The Hickensian
20.04.04 Thunderbird
194 commentsFollowing on from the branding of Firefox, comes the new logo for Mozilla’s email client, Thunderbird. When Stephen Desroches sketched out the orginal idea for Firefox back in December, he had in mind how this affects the other applications, and Thunderbird was sketched out too:
After Firefox 0.8 came out, I started work on fleshing theses sketches out, trying various bird types. Early on we decided to keep the envelope metaphor, and include a globe. At this point I couldn’t find any reference to a real Thunderbird, so I didn’t have a starting point. I tried a few approaches:
These are my working sketches – #1:Too evil! #2: Dove =
too fluffy! (although it stood for mail in many countries)
#3: Too different in position to Firefox #4: Too hunched! #5:better, but still a wierd shape. Generally, the perspective on all but the first sketch looked a bit odd.
Finally I’d found a reference to a mythical Thunderbird in Native American art, which had a crest. I really liked this idea, and added it to the final sketch. Sketch #6 is a basic vectors sketch using #5 as a basis, but adding the crest and improving the posture.
Finally we had something we had something that the team were all happy with.
This time I was using Illustrator CS to create the logo. I started by creating the main colour palette – a range of tones as new swatches, I usually do about four: ‘Darkest. Dark, Mid, Light’. With each colour, I checked the option for ‘Global’. All gradients were then created using these swatches. This allowed me to adjust the colours for, say, “Mid tone” and it would then update all the instances of that colour – even those used in gradients.
Here are the final icons:
More importantly, Thunderbird also gets Kevin Gerich and Stephen Horlander’s brand spanking new pinstripe theme for OS X. When you compare this interface with the Windows equivalent, you can really appreciate the attention to detail. They’ve gone to huge lengths to make this look and feel as much of a native app as possible. I only converted to Apple Mail from Entourage back in January, but I’m giving Tbird a spin to see if I’m tempted over. So far I particularly love the 3 column layout option. At the time of writing, the new icon artwork has only been checked into the Windows version – OS X will come soon.
Now that Firefox and Thunderbird are both ‘done’, the task is go back over both of them, tweaking and polishing before the final release candidates.
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∞ Erik Simmler said 2121 days ago:
Wow, that's really nice! I'm almost tempted to switch just because of the icons.I brought up the firebird icon and put them next to each other... very cool.
∞ Dave S. said 2121 days ago:
I just can't freakin' wait to have another Jon Hicks-designed icon sitting in my dock.Glad you dropped the globe. The final result feels a little dark yet, and a little mis-shapen (not a true circle) but I'll have to reserve judgement until I see it side-by-side with the Firefox icon.
∞ Paul D said 2121 days ago:
Wow, terrific work. Besides your good drawing skills, you seem to have a knack for designs that are bright, colourful, and pleasing to look at without being garish and oversaturated.Any chance you could make some PNGs with transparency?
∞ Vitaliy said 2121 days ago:
Looks awesome! Very nice logo, cant wait for new Thunderbird release. :)∞ Ryan Brill said 2121 days ago:
Awesome! Yet another beautiful piece of artwork. I've been waiting for the perfect time to switch to Thunderbird, and it looks like that's probably going to be soon. Well done.∞ blakems said 2121 days ago:
"I like the bird, He delivers my mail quickly." That is the feeling I get from looking at the logo.Awesome!
∞ Bob Cieszkowski said 2121 days ago:
Hicks, you've done it again!You've elevated icon-design to an art form.
Nicely done.
∞ Bruce said 2121 days ago:
That is an awesome logo! I downloaded Thunderbird a while ago to see how it compares to Outlook Express. Unfortunately, I didn't like it much, which is a shame since Mozilla is a great suite. Though the icon tempts me to download it again. The OE envelope sure looks out-of-place next to Firebird in my QuicKLaunch ;)∞ Todd said 2121 days ago:
I have only one word:Wow!
That is all for me. I quit. Seriously, that is one great logo. Great job!
∞ kris said 2121 days ago:
simply put, that logo/icon as an absolute stunner. fantastic work.∞ Norberto said 2121 days ago:
Wow, it's Just wonderful!. Now that Firefox and Thunderbird have the most beautiful icons. It's time to create the icons por *.htm*, *.php, *.css, *..xml and pictures files (*.gif, *.jpg, etc...)∞ Cameron Moll said 2121 days ago:
Wicked. Just wicked, Jon.∞ Veerle Pieters said 2121 days ago:
Jon, this is another amazing stunning piece of art! You have a way with colors, they are always so bright and beautiful! I really like your style ;-)PS: did you do everything in Illustrator CS? I mean also the smooth shadows etc.?
∞ Buzz Andersen said 2121 days ago:
Thanks for the excellent glimpse into the design process. I'm always in awe of people who can do great illustration, so it's really interesting to see how they work.∞ J.D. Myers said 2121 days ago:
Great job again Jon. You've done a fantastic job of converting a concept with a few sketches into a wonderfully vibrant and eye-catching icon.∞ Ulf Schubert said 2121 days ago:
hey, that looks great. i think i will switch from entourage to thunderbird because of the icon :-)But at 16x16 it reminds me of the haircut of a pop diva.
∞ Greg K Nicholson said 2121 days ago:
Absolutely bloody marvellous!Y'know I think it's actually better than the Firefox one...
∞ Colin said 2121 days ago:
Yum yum yum! Even the tiny icon holds its identity well - great job!∞ David said 2121 days ago:
Pretty nice icon.My only critique is that it fails to simplify at smaller sizes -- it just scales. It really loses most of its recognition at 16x16 (Firefox almost does as well). The problem with the bird at 16x16 is that on any XP machine with the default theme (me!), it will blend in with the Quick Launch bar and the program's title bar. The one thing I really like about the current T'bird icon is that it simplifies when it shrinks.
On a side note, are there any plans to make FIrefox document icons? It's a real shame that all my web documents have *just* the Firefox icon instead of a document + program icon version. (That said, anyone else having problems with .xml file icons associated with Firefox?)
∞ Scrivs said 2121 days ago:
Why does everyone just pat everyone else on the back around here. I mean its like we are all just part of a society where saying anything negative is complete blashphemy. Sure Hicks does some great designs, but every time he does a logo everyone doesn't need to tell him how wonderful it is just because he did it..Hell man, who am I kidding. It looks great and I really appreciate the fact that you showed some of the process that was entailed in making it. Keep up the solid work.
You should put some serious thought into creating a suite of icons for sale (not Mozilla stuff obviously). Josh Williams (firewheeldesign.com) doesn't seem to be doing so bad with this business.
∞ Flexer said 2121 days ago:
Hmm it's nice but the 16x16 doesn't look very good :|∞ John said 2121 days ago:
I've always thought a Thunderbird should have a somewhat fast(evil?) look about it. The current design is still too "fluffy" -- the beak and enlarged cranium are too similar to the dove.Design #1, with the current color scheme and the addition of the crest from the Native American example would be perfect.
∞ Keith said 2121 days ago:
You know I loved the Firefox logo and man, this one is better. You do some great work Jon!You should, as Scrivs said, look into creating a custom icon set.
∞ Tomas said 2121 days ago:
Very very nice. I like it, I like it a lot. I might have had the bird have the envelope in its beak, as opposed to, uh, carrying it with its wings? But that's just my tangential preference.Very nice design.
∞ Josh S said 2121 days ago:
Wow—that looks incredible! I can't wait until I can see this right next to my Firefox icon on my dock!You really have a knack for this!
∞ Robert Accettura said 2121 days ago:
Absolutely awesome!You rock! Keep up the amazing work.
∞ René Wuttke said 2121 days ago:
Wow, groundbreaking! Make sure to drop a note when it is in the OSX-nightlys.∞ Terry said 2121 days ago:
Truely inspirational! I love the detailed design process as well. Maybe you can make a post about how exactly you go about picking color swatches. Do you first pick a root color and find complementary colors and then do dark and light shades of the chosen colors after?∞ Vidar Haarr said 2121 days ago:
You're a true magician.∞ waylman said 2121 days ago:
Excellent!You know, I almost like #6 better that the finale but then I realized it would just be a grayish-blue ball at any smaller sizes.
What's nice about the final icon is that the envelope is still noticable at even the smallest size (just as the the glode is for firefox). Sure, the bird (as well as the the fox) are not as disernable at such sizes but we associate an envelope with email (and the globe with internet browsers), regardless of which one we use. So, it works (and its consistant).
∞ Malarkey said 2121 days ago:
ComradeThat design is truly stunning!
∞ Denis said 2121 days ago:
Very very nice, however the 16x16 px. one is not as clear as the firefox icon you did. I suspect that icon will be in many windowspeoples quickstart, on a lot of windowframes and taskbars.. Important to get right I think.Anyway, looks great in higher pixelsizes! :)
∞ Johan said 2121 days ago:
Amazing!∞ Lars said 2121 days ago:
Wow.∞ Bacon said 2121 days ago:
It's a bit more round for my tastes, but still good. I always find round icons or icons with a logo in a bubble a bit unimaginative.As others have said, it doesn't look good when scaled down to the taskbar on Windows machines, much like the Firebird. icon.
Still, nice work.
∞ Axel Hecht said 2121 days ago:
The logos look cool in huge sizes, but from 32x32 down, the poor bird looks like a wig.Sorry, just giving my initial impression.
Hrm. The 16x16 could be P!nks new haircut.
∞ Patrick Szalapski said 2121 days ago:
I like it alot, but where's the "thunder"? The firefox is a fox and looks firey, but this looks like a bluejay. I don't see any thunder.∞ Florian Sievert said 2121 days ago:
Wow, absolutly an amazing work. There are not many moments where i am sitting with an open mouth in front of the monitor. I am really looking forward to the new artwork! :)∞ Wuddel said 2121 days ago:
Hum How can one actually 'see' thunder. I thougt you can hear it only.∞ flacco said 2121 days ago:
too bad i'll never see this good work - just like the firefox icon - since mozilla's legal issues prevents debian from distributing it.∞ Jonathan Hicks said 2121 days ago:
Gosh, steady on everyone!To all those who say the 16px version isn't very good - I completely agree with you. I'm not yet happy with either this or Firefox'ss 16px icons - yet. Its made even harder by the Windows taskbar - that default blue is real pain to get icons to stand out, unless you use yellow!
This is one of the next jobs I mentioned. Also, the Thunderbird icon looks a little different to Firefox one - more finished I think. I'm going to be putting them side by side and tweaking them in tandem.
Orginally the bird was a dark thundery purple, but it was changed to blue to match the Firefox colours better.
∞ JongAm Park said 2121 days ago:
Genius!!!!!!!!The cute and elegant firefox icon..
and.. now professional-looking thunderbird icon!
∞ Paul said 2121 days ago:
Your icons are like works of art. That's not good, because small icons are ugly and an icon should just be a logo, which has simple colors and design with something catchy. I followed someone's link to http://www.firewheeldesign.com/and theirs are very "logoY" while still artistic∞ Guillaume said 2121 days ago:
This one is really WICKED !∞ tim said 2121 days ago:
Why use Illustrator instead of Fireworks MX? Just interested in your design decisions.That said, it is again a beautiful larger image. Good to hear that you still don't consider the 16x16 done. I have to say that I really like the current Thunderbird 16x16 icon. Very clean with just the envelope. I do not know if just having an envelope (and maybe the globe for Firefox) makes sense with the overall design goal and with your artisitic direction. I will be interested to see what you come up with.
Thanks for your work.
∞ Kenneth said 2121 days ago:
Outside of the fact that the names Firefox and Thunderbird have nothing to do with the apps they represent (browswer/mail&news, clean artwork here. Congratulations. I'm curious as to whether a new theme for the products is to follow?∞ Dave said 2121 days ago:
Excellent work.I especially liked the Firefox wallpaper. Will you be doing a combined one adding the new Thunderbird logo now?
∞ Martins said 2121 days ago:
Awesome. I will give Thunderbird a try just because of icons!∞ metz2000 said 2121 days ago:
Not sure about the 16x16 icon? Maybe just an envelope would be better?∞ Vincent said 2121 days ago:
That's a really, REALLY nice logo. Congrats.∞ James "Kovu" Russell said 2121 days ago:
I really like the Tbird designs - but there's no "thunder" represented, although how you represent thunder is tricky; the only visual representation is lightning and lightning isn't thunder. I don't know; good job, though!∞ Nico said 2121 days ago:
Fan bloody tastic! ;)BEAUTIFUL!
I'm really looking forward to replacing MSIE with Firefox and Outlook with Thunderbird. ;)
∞ Dunstan said 2121 days ago:
Now if only Thundercats would make a come back, you'd be in the money...Bravo, sir.
∞ TimB said 2121 days ago:
Quick shoot the bird, he's stealing my e-mails∞ scratch said 2121 days ago:
the windows icon should have 64x64 and 128x128 included. yes, it is possible to do so, and many modern apps do it.∞ David Barrett said 2121 days ago:
Jonathan: Excellent work.At the moment I'm working off my Dad's Windows 2000 machine which has the Firefox logo near to the IE and Outlook ones. Your icons look much better than them in the quicklaunch, even if you're not happy with them yet.
Dunstan: Well they brought back He-Man, the Turtles and the Transformers, so I'd be shocked if the Thundercats didn't return too.
∞ Jeff Walden said 2121 days ago:
I can't say I like it as much as the Firefox logo, but it's still pretty good. A little tweaking here and there as time goes should make it pretty awesome when it hits a final (final) version.By the way: does anyone else find it amazing that this post was made only several hours ago yet already has 50+ comments on it?
∞ Jinketsu said 2121 days ago:
And with this I ask,When will we see a vector art how-to in the articles section? :)
Awesome icon. Thunderbird looks like it's going to hand you the email. Or giving email a big hug.
∞ António said 2121 days ago:
Hello,very nice work. I´ve been using Firefox and I will never use another browser... But it seems like there isn´t a "document icon" (all my html files appear with the standard firefox icon)... Will you create a document icon in the future?
∞ Kripkenstein said 2121 days ago:
The big icon looks pretty good, but I don't know anyone who sees 48x48 icons, so all the prettyness is mostly wasted. Even at 32x32 you need to look carefully to make out what it's a picture of...and at 16x16 it's some pale-faced anime chick. That's bad.This design seems better suited as the Thunderbird logo (and as such is awesome), not the application's icon!
I launch Thunderbird from my quick links in the taskbar when I'm in Windows, and I hope I get a more comprehensable 16x16 icon than the one pictured here. I say you forget representing the envelope at that res. Since the top of the bird's head is circular, and it's important for the small icon to essentially be a blue circle, why not just have a 16X16 circular cutout from the bird's face at 48x48? Remember that the 16x16 icon is the one that windows users will see most, since it's also in the top left corner of the app itself. It has to be much cleaner and more abstract than the one here.
∞ Tom said 2121 days ago:
Mr Hicks,have you considered retheming the application as a whole? I love it, but to many users it looks just very similar to OE; many might argue what the point in changing?
∞ Tony said 2121 days ago:
> Why use Illustrator instead of Fireworks MX? Just interested in your design decisions.Errr.... are you serious? I know as much as anyone that the tools don't make the artwork good (the artist's use of the tools does), but Fireworks MX is not even in the same playing field as Adobe Illustrator.
I love fireworks, but think consumer (fireworks) vs. professional (illustrator)...
∞ Bevan Collins said 2121 days ago:
Sure, the large views of the icons look good, but the 32x32 and 16x16 are the ones mostly going to be seen (on Windows anyway), and they are both very difficult to make out.I find 16x16 icons an absosulte pain in the ass to get right.
∞ Peter Zignego said 2121 days ago:
Woo, quite nice indeed:) The inclusion of the original sketches was a nice touch to the post too, good to see how this bad boy started.The Mozilla icon guru strikes again!
∞ J. W. said 2121 days ago:
Outstanding icons. Keep up the outstanding work. :)∞ Ken Arway said 2121 days ago:
Ugh! A cute little wimpy bluejay....∞ Jesus Delgado said 2121 days ago:
Hola:Esto realmente es un trabajo excelente, muestra talento, creatividad, estilo, no puedo decir mas palabras porque estan padrisimos los iconos.
Felicidades
∞ Jeff Walden said 2121 days ago:
For those of us who don't know Spanish, directly courtesy of Google. It's understandable even if it misses a little at the end:Hello: This really is an excellent work, shows to talent, creativity, style, I cannot say but words because the icons estan padrisimos. Congratulations
∞ Jonathan Dobres said 2121 days ago:
As usual, utterly stellar work. May I make a suggestion about the 16x16 icon, though? At 16x16, it looks almost like an envelope set against a very blue globe, rather than a bird hugging an envelope. I kind of like the envelope-on-globe idea. The old icon changes to accomodate the detail change, so why shouldn't this one?∞ John Colby said 2121 days ago:
How do you do it? Really excellent again. And your page design rocks!∞ Minh Nguyễn said 2121 days ago:
Jesús Delgado’s comment more closely reads:∞ BrianH said 2121 days ago:
I still say the beak is too shallow. it needs more of a hook like a preditory bird.∞ Sander said 2121 days ago:
What are the chances of a make-over of the original Mozilla artwork? (Firefox feels far too constricting to my browsing-habits, and thus I'm also not switching to Thunderbird, but I'm definitely impressed by what you're doing here...)∞ Rich Hafer said 2121 days ago:
When can I buy the t-shirt, coffee mug, and poster with this icon on it. It simply rocks! Heck, if only this thing would animate!∞ tim said 2121 days ago:
>> Why use Illustrator instead of Fireworks MX? >>Just interested in your design decisions.>Errr…. are you serious? I know as much as anyone that the tools don’t make the artwork good (the artist’s use of the tools does), but Fireworks MX is not even in the same playing field as Adobe Illustrator.
Thanks Tony. I was not aware of the graphical reasons. All I know is that the Firefox logo was created in Fireworks according to the blog. So I was curious why the use of a different program for this one. If it is a better program, then why not use it for the last one? I don't know much about graphic design but I do appreciate the step by step explanation for the community and was hoping to understand his decision for changing the program he used between the two icons. I have no interest in what he used other simple knowledge. Thanks again.
∞ Jafe Mourner said 2121 days ago:
Jon- these icons are absolutely brilliant. I think I like them even more than the Firefox. :)∞ Red Wolf said 2121 days ago:
It's a great design but it's let down by the small beak, which makes the design look pidgeon-like and fluffy. The larger beak from the preminary sketches 4 and 5 is better, if a bit non-raptor looking.Still, it will be great to get a uniform look to Firefox and Thunderbird at last.
∞ Tom said 2121 days ago:
Wow, this icon and the Firefox one are excellent.I wish you could make icons for every single one of my programs. :-D
∞ Jason Santa Maria said 2121 days ago:
Gorgeous work, Jon. You are a true artist. Great color choices as well.I can't wait to see your icons for Mozilla's Emu and Aardvark programs.
∞ Benita said 2121 days ago:
Hi,What we need is a T-shirt with this logo!!
Anyone from the Mozilla Store (http://store.mozilla.org) listening??
Thanks,
-Benita
∞ Greg K Nicholson said 2121 days ago:
*cough* Sunbird! *cough*∞ Noah C said 2121 days ago:
I love your icons and would love to see you work maybe in themeing such as icon packs for KDE or such. I agree, with the design. One thing that keeps staring at me when I look at that I con is that it doesn't say fast...I thought about maybe some silver tinges on the wings or the head? it gives the look of fast, lighting, which goes along with thunder...thunderbird :)∞ Sahil said 2121 days ago:
Request for wallpaper!Oh cool, this is nifty - you're actually displaying a preview of my comment in real time. Funky.
What can be done about 16x16 and 32x32 icons? At 1024x768 screen resolution they are a bit hard to make out. And one severly braindamaged OS still has tiny icons on the panel.
The heck with it I say, I use GNOME with the panel sized at 48x48 and soak in all the yummy icon goodness.
∞ Greg said 2121 days ago:
I second the t-shirt idea. Absolutely beautiful work. More open source application developers should pay attention to the work done for Firefox and Thunderbird.∞ Jonas said 2121 days ago:
Really nice work. It would be cool to change the ugly mail start page (the one you see when opening Tb) and add the bird in the background.∞ Aleksandar Vacić said 2121 days ago:
Nice working process, I really like the effort put in.My 2 cents about smaller sizes, especially 16px: don't be afraid to remove the some of the icons details.
For 16px, I would go only with part of the envelop and a part of the head or a wing.
∞ Twyford said 2121 days ago:
Well done. That is absolutely amazing. I cannot wait for those icons. Well done∞ Travis Cripps said 2121 days ago:
Beautiful work. I like how you share a bit of your creative process, showing the evolution of the project.Congratulations!
∞ stan said 2121 days ago:
wow... great work . Its amazing to see how you create this beautuful icon... nice job :)∞ MozJF said 2121 days ago:
Simply wonderful. I suppose there would be an art branding for home builders (like it is the case for firefox).Anyway, it is a wonderful artwork !
Thanks, you're an artists.
∞ Phil Baines said 2121 days ago:
Very nice indeed. I second the mention of a different 16x16 icon though, maybe just an evelope?About the default blue on winXP; Does anyone actually keep that look? If they do, then they deserve not to be able to see their icons!
∞ frédéric said 2121 days ago:
Both in idea and finishing a very good logo! And nicely presented too. Nothing but respect.∞ Nicole said 2121 days ago:
Beautiful. When can I update please? I wanna have those.Okay, to be precise, I don't use thunderbird (because Agent suits me better at the moment) but a) this icons gets me thinking why I should not switch and b) I have some relatives where I set up the mailprogram and I want to give them the new icon :o))
(so I am the good girl which gave them a nice new logo)
∞ Chris Vincent said 2121 days ago:
Very nice work! I love the spherical shape that's kept from the Firefox icon.∞ alain said 2121 days ago:
Very good work! Congratulation and thanks!∞ Philips said 2121 days ago:
It looks great.But.
Very similar to www.ritlabs.com's The Bat! logo. In ex-USSR area it is de facto standard mail client.
∞ David said 2121 days ago:
I third the t-shirt idea! I would buy one in a second (esp. if it's a long-sleeve one ^_^)∞ Flaimo said 2121 days ago:
can we have thunderbird wallpapers too, just like for firefox? png if possible...∞ Majix said 2121 days ago:
When I saw this logo I actually said out loud "Holy shit", it's that good. It's really a shame the logos aren't more prominently displayed in the applications. For example, this Thunderbird logo should be on the "Mail start page" pane, and the Firefox logo could be on the default start up page and maybe also on about:blank. End users dig these things, it helps a lot when you are trying to win them over from IE, much more so than any single feature in my experience.∞ Bart N. said 2121 days ago:
Simply amazing ! I'm going to set this icon to ALL my filetypes :)∞ tristan said 2121 days ago:
nice illustrator work, but i wonder about the efficiency of the 32x32 and 16x16 sizes.. is it really an icon ? (the small sizes look like an angry blue-haired punkette...)anyway, impressive skills !
T
∞ Floris Barnhoorn said 2121 days ago:
actually it is on the mail start page :)
The art is already included in the latest test build of thunderbird.
∞ Karl Glatz said 2121 days ago:
Great work!I never have seen a so perfect icon for a computer programm! It is just amazing!
I would buy a t-shirt too :)
Cool would be if the shirt has both, the firefox and the thunderbird logo.
cya
Karl Glatz
∞ Obelix said 2120 days ago:
I'm adding to this Love Fest .First off super logo.
Second and more importantly the fact that you share the progression and your process is invaluable.
As someone who is constantly trying to improve my skillsm you have been an awesome resource.
∞ Proenca said 2120 days ago:
nice concept .. i like it∞ acamargo said 2120 days ago:
beautiful! esplêndido!Thank you Stephen and Jon, you made a really good work boys!
I disagree about 16x16 icon, I think the "envelope" metaphor looks good into the small cell.
∞ Josh Jarmin said 2120 days ago:
It is a rare thing when you can make so many people switch to use a new program based only on the logo. I hope they are paying you well for these logos because they are amazing. I hope to see some html, gif, jpeg, etc icons using these new logos.∞ Trevor said 2120 days ago:
I like his little beak - like a carrier pigeon delivering mail.∞ Tommy R said 2120 days ago:
Just lovely!!Tell me will the various file association icons for firefox and thunderbird also be getting the Hicks treatment? (something other than just being given the application logo)
One point however, as noted by others the design isn't quite circular which looks a little odd IMHO. Also I think it would be nice if we could see a corner or two of the envelope somewhere, as is it's a little concealed by the bird.
Thanks for your great work.
Tom.
∞ Alex said 2120 days ago:
Wow, absolutely beautiful! Really works with the new Firefox icon!∞ Jason said 2120 days ago:
wow - absolutely amazing - bravo!∞ Phoenix said 2120 days ago:
I totally used to agree with Bruce. The first time I installed it, I thought it wasnt better than OE. Now that I look at it, its much better. Besides, OE is a security flaw in itself. Just an insecure app waiting to be struck by a vulnerability.Ohh, and the icons are wonderful.
∞ David Hosting said 2120 days ago:
Awesome piece of work! I love how you post the design process. Thanks for sharing!∞ Chavalina said 2120 days ago:
It's perfect.∞ Robert said 2120 days ago:
I really like your work. But even more, I love the way you present it - with a humble, thoughtful approach. Process is underrated, and all too often designers talk about their work by talking about it's success, not how they got there. Good show, keep up the good work.∞ Norberto said 2120 days ago:
Ya es hora de que hagas un set con los iconos para los archivos que habre firefox.It's time to do a set for Firefox document icons
∞ Anton said 2120 days ago:
Awesome. Hm.. but doesn't it look a little bit like Fifty Crows' logo? http://www.fiftycrows.org/∞ Donald G Maclennan said 2120 days ago:
A nice insight Jon - Thanks.∞ Wayne said 2120 days ago:
Especially with the shape of the head, the bird looks too much like a songbird and not enough like a bird of prey, to my taste. Very nice otherwise.∞ Alex said 2120 days ago:
Wow! This logo look fantastic!! Can't await a Thunderbird release including these icons! ;)∞ Brad (SpyderFCS) said 2120 days ago:
Absolutely amazing. Is it going to be "released" when Thunderbird is ready?∞ Matt Conrad said 2120 days ago:
I agree that the bird's head is not that of a predator. The beak, especially, is that of a small insect-feeding bird, not a larger one worth of the "thunderbird" title.Lovely icon, but if you want the picky opinion, I'd say it looks more like the logo for Songbird, rather than Thunderbird :)
(not that it really matters for the smaller icons anyway, though)
∞ René Wuttke said 2120 days ago:
BTW an alternative icon based on the "fluffy sketch 2" would be nice. (to download it from your website) I like it, and it fits in with the purpose of Thunderbird as a modern carrier pigeon.∞ Joe Geldart said 2120 days ago:
Beautiful icons :)With regards to the comments about FWMX vs Illustrator, I have to say I far prefer fireworks for icon work. This may have something to do with the scales I work at (most of my icon work is for the Plone CMS and tends to be at 16x16px although I'm looking to experiment) but its also a personal decision based on such oddities as user interface. I'm in nowhere near the same league as these icons though so I'd be interested to hear how others work.
As a side note, I'm about to begin experimenting with Inkscape and the Gimp for icon work. I'll probably write up some notes on how this goes on my website.
∞ bitje said 2120 days ago:
Hi,Nice, but I miss the claws, that hold the envelope (like in your sketches).
The claws add an extra dimension and make it more realistic.
∞ Kevin Davis said 2120 days ago:
Beautiful work Jon!!!You have some significant talent. I can certainly see you becoming one hell of a logo designer. I really appreciate the sources you have been using for these two icons and I really admire your thought process.
Keep it up!
∞ Alex H. said 2120 days ago:
Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.∞ J, S. said 2120 days ago:
It's beautiful. Congratulations.I would also like to put my 2p in about "rebranding" Thunderbird. The icon doesn't really look like thunder to me but I see a cool hue to it. Cool as ice. I submit Icebird as a new name. Then we could all be using fire and ice.
∞ Francesco Marletta said 2120 days ago:
The result is great, but I'd prefear the #1 sketch with the crest and the color you have used, since that draft have a more dinamic aspect.∞ Joe said 2120 days ago:
Totally sweet but needs clearer 32 & 16px icons. Dont worry about the colour though, anyone who uses XP default blue deserves a kicking.∞ Yannick Lefebvre said 2120 days ago:
A combined Mozilla wallpaper with Firefox and Thunderbird would be awesome. I love my current Firefox wallpaper and this would be the best.∞ Gross said 2119 days ago:
Nice! I love it!∞ Chris said 2119 days ago:
Nice!I was half-expecting to see a Hogwarts Owl before I saw your nice bird.
∞ Chris Owens said 2119 days ago:
Beautful work Jon.Simply amazing.
∞ Mithgol the Webmaster said 2119 days ago:
First of all, the worst thing about the icon: its 16x16 variation looks really worse than Firebird's (which, perhaps, was just way too good to consider it as a new quality standard). Anyway, this 16x16 is nearly unintelligible, even when it's not on that nightmare of default WinXP quicklaunch color theme.Though Norberto and others were right: if you're (were?) willing to make HTM/CSS/whatever document icons, that's going to become (predictably!) an eye candy.
And I am afraid also that Kripkenstein went too far predicting that none of TB users under Windows will see 48x48. Large icon images is nearly a must for displays over 1024x768, and MS Windows has even a proper switch for that, though hidden deep into Display options, then Effects (or still deeper in WinXP).
Philips was quite right that this logo has something similar to The Bat's. Though (being myself a user of 'The Bat!' and Russian dweller of ex-USSR) I am sure that they look different enough to be distinguished. Seriously, at least this bird doen't look like a black bat, even when both deliver e-mail envelopes.
And, once more, thank you for not being stuck with J.K.Rowling's idea of mail-delivering owls. Make your own magic.
Good job!
Good-bye for now. (And, I hope, the above written is going to be uploaded in spiite of eMule eating most of my outgoing bandwitch...)
∞ Simone said 2119 days ago:
It's a very good job!the new thunderbird icon it's how lovely!
It's a good idea copy the firefox's icon stiles!!
∞ Simone said 2119 days ago:
It's a very good job!the new thunderbird icon it's how lovely!
It's a good idea copy the firefox's icon stiles!!
∞ FFuser said 2119 days ago:
I personally like no. 6 better, the dark blue and pasty envelope of the final version make it look too dark IMO.∞ swimp said 2119 days ago:
Needless to say, it looks totally awesome. Keep rocking!∞ Rene Bartosh said 2119 days ago:
I have done a mock-up of what the 16x16 icons for Thunderbird and Firefox might look like together:I couldn't get an actual .ico file as I only have mspaint at hand - not a very good tool for making icons :p
Great work!
∞ Nils said 2119 days ago:
Icebird? Hm. Why don't we just call them Articuno and Moltres? Then the calender can be Za... sorry.Frankly, trademark issues aside, I posit they should just be Fire and Ice for simplicity's sake. They'll just be abbreviated anyways. Misspell them to dodge copyrights? Yrth, Wynd, Fyre, and Yce. Ayr. Watyr. Hm. I'm getting carried away. Maybe all mythical beasts? Kinds of dragons: Drake, Amphiptere, Basilisk? How about the ethnic translations of Firebird and Thunderbird in their respective dominant cultures: Zshar Ptitsa and Raicho? I'm having too much fun.
I doubt you'll do this, but I would radically change the design for the smaller icons of ff and tb. Just zoom in on the head of each animal or something like that.
I found that it's really easy to moderately improve the look of the smaller icons, as a sort of holdover until the polished versions are out. Just 'sharpen' them in any graphics program. Not perfect, granted, but it only takes a minute. Some people might disagree about the improvement factor thought.
Regardless, you /must/make the eye stand out. Just make it one bright pixel. Eyes are the most identifiable parts of any animal. This might also take care of some 'diva' concerns.
Don't be overly concerned with getting it to match the default XP colors. XP users who haven't changed colors are not really mozilla's target audience.
∞ Jeff Walden said 2119 days ago:
Au contraire! Thunderbird and Firefox target all end users, including those who don't change default colors. The Mozilla Suite (Seamonkey) was the program for developers and power users only.
On the positive side, I think I like the icon design ideas you presented. I'm not a designer (nor am I ever likely to be one), but accenting the eye and only using a thunderbird's head seem like excellent ideas for making the smaller icons better-looking.
∞ Brodie said 2119 days ago:
I like the icons except for 2 criticisms.I would like to see the wings not quite so large - have the envelope stand out more as the focus of the icon and the bird as the background. In the application the mail is the whole focus and the bird is the brand. It should also make the icon a little more visible at smaller sizes. The difference I am envisaging is just trimming the wings a little bit such that they don't curve down underneath the envelope.
Secondly I would like to see the bird's face a little less wussy and a more like the original native american artwork. The current face is quite 'dove' like. Making it a little more serious (not evil) would be better in my opinion.
Thanks for the work on the icons though.
Regards, Brodie.
∞ Brumie said 2119 days ago:
awesome work!keep it up!
∞ ank said 2119 days ago:
ciaopagina 23
(also in italy!)
∞ Jon HIcks said 2119 days ago:
Brodie - If you stopped the wings going underneath, it would lose the circle shape, which is seomthing we're very keen on keeping (so that it matches Firefox).Also, the branding team were adamant that the bird shouldn't look to aggressive or evil (which is why the first sketch wasn't used). I wonder if this is an American thing? Do you like your birds mean n' nasty?
The Firefox icon (although its tail is on fire) is quiet cuddly. As Jeff pointed out, Mozilla are going after the world on this one - not just pandering to us geeks. They want these apps to be used by your Granny, as well power users. If the icon looks more aggressive, it would appeal more to a small minority, but probably alienate a larger potential market. Besides, by the time you get down to 32x32, it could be sticking its tongue out for all you know!
Interesting that some thought the 16px Tbird icon was worse than Firefox. I thought the Tbird one was a bit clearer, helped out by the envelope.
As I said, the next stage is to polish and tweak. The 16px icons need to be recreated by drawing individual pixels. At the moment, they are just simplified, smaller version, but with anti-aliasing. To be clearer, I'll need to redraw them with as sharp pixels.
I like the idea of making the beak a little longer, I'll see how that looks....
∞ Subzero Blue said 2119 days ago:
A Beauty...I feel like trying out the software just because of the great icon.
Great work...
Bravo...
∞ Todd said 2118 days ago:
Wow. Incredible work. I'm a huge FireFox fan and it's cool to see how those icons are created from ground up....time to get smart with Illustrator CS... ;)
∞ Raanan Barzel said 2118 days ago:
Graphics are bueatiful, but when reduced to 32x32 - which is the most visible format - some of the punch is lost - the crest is invisible and, on Windows Classic (which should be a reference background) the icon does not stand out sufficiently.Some red in the crest would have helped.
∞ Christian 'CeeJay' Jensen said 2118 days ago:
Nice work Hicks - I was going to point out that clarity was lost due to anti-aliasing but you beat me to it.It's not just the 16px version that will benefit from editing individual pixels .. clarity is lost already with the 128 x 128 px version.
If you zoom in on the eye you will notice that it's no longer a clear bright white but it have lost a little brightness due to the anti-aliasing.
Putting in a bright white pixel there would bring back the shine in the eye.
The other colors of the eye also seem weaker .. try to boost their intensity.
Some of my observations and ideas that might benefit you :
The lines on the letter needs to be draw up with a sharp black.
The shadows should be removed when they reach a size where it's no longer possible to rezognize them as shadow .. this way they don't blend into the bird and reduce it's clarity.
I'd say start remove the smaller shadows from the 48px version and remove all the shadows on the 16px version (All the versions might also look better without the bottommost shadow .. I need to see it to be sure though)
Also keep in mind that you dont need to make the smaller version exact copies of the larger. As long as the smaller image have the same spirit and are recognised as being the thunderbird logo then it will work.
You can exploit this by giving the small versions larger but fewer details.
F.x fewer but larger feathers on the wing would have better clarity but people would still recognize it as the same bird.
You can also make the crest larger and boost it's contrast to make it more easy to spot in the low resolution versions.
If the clarity is still too little in the 16px version you could also instead of depicting the entire logo just choose to show the head of the bird .. People will recognise it as the
bird they have seen in the larger icons - The 16px is only used in the titlebar , so people will have seen the logo in it's entirety from the 32 and 48 px sizes that most OS's use to display program icons.
Someone suggested that you only show the letter in the smallest size but I think the bird's need to shown in some way at least in all the sizes or you loose the spirit of the logo .. plus a letter by itself doesn't say "Thunderbird"
I also noticed that in some sizes the outer edges seem to contain only a few faint pixel .. like f.x in the 16 px size.
You could resize the logo to 18 px and just cut the edges and still retain the complete logo minus theese small details.
Thats 12.5% percent more pixels for the important details.
Other than that Ijust think it's a matter of going over every detail and boost them where the resize have smoothed the details too much.
This loss of clarity occurs because the resizingalgorithm is too fair to the individual pixels.
A group of pixels all pass on an equal value to the target pixel.
I'd like to see someone implentment a resizing algorithm that allowed you to define a bias for pixels that stood out from the rest .. so it would give a bias to the fine details and instead sacrifice some smoothness.
I could then go over and pick the parts I liked the best from the smooth and the sharp resize.
I do something similar when I'm making ascii renditions of images (prior to handediting ofcourse)
Speaking of which i'd like to do ascii-art rendition of both the Firefox and the new Thunderbird logo if I may (I've already done one of the old Thunderbird logo)
I'd also love to help out if I could with the small pixelversions - I considered making some from the images above (and mail them to you) but that would be a waste of time if I didn't have sources that weren't compressed with lossy compression as the jpg's above are.
Keep up the good work :)
Cheers !
- CeeJay :)
∞ Tristan said 2118 days ago:
Amazing; excellent design. The one criticism I had was of course that it's unclear at 32 and 16, but as you say, you need to touch up the pixels for those. The 16x16 looks a bit like a letter with a blue wig... heh. Just bring out the beak and the detail and it should look fine.Your design work is awe-inspiring; and people are noticing :) Can you believe 150 comments on this one post? Great work, keep it up.
∞ Paulo Espinha said 2118 days ago:
With much style. Congratulations!Thanks for the work.
∞ Julas said 2118 days ago:
Great work, but the bird is too dark IMHO.∞ Richard Tallent said 2117 days ago:
Beautiful. Can't wait to use it when 0.6b come out. A few quick notes:- 16x16 could be a larger, unbordered envelope with the head of the Thunderbird (more profiled than the larger icons) used as a "seal" over the flap of the envelope. Solves the problem of having dark blues on the edges, though there's nothing "round" about it.
- I use the default theme in XP (love the form widgets), but I have to point out that (a) the QuickLaunch bar is grey, not blue, when docked anywhere but on the Start Bar itself, and (b) QuickLaunch supports a Large Icon (32x32) size. I run mine docked to the right, large size, with no labels on every PC I have. Looks great in XP and 2000. Obviously not the default settings, just pointing out that 16x16 on blue is not the only option within the standard Luna theme.
- I'm not a big fan of splash screens, but this icon would be a good excuse for one.
- Agree with others that a more pronounced beak would probably be more appropriate. Also agree that the icons should be cute and cuddly. Not sure how those two concepts can coexist, but think they should somehow.
- IMHO, the Thunderird Address Book needs its own icon as well.
∞ d2s said 2117 days ago:
Very good work indeed!It's nice to see that quality work of professional designer gets to the desktop of many users. Good icons and details make using computers much more nice.
I think that good thing in this icon is also that it looks like that bird is protecting letter. That mayby tells people that Mozilla Thunderbird also helps them to keep the spam away from their eye's with better filtering and improved security compared to some other (commercial) products. I haven't yet used Thunderbird for my email but will propably try it when it is released as 1.0 version. Good work with graphics (and nice drawings).
∞ Bob Hentges said 2117 days ago:
Great work. I truely like that icon.∞ Alex said 2117 days ago:
Just downloaded .5 for OS X and it is still using the old icon. Any chance of you making it available as a separate download?∞ Luke said 2117 days ago:
Those are God damn beautiful.∞ richie said 2117 days ago:
definitely can't wait for the icon to be packaged with thunderbird. s'gonna look so cool in my dock :)great work!
∞ McChris said 2117 days ago:
Another sycophantic 'wowwww' and 'great work' from over here mate∞ anuga said 2117 days ago:
damn man!you did it again!
keep up the damn fine job!
∞ Marcus Vorwaller said 2116 days ago:
That... is amazing. It really says something when the icon alone makes you want to us a program. Excellent.∞ Nils said 2116 days ago:
OT: Wow. I used a sneakemail address on my last post, and sure enough I've already got spam from it. Those bots work fast. I'll use my dead account, I guess...OT: Ever notice how Off Topic and On Topic are both abbreviated OT?
Relevant: Although his insight speaks for itself, /listen to CeeJay!/
∞ Pfister said 2116 days ago:
It still seems so Federal (American) looking. Very eagle-ish. I like the dove quite a bit, as it is neutral, and not, like the thunderbird, a bird that swoops down and kills its prey by snapping its neck, a la most birds of prey.Most American Indian artwork, whether we're talking about Lakota or Navajo, have four primary colors: red, black, yellow, and white. The blue is superior, as those are angry colors best suited to colorizing mass transit systems.
∞ guy said 2116 days ago:
And for the complete opposite of this project:http://slashdot.org/articles/04/04/25/236228.shtml?tid=133&tid=146&tid=185&tid=186&tid=99
∞ Dick said 2115 days ago:
Excellent design!! It is amazingly incredible work, and I must be lucky beyond words - I just installed this last week, and today put "thunderbird icon" in Google to redefine the ugly one that I have on my DT!You are an super artist, I look forward to using this one1 :-))))
∞ Darren Forster said 2115 days ago:
I really like both the Firefox and Thunderbird icons. Only bad thing is I have Directory Opus which allows a roll over icon and most programs have spare icons for this. Any chance of developing a really cool roll over icon for when I'm using Directory Opus so it will look even cooler?∞ Steve said 2114 days ago:
Jon,Wonderful design... no need to repeat abot the 16x16 piece not looking as hot as the larger piece.
Thanks mainly though for sharing the process, it was more inspiring thatn the results IMHO.
I wonder if you would share the vector file... I find that picking apart well built and beautiful pieces really helps people (like me) learn more about the design process. Kinda like viewing code on a site.
Anyway, i'd be grateful for a share. If not, due to your hard work, I'd understand.
Best Regards on the great work,
Steve
∞ Jan Brasna said 2113 days ago:
Oh my god, that's so awesome! After seeing the new FF icon few months ago I've been waiting the new TB icon. However I couldn't even guess the overall look'n'feel, but now you took my breath away. I'm really waiting for 0.6...∞ Paul Brown said 2113 days ago:
Beautiful work. I'm anxious to see the debut of TB 0.6 featuring this stunning new logo.∞ Pisu said 2113 days ago:
Excellent design. I think that these icons will convince me to download Firefox & Thunderbird...∞ Will said 2113 days ago:
very nice !just a little comment though : I would have let the claws visible, to emphasis on the bird actually delivering us the letter. Sorry if this has already been mentioned, I haven't read trough all comments :-)
∞ anonymouse said 2112 days ago:
I'm just a bit pissed that this will never get into Debian.... I miss the firefox icons too. Why should we debian users miss out because the firefox/thunderbird builds in debian aren't *official* mozilla builds?.∞ GizMecano said 2111 days ago:
Great job, as usual! I am waiting for the Thunderbird desktop now…Gloomy with the current Thunderbird icon, I have, for my personal use with Win’ XP, created one based on the Hicks’ work (JPEG > PNG with transparency > ICO)…
I imagine this quick simple conversion would not interest the icon creator, but I hope he will understand how far I am keen about his original work…
Expecting this icon would fully integrate the soft soon… and sorry, as usual, for my English…
∞ Sam said 2111 days ago:
Fantastic icons, I love them. I'm just wondering if it's possible to get a copy of this in Illustrator form? I know there's probably various reasons why it isn't possible, but it can't hurt to ask right? :)∞ Jon HIcks said 2111 days ago:
Sorry - to all those requesting original vector artwork or pngs with alpha transparency, no can do. These belong to Mozilla, and they are in the process of setting up a central repository of all the logos/banners etc. I'm not sure who will be allowed access to these, it may just be those involved with things like localized builds. Keep an eye on Mozillazine as it'll probably be announced there.w∞ Jenix said 2110 days ago:
COOL!this thunderbird icon is great!!..
but.. hmm..
how can i download??..is there anyone who knows about it?
∞ Christian 'CeeJay' Jensen said 2110 days ago:
Jenix : You can't download it - It will be included in the official Thunderbird builds however.∞ Conor said 2110 days ago:
wow you are amazing. I only wish I had half the amount of talent that you have. You should consider yourself very lucky.∞ Jacques said 2110 days ago:
Rich Hafer: When can I buy the t-shirt, coffee mug, and poster with this icon on it. It simply rocks! Heck, if only this thing would animate!I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to animate the bird! The minute he raises his wings, say goodbye to your mail.
∞ GizMecano said 2109 days ago:
As I saw, I think your Thunderbird icon is now the official one, isn't it ?I read on the Mozilla website:
"New Brand Identity: Thunderbird now has a new logo and supporting artwork!"
(http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/)
∞ kliertje said 2109 days ago:
beautiful. And thanks for explaining. I hate the mac OS pinstripe theme. When is it going to get the panther brushed metal look∞ Andrew D. said 2109 days ago:
Why in the world would someone want to use a program like Outlook or Outlook Express, with those bland icons, when they could use Thunderbird, with something this sweet?!?Awesome job, Jon. You blow me away.
~~ Andrew D.
∞ Lars said 2109 days ago:
It has potential. But contrary to other people here, I do not like it.The bird has real potential, it's awesome, the logo itself is very slick too.
My problem with this icon is, that you have to see it in a big version to immediately see what it is. Otherwise it looks like a head - With a blue wig and a squarish head. Sorry, but I really don't like it. Can't you do a more, I don't know, hood "ornamental" kind of bird? I don't care - Bursting out of an envelope or something? Anything but the little head with blue hair ;)
btw peoples mails aren't protected in the comments, so it's not mine...
∞ THX said 2109 days ago:
How can the bird fly?It'd lose the envelope (i.e. my mail)!
∞ scrat said 2109 days ago:
Wow, cool story ;-)∞ macgeek said 2109 days ago:
Thunderbird 0.6 is AWESOME in OSX, best mail client for mac users.∞ Andrew Clover said 2108 days ago:
Cool! This icon is almost exactly as I had imagined it. Only - as you mention - a little bluer (which is a minor handicap for my W2K box's default blue background, but you can hardly expect to fit every possible background).I agree with the sentiment that a slightly more prominent break and/or a slightly more circular circle might be advantageous, but it's a great first shot and miles better than the previous icon. (The only real reason to upgrade to 0.6 for me, as the previous version had already worked fine!)
∞ Fennec said 2108 days ago:
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. :)Now, is there a wallpaper to go with it like for FireFox? Or do you mind if I make one? :D
∞ J.B. Nicholson-Owens said 2108 days ago:
How about sharing the Illustrator file so people can generate whatever size icon they need? I'm guessing that there is a free software program that can load the Illustrator file format. Alternatively, save it as an SVG file.∞ Kevin Jordan said 2108 days ago:
To comment 190's poster: see comment 176.∞ Motley Fool said 2108 days ago:
I love the eyes on Thunderbird. Somehow they seem so expressive, especially in combination with his beak position. Makes him look like he's happy to deliver your mail to you. :-)That's one of the things I miss on the Firefox icon - no face, no eyes, no expression. He's awfully cuddly looking; I just wish he was looking back. Any possibility that he'll have a face in the future, Jon? Or do the Mozilla folks have to decide that?
∞ J.B. Nicholson-Owens said 2108 days ago:
Kevin Jordan: Thanks for the pointer. I just read entry #176 but I don't see a Mozillazine (www.mozillazine.org for those who don't know) thread for discussing this (perhaps one has not yet been posted) and I don't know where else to discuss the issue I'm about to bring up.I am curious if this is GPL-compatible.
Mozilla is tri-licensed (one of those three licenses is the GPL) and Thunderbird derives from that work, so Thunderbird is also GPL'd. The logo appears to be a part of the program. Since the Illustrator file is the "the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it" (in the language used by the GPL), would that mean that the Illustrator file should come with Thunderbird?
∞ Jon Hicks said 2108 days ago:
OK, let me try and clarify this situation one last time before I finally close comments on this entry:- I'm not saying that people can't have artwork, simply that its not my property or my decision. I'm not in a position to hand out files, but Mozilla are in the process of setting up a central resource for these things.
- I meant Mozillazine news, not forums. I'm just guessing that it will be announced there if anywhere.
I've finally found the forum thread where this was all discussed:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=50907&highlight=bart+firefox+logo
This should cover all the questions.
Thanks for all the useful feedback folks. I'll be taking note of what you've all said as I do all the tweaking...