Reconsider new icon design 🎨

[quietrobot]

I think the apparent new icon loses the characteristic colors of the app and looks like a generic Android icon, with all due respect.

I think it would be good rethink the color palette and look for a design more in line with Fluent (gradients, curve radius...).

Design guidelines for Windows app icons

[huynhsontung]

I see the new icon got a mixed reception. Some people really like it and some hate it. The matter of fact is Screenbox is an open source project. We don't have the luxury to craft the best icon that checks all the boxes. The discussion on this has been open for almost a year without much traction. The reason we are moving forward with the new icon is because it is objectively better than the current one, in terms of readability, color contrast on light and dark themes, etc.

So unless there is an icon that can objectively demonstrate itself being the better choice, the new icon will be live in the next update.

[quietrobot]

I understand, the contrast drawback in some scenarios is true.
I didn't realize to look for a discussion about the icon, I'll look into it and maybe I can collaborate on some other ideas.

[United600]

You can count me among the "not impressed" crowd, particularly when it comes to the colors.

The reason we are moving forward with the new icon is because it is objectively better than the current one, in terms of readability, color contrast on light and dark themes, etc.

While I agree, I also believe that the fix was simple and without losing the current identity.

At the bare minimum, the padding for the smaller unplated sizes should be adjusted.

[United600]

I like the cube as a base but not that example, those gaps between panels just don't look good IMHO.

[Mitia99]

@United600 I deleted the previous one cause I also didn't like it that much and ended up with creating this other one.

• The two squares represent screens and a box

• I kept the original icon color as I think that black and red reflects better the "cinema" vibe of a media player.

• Rounded corners and play button in red gradient to match Windows 11 UI.

On taskbar

@huynhsontung @quietrobot Would like to have your thoughts

[huynhsontung]

@Mitia99 That icon definitely does not pass in terms of color contrast in both dark and light themes. It also doesn't follow the Fluent design "style" with color scheme and corner radius, which is why we have this issue in the first place.

[Mitia99]

@Mitia99 That icon definitely does not pass in terms of color contrast in both dark and light themes. It also doesn't follow the Fluent design "style" with color scheme and corner radius, which is why we have this issue in the first place.

How about the overall design though ? I mean, does it suit for Screenbox ?

I'm not a designer so rather than following guidelines, it was more of an inspiration.

Maybe someone will be able to fix it to match guidelines and colors.

[quietrobot]

Hello guys, I recovered some designs that I had shared on Discord and designed a new one.
I kept the original characteristic red color with gradient, I tried to capture the concept of "screen" "box" and I think they are more aligned with the Fluent language.

The same icon works for dark and light mode.

[United600]

Yeah, I've always preferred the "Option 2" design the most

[sayyid5416]

2nd one looks like 'yt studio'

[United600]

2nd one looks like 'yt studio'

🤔 I'm not familiar with it, but yeah, I can see the similarities. Now with a different palette...

[huynhsontung]

After some internal discussion with @United600, to not block app release, we have decided to move forward with a provisional icon that has less drastic change from the orignal icon. This interim icon is intended to make the transition to a new color scheme smoother. Once this icon is released, the color palette will be set, but there will still be room to change the icon's shape and finer details.

[sayyid5416]

@huynhsontung When you make this choice, inform me -> I'll use my icon with one of my apps (after making relevant changes), it's due for an update 😅

[huynhsontung]

@sayyid5416 Just to confirm, you want me to let you know when the final icon is decided? Please feel free to use the icon you designed however you would like. There is no need to wait for a decision to be made on this project.

[quietrobot]

2nd one looks like 'yt studio'

🤔 I'm not familiar with it, but yeah, I can see the similarities. Now with a different palette...

Here with a palette based on the blue that @huynhsontung shared.

[sayyid5416]

@sayyid5416 Just to confirm, you want me to let you know when the final icon is decided? Please feel free to use the icon you designed however you would like. There is no need to wait for a decision to be made on this project.

Thing is, I don't want to update my app with this icon and later find that its being used here (it's not like I don't like it here - I love it here on screenbox, I just don't want to do the extra work until this icon is either used here or is free)

[maisondasilva]

Could you give some support to this wonderful project on icons @jasoncuster and @spencer-nelson ?

[tsvietOK]

I don't want to offend anyone, but I prefer the previous original icon instead of the new one (with blue background). This new icon is similar to old icons with gradient:

[Neptune-mk2]

After some internal discussion with @United600, to not block app release, we have decided to move forward with a provisional icon that has less drastic change from the orignal icon. This interim icon is intended to make the transition to a new color scheme smoother. Once this icon is released, the color palette will be set, but there will still be room to change the icon's shape and finer details.

Would you reconsider your decision to use blue as the theme for the icon? too many apps use blue as their primary color

Why not keep the same red from the old icon but then have it fade into orange as a nod to VLC? Subtle gradients make for great fluent icons.

[huynhsontung]

@Neptune-mk2 We have an orange prototype for the new icon but it didn't look as nice as the blue version. The color contrast was a bit worse. I suppose there is a reason why so many icons are primarily blue.

Secondly, we don't want to associate too much with VLC identity. Screenbox is its own project and should have its own identity. Even though right now it only supports the VLC backend, it's possible that we will have the option to use other media backends in the future.

[Neptune-mk2]

@Neptune-mk2 We have an orange prototype for the new icon but it didn't look as nice as the blue version. The color contrast was a bit worse. I suppose there is a reason why so many icons are primarily blue.

Secondly, we don't want to associate too much with VLC identity. Screenbox is its own project and should have its own identity. Even though right now it only supports the VLC backend, it's possible that we will have the option to use other media backends in the future.

Avoiding the association with VLC is understandable, I was not aware of the plan to support other backends, my apologies.

I'm not sure if contrast or visibility is the same reason the other apps use that specific shade of blue, however it still unfortunately carries the problem of not being easily distinguishable by color since the app itself is not using a very distinguishable shape.

A rounded square with a play button inside while simple and descriptive of the apps use case can still be troublesome for users with eyesight problems or other disabilities since the color is similar to other apps.

Rough example of the issue, Screenbox on the left, Microsoft Movies & TV on the right :

Bellow is a sample sheet of some colors within the blue portion of the color spectrum, some may not be sufficiently different from the same "default blue" however they may be just sufficiently different to make a impact.

Example - Selected leftmost "teal" hue

Whatever icon you ultimately decide to go with, please do consider keeping accessibility in mind when working towards another icons, the previous red used by the app was very good, contrast just needed to be adjusted a tad bit, thank you.

[CaptechOmar]

Can't we just use this icon?
it's form icons8
I never thought I would miss the old icon but the new one is really not good

[quietrobot]

I can try other color palettes in the designs I shared if necessary, just tell me @huynhsontung .

@CaptechOmar that's an old Windows icon, It's another app identity, also, It only refers to the concept of "video".