[Tango-artists] Icons for inclusion

[Andreas Nilsson]

Hi Nathan!
Do you have this one ready so I can take a peek at it somewhere?
- Andreas

Nathan Willis wrote:
> See, I think that's the important distinction -- the toolbox is from 
> the "tool" element of the construction metaphor, not the danger/safety 
> element.  Everybody at the construction site wears boots, too, but the 
> image of a boot doesn't communicate what you want.
>
> As far as the hammer itself goes, sure not everyone uses one all the 
> time, but then again I'm looking at the Edgy Applications menu right 
> now and the "graphics" category is represented by a paintbrush, the 
> "sound and video" category by a director's clapboard, and the office 
> category by a pen cup.  Does every artist carry a paintbrush?  Do 
> *any* of the "sound* apps incorporate anything analogous to the 
> director's clapboard?  Do we all have pen cups in out offices -- and 
> if so, are they what we do our office work with?  It's not necessary 
> that the tool used in a category icon be universally required for all 
> the tasks in that category -- and a good thing, too, since that would 
> be impossible.  What it does have to do is communicate and be visually 
> recognizable.  My point was that the hard hat does neither of those 
> things.
>
> I personally don't think that hammers or toolboxes intrinsically 
> relate to programming at all; we may have gotten used to seeing the 
> construction site metaphor associated with programming tools, but it's 
> only because of repetition.  I'd like to see some better metaphor 
> altogether; it's a task without a physical-world equivalent, but who 
> knows how much we could come up with if we actually pounded at it 
> intentionally.  But I do think that of the construction items we've 
> brought up thus far, at least (claw) hammers have a distinctive visual 
> outline, and that's an improvement.
>
> Nate
>
> On 3/10/07, *Rodney Dawes* <dobey at novell.com 
> <mailto:dobey at novell.com>> wrote:
>
>     Perhaps it could use some touch-ups, sure. But I think the
>     metaphor does
>     in fact make sense. It is a category icon, not an tool, process, or
>     product icon. All persons on a construction site, must wear hard hats.
>     They don't all have to carry or use hammers, nails, screwdrivers,
>     fishing wire, or many of the other things used in the construction
>     of a
>     building.
>
>     Perhaps a toolbox would be a somewhat better metaphor though.
>     Given that
>     it contains tools for building software.
>
>     -- dobey
>
>
>     On Fri, 2007-03-09 at 13:47 -0600, Nathan Willis wrote:
>     > As long as we're talking about coding metaphors, I have to give my
>     > thumbs-down to the yellow hard hat metaphor -- it, too, is entirely
>     > indistinct at small sizes, and even at larger sizes it lacks the
>     > "distinct shape" Rodney mentioned, as well as detail and
>     contrast.  Is
>     > it a lemon? A tennis ball?  A gumdrop?  And even if it is
>     recognized
>     > eventually as a hard hat, it doesn't communicate.  Hard hats are
>     > safety gear, not tools, not process, not product.  At the very
>     least,
>     > if you are going with the "construction work" metaphor, a hammer is
>     > more visually distinctive and more appropriate.
>     >
>     > Just wanted to get that off my chest.
>     >
>     > Nate
>
>