Refined Mellel Dock Icon......Please!

johnh9999 · Post by **johnh9999** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:41 am

Hey fellas,
I'm a Mellel user (some would say abuser), and I plan to use your product for a long time to come. But indulge me, please! Refine the dock icon. I dig the typewriter icon itself, but it just doesn't look quite as shiny and slick as the other icons in my dock. Also, I'd drop the II. I, and I'm sure practically everyone else, refer to your program as Mellel, not Mellel II.

Does anyone else agree with my dock icon concerns? Surely it's not an exceptionally pressing concern, but with all Mac programs, the devil is in the details.

Good night and Good Luck

John

ptram · Post by **ptram** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:10 pm

Frankly, I find it nice...

miles11 · Post by **miles11** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:06 pm

I love the typewriter icon. It stands out from the crowd, and that makes it easy to spot on the dock (or anywhere else).

digimarkus · Post by **digimarkus** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:50 pm

I think that the dock icon could use a bit of a refresh. However, my only real hope is that they get rid of the roman numeral. To me it's just makes the icon look tacky (unprofessional).

ed · Post by ed » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:30 am

I like the metafor of the typewriter, that they should keep, but maybe brush up the design a bit. Check upp the guys att iconfactory, they are pros at icons.

Mart°n · Post by **Mart°n** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:05 am

I too don’t like the II in the dock icon. The last (and only other) application I know that showed the version number in the icon was the 1.0 version of Apple Mail. I think a icon should represent the application itself (what it does or how it looks or for what it could be used) but not a version number.
In Mellel, the flat, 2 dimensional II also destroys the 3 dimensional look of the typewriter. I also think that the icon looks a bit too bulky in the dock but that could depend on ones personal taste.
While the old typewriter perfectly represented the features of the very first versions of Mellel, the actual and coming versions could be represented by an more modern one (if it has to change throughout the versions at all).

I have replaced the icon with a simple pen a while ago so I only see the typewriter when Mellel starts up:

Instead of the very detailed, full featured (with all keys) typewriter, maybe a simplified version would look less bulky and more like a icon (symbol) than a graphical illustration

http://www.heise.de/ct/motive/02/03/p800.jpg

Maybe a unusual typewriter would be a better fit (because Mellel tends to go it’s own way)

http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/franklin.html

instead of the Royal Typewriter, Model 10 from 1914 that is used at the moment

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/4200/4253/typewriter_1.htm

ed · Post by ed » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:50 am

Mart°n wrote:I too don’t like the II in the dock icon. The last (and only other) application I know that showed the version number in the icon was the 1.0 version of Apple Mail. I think a icon should represent the application itself (what it does or how it looks or for what it could be used) but not a version number.
In Mellel, the flat, 2 dimensional II also destroys the 3 dimensional look of the typewriter. I also think that the icon looks a bit too bulky in the dock but that could depend on ones personal taste.
While the old typewriter perfectly represented the features of the very first versions of Mellel, the actual and coming versions could be represented by an more modern one (if it has to change throughout the versions at all).

I have replaced the icon with a simple pen a while ago so I only see the typewriter when Mellel starts up:

Instead of the very detailed, full featured (with all keys) typewriter, maybe a simplified version would look less bulky and more like a icon (symbol) than a graphical illustration

http://www.heise.de/ct/motive/02/03/p800.jpg

Maybe a unusual typewriter would be a better fit (because Mellel tends to go it’s own way)

http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/franklin.html

instead of the Royal Typewriter, Model 10 from 1914 that is used at the moment

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/4200/4253/typewriter_1.htm

Sweet pen icon you are using. Where did you find it?

Mart°n · Post by **Mart°n** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:09 am

ed wrote: Sweet pen icon you are using. Where did you find it?

You could download it here:

http://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/details.php?id=866

It’s inside the TTS2 Otherz package and named “Black Pen“.

ptram · Post by **ptram** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:45 pm

Well, I admit I began to write with an Olivetti Lettera 50 (a refreshed version of the classic Lettera 22), and that one is the icon of the typewriter for me. It was like a modern laptop: tiny, unobstrusive, easy to carry around.

While I could shot a photo to my old typewriter (still working from the 70s), here is a series of similar models:

http://www.storiaolivetti.telecomitalia ... ivetti.asp

The Valentine by Sottsass is my preferred one.

Paolo

suavito · Post by **suavito** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:13 pm

Mellel is designed very beautifully (after you have replaced the brushed metal by aqua) but it's icon doesn't match this beauty at all. So I too took something else.

Here is my solution:

From left to right:

– shrinked Scrivener icon (still not really good looking, but at least a bit less massive)

– a new Mellel typwriter icon (don't ask me where I got it; prescisely at the time when I installed the Mellel try out for the first time it was just there on some web page)

– mirrored Bookends icon (the books were looking in the wrong direction, they were kind of staring at the dictionary and made it feel uncomfortable)

Call me fastidious or whatever else.

ptram · Post by **ptram** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:29 pm

suavito wrote:a new Mellel typwriter icon (don't ask me where I got it

Hey, isn't it my Olivetti?

Paolo

johnh9999 · Post by **johnh9999** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:26 pm

I think the consensus seems to be that the Roman numeral II should be dropped off the icon, and then maybe polished a bit. The typewriter design itself, though, is classic and should continue to be the design of the icon. Sound about right?

Elbe · Post by **Elbe** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:49 am

Sound about right?

Yupp

Nick Sloan · Post by **Nick Sloan** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:30 pm

Agreed. For my money the typewriter itself was perfect from the beginning. actually one of the things I really liked about Mellel. The II was a backward step, though I don't mind the golden blush that arrived with it.

I am slightly ashamed to realise how much app icons matter to me, but they just do. A bad icon is like keeping an ugly stapler on your desk, the Mellel typewriter however continues to be a joy.

Boban · Post by **Boban** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:35 am

Just for a bit of fun, here's a nice typewriter icon for Mellel...

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12077