A new Icon and Visual for Friction!

[NicKraneis]

Now that 1.0 is on the horizon, it is time for Friction to step up its design game. The current Icon/ logo is okay but (with all respect to the designer) doesn't say “exciting new open-source software" but rather "old-fashioned gimp for video".

I am no developer but designer and want to contribute to the project, so I decided to design a new icon and logo for Friction.

Here is my idea for a new icon that is nowhere behind big players like after effects, cavalry or other design software like affinity or Figma.

PS: I don't know what is the official name of friction atm (friction2d, friction graphics, friction motion graphics?) so I used friction2D

Tell me what you think!

[NicKraneis]

Another color option, more true to the original oclors

[FunArtSam]

I like the orange and blue logo the best! I also like how it's named Friction 2D because it's difficult to search for 'Friction' or 'Friction Graphics' to find tutorials and other info.

Could you try changing the logo symbol's vertical orientation to horizontal, to make it look like a bouncy ball curve?

[rodlie]

We don't use the 2D, it's not part of the name or brand. It's only the org name on GitHub because 'friction' was in use and I suck at creating org/repo names 😄

[NicKraneis]

I like the orange and blue logo the best! I also like how it's named Friction 2D because it's difficult to search for 'Friction' or 'Friction Graphics' to find tutorials and other info.

Could you try changing the logo symbol's vertical orientation to horizontal, to make it look like a bouncy ball curve?

I think It would look too much like an "m" or music app, I'll try it tho

[rodlie]

Thanks for your contribution 👍

Our current icon started out as a placeholder, and it stuck (as it tends to do for "temp" solutions ;) )

At first I was a bit unsure about your suggestion, but it has grown on me. I will need to test how it will work in the app, with very small icons etc.

I will get back to you as soon as possible, I have a lot of other things that needs to be done before release.

[NicKraneis]

Happy to hear!

[pgilfernandez]

Umm, if the icon is something that could be changed, then I would like to "play" too, hehehe, I'll try proposing another logos ideas 😉

[rodlie]

Sure 👍

If we are to change the icon it will need to happen before we release v1.0.0. I don't want to change branding too often, so it better "stick" :)

[NicKraneis]

Alternative Concept

[samytichadou]

Nice logos ! i think i prefer the first twos than the third personally !
I would love to animate it when it is the definitive version :)
I like doing logos reveal/loops !

thanks @NicKraneis !

[pgilfernandez]

I've been working on my take for a while, I gave lot of love to not just the concept but the balance. I'm very happy with this version as it is now, but it could indeed be polished (I'm reserving new ideas in case you like it) and more variants, negative versions and so on could be created from this "starting" point.
Let me know what do you think:

Important notes:

• I took the concept of "friction of 2 objects" as the main logo concept (you can see it in the animation when the orange and blue parts start touching and dragging...)
• I used orange-blue colors but I feel the logo works way better just in black. Anyway, this can be changed to any single or double set of colors, so there is room here to play
• I used some nice balancing rules:
  • golden ratio
  • proportions (half, third,...)
• The logo could be redesigned from just one length, starting with the golden ratio proportions 😉

[NicKraneis]

@rodlie Hey, any updates on that matter? :)

[rodlie]

Hi, sorry for the delay. I prefer the first logo suggestion.

Did a mockup for testing:

[rodlie]

Looks better with darker background, real life screenshot:

[rodlie]

Just drop the background in app. Use color on welcome screen, then white (or black, depends on theme) for about:

[NicKraneis]

Happy to hear! Just tell me what files and designs you need, besides the logo itself. Also, I am working with affinity so I could give you the source file as well if wanted :)

Edit: I see you changed the type. Do you want me to work on that? Is there a font you want to be used?

[rodlie]

Really sorry for the delay, too much work stuff lately.

We can start with the "badge", as this needs to be added to the app. I would like to try these:

Do you know your way around GitHub? if so fork this repo: https://github.com/friction2d/friction-icon-theme, add the svg files using upload or something (where you put them is not important, I will fix it later), then do a pull request against the repo.

If you want help etc just let me know, I can also do it for you.