on 10/20/03 9:23 PM, Nicholas Colvin wrote:
I like your design, but I'm not sure about attaching too much meaning to it. I like to think of Pd as a blank slate, with no preconceptions. I do not agree with some that the icon needs to be as bare and uninviting as the interface of the program, but attaching too much symbolism may cloud perception.
Anyways, I've attached a slight variation of one of your modified, rectangular yin/yang. I removed the color, for just the reasons above and to give it a more neutral look
Nicholas
Hi Nicholas,
Thanks! That's an elegant b&w rendition.
I'm attaching a slight mod for your consideration -- extending the outer frame a tiny bit I think brings it together a tiny bit more while still maintaining your pure negative symmetry insight within the frame itself.
Also including how it looks downsampled and antialiased at 128 width.
Of course I like my color ones as well!
--
Regarding the symbolism, many designs and works have symbolism. True, I went ahead and described some of what I was thinking there but I didn't mean to suggest that the symbolism has to come as a packaged set and be promoted with the icon -- the symbolism can just be there in the background, tranquilly awaiting discovery or nondiscovery. I don't believe that its existence detracts from the design itself merely by being symbolic.
Some examples that come to mind are novels like "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, and "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll. Also the librettos of various otherwise silly Baroque operas, or the plays of Shakespeare. All these have a level at the surface of a straightforward enjoyable story. But there is also something deeper too and the deeper things don't take anything away.
Best,
- Jeff
