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Designer and Photo app icon colours


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As someone with Deuterenopia, I really struggle to identify the difference between the icon colours for Designer and Photo.

It may not be a huge deal, but the icons have both a similar design and -- to me at least -- a similar colour. I always have to double check I'm clicking on the right icon. The same applies with the colours for the different forums for bug reporting and beta.

There are plenty of resources online about how to design for inclusivity. My suggestion: make the tone of the icons different (make one lighter or darker) and change the design so that they are less similar.

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I think the fastest solution is to create your own icons exactly to your needs and ideas, and to exchange them.

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

I think the fastest solution is to create your own icons exactly to your needs and ideas, and to exchange them.

 

 

@robinp is a Mac user, so the instructions provided below would apply:

 

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Thanks, I actually know how to change the icons. Lots of people don't though and wouldn't it just be the right thing to do to ship a product with icons that are designed to be inclusive. 1 in 12 men suffer from this. We aren't talking about a few hundred people. We are talking millions.

The suggestion is one for Serif to improve the apps and the poor use of colour as a differentiator on the forums.

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9 minutes ago, robinp said:

1 in 12 men suffer from this.

That’s interesting. I had read that deuteranomaly affects 5% or 6% (or between 1 in 20 and 1 in 17) of the male population, with only 1% of males having full-blown deuteranopia. Still a significant problem, either way!

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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19 minutes ago, Alfred said:

That’s interesting. I had read that deuteranomaly affects 5% or 6% (or between 1 in 20 and 1 in 17) of the male population, with only 1% of males having full-blown deuteranopia. Still a significant problem, either way!

Sorry, I believe it is about 1 in 12 that suffer from colour sight deficiency of some kind. Should have been clearer

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  • 7 months later...

Well, given the lack of interest from Serif about this and, it seems, unlikely that it will change any time soon, I've modified the icon colour manually. I think it is much more clear, much more accessible. Slightly concerned about copyright otherwise I'd share it here. Maybe if someone from Serif can give me the go ahead, I'll share what I've done? I can even include the ICNS file for macOS.

 @MEB

 

 

 

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The icons are also different from a form perspective, which is supposed to also be of help in the case of colour blindness. I agree though that in that area Serif could also do a better job. 

Affinity Photo - Affinity Designer - Affinity Publisher | macOS Sonoma (14.2) on 16GB MBP14 2021 with 2.4 versions

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2 minutes ago, RNKLN said:

The icons are also different from a form perspective, which is supposed to also be of help in the case of colour blindness. I agree though that in that area Serif could also do a better job. 

The form of the icons are identical. 
 

Even the design of the illustrations are very similar at a glance between designer and photo. The angles are identical and several of the lines are in the same positions.

Coupled with the identical tone (not hue), it is impossible at a glance to identify which is which. A longer look and it is obviously possible to identify the pen vs the lens design. But not at a glance. 
 

It is terrible design. Ironic. 

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Not identical, but similar. AD has a triangle in the centre while APh has a hexagon. There have been a number of heated conversations already about the design of the icons, especially during the period when a previous version (1.7, i believe) was in beta. I was never a fan of the current design but have learned to live with it (no problems with hue, so i'm lucky).

Affinity Photo - Affinity Designer - Affinity Publisher | macOS Sonoma (14.2) on 16GB MBP14 2021 with 2.4 versions

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1 minute ago, RNKLN said:

Not identical, but similar. AD has a triangle in the centre while APh has a hexagon. There have been a number of heated conversations already about the design of the icons, especially during the period when a previous version (1.7, i believe) was in beta. I was never a fan of the current design but have learned to live with it (no problems with hue, so i'm lucky).

When I think of form, I think of the overall shape. In that sense, the three apps icons are the same overall shape. 

You’re referring to the design within the icon itself.
 

Think of an object, such as a vase. You could have two that have the same form (overall shape) but with different decoration.
 

Anyway, it really doesn’t matter whether you consider form to be what I consider form. The point is, the two damn icons are impossible to distinguish at a glance for those of us with colour sight deficiency. 

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