Creating a "Favicon" for the Forum

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Should use a Kapex as the icon but then again most of the users of this forum don't know what one looks like (yet) ;D

 

[Dan Clark]

Matthew,

Attached are some offerings.   These are gifs because I couldn't attach ICO files.

I think I like the FogICO6 or FogICO8 the best.

Regards,

Dan.

p.s., I think the secret is a lot of colors.  The last two icons have five.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Thanks everyone for all the contributions so far!  Like any organization, I want the visual elements of this forum to create a unique coherent sense of space.  The suggestions we've seen so far are a great mix of professional and creative appearance.

Attached are some offerings.  These are gifs because I couldn't attach ICO files.

I just added ICO files to the list of allowed file types.  If you want, you can re-upload your favicons.

p.s., I think the secret is a lot of colors.  The last two icons have five.

That makes sense, and seeing it on the screen supports your opinion here.  I'm good at tweaking computer code, but I'm not good at designing graphical elements, so it's great to have people like you and the others here who can contribute your expertise.

Matthew

 

[Daviddubya]

Maybe I don't see as well as some, but...  Most of Dan's icons look the same to me - the first, third and last two all look exactly the same to me.  Hmmm.

 

[Eli]

I had to look real close, there's nose grease on my screen. But they are different. Like he said, lots of colors.

 

[jonny round boy]

Dan is right about the colours. Designing something within such size restrictions is challenging in the extreme! Although I like Dan's, I think they're too much like Festool's own. I think we should go for something different.

I've tried to create icons from some of the tool pictures. Most don't work at such a small scale, but the best of the bunch (i.e. the most recognisable) is the ETS150 sander: [attachimg=1]

 

[Eli]

How about a black F on a green cloud (fog) background? You're gonna have to do it for me. I think it should be a distinct design from Festool proper as well. You can't really tell what the tools are. I mean we would know.

 

[jonny round boy]

How about a black F on a green cloud (fog) background? You're gonna have to do it for me. I think it should be a distinct design from Festool proper as well. You can't really tell what the tools are. I mean we would know.

So, something like this? [attachimg=1]

 

[Dan Clark]

I tried the Black F approach, but I think JRB's ICO is much nicer than my Black F approach.  I think JRB's thin black edge border makes the difference.   

One thing I like about the inverse of the Festool Green F is that it conceptually mirrors FOG's relationship with Festool - FOG is the mirror of Festool.   Festool supplies the tools and we use them.   Similarly, a FOG icon that is roughly the mirror image of the Festool icon shows that relationship.

Here's another couple of tries.  I used JRB's approach and took the last image of mine but changed the "F" a bit.  In ICO9, the F is dark blue with a hollow center.  In ICO10, the F is combination of very dark blue and black.   

[attachimg=#1]
[attachimg=#2]

[attachimg=#3]

[attachimg=#4]

Regards,

Dan.

p.s. ICOs don't show up, so I added the GIF version too.
p.p.s David is right about being difficult to see the colors.  Below is the view of ICO10 that at I see when I'm editing it.   You can see the colors.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Size restrictions are definitely the largest hurdle with a favicon.  Since we do not have a traditional graphics-based logo it makes it even harder.  My thought was to incorporate two guide rails (like the one you use on the FOG header) to form the letter F.  Granted, the guide rail is hard to discern at that resolution but... Here's an example.

Shane

 

[Dan Clark]

One last try...  This version is actually 16 pixels high by 14 pixels wide.  I don't know if this will work, but it looks more balanced to my eye.

Regards,

Dan.

 

[The Woodentop]

I, for one, like it!! Well done Dan.

 

[clintholeman]

Dan-

Good job on the icon!!!  It rocks!

 

[Dan Clark]

Whoa!   Let's be clear on this - it's Jonny Round Boy's idea.  I just added a few tweaks.  He deserves the credit!

Dan.

 

[jonny round boy]

Whoa!   Let's be clear on this - it's Jonny Round Boy's idea.  I just added a few tweaks.  He deserves the credit!

Dan.

Don't blame me  ;D it was Eli's suggestion!!!

 

[Matthew Schenker]

One last try...  This version is actually 16 pixels high by 14 pixels wide.  I don't know if this will work, but it looks more balanced to my eye.

According to the specs I see, the icon has to be 16x16, but maybe it will still work.  I'm going to test it.
So, is the one from Dan/Jonny/Eli called "FOGICO11" the one we want to go with here?
Matt

 

[Dan Clark]

OK, It's actually Matthew's fault.  He asked!  ;D

Dan.

 

[Dan Clark]

There he goes again!  More questions!   

Actually, why not wait a day or so?  There might be some better ideas. (It might be a good idea to see if an odd-sized icon will work though.)

Dan.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Go ahead and blame me.  I don't care, as long as the results are good!
Great work everyone.
Matthew

 

[Eli]

I slept through the hard work. Looks good.