Iām a graphic designer, and recently used Darktable as a practice project ā I would be delighted if the team liked it or wanted to use anything here. It includes a website homepage and icon redesign.
The website redesign is mostly an attempt to simplify and regroup elements. I wanted a design language that would work for many more pages.
The typography is all set in Fixel by Macpaw (open font license). This typeface feels modern, friendly and incredibly versatile with its variable font properties. I think its a good fit for Darktable.
The new icon inspired by the original aperture blades icon. It comes in two forms, round and square - following the Apple HIG guidelines from 1024px down to 16px.
The icon adjusts to stay sharp and clean at smaller sizes. The effects add a subtle sense of dimension, hopefully without feeling distracting or cheesy.
I have refined the icon a bit. Subtler effects and camera-inspired textures at large sizes. Again, pixel perfect down to 16x16.
Iāve started a website UX design in Penpot (an awesome FOSS UX Design project, similar to Figma). Penpot has collaborative multiplayer that Iād be keen to invite other users to join - you can then explore and build together in real time. Just hit me up.
@patdavid I am aware youāve been responsible for design and implementation of Darktable content. Does this project seem naive at all? Its been fun to imagine new designs but I know reworking everything will take some effort.
I like it a lot. Iāve been thinking of a redesign for a bit, but have lacked time and inspiration.
If you want to go further, keep in mind that it will need to be ported to Hugo and should have as little JavaScript as possible; the current site has none.
We also need improvements to our HTML documentation theme, which is extremely basic.
In my first career as a graphic designer, one of (if not the) first rules in logo design was, āIt must work in black and white.ā Only once that was true did color come into the design equation. The flat vs. 3D thing is kinda similar, IMO: Regardless of which it is, it must work consistently in all manifestations, sizes, colors and uses.
I like the 3D look to a degree (and personally think current flat designs are in general too flat / minimal), but itās worth keeping in mind a logo is like an icon: Itās not an image, per se. Itās meant to represent something (a concept, service, product, whatever), not necessarily be a pictorial depiction of it. IMO for years icon / logo designs went too far into pictorial space, as it were. What happens at that point is, they can turn into hieroglyphics and get confusing.
Anyway, that said, the pictorial vs. iconic decision really isnāt a factor here since the darktable logo already exists. This is just an interpretation of it. But as far as my preferences go, a little depth / āsubstanceā is a good thing.
I appreciate the feedback! And yes I think the flat / rendered look is a balance. For the app icon Iāve gone from maybe 30% flat to 65% flat, much less shiny 3D.
I agree the logo should work as a pure SVG - so this has a ājust gradientsā version without any fancy effects. Makes it lightweight and scalable for web etc.
All in all, the branding may look something like so:
I think Iād dial down the gradients a bit. Especially the blue blade is a bit too obvious.
And Iād say that the blade tips (and corners?) should be sharp, not rounded. These represent aperture blades after all, and those need to be sharp to form a round aperture.
Personally, Iād also dial down the curvature on the blades a bit. It seems a bit excessive for a lens aperture. But perhaps Iām taking the metaphor too literally.
The application icon should fit in with the theme used on the desktop if you want to keep an homogenous look there, for the logo you have of course more freedom. That may mean youāll need two or three versions of the icons.
The red and orange are not well differentiated in the new version compared to the current version.
I think gradients should all have the same direction relative to the colour sector (which means 6 different orientations: 0Ā°, 60Ā°, 120Ā°, 180Ā°, 240Ā°, 300Ā°), and perhaps only change one aspect (chroma or lightness, perhaps not hue, as happens in the proposed icons: e.g. green ā yellow, yellow ā orange, ).
Wrt. the āaperture bladesā: you normally donāt see the complete blades, only the parts not covered by other blades. Thatās why the visible corners are always sharp, not rounded. Also, when the icons have sharp corners to the blades, the visual aspect will change less when going to smaller sizes (where rounded corners will end up sharpened)
I mean if you want a particular style, like the super flat or the 3d or whatever. I donāt think we should make our icon fit some specific style in order to conform to one desktop environment or another.
It includes a website homepage and icon redesign.
