New Post Icon Time! Mmm... brokenboulevard...

[livius drusus]

I have asked brokenboulevard and she has generously agreed to make us new post icons.

Okay, okay, okay. Let's brainstorm us up a framework for her to work with. The set we have now is meant to express both emotion and topic: happy, sad, idea, question, attention, TV, film, art, news, anger, approval and disapproval. We don't have to have 14 -- we could have more or less -- but they've got to be an even number or it'll bug the hell out of me.

In an earlier thread we talked about maybe having post icons in the style of the statue emotes, and I still dig that idea but I also like the splash of color they add. The red of the angry is the only color which truly sucks on our style, but the blues and greens are nice, imo.

So what do y'all think? Any feelings, ideas, deeply abiding hatreds you want to make sure brokenboulevard knows about before she puts mouse to pixel?

[Crumb]

I'm sure I will love whatever she and you guys come up with! Change is good.

Originally Posted by livius drusus

puts mouse to pixel

[JoeP]

What about masks? I don't mean that the masks already there must stay, but masks are close to statues while allowing for colour.

[MonCapitan2002]

They should match the overall look of the boards. I happen to think the current set we have sucks. One thing we could do is have them emulate the look fo the smilie hoard. I would agree that they should be an even number. Having an odd number of post icons would annoy me as well. Shit. I find having a volume contol at an odd number annoys the hell out of me.

One thing I would like are icons representing different emotional states easily. For instance, if a member is posting about a sad or tragic event, it would be nice to have a good indicator of that when glancing at the thread index before clicking. I had made a faux pas recently on one of the thread games. While I was able to edit the comment before it was responded to, I would have preferred not making it. I would also like it if the post icons can be animated.

[Legs]

Looking forward to the new icons

Will the icons change on posts already in existence?

[livius drusus]

Thank you, Crumbles.

Masks could work, I think, Joe, although I'm not sure how they'd cover topical icons like news or idea.

I'm with you on the icons matching the board style better, but how do you mean emulate the look of the hoard, MonCap? The hoard is quite a varied collection of looks, imo. I agree that some animation might be nice, but we don't want things getting too busy on forum index. That can be distracting and annoying too.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by Legs

Will the icons change on posts already in existence?

We're not quite sure about that one. vm's gonna look into our technical options. Would you like the old ones to stay for the threads they were used with, or would you rather see the entire board caught up to speed?

[Legs]

Oh I think they should all change if possible

[Leesifer]

I always forget to use post icons.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by Legs

Oh I think they should all change if possible

Gotcha. That's my preference too, I think, but I ain't fer sure yet.

Originally Posted by Leesifer

I always forget to use post icons.

That's probably because they reek.

[Crumb]

I think the old threads should stay as they are.

[wei yau]

Oh, how very exciting. I really like JoeP's suggestion of Masks, but share liv's concerns.

Can we start by listing the type of post icons we want? What do we have now?

- generic post (fountain pen)
- funny post (comedy mask)
- sad post (tragedy mask)
- idea post (lightbulb)
- query post (question mark)
- alert post (lightning bolt)
- justice post (gavel)
- television post (TV)
- movie post (filmstrip)
- art post (palette)
- news post (newspaper)
- angry post (angry face)
- disapproving post (thumbs down)
- approving post (thumbs up)

Should we start with determining whether or not we want to modify this list of post-attributes?

PS: I just realized that all I did was re-iterate liv's OP. Oh well, I'm not deleting this post now.

[livius drusus]

Good! You organized it far better than I. Lightning bolt is meant to be an alert, btw.

I think we do want to modify this list. I think we could either use more topical icons or eliminate them all and stick with just emotion.

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Thank you, Crumbles.

Masks could work, I think, Joe, although I'm not sure how they'd cover topical icons like news or idea.

I'm with you on the icons matching the board style better, but how do you mean emulate the look of the hoard, MonCap? The hoard is quite a varied collection of looks, imo. I agree that some animation might be nice, but we don't want things getting too busy on forum index. That can be distracting and annoying too.

Well. I am not too sure myself. I just think that they should mesh well with the smilies we have. When I mentioned animation, I was thinking about subtle animation. The animation should not be famboyant or it could be a distraction on the board index.

[wei yau]

Hmm, lot to think about.

Topic is a bit difficult, as the forum categories should already provide this attribute. Although, that being said, within each category there is room for further sub-division (as in the case of television, film and art).

Emotions are useful, but somewhat limited. There are somethings that I simply don't feel any emotion over, such as relating a news item or such. Well, I'm sure I feel something, but not enough to warrant a post icon.

For me, I'm having difficulty with just what is a post icon supposed to convey. I can see why both topic and emotion were needed and, at this point, believe that is still the best course.

Also, say what you will about the current set, I feel that they are just iconic enough to make it difficult for me to visualize another set.

[viscousmemories]

Here's the original set. Maybe a look at the box will help ya'll think outside it:

[livius drusus]

Man, I'd repressed how butt ugly those were. Now I feel a lot better about having picked the current set.

[Ymir's blood]

A change would be good. Don't get me wrong but do they all have to look like skulls? A little more variety would be good.

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

Here's the original set. Maybe a look at the box will help ya'll think outside it:

I have to agree with liv. Those icons are butt fucking ugly (not that there is anything wrong with butt fucking).

[ceptimus]

There isn't any meaning hovertext associated with the current post icons. With the new set, we should make good this omission. Then, even if it's not obvious to people what a particular icon is meant to represent, they will soon find out by means of the hovertext.

The lightbulb I used as a post icon here has the hovertext of 'Lightbulb', but wouldn't it be better if the hovertext was 'Idea'?

[livius drusus]

Good idea.

[livius drusus]

Okay, I've copied wei's handy list and expanded on it a little.

generic - something that indicates the written word. Since it will be the default, this one should blend seamlessly with the style.
smile
laugh
sad
sigh
idea - I think there should still be a lightbulb involved
question
alert/exclamation
television
movie
art/painting
literature/reading
news
angry
winking
eating
drinking
disapproving
approving

Anything you'd add or take away? Any specific ideas on the design of one or more of them?

[Ymir's blood]

How about one for music, or a skull?

[livius drusus]

Music! Of course. And we definitely need a skull of some kind.

[wei yau]

Hmm, because I'm all about balance, I think we need an additional "angry" type.

See?

smile : laugh
sad : sigh
angry : ?????