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Creative uses for App Store icons: Ransom Apps and App Icon Quiz
Brian Stucki is the developer behind MacMiniColo (the Mac mini colocation outfit in Las Vegas), and he recently sent us a fun project he's hosting called "Ransom Apps." It's just a silly little web app, but the idea is that you enter a phrase of text, and Ransom Acts returns your phrase written in App Store app icons. I don't know if there's a real use for it, but it's fun and creates some neat designs. Speaking of using App Store icons creatively, Ransom Apps reminded me of App Icon Quiz (free), which is kind of ingenious. It's a trivia quiz based around identifying App Store icons. The app uses real icons (with the permission of the actual developers -- more on that in a second) to create quiz questions, challenging you to match the icon with its app. It may sound goofy, but in practice, it's actually fun, especially if you spend quite a bit of time browsing the App Store. App Icon Quiz is clever in another way as well. The developers, GameVision, told me back at GDC that they're using the app to market and brand new icons, so users' feedback is going the other way as well. Developers whose icons are included receive information about how easily players ID their icons as well as the word people tend to associate with their images. Personally, I think that can be a little shady. There's no indication in the app's description that the "game" is being used for marketing purposes. But as long as you know and agree to that use, it could be a fun way to give feedback on an app's most important visual element. App Icon Quiz is available on the App Store now
Extract App Resource Icons with AppleScript
Whether I'm preparing for a demo or writing an article, blog post, book, or technical documentation, I often find myself performing the same set of repetitive steps. I need to navigate into an app's packaged resources folder, find one or more icon files, occasionally convert them to PNG and scale them, and add them to my document, Keynote presentation, etc. Fortunately, this doesn't need to be a manual process each time, thanks to the following AppleScript. Creating the Script 1. Launch AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities) and create a new script document. 2. Enter the following script into the document. NOTE: If you have any trouble following along, you can download the completed script here. 3. Run the script from AppleScript Editor, save it as an app, or add it to your script menu. Running the Script When you run the script, you're first asked to select an app from which to extract icons. Make your selection and click Choose. The script looks inside the app's /Contents/Resources folder for any files with an extension of .icns. If multiple files are found, it allows you to select the ones you want to extract. The default is all of them. Next, the script gives you the option to extract the .icns files themselves, or PNG versions. Click the button to make your choice. If you click the PNG button, then you're given a choice of sizes to create. You might not need the full sized icons, for example. You might only need 256x256 icons. Depending on the options you chose, the script extracts the .icns files, or it converts the .icns files to PNG and scales them, as needed. You're notified when the icons have been extracted, and they're displayed in the Finder for you. Now you can simply drag them to your document, presentation, file, etc., and you're good to go! Happy Scripting!
How to customize a macro icon for each character
Senjira recently asked on the European Interface and Macros forum: Hey guys i was wondering if i could create a targeting arena1-2-3 macro where i can add several #showtooltips, where the tooltip alters depending on which character i am playing, for example it shows block when i am on mage and link when i am on shaman etc. etc. I would like this as i like to keep a clean UI, and would like to avoid making 5x Tar 1-2-3 macros.. Thanks in advance! Community manager Taepsilum responded with a solution involving using the items in bags: #showtooltip 0 1 /target Arena1 This will change the icon and tooltip of the macro to be whatever is in the first spot of the character's main backpack. The macro works, but I find it confusing if a consumable or something else you can use is in that bag slot, since not just the icon changes. The tooltip lies so I can't tell if it's my macro or a stack of stamina scrolls.
Macintosh icon designer talks about her work at Apple
Path has a nice interview with Susan Kare, a graphic designer and creator of the original Macintosh icons and typefaces that so many of us are familiar with. Kare reveals that she first came to work at Apple with the title "Macintosh Artist." She got the job through a high school friend, Andy Hertzfeld, who Apple history buffs will know was one of the inventors of the original Macintosh. When asked how working at Apple informed what kind of artist she is today, Kare said: I was so lucky to get to work in the Macintosh group with great colleagues and talented programmers. That experience introduced me to interface design development and how I might be able to contribute as a graphic designer to the overall user experience. It also gave me practice in aiming to communicate big concepts in small spaces. Kare is currently doing a set of "stickers" for social networking app Path.
Mothership releases Prepo 2, helps devs create app icons and retina artwork
One of the challenges facing developers isn't always writing clean code. A small development team also has to contend with images and icons, which are often the first things a user sees when he stumbles upon your app and takes it on its maiden run. One app that promises to make artwork and icon preparation easy is Prepo from Mothership. Now in version 2.0, Prepo allows you to put the finishing touches on your iconography and Retina artwork before you submit your app for review. Once you import your image files, Prepo will size the icons for an iPad, iPhone or a universal app. On the artwork side of things, Prepo takes your @2x artwork and reduces it to @1x. It also resizes it and renames it if necessary. One new feature in Prepo 2 is a LivePreview feature that lets you test out your icons and artwork in realtime on an iOS device. To use LivePreview, you have to purchase the US$4.99 Prepo Plus upgrade and download the iOS version of Prepo on your iPhone or iPad. As long as your Mac and iOS device are on the same WiFi network, you'll be able to view your image assets on your iOS device and make changes on the fly. Prepo 2 is available now from the Mac App Store for free and you can use it as a standalone editor for your artwork and icons. The companion iOS version is also free, but you have to purchase the Prepo+ upgrade to get the OS X and iOS apps to work together.
DevJuice: Preview your icons
Sharing icons by email and Dropbox never really captures the way each image will appear on-screen. That's why developer Michael Burford and his brother created a web page mock-up solution that automatically adds an iPhone background and styles the icons to match the way they display on-device. He built a PHP/CSS toolset that you can place on a web host to serve icon previews. The script detects your browsing platform, so the previews look right on both iPhones and iPads. You can download the tools from his web page. Make sure to stop by and read his full write-up for details about installing and using these.
Walls360 offers Susan Kare icons for your walls
Walls360 is a cool startup in Las Vegas that makes high-quality (but affordable) wall art. They've got the license to some great properties, like Star Trek, Plants vs. Zombies and a host of children's books, and now they are offering nearly all of the icon artwork produced by famed designer Susan Kare. The company scored some work with Zazzle, but they actually have a higher purpose than just printing other people's stuff. If you think these are merely wall stickers, I think it's important to explain how committed to art the team really is. The team itself is made up of artists, for example. Here's a bit of background: Dave, the on-demand production manager started in art school and wound up being featured on TUAW once upon a time. Vulcan, the on-demand production lead is a legendary aerosol artist who created the Graffiti Hall of Fame in Harlem in the '80s. Chris, director of creative services, co-founded one of the first on-demand wall graphics companies in the world while an undergraduate at UNLV, as did Stewart, who now runs business development. The founders, John Doffing and Tavia Campbell, have 20 years of digital imaging experience. CEO John even ran afoul of App Store guidelines early on in the store's history. So Walls360 is made up of artists and geeks, and I was more than impressed with their on-demand factory for printing these awesome wall art pieces. For those of you attending Macworld/iWorld, we'll have a special giveaway!
Icons & Coffee releases new set of custom OmniFocus icons
If you're a productivity junkie, you're probably already familiar with OmniFocus. And, if you're familiar with OmniFocus, you've probably messed around with changing the app's default perspective icons. Now, Icons & Coffee has released a new set of icons made specifically for OmniFocus, complete with Retina compatibility. The initial set includes 50 icons that should cover just about all of your needs, and each icon comes in two sizes: both 32x32 for non-Retina devices, and 64x64 for those who have upgraded to new Retina Macs or iOS gadgets. The set is on sale right now for US$4.99 right now, but will go back up to $9.99 after December 27.
The Iconfactory's David Lanham on building homescreen-worthy icons
When you admire an app icon on your Mac or iOS device, chances are that it may have been designed by The Iconfactory's David Lanham. I had the unique experience of having him sketch me over FaceTime for a custom avatar portrait, and he's a talented and friendly artist. The Verge's Ellis Hamburger recently interviewed Lanham about his work, his training and the reason why eye-catching icons are so important. Lanham, who has created such classic and whimsical icons as Twitterific's "Ollie," Acorn's acorn, Coda's leaf and the gorgeous calendar for Fantastical, notes in the interview that "icons are the face and branding of an app, and they set the tone and give people an idea of what to expect for an app's purpose, quality and content. It's extremely important to really nail the message and content of the icon if you want the best chance of someone initially checking out your app as well as keeping it on their device (or at least out of a subfolder)." Personally, I was happy to hear that Space Doggy is one of Lanham's favorite drawings, since I've used that drawing (a small fragment of which is seen below) as my Mac desktop for two years. It's a great interview with one of the people who makes working with Apple products such a joy.
Bartender will hide your menu bar icons, goes to version 1.0
Bartender is a simple but excellent little app that lets you control that flood of icons up in your menu bar on the top of your OS X window. Now, designer Ben Surtees, who we spoke with earlier this year about where the app came from, has released version 1.0.2 of the app, officially releasing it as a finished product out into the world. You can buy it now for US$15, or there's still a four-week trial period available, if you just want to check it out for free. Bartender offers a lot of different functionality to let you control your menu bar exactly as you choose. You can hide everything, kick icons down to Bartender's own bar or even set it up so that your icons are usually hidden, but only appear if they change. Plus, the app works with Notification Center, so you can hide or control that icon too as you'd like. And even when icons are moved down to the Bartender bar, they retain all of their functionality, as you can see above. Bartender is a handy little app, and congrats to Surtees on finally releasing it. Again, it's available for purchase right now.
Joseph Wain designs near-ubiquitous iOS icons
Chances are very good that almost any iOS app you use contains icons that were designed by one man -- Joseph Wain. Wain doesn't work for Apple and never has. Instead, he's a designer who was impressed at an early age by the work of seminal Apple and NeXT icon designer Susan Kare, but not impressed with early attempts at icon design by many app developers. So Wain sat down and designed Glyphish, a set of "great icons for mobile apps." Glyphish icons are visible in thousands of iOS apps. Wain believes the total number of apps using his icons is near 50,000 and growing. One Twitter user stated that "it's amazing how pervasive @glyphish's icons are in iOS! 2nd only to Apple in influencing look and feel." There's a bit of Kare's heart and soul in Glyphish, with all of the Cairo font dingbats re-imagined for the 21st century by Wain. He's made 200 of the icons available for free under a Creative Commons Attribution license, or app developers can pop $25 for a complete Pro set of 400 icons that come in regular and Retina resolutions. The icon library continues to grow; Wain often makes seasonal or timely icons available for free. Right now, you can download a set of "spooky" Halloween-themed icons from the Glyphish website. The next time you open up an iOS app, see how many Glyphish icons you can find and send your thanks to their creator, Joseph Wain.
Logitech Harmony Touch remote officially announced, brings swipe, scroll and tap LCD for $249
The cat is already well out of the bag, but we finally have some official information about the new Logitech Harmony Touch universal remote. Its first addition to the line in a while, Logitech is pushing its center-mounted 2.4-inch color touchscreen with support for control by tapping, swiping or scrolling through up to 50 channel icons as a way to "unprecedented control" of your home entertainment system. We're still not entirely sure about the transport controls being placed so far up top or the usefulness of a screen focused on direct live channel access in the DVR and streaming age (check out our thoughts on this week's podcast), but it does bring the usual control of up to 15 devices and backlit keys. Just as we saw in the stores, the price is set at $249 and it controls only via IR, not RF like the pricier Harmony 900. Check out more info in the press release after the break (along with quick demo and how-to setup videos) or on Logitech's blog, fans of the new device should be able to find them released widely in the US and Europe this month.
Logitech Harmony Touch remote pops up unannounced at Best Buy (Update: Pictures)
It's been a long time since we've seen any new blood refreshing Logitech's line of universal remotes, but after indications of new devices on the way in an earnings call earlier this year tipster Andrew spotted this brand new Harmony Touch on store shelves. Arriving at Best Buy unheralded by any official announcement or specs so far, the box shots and list of features show the ability to control 15 different devices and (of course) that center mounted touchscreen. There's no mention of it on the Logitech site either, however one leaked blog post we spotted referred to this device and a Harmony Plus. As our friends at Tech of the Hub note, the Touch clearly draws a lot of its heritage from the Harmony One and 1100 touchscreen remotes although to have ditched the dedicated Activity button for "one touch" control. The touchscreen itself supports both taps and swipes as well as up to 50 customizable channel icons, and the box lists both online setup and on-remote customization as features. According to Andrew it's rocking a price tag of $249 -- $50 above the current price of the Harmony One but $100 shy of the RF-equipped Harmony 900 -- hopefully we'll find out soon if what Logitech has added this time around makes it worth the wait. Update: Another one of our readers, Zachary also saw it at Best Buy and bought one, check out a few out of the box pics in the gallery below, and drop any questions about its capabilities in the comments. He's digging it so far, saying that the touchscreen is responsive and it found icons for his area quickly, with options to change background, LCD brightness and screen timeout. There does not appear to be any RF support however, so it's IR control only. [Thanks, Andrew]
Facebook for Android app updated with messaging emoji, easy event creation and a bit more
If you were wondering what features would be on the way after Facebook ditched pre-Froyo Android support for its app your questions have been answered. This revision lets users easily create events from their mobiles, share photos quicker and annoy their friends across platforms thanks to the kind of emoji iOS users have been annoying each other with for ages. In the screenshot above you see the new event creation pages and messaging screen where friends can toss in the icons or a picture while chatting privately, although updating to v1.9.8 will require a manual approval since it also seeks permission to obtain your location via coarse network-based methods. Assuming you're already down with Facebook's Open Graph-enabled tendrils snaking their way throughout your digital life (and, as an existing user already allowed it access to precise GPS-based location data) that's probably not too much of an issue, hit the Google Play link below to upgrade.
Firefox deems favicons risky, banishes them from address bar
Who'd have thought those tiny reminders of the site you're browsing could bite your backside? Apparently Mozilla did, and with its latest nightly Firefox build it has expunged favicons from their eternal perch just left of the URL. The problem is that instead something friendly -- like Google's famous "g" -- nefarious sites can use a padlock or similar image, making you think you're on a secure SSL page. So, starting from mid-July you'll see a generic globe for standard websites, green padlocks for SSL sites with validation, and gray padlocks for SSL sites without it. Take note that (so far) tabs will keep their favicons, so those of us with 43 sites open at the same time will still know where in the web we are.
OS X 10.7.3 includes new high-res pointer icons, rampant speculation ensues
Soon after the 10.7.3 update to OS X Lion, people started finding subtle differences in the pointer icons for OS X (hat tip to Daring Fireball). Specifically, the link, grab, copy, and screenshot pointers have all been updated with slightly new iterations for the first time since OS X 10.2, released in 2002. The link pointer features a slightly angled index finger rather than the traditional straight finger that's been a staple of the icon since even before OS X, and the grab pointer has been updated to more closely match the "Mickey Mouse glove" appearance of the link pointer. The copy pointer features a more pronounced green gradient beneath the "+" symbol. The old pseudo-SLR camera icon for the screenshot pointer, which comes up after hitting Command + Shift + 4 and then tapping the spacebar, has been replaced with an icon that matches the icon for the Image Capture application. Old icon, new icon, Image Capture app icon Apple has also updated all icons with high resolution versions for Universal Access purposes, so the pointers no longer look badly pixellated when super-sized via the Universal Access settings in System Preferences. Beware of comically large pointer "The simplest explanation is that Apple only just now got around to increasing the resolution of these elements for the benefit of users who use the cursor-zooming Universal Access feature," says Daring Fireball's John Gruber. Indeed, these OS X pointer icons hadn't been updated in nearly ten years. Gruber further speculates that this may be an initial step toward higher resolution "Retina Display" Macs, though he admits that we should "take my conjecture here with a grain of wishful-thinking salt." Many blogs must have skipped that last sentence, because overnight speculation over possible "Retina Display Macs" has been rampant since the updated pointers gained wider attention. But the simplest explanation that Gruber himself cites is the best one; the pointer icons are a very minor detail in OS X and a feature that remained completely static for close to a decade without anyone noticing or complaining. The updated icons aren't terribly likely to have anything to do with forthcoming updated hardware.
The Road to Mordor: Wish lists, past and future
Hobbits love making lists, don't they? In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo had a lengthy list of friends and relatives to invite to his eleventy-first birthday party, and he didn't have the luxury of Facebook to help him out. I love lists as well, although I try to save most of that for my Perfect Ten column. At the beginning of the year, I sat down and drafted up a "wish list" for Lord of the Rings Online's 2011 year, populating it with 11 changes and additions I was hoping to see by now. To my surprise, Turbine actually pulled off quite a few items on the list, and I thought it'd be a good idea to go back and examine which of my goals the team met and which remain elusive. Also, since 2012 kicks off tomorrow, I'll look forward as well and draft up a dozen -- yes, one more over the year before -- wish list items that I'd love to see come true in the new year. It's my column; I can cry if I want to, after all. Let's get this party started!
iPhone icon cupcakes look touchable, tasty
We haven't posted a really good iPhone cake in quite a while now, so here we go: Reader Tim sends in this set of cupcakes that his girlfriend made him for his 21st birthday, and boy do they look good. There are a few things that, as Apple obsessive, we would call out in there, including the fact that this cake uses the old iPod logo instead of the new Music app logo, and the fact that the phone happens to be tilted the wrong way in these pictures. But hey, that's just us nitpicking -- these look great, very nice job, and I especially like the custom day and date, as well as the special message on the Notes icon. Happy belated birthday, Tim, and you've got one very talented and sweet lady there.
Inside Susan Kare's 'iconic' sketchbooks
We've mentioned Susan Kare and her work on the site before, but it's a story that's always worth repeating: She's the woman behind some of Apple's most iconic, well, icon designs. Kare was working as a curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco when her friend Andy Hertzfeld asked her to think about some graphical icons to be used in a computer interface, and as you can see on this great PLoS blog post, she jumped right into the project. In these great images from her sketchbooks, you can see her working on the first proportionally spaced digital fonts used, and then progress up into bitmaps of both famous Mac icons like the Trash Can, the Cmd key, and the smiling Mac. There are even some really great but not used icons like a symbol for "Auto Indent" that actually shows an automobile leaving an indentation in a tree. What amazing work. She has published a book of her work, and you can even get it signed if you buy it directly from her website. Don't forget, too, that not only was Kare designing these icons for the Mac, but this was for the first major computer graphic interface, which means many of the standard icons we know today (the little speaker for audio controls, or the hand on screen for moving things around or even clicking through Internet links, were first originated by Kare and her peers. Really amazing stuff. [via The Mary Sue]
Ice Cream Sandwich may have a built-in photo editor to help your pictures turn out halfway decent
If you envision Ice Cream Sandwich -- the latest iteration of Android -- as a revolutionary update that satisfies every single one of your geeky lusts, we sure hope you've been aching for a photo editor. It appears that AndroidPolice has hunted down a variety of icons and logos presumed to be associated with the feature, but it's not certain if these will actually appear in the final build. The icons hint at a smattering of image editing tools: crop, sharpen, flip, rotate and a selection of 19 possible photo effects are among the options. Again, this is highly speculative, and rumors such as these will likely ramp up as we approach the official announcement. 'Course, we won't scoff at the idea of a native photo editor in Ice Cream Sandwich, but we're sincerely hoping this won't be the coolest thing about the new OS at Tuesday's announcement in Hong Kong. [Thanks, Paul]
