Pale Moon forum

My plan is for this to work like an art contest, as I've seen on other forums I was a member of over the years. This thread is here to allow anyone interested who knows how to create the kind of artwork/branding needed for something like this (perhaps using what's listed in https://repo.palemoon.org/athenian200/h ... ing/aurora as a guide for sizing and a sort of template), to try and submit something that might be accepted as the final branding for the application.

While I cannot produce branding myself, I do have a few vague ideas of what I might want the Epyrus branding to look like. The first mental image is something very similar to what you see in the SNES version of Super Mario All-Stars, in Super Mario World 2, World 2-1... a scene with a pyramid at night amid a star-filled sky, and a palm tree or two nearby. The other mental image is something written on an ancient-looking Egyptian papyrus with a hieroglyphic style, except it shows people who are dressed like it's the 1990s sending an e-mail on the type of desktop computer that was sturdy and short enough you could set a CRT on top of it. I'm throwing those out there just in case anyone needs an idea to work from, though. If you have your own idea, I would love to see it, because... those were really the only two that came to mind for me.

Going by your hint, I've put together something for Epyrus.
To indicate the connection between recipients for e-mail, I gathered some dashed lines between the stars would be an idea?
Suggestions for corrections welcome. I kept it fairly simple on purpose. Designed as vector so I can easily move things around or change or what not.

athenian200 wrote: ↑

2022-05-29, 20:23

what I might want the Epyrus branding to look like. The first mental image is ...

I won't jave time/capability to apply. I just realized that the region of Greece is spelled Epirus not Epyrus ... however to me the word makes me think of Pyrrhus of Epirus, the Pyrrhic victory, and elephants. A letter-carrying elephant ?

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2022-05-31, 14:51

Going by your hint, I've put together something for Epyrus.
To indicate the connection between recipients for e-mail, I gathered some dashed lines between the stars would be an idea?
Suggestions for corrections welcome. I kept it fairly simple on purpose. Designed as vector so I can easily move things around or change or what not.

Wow, that is really nice. Thank you for submitting that! It looks pretty close to what I had in mind. It makes me think of both the connection between recipients for e-mail, but also of the constellations and the way pyramids were built to be aligned with stars. I like that.

I have a feeling this entry might win the contest, since you are definitely experienced at art, and at branding UXP applications in particular. In any case, one reason why I asked here first is because I suspect people here would have a better idea of what it takes to create this type of application branding. If I go with someone on DeviantArt, I would have to explain what image formats and sizes I need for the branding, etc, and it might wind up being well over $100 for such an unusual request.

athenian200 wrote: ↑

2022-05-31, 16:04

Wow, that is really nice.

Glad you like it!
As said if there's some/any things you'd like to see changed let me know. It's very easy to make changes to vectors.

Well, I suppose I shouldn't have wasted my time on this venture, since it looks like Moonchild is way better at this than I am (I am proudly not an artist). But since I put some effort into branding for the application, I figure I might as well make it available, for others to at least scoff at for its simplicity. Oh well, maybe it'll inspire somebody to do better -- somehow.

EDIT: Darn -- I forgot that the Windows icon files should include multiple sizes of the same icon -- I just created the standalone PNGs for each size and then exported the 128x128 icon as a BMP. Oh well, I'll only fix that if someone sees a future for this branding.

Ah, I almost forgot this thread was still going. I'm actually thinking I want to go with Moonchild's artwork, if everyone is okay with that. I'm not really getting enough submissions for a contest after all, and he also helped come up with the name, so it seems appropriate. It will be one more thing I can check off the list for beta. Just for fun though, here is the reference image I was going to send to artists in case I had to commission someone... you should be able to see why I wanted a little help. You can tell what the things in the image are, it's usable as a blueprint of sorts, but it's not the kind of thing I would want to use as branding in raw form. MC really made the idea work without even having to see that reference image, though.

Heh. I'm not a mind reader, honest!

If you want to go with my entry I can set some time aside to make the various branding images (like aboutbox background and icons and what not) so you have a full set.

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2022-06-03, 01:48

If you want to go with my entry I can set some time aside to make the various branding images (like aboutbox background and icons and what not) so you have a full set.

Yeah, that is much appreciated. I guess the only thing I should mention with regards to the aboutbox background and such is that I did actually have a font in mind I wanted to use for the application name as it appears on that screen. The font I wound up going with is called "Rokkitt." I originally wanted to go with "Egyptian Slate," but there were potential licensing issues, and it turned out that "Rokkitt" makes the capital "E" look exactly the way I want and is a similar style overall.

Any chance those lines could somehow form something resembling a letter, envelope, stamp etc.? Just a thought.

back2themoon wrote: ↑

2022-06-03, 12:28

Any chance those lines could somehow form something resembling a letter, envelope, stamp etc.? Just a thought.

Actually, that's not a bad idea. I was wondering momentarily what it would look like if those lines formed an envelope specifically, but I figured it might look too crowded or wouldn't quite fit in the dimensions comfortably.

Like not a detailed one, just like a constellation with four corner stars and one in the middle to give an impression of a sealed envelope, and you get the impression that arrangement of stars was interpreted as an envelope, but could have also been interpreted different ways by different observers.

So, like this?

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2022-06-03, 19:49

So, like this?

Yeah, you made it work. I was worried it might not fit, but it conveys the idea, doesn't look too crowded, and it still looks like a constellation.

It's kind of cool how many people have contributed ideas so far... I came up with a name that gave people the idea of something ancient, smithy in the other thread came up with the Papyrus idea, you turned that into Epyrus, I came up with the idea of pyramids and a night sky, you added stars with connections implying a constellation, then back2themoon added the idea of making the constellation look sort of like an envelope.

In any case, I am really happy with how this has turned out.

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2022-06-03, 19:49

So, like this?

Looks good.

I've just spotted this thread I should really look around the forums more!

I might have had a go if I'd realised but I think Moonchild's second version with the envelope is really rather good

Question: should the icon/logo have a border? rounded corners or not?

distantpluto wrote: ↑

2022-06-04, 13:09

I might have had a go if I'd realised but I think Moonchild's second version with the envelope is really rather good

Ah, I think my thread may not have been very visible since I didn't link to it in the main thread. But yeah, I am pretty happy with the outcome anyway.

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2022-06-04, 14:14

Question: should the icon/logo have a border? rounded corners or not?

Well, it doesn't seem like it needs a border, given that you used a gradient for the sky and it should show up well with either light or dark themes as-is. If you think it would improve visibility, then a very thin one would be fine. I guess I would prefer to go with square icons. I always felt like having to round off the edges just means you see less of the image.

athenian200 wrote: ↑

2022-06-04, 14:56

it should show up well with either light or dark themes as-is.

Yes it should be fine on either.
I just thought I'd ask since it seems to be a thing to do. I'll keep it unencumbered with space-eating dress-ups then

I like the graphic, especially with the envelope, very much.

In my opinion, though, the stylized horizontal bits that I guess attempt to emulate divisions between the individual "stones" don't quite do the job.

What I'm referring to is marked here in the red rectangles.


Finally, I'm definitely not a graphics designer, but - looking at the original proposal - I would prefer colors that "match" better. I came up with this.


This is merely meant as a suggestion. The shades of my colors (the two shades of blue on the pyramid and the purple at the bottom) are the best I was able to do with my simple graphics program. Again, they are merely offered as a suggestion.

Hmm... well, I appreciate the feedback, but I'm pretty happy with the colors and don't really see how the lines could be done better. I think if you tried to add too much detail it would actually make things look a bit worse/more crowded. I think I should also point out that artists generally don't appreciate people modifying their art in this way and then reposting it as a way of offering suggestions. I actually had an artist block me and a friend on Skype once because my friend did something very much like what you just did to their work...

I should probably close this thread since I consider the matter dealt with.