October 12, 2007
Lancelot icon
Bridgekeeper: WHAT… is your name?
Lancelot: Sir Lancelot of Camelot.
Bridgekeeper: WHAT…is your quest?
Lancelot: To seek the Holy Grail.
Bridgekeeper: WHAT…is your favorite color?
Lancelot: Blue.
Bridgekeeper: Right, off you go.
Lancelot: Oh! Well, thank you. Thank you very much.
I got bored while waiting for the green light for committing the NodeLayout (later about that) to libPlasma, so I decided to make a nice icon for Lancelot. I had a couple of ideas - shield, knight, helmet and a grail.
Shield was not a great solution since people would think that it has something to do with computer protection, and knight and helmet (IMHO) are suited more for a game like Wesnoth then for an application launcher. So i have made a grail.
i like the gear detail at the base of the grail, very good!
Comment by David — October 12, 2007 @ 7:59 pm
OMG, it’s beautiful, but it could be better in the small version.
Comment by Luis — October 12, 2007 @ 8:09 pm
So realistic it makes me thirsty…
Comment by Leo S — October 12, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
Such a nice looking icon. I have to agree with Luis, the smaller versions suffer - could the lighting be improved?
Comment by John Drinkwater — October 12, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
The icons really are beautiful. But at least for me, its hard to associate a cup of wine with launching apps…
Thinking about medieval and launching, I think of spears, catapults etc.
Comment by ben — October 12, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
I know that the smaller ones (32×32 and below) are “a bit” undefined, but [on the other side] good thing is that they are clearly visible on both light and dark coloured backgrounds which is a hard thing to do with icons most of the time. I’ll try to think of something if I get bored again anytime soon.
@ben
I see what you mean, but catapult is already taken (Katapult for KDE), and spears and swords are extremely thin things to be nicely presented on 64×64 pixels (and they too are game-like).
This is the logo, I would expect people (or the distros) to put the distro logo instead of it, like they did for kmenu in most cases (maybe lancelot will use the KDE logo like other launchers…).
Wow, this comment is even longer than the blog post.
Comment by admin — October 12, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
Amazing. And I didn’t even notice that the pattern on the base was a gear (nice subtlety).
@ben - One doesn’t think of an N or an E as a web browser, or a wolf for a music library either. Once the goblet/grail is ingrained in our minds, it won’t seem unnatural any more. When I first started using the Oxygen icon for Kaffeine, it seemed weird. But now it’s just natural.
Comment by Alex — October 12, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
It looks real good. Though a spear might have been a good idea to since “lance” in French is both a spear and to launch.
Comment by Anonymous Troll — October 12, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
Hey Ivan,
This looks amazing! I have to ask: how did you make it? Is it an SVG with fake shadows and lighting, or did you raytrace an actual 3D model?
Comment by Jean — October 12, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
[...] che ci siete si chiama così perché richiama le parole launch-a-lot e anche perché il suo creatore usava “Sir Lancelot” come [...]
Pingback by Lancelot?! « RamieLinux world and beyond — October 13, 2007 @ 12:23 am
Sweet. You’re a multi talented guy, eh?
Looking forward to seeing Lancelot, even if I’m still baffled as to how 0click will work out!
one thing you must do, however, is give me a little more space to write in. I can’t breathe in 100×100px
Comment by Stefan Monov — October 13, 2007 @ 6:26 am
It’s nice but not very intuitive. Sure I’ll get used to it but that doesn’t mean it makes sense. However this is a common “problem” with KDE applications, names and icons … Nice job
Comment by Nick — October 13, 2007 @ 7:14 am
No 3D - pure SVG. Inkscape is a very powerful tool, especially since addition of the blur effect.
@Ramielinux (Pingback)
It’s always easier to criticize than to actually do something.
@Stefan
(see the whole world in a grain of sand :D)
Thanks. You need to focus, to become one with the 100×100px and you will know that 100×100px is far larger than you need
@Nick (and other intuition related posts)
The main purpose of application icons is not to be intuitive, but recognizable. It has not only to do with KDE, but all other platforms as well (for example Photoshop icon - an eye, now a feather).
Comment by admin — October 13, 2007 @ 7:37 am
Amazing simple amazing, wonderful work.
Comment by nuno pinheiro — October 13, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Comment by admin — October 13, 2007 @ 9:43 am
Hi Ivan!
First of all,excuse me for the wrong information published on my blog (ramielinux.wordpress.com) I posted an Errata Corrige after your comment!I’m really impressed ’cause you know Italian and understand it very well considering your answers!You’ve to know,like you already understood,I’m a bit confused on what Lancelot is!Reading better your answers I understand it would be a new(”new” like original) implementation of what kickoff is right now.I’m interested in this application considering that some new solution is knocking on KDE4 doors.Please explain me better what Lancelot is, if there’s some code or whatever you want, if you want!
Send me an email if you prefer!
Fabrizio Ruggeri
Comment by Fabrizio "Ramiel" Ruggeri — October 14, 2007 @ 12:08 am