New icon for Joplin!

I don’t really have strong opinions regarding the icon but for what it’s worth I prefer the current one to the new suggestions. It might be a good idea to tweak the current one to give it a more modern/minimalist touch.

Unlike someone else I could point a finger at

So whadda ya think of this one

It has the J and everything.

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It's almost like they ripped off our logo.

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Hi Laurent,

as you asked for feedback I would like to throw in my two cents.

There was a discussion about several icon proposals on github. Some are in my opinion beautiful and some are not. What I learned frome the feedback there were two things:

  • The app-name is a reference to the musician Scott Joplin.
  • There were very different ideas how an icon for a note-takong app could look like.

The first point is in my opinion a dead end. Joplin is already the name of the app and any additional reference to a musician could be missleading that this is not a note-taking app but an music-app.

So the very different approaches regarding the proposals:

  • In the first place I think all icons which reference to a note symbol (pencils or notes) are missing a very important point. This app is much more than just a note-taking app. It is also a Taskmanager, markdown editor, read it later service (webclipper), … in addition it is also crossplattform and open source.
  • As already pointed out, many apps also some competitors to joplin (simple note, standard note, notion, one note, typora …) are all focused on the first later. As J is not very common for app names I think it is very good for such an approach.
  • I love very simple app/icon styles so in my opinion (as a reference for the cross plattform character of the app) sticking to the letter j is important for the sake of readability on all plattforms.
  • Last point, because the different ideas also introduced different colors, I think the white/blue of the icon is already connected to joplin so why change this (as reference, the ikea icon change was so careful you almost don’t noticed it)

My suggestion would be stick with a simple letter, probably change the fond to something related to markdown, open source … and if you want to change the color too, maybe go for a more stronger blue and introduce it to all themes as the color in the menu-bar etc …

Thanks for your trying making the app better each day, and for asking for feedback. I’m so thankful for your app.

Michael

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Hi Laurent,

Did you consider the previous proposals when looking for a new logo?

As a designer in a previous life, I love these…


My favorite is the first one, and I think a modern and bold re-do of the “J”.

If I had to pick, I like D, F, G (in that order). But in general, these new logos are so nondescript at first glance that I feel like Joplin loses a bit of its identity. It looks like just a note taking app, when it’s so much more. It also looks like the logo was mindlessly pulled off of the Noun Project (the site where people can purchase icons), which doesn’t speak to the thoughtfulness that has gone into the development of the project.

Thanks for all the energy that you put into the project, and navigating discussions like this!

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Hello everybody! I also think the old logo looks more professional and the new ones not so attractive. But maybe it's too early to decide. Evolutivity will make the logo change progressively. Why not make a design contest for Joplin lovers?! :grinning:

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Thanks everyone for the votes and feedback. I didn't answer in detail to everything but your feedback is very much appreciated and taken into account. Without it I'll probably throw a dice to pick the icon :slight_smile:

Taking your feedback into account, in the next round I'll select the top 2 icons from here to narrow it down, and add 2 extra icons based on your suggestions. Hopefully we can get to a good result that way.

For now, I'll leave this thread open for a few more days in case there's more feedback or votes coming in.

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First of all, I’m already a fan of the old icon, it has a pretty good recognition value and kindf also makes up Joplins identity in some way. But on the other hand I rly like the idea of the new icon, its much more creative with the J being part of a note sheet and also looking like a music note referring to Scott Joplin. So many ideas fused into one icon ^_^ But i also found the old Joplin Icon to don´t rly be showing off, that Joplin is a document creation / note taking tool like Libre Office Writer / Ms Word and OneNote as it could also be a tool for programming with single J not telling much about the program function (I’m mostly using Joplin combined with Xournal++ as a better alternative to OneNote, writing all my exercises and summaries in Joplin and using its awesome synchronization feature with the great tree strcuture everything is sorted in. This way I always have everything I need for University qucikly accessible with me n_n). Whereas the new Icon clearly shows what kind of program Joplin is with the note sheet. My personal favourite is G, cus it has the most eye catching design and fulfills the idea of being a document creation / note taking pretty good with a clearly recognisable note sheet. For my taste the background could be a bit darker, the symbol in the middle is just perfect, but the background is too bright >_<
Finally, I want to thank u for creating with awesome editor, there’s no other tool so perfectly fitting to all my needs, I’m making everything for university only using Joplin. I found Joplin just in the right moment, prior using the Ms Office suite provided by my University I desperately had to find a alternative to OneNote, when the Ms Dreamshark program was going to be cut down x.x And i found Joplin, and it was even better than the whole Ms Office suite and also available for Linux, allowing me do get rid of Windows once and for all n_n

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I like any color variation of the mark we are seeing in C, E, F, G. This is strong a will reproduce in small sizes and a single color better than H and B. For some season, A reads more like something to do with a sled or sleigh to me. The harsh skewed angle in D seems distracting to me.

I would never use this to replace the J, as @dpoulton has shown, that doesn’t really work. Have the wordmark be all the same font and use the icon (logo?) before or after it.

Or maybe a “logo” can be a separate but integrated endeavor that you should consider at the same time. For many organizations, the icon references the logo but often the logo can not be used completely in the icon.

a little addition…
refereeing to stellaktran’s post I also have to say that I find there have already been quite more fitting designs for new Joplin Icons in the past. I especially prefer the following ones:

  • it has a rly great recognition value. It has many simimliarties with the old logo. One could say it’s a improved, more creative version of the old logo, by still letting Joplin keep its identity and recognition value
  • I unfortunately have to say that I would prefer this one over all the other icon designs >_<
  • it does rly show off the character of Joplin being a document creation / note taking app very well with the lines
  • it’s not perfect but it has a good basic idea and with some little improvements it could be quite eye catching and a pretty good choice. Maybe the the colored and white areas should be inverted and one could give it a a frame, like Icons A, C, D, E, F, G, H have

and like zblesk remarked, the new icons don’t have quite such a nice shape, they do rly remind me a little bit too much to a toilet roll and they’re not so well recognizable imo, making Joplin loose a lot of it’s identity, because note paper is not such a unique choice for a document creation / note taking app. One could probably try to stretch the J formed paper a little bit up to make the curl at the end of the J look less big and to make it look less like a toilet roll >_<
But howsoever, i do rly appreciate to not always look at the same icon all time and the icons above rly aren’t bad, they’re quite fitting and are pretty creative n_n

Cheers

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From a design perspective I find this the most sophisticated one (please note that the one at the top left is just the explanation of the idea behind the icon, so the icon would look like the one at the bottom right).

When you look at many brand icons, like the Toyota logo, they have hidden meanings and some use negative space to convey something. see

It is simple, still recognizable, and smart. The designer put a lot of thought in it. It expresses what this project is about: Innovation, functionality, and to the point. (see what I did there? point as in the point in the logo?)

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That text made me even more aware of how genius this icon design is xD
The metaphor with the point is not even so far-fetched, it's rly quite fiting, the point gives the whole icon a nice roundup.

But my additional interpretive approach might be a little bit far fetched: the white J could also be interpreted as a smile, resembling the very satisfied and happy user base of Joplin n_n

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My favourite is icon D, but like many, I like the current icon as it is. Distinctive and easy to read in a wide range of conditions.

As a variation, D in blue, with no extra colours?

These look decent actually - nice job!

It’s C for me. I like the regular circular shape of the lower half of the J/paper.
The lines representing writing on the paper make the paper look - well, more like paper!

A is a bit more abstract, and looks more like the letter.

These two are the boldest and the simplest. By far the best options in my opinion, and so much better than the current one.

As for all those people who say Joplin doesn’t need a new icon, I’m sorry, but as a designer who has won a number of awards - you’re just wrong.

Anon has lost the plot.

Colours are a completely separate discussion to the shape and form of the icon.

Go for the simple bold ones.

icon2
Icon B

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This one

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Personally, none of these new icons looks nice and look too generic. The current icon is actually brilliant. I am easily able to pick it out from a plethora of apps on my phone and it stands out on my desktop. One improvement I can suggest is perhaps increasing the resolution of the current icons as on android, the icon is sort of blurry. The colours make it stand out and again I don’t think they should be changed.

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xlXyFc2

I like the style with this one but my eye just follows the curve of the open-ended lower case "j" and I sort of see a clever combination of a "U" and a lower-case "j". Of course because I see that it doesn't mean anyone else does :slight_smile:

The only way I start to get a clearer picture of what could be two J's is to close off the end of the lower case "j".

This is not a suggestion but an example of what I am trying to explain in text... (a picture paints a thousand words etc.)

variant

AND, at the end of the day, it's still basically a "J" on a blue background, which is what I thought laurent wanted to move away from...

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Unfortunately the horizontal line breaks the premise of the capitalized J. Your example only makes it easier to see the negative space (the lowercase j).

The designer's notes (above) indicates that all the purple areas of the first illustration form the capital J, so the outlines are not that different.

Not that it matters, I was basically saying that without terminating the tail of lower case "j" my poor old eyes see a "U" and a "j" miraculously sharing the same negative space.