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New Branding for Affinity


TonyB

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AD: looks like a mountain logo.
APh: does look like a camera, so can't be confused for anything else.
APu: reminds me of Adidas.
 
The triangle (aka the snooker rack) is worth hanging onto. It is Affinity! So why not take a leaf out of Adobe's book and shove the initials into the snooker rack instead?

 

I can't attach any pics at the moment :(

 

So, I've put them in a new post...

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/8341-custom-affinity-icons/

Edited by peter

MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6

 

http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111

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Just to understand: Are these new logos intended for replacing the old app icons? … Oh, I see, it was in the article … personally I perceive the old logos to be a bit stronger, though I like the direction of the new design. But as the previous contributors said: it’s the software that is most important, and I cannot emphasize strongly enough what a wonderful job you are doing …  :)

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Thanks, TonyB, seems our posts have crossed … I should have read the article more closely …  :)

 

(Let me repeat, that I like the direction of the design (cleaner, simpler, no more skeuomorphic elements), but since your software is such a great achievement, personally I would like something really simple and “iconic” … this is difficult to describe, when you are not a native speaker, and I hope this does not sound offending … and sorry for the edits of my post …)

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It would be great to get your feedback on our new branding for Affinity, All feedback welcome both positive and negative.

 

 

I'm not much of a fan of the trend towards 'flat' logos/icons.

 

That being said, it's the quality & functionality of the software that is more important to me, the functionality of iOS 8 with Yosemite & the expectations of El Capitan with iOS 9 are a case in point.

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I guess there must always be someone who deviates from the general trend... and it will be me ;)

Actually, I like them. Well, at least two of them.

The Affinity Designer logo shows the scability characteristic of vector graphics without pixelation.

The Affinity Photo really sends me to the "photography" metaphor.

And the Affinity Publish icon... well, that one does not tell me too much. I assume that it should represent several pages?!? This is the one that I'm not such a fan.

But I do like simpler logos. I always found that the ones that we have now are way too complex. The Affinity products are already excellent and don't need flashy, complex, filled with bells&whistles, logos ;)

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I really was in love with the old icons *_*

Nevertheless the new approach isn´t bad at all. It also fits more into the look of yosemite/ the whole flat UI thing about Apple.

 

+ If somebody is interested I will make a short video how to reset the old icons as soon as the new ones are published.

But you could already prepare for this if you just copy the .ics icons from AD AP. Sadly you can only get the jpg of APu from the Website.

 

Just look into the package of AD or AP and in the resource folder you will find the .ics file.

 

 

 

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Hi,

 

I hate being critical of someone's hard work and intense thought; but I can't resist weighing in.

 

By retaining the exact same contour as the original icons, the new ones do not – to my eye – subtly suggest the 3d form of the previous ones. They simply look like an odd, _semi-random_ blocky flat shape. My suggestion would be: if you want to have an up-to-date, flat graphic, then drop the remnant contours of the old icons' depth. 

 

The other thing is: Gradients just date an icon. Instantly, and beyond redemption. :^(    

(Imho, even Apple-esque shiny-highlight gradients have seen their day.)

 

So sorry for my bluntness; I do, absolutely, appreciate the care and skill you put into the new designs.

The intentions are good; I think the old icons _could_ be updated and simplified.

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I would also like to suggest to drop “the remnant contours of the old icons’ depth”, as pbass said. They made much sense in adding depth to the old icons, but now, since the objects (pencils, lens, papers) are gone, they look a bit orphaned and less motivated to my eyes. By the way, what I liked about the old icons, was that subtle folding effect created by the gradients on the enclosing triangle … retaining this effect might perhaps add some welcome depth to the new flat icon style … Once again, I feel very bad to criticise a work you have put so much love and patience into …  :)

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I have to say when I first saw them (gut feeling), I instantly loved them. Then once I saw the process graphics at the bottom of the article, I started to like the step before the gradient was introduced. However the more and more I looked at them, I really think the final versions they are great! Much better than the original icons in my opinion. The new ones feel more modern and similar with what Adobe does. As much as I dislike Adobe now, I still do like their use of color in there app branding. I think they'll look really nice sitting on my Mac's Dock.  :)

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Personally I do like the old better.  The new have a much flatter and abstract look.  The old I could guess that the AP logo having a lens has to do with photography.  The old AD with pens has to do with drawing.

 

The new AD logo makes me think it has something to do with pyramids or Egypt.  The AP maybe mountains.

 

But then I wasn't crazy about the way the icons looked when I switched from Snow Leopard to Yosemite.  These new logos do seem to be more in the Yosemite fashion.  Flat, lacking depth.

 

Bottom line, once someone knows what they are then there will be recognition either way.  I can live with either.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) with macOS Sierra

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While I can see, that the new logos must have been a lot of hard work, I must say, that I personally like the „old“ logos much, much better. Why don’t you just use the „old“ logos (at least) until the whole suite is actually available? 


Like others wrote, the logo is not so important for existing users - the apps themselves count.  :)


 


For me it would be actually of much more importance to know, how your thoughts about feature requests are, than logos… 


(err, …giving a broad hint here… ;) 


 


„video-frames-to-layers“  feature:


https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/9510-„video-frames-to-layers“-image-sequence-from-a-video-pleeease/


 


 


 


P.S.: 


@ serif


Maybe that’s interesting for you:


I asked several people, who didn’t buy Affinity Designer yet, but who’d like to buy a nice, easy app to just use sporadically.


They said, the old logos do look more:  quote: „inviting“, „like a friendly app“, „welcoming“ etc.. Also everybody said, the differences, of what the 3 separate apps will do, are better represented with the old logos.


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I don't know why, but the old ones look better to me. There's nothing wrong with the new ones though, I like the style of it a lot, but feels like there's something else missing..not sure what. Definitely the olds ones for me. Sorry guys.

 

What was the thought behind the new logos Affinity team?...just curious. Can you take us to that thought process of how it came about?

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I definitively like the "old" ones much better. And actually, these icons are not that very old on the market. They were published on the blog just a year ago. Is Affinity is more eager at rebranding than pushing out the actual applications?

From the new icons, the only one that is understandable is the one for Affinity Photo. All in common is that fat strange black triangle that don't make any sense. Although they are much simpler than the original versions, they are still much heavier.

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Nice work guys, the new icons are MUCH better from a graphic design perspective. I'm not a fan of icons that are illustrative or literal representations. As an artist and designer, I appreciate a certain level of abstraction. Of course it will also fit in much better with Yosemite and it's "flat" UI — a term which I think is actually misnomer; the changes are actually about moving away from skeuomorphic or representational design. I like the use of gradients, which I don't believe date anything inherently, as gradients or subtle color shifts are necessary to add some detail and depth to the icons and the color palette.

 

I think out of the 3 icons, the APhoto icon is the strongest; the use of the aperture (although "representational" is really nice and still carries the abstract, geometric language of the other two icons. However, I would consider making the center of the aperture dark like the outer triangular border of the icon. The Publisher icon is also great; it suggest to me the concept of "series," or "multiples" via the repeating diagonal shapes on the right of the icon's inner triangle. It's an abstraction of a stack of papers, the multiple pages in a document, etc. I also like the Designer icon. I like the smaller triangles inside and seeing the smaller, inner triangles creating a larger one suggests to me a certain level of "design thought-process" and construction / assembly techniques. However, I think it needs more detail, perhaps more bifurcation within the triangles...

 

Overall it's a great direction and I think it modernizes the apps tremendously. The previous icons were very clichéd in their literalness and representation quality. Great job again!

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Ventura 13.6

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17

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Well Affinity Team,

what about a checkbox option in the preferences?

IMHO there never is the holy golden way in designing anything

 

Your software want´s to be different and want´s to take the needs of the users into account, we have a lovely community and many different reasonable opinions.

So why not offer 2 or 3 different versions? 

Maybe this is a no-go regarding corporate design/ identity but most users won't even change the default and those who do will be really thankful, I guess :) 

And you corporate design on your homepage, AppStore and eZine won´t be affected anyway ;)

 

 

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I'll jump on with ronnyb and say I very much like the new icons. In some way, I appreciate the depth of the originals in my dock, but I think the new ones are much more current and enduring from a graphic design perspective in their simplicity. Flat design isn't just an Apple trend. ;) I also don't think subtle use of gradients is a bad thing—I love using them cautiously. I think the lightened focal point areas + the gradients, along with the unique interior compositions creates the needed differentiation to recognize each app at a glance—without them it would be hard to tell. If it were me, I may have added some additional subtle alternate tone overlay in each to add a bit of gradient depth actually, but too much blending of color would make each less distinctive, likely. I always liked the basic b/w "Affinity" shape a lot, and I think the new icons create a more cohesive set that emphasizes the Affinity parent brand with the outside shape. It has a more "pro user" look, in my opinion. :)

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