visualizer/
Load this icons: see? for a brand new OS, very bad!
Kabuto, Garum, and Stippi are the best choices, sorry..
Michael Vinícius de Oliveira
I went and voted and, interestingly enough, others like Honey and Tango just as much as I did. All the other sets look “too much the same”. Either too much like the current BeOS icons already (angle, look, etc.) or just subtle variations of each other. Who’s been copying whom… hard to tell with the majority of them.
And who unleashed the 3 yr. old to scribble those other two sets I saw! Gah… that they were even CONSIDERED, is a ribbon of shame to Haiku, Inc.
I went and voted and, interestingly enough, others like Honey and Tango just as much as I did.
I’m curious where you’re seeing the results of the voting already… I think they’re not published.
I suspect you’re seeing your own rating score (which is tied to your ip address)
All icons that were submitted and met the requirements were accepted…
Edited 2006-09-04 20:13
I was referring to people posting here at OSAlert, not the actual votes from Haiku’s website (or wherever).
Actually I like the Miglas ones, but they don’t seem to inegrate very well with the desktop / appearance
The 575 people icon sucks. I liked the rest, and honey as well. Yeah, the scribbled ones weren’t that great, but it’s “artsy”. I’m sure to someone, they are a picasso. I’m not one to judge, I just personally didn’t like them.
Easily the best. Simple and well-defined.