FoldingText Logo
I’ve attached a possible logo for FoldingText and would love to know what everyone thinks? I’d like something simple and logo like (as opposed to icon like). Alternative ideas are maybe some sort of Origami crane. Anyway please let me know what you think. Thanks, Jesse.
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logo.png
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logo.png
2 Posted by Jean on 14 Jul, 2012 07:02 PM
Why not simply the extension TXT? So it could be a square.
Support Staff 3 Posted by Jesse Grosjean on 14 Jul, 2012 07:10 PM
Yes, that might work better. Originally 4 letters was a constraint, but it’s not anymore. Here’s a quick version of what that might look like.
4 Posted by Larry on 14 Jul, 2012 07:12 PM
I like that. Would something like this (a 15 minute rough!) be more in keeping with the rest of your apps?
Support Staff 5 Posted by Jesse Grosjean on 14 Jul, 2012 07:20 PM
It would, but I’m trying to brand this separately.
In many ways FoldingText is a redo of everything that I’ve done in the past 5-7 years, a new start of sorts and I want the logo to reflect that. Also while the symbolic circle logo wasn’t world changing when I fist did it, it was somewhat unique compared to app icons at the time. Now half the icons on my doc are circles, and a lot of write rooms competitors are even black circles. I want to stay with something that’s geometric, but want a change too.
6 Posted by Larry Hynes on 14 Jul, 2012 07:23 PM
Ah. Right-o!
Incidentally, and sorry to bring it up here, FT wouldn’t open when I downloaded and tried to launch it just now.
Here’s the error report:
*removed by jesse*
7 Posted by Richard Mavis on 14 Jul, 2012 07:39 PM
I'm a fan of the square TXT variation. The four-letter TEXT creates a symmetrical, sort of double chevron effect, but the three-letter variation makes the folding aspect more apparent.
Support Staff 8 Posted by Jesse Grosjean on 14 Jul, 2012 07:40 PM
Larry… RE the crash on startup. I’ve seen this problem before. So far I don’t have a good fix other then to update to 10.7.4:
http://support.foldingtext.com/discussions/bugs/43-crashes-on-start...
9 Posted by Jonathan Stoler on 14 Jul, 2012 07:52 PM
I like the 3 letter version, although it makes me wonder a little bit. None of the logos seem to convey what the app actually does.
Now, this is true of a lot of other app icons as well (see Photoshop, Firefox, BBEdit, etc.) but, if there is a way to convey that without losing the integrity of the icon, it would be better.
Looking at this FoldingText icon tells me what the app is called, but not what its function or purpose is. (Of course, current builds don't seem to really show what the app is capable of, either.)
10 Posted by Jean on 15 Jul, 2012 10:26 AM
In my opinion the three letters TXT version is a good choice because of a better international meaning. In french text is texte, in italian testo, in spanish texto, etc. but everybody knows the meaning of txt as an extension. Sure one can easily understand and translate TEXT but TXT is straight and obvious.
11 Posted by jon on 15 Jul, 2012 12:24 PM
Loving folding text so far... I'll be honest, I'm not liking the icon too much... If forced to choose I'd go with the TXT instead of TEXT -- but the whole concept of the icon doesn't feel up to the same standard as your other icons..
As an alternate concept I threw this together -- I know this look relatively terrible, and it's not a square graphic -- but the idea is there... basically a stack of folded paper (or just paper) with a piece of paper above it in the process of being folded with text printed on it and "FOLDING" behind it... or something... it was an idea that looked better in my head than I could make it...
Love all the apps, but REALLY excited about FT.
-J
Support Staff 12 Posted by Jesse Grosjean on 15 Jul, 2012 04:36 PM
Here’s a completely different direction. Thoughts?
Support Staff 13 Posted by Jesse Grosjean on 15 Jul, 2012 05:20 PM
Here’s a more dynamic take on the pixel keyboard direction
14 Posted by Jonathan Stoler on 15 Jul, 2012 06:29 PM
I think the old-school, OS 9, pixel style icon is decent, but it will turn off a lot of people.
For some, it's nostalgic. For others, it's low-fi art that has the appearance of not taking much effort. I prefer the folded TXT icon, personally.
15 Posted by Nicholas Lash on 15 Jul, 2012 10:22 PM
So far, I like the TXT icon.
16 Posted by supenguin on 15 Jul, 2012 11:59 PM
I really like the look of the logo2.png - the folded TXT. Any feelings on having the logo be a folded "FT" short for FoldingText?
17 Posted by Scott on 16 Jul, 2012 02:05 AM
I really like the "TXT" icon (logo2.png). With a little copy and paste, I've been using it with 0.8. It isn't like anything I've seen before but still looks great in the dock and app switcher next to more traditional OS X app icons. This has my vote!
18 Posted by mutahhir on 16 Jul, 2012 07:55 AM
Well, how does everyone think about this. I'm going to iterate over this one for a bit. I'm going to keep posting iterative updates here. Lets see where this goes.
19 Posted by Jean on 16 Jul, 2012 09:40 AM
The TXT logo2.png is my choice, aesthetic and meaningful: “fold + txt”.
20 Posted by Scott on 16 Jul, 2012 12:56 PM
The man typing is interesting, but "TXT" is still well ahead for me. The man typing seems like it is hard to understand what is going on at everything but the largest size. Plus, I already associate the typewriter concept with Mellel (and think of it as kind of dated).
In contrast, the TXT logo is unique, striking, and balanced at all sizes and captures the function of the app well.
21 Posted by Ian Beck on 16 Jul, 2012 02:55 PM
I'm not a huge fan of the folding "TEXT" or "TXT" logos, frankly. Feels too literal, is certainly not very memorable, and using "TXT" seems fairly restrictive. "Oh, this program edits .txt files. Boring." I sincerely hope that is not all FoldingText ends up doing, and "TXT/TASKPAPER" would really not fit very well on a fold. :-)
I quite like the idea of origami, though. Perhaps an origami creation with literal text all over it (folded out of blue lined paper or newsprint?). Of course at the size most people would be viewing the icon the text would be more of an Easter egg than anything else, but I like Easter eggs in icons.
I like the idea of the pixelated computer with "TXT" on it better since it captures the essence of the program a little better for me, but it would not look very good in my Dock at all, particularly not when next to the detailed icons for Safari, MarsEdit, Espresso, Mail, etc. I'm also guessing it would not scale down well at all (likely would just turn into a blob at small sizes). I prefer it without hands; those would really look weird in the Dock, I suspect.
Ian
22 Posted by Grey on 16 Jul, 2012 03:49 PM
The icon here is a bit too iOS-inspired and bland, the other is just a sketch of how it looks when a single strip of paper is folded into each letter of TXT.
If nothing else, it'll make the other choices look good, eh? :-)
23 Posted by Tho on 16 Jul, 2012 04:09 PM
I like the three-letter txt-version best, so far.
Support Staff 24 Posted by Jesse Grosjean on 16 Jul, 2012 05:00 PM
Thanks for everyone’s feedback.
I think at this point the TXT version is the only one that’s really usable in it’s current form. But it’s also not ideal. Right now I really like the concept behind the person typing, but the execution needs to be less road sign and more inspiration if it has a chance to work. I’ve written up my thoughts in full in a new post here:
http://support.foldingtext.com/discussions/problems/43-foldingtext-...
I’ll be sending that document off to some designers are seem to be more identity and illustration focused as opposed to app icon focused and see what comes of it. As always, if you have any thoughts on the direction that I’m setting out in that document please comment away!