Materialdesign: workspace/desktop

[gabrielgrant]

A couple options:

I think I prefer this one:

This one follows the guidelines more pedantically and uses a 2dp outline on the paper, but it feels too heavy to me:

Note that I only cut the paper's outline above the pencil in the second one because it felt too crowded without, but i don't think it's really needed on the 1dp paper version

[gabrielgrant]

Another option with a cut above on 1dp paper and a better aspect-ratio on the paper sheet

I think I like this one best so far. I Let me know which (if any) you'd be interested in including, and I'll clean up the SVG for submission

[gabrielgrant]

One more option (bigger pen)

[gabrielgrant]

...aaand same, but with a 2dp cut for the pen...

on the outer workspace border:

and both through the border and the paper:

[GreenTurtwig]

I seem to remember seeing that design before, can't exactly remember where, if you could provide some images of where it's used that would be great. :cat2:

Anyway, here's a similar a design used in a quite a few Linux desktop manager. (Might need to adjust the height of the second "mountain".)


desktop-appearance.zip

[gabrielgrant]

Not exactly a paragon of good design, so a little embarrassed to admit this, but i think i'd first seen this basic icon idea in some old version of windows (XP? 95? not sure):

[GreenTurtwig]

Ahh! So that's where I recognised it from, been a looong time since I've used XP.

Was updated to the current style in Vista.

_From Win10_

[gabrielgrant]

Ah, interesting. Yea, most examples seem to have moved from using a physical desktop/workspace metaphor to just showing a computer/OS desktop. I created this because I was looking for something to represent the concept of a "workspace" which _isn't_ a computer/OS desktop

[GreenTurtwig]

Yeah, almost everyone seems to use a similar design now. It works well, but it's obviously not what you wanted. Xfce uses four squares inside another square to represent workspaces, might be with having a look at how different desktop mangers and icon packs represent it.

[GreenTurtwig]

Is it a physical workspace you need or a virtual one (computers)? Physical could be done with someone sitting at a desk.

[gabrielgrant]

Yup, also submitted a couple desk icon options while trying out different ideas :) #2536

The workspace I'm talking about is digital, though. That does sometimes seem to often be represented by a collection of boxes (representing different windows, I guess?), but in this case it isn't really a multi-window thing, it's more of a single section of the application for creation/experimentation, so i think i'm leaning towards the icon proposed in this issue (probably the last one here) as my best option

[gabrielgrant]

Bumping this...any more input/any chance it can get merged in?

[Templarian]

@gabrielgrant Good thing you bumped it without a milestone it would have kept getting overlooked. 😄

Will work to get this one in for the next release.

[gabrielgrant]

Awesome, thanks a lot! This is my preferred version:


workspace.large-pen-2dp-cut.plain.svg.zip

[MrGrigri]

I believe that this icon does not make sense, nor does it really look like it belongs in the pack. My suggestion would be to use the following. I would use the name monitor-screenshot to be consistent with cellphone-screenshot with the aliases of workspace and desktop.

monitor-screenshot.zip

[MrGrigri]

Reference #1697

[gabrielgrant]

While i think the icon you propose serves the purpose of a computer desktop well, it doesn't satisfy the need for a representation of a physical workspace

do you have any specific issues with this icon you'd like to see addressed to make it fit better?

[PeterShaggyNoble]

monitor-screenshot has been added.

[gabrielgrant]

Any specific requests/suggestions to either improve the icon I posted, or provide an alternative representation of a workspace?

[goyney]

I have to agree with @MrGrigri. I don't feel the other icon with the pencil makes sense. Since monitor-screenshot has been added, I'm going to consider we close this issue.

[gabrielgrant]

While I agree the monitor-screenshot icon is useful, I don't really follow how it fulfills the need of representing a workspace - the two concepts seem pretty orthogonal to me. To reiterate: I'm not suggesting this be used as a "show (operating-system) desktop" icon, but rather to represent a "workspace" which _isn't_ a computer/OS desktop

To clarify, I'm not sure I get what you mean when you say it "doesn't make sense" -- that it isn't clear what is being represented? (It's a pencil and piece of paper, on the type of writing mat that used to adorn most work tables) Or that the concept is better represented by some other icon, so it shouldn't be included? or...?

source

source

[gabrielgrant]

Seems the version I posted before was a raw output. Here's an optimized version:

workspace.large-pen-2dp-cut.optimized.svg.zip

[PeterShaggyNoble]

Preview:

[MrGrigri]

I guess the problem I have with this icon is the 1px box representing the paper.

[gabrielgrant]

@MrGrigri mind explaining a bit more? is it that you think it isn't clear what the box is supposed to be representing? or is the concern more that the paper doesn't match stylistically?

As a solution, do you think it should be removed? or just brought into line with the 2dp width standard?

As I noted with this version above, I recognize that it's more in keeping with the standard, but it also just felt kind of heavy:

There seemed to already be a fair number of other exceptions to the 2dp rule, so thought the thinner one was better, but could do up a version of the 2dp paper with the larger pencil, if you think that'd be an improvement?

[MrGrigri]

I was saying that I don't like the paper at all.

[goyney]

We currently have square-edit-outline which is similar to the proposed icon, without the extra complexity.

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Material guidelines state, _"Each icon is reduced to its minimal form, expressing essential characteristics,"_ and icons _"...ensure readability and clarity, even at small sizes."_

In the proposed icon, the extra box doesn't really provide value, especially at native resolution. Additionally, the pencil kind of gets lost because of its size. That all being said, we've had some discussions around this specific issue internally and have decided we don't think this icon would be a good fit for the library.

Thank you for your suggestion.