Improve Icon Readability

[kizzard]

Feature Request

First, thanks for creating this app - I'm enjoying it so far. I have a suggestion - the current icon crams the name "SLEEK" into a fairly small space. This is not really readable at most icon sizes and doesn't look great. My suggestion is to replace Sleek with "S", or perhaps even a stylized check box or similar.

I have attached a quick example and mockup of what it looks like on the desktop (note this sample icon doesn't include the existing 3d-ish border on the circle, but you get the idea. At icon resolution it works well.

I would submit a MR but I don't have the necessary toolchain to generate all the icon asset files.

What problem does it solve?

• Aesthetic improvement
• improved readability of icon
• improved brand recognition

How does the user interface change to accommodate this request?

A simple change to the existing icon asset files.

Attachments

[fredofredofred]

Sorry - this is a long one. TLDR it would need some work because branding is hard and in my opinion the current branding is mostly good.

Where the icon is large enough for the text to be legible I think the current icon saying 'sleek' looks good.

I agree that where the icon is smaller (in my taskbar for instance) it doesn't work as well visually.

Personally I don't love the big 'S'. Better for legibility at small sizes. But maybe worse at large sizes where having the full app name would be better for recognition.

I think your suggestion about a stylised checkbox might be a direction to go in, but it'd need to be a really good design to fit in. The app has quite a minimalist aesthetic which makes adding purely decorative elements very challenging.

The 'Lego' icon on their website favicon is illegible but the distinctive colours and shape of the word mean that it seems recongisable at small scale https://www.lego.com (Admittedly I have seen that logo repeatedly over several decades...) Perhaps something similar could work here.

Increase the size of the text on the current logo by 10%-15%. Perhaps the current gradient could be light at two opposite corners and at it's darkest behind the text. Add a slight shadow around the text.

The idea would be to make the shape of the word more clearly visible at small sizes even if the individual letters are not legible. This might improve recognition while keeping the look at the larger scales.

However the main thing is it'd need someone with the right tools to do some drafts of different ideas, get feedback and iterate - and in the end it might be an incremental improvement rather than a re-branding.

[ransome1]

@fredofredofred @kizzard for the upcoming 2.0.28 release, I would like to switch all icons from the round shape to the rounded square design, as this is now the standard for all macOS applications and widely accepted among Linux and Windows users. At the same time, I’d like to try significantly increasing the text size. The first picture shows a before-and-after comparison of what this will look like after the release.

I believe this is a low hanging fruit, without risking too much of a backlash from the users and most likely no true usability issues.

[fredofredofred]

I think it looks good with the larger text.

Here is an idea on design but double check this as it might just be me:

On the vertical placement it looks like you've got equal gaps between the edge of the icon and the ends of the 'L'? This places the bulk of the text slightly lower than the mid-point.

It's not really noticeable on most of them except the one with the biggest text in proportion to the icon.

I'd use the mid-point of the 'e' as my centre point for the text, so the 'L' and 'k' stick up slightly.

[ransome1]

@kizzard the updated logo is part of the latest pre-release: https://github.com/ransome1/sleek/releases/tag/v2.0.28-rc.1

@fredofredofred I get what you mean! But I’d actually prefer it not to look centered; just have the whole block vertically centered instead 🫣