New Category Icons

[+Chasing Blue Sky]

In the Danish Benchmark peer review discussion, Silverquill made the following statement,

 

"We are sometimes just too quick with our criticism, and too slow to offer help and encourage.

 

I think we need to improve our instructions for new category creation, because there are obviously some gaps."

 

I figured I'd give you and other experienced Category Managers a chance to do just that. That statement reminded me of something that I've been wondering for the last little while. There is a new category proposal that's been rolling around in my head, but I haven't quite fleshed it out yet. When I get closer, I will bring it to this discussion board. One of the issues I haven't quite figured out, and my my real question at this point is: How are category icons created? What program is used, and who creates them? As a simple observer of new categories being created, these icons just show up, but clearly someone has to create them. Many of you have been through the process of creating an approved category. Any thoughts?

[+fi67]

There is nothing you have to do regarding the icons, and there's nothing you can do, even if you would like to.

 

The icons are assigned by Groundspeak. This is done in batches. In the mean time, before new icons are created, they automatically get the icon of the next higher level in the department/category structure they are located in.

[+Tharandter]

But 'Public Playgrounds' and 'Hydroelectric Power Stations' has the same icon and they are not in the same "Main category".

Edited January 17, 2013 by Tharandter

[+fi67]

But 'Public Playgrounds' and 'Hydroelectric Power Stations' has the same icon and they are not in the same "Main category".

'Hydroelectric Power Stations' are a new category, it shows the icon of the 'Structures' department.

 

'Public Playgrounds' is an old category; this icon was assigned long ago. It is very similar to the other one and if I remember correctly 'Structures' used to have the exact same one before.

 

I was only explaining the procedure and I did not say that the icons need to be unique. There are many examples of different categories (even in different departments) that have the exact same icon: like Bloggers / Wi-Fi Hotspots or Bookcrossing Zones / Wikipedia Entries / Literary Sites / Guestbooks. There are a few others.

[+NW_history_buff]

I chuckled when I saw this thread because I recently visited Groundspeak HQ in Seattle, WA and spoke with the two lead creators/administrators of Waymarking and I asked them the same question.

 

Nate, one of the administrators told me that the icons were once created by a talented graphic artist who worked for Groundspeak for a number of years before leaving to go onto bigger and better things. I believe Nate told me that she was also behind the development of 'Signal' (the frog), the mascot for Groundspeak. Currently, the icon production is left up to other designers to tackle within the department and Nate was honest in his conversation with me that the Waymarking entity as a whole piggybacks onto the popularity and revenue of Geocaching.

 

As most waymarkers know, the Waymarking.com community is very small compared to the Geocaching.com community and all activity and administration of it is only made possible through trickle-down funding from Geocaching.com's revenue. Waymarking would not and could not survive without the Geocaching entity and as a result, some of the development and administration of Waymarking gets pushed back into backlogs of the 'to-do list'.

 

I, personally, am enamored by the great potential that Waymarking can become for people young and old in appreciating all the history, places-of-interest, and endless waymark locations that exist worldwide. I asked Brian, the other Waymarking administrator about creating a mobile app for Waymarking for a smartphone and he replied that although the idea is a good one, it will not happen at Groundspeak anytime soon.

[+Chasing Blue Sky]

Nate, one of the administrators told me that the icons were once created by a talented graphic artist who worked for Groundspeak for a number of years before leaving to go onto bigger and better things. I believe Nate told me that she was also behind the development of 'Signal' (the frog), the mascot for Groundspeak. Currently, the icon production is left up to other designers to tackle within the department and Nate was honest in his conversation with me that the Waymarking entity as a whole piggybacks onto the popularity and revenue of Geocaching.

 

Thanks Beav,

 

That really explains a lot. I've been impressed by the creativity of a great number of them - even the ones that only change slightly, like the historical marker categories. Some are even a bit hokey - but they do fit the category they represent. Viewing the icons, it certainly makes sense that the "talented graphic artist" who once created them is gone. It is some of the newer ones that I've found to be less than creative - some that signify absolutely nothing about the category. So, I'm glad to hear that it isn't a creation of the category founders. I've kind of been reluctant to ask the question because I didn't want to offend someone who created a cool new category and then copied someone else's icon, appearing to be an afterthought in the process.

 

I do understand the whole budget issue and the prioritized focus on geocaching. I certainly have more people find my geocaches than I have people visit my waymarks. But that is a whole separate topic.

 

Well, at least I know that I don't have to worry about coming up with my own icon, IF I ever submit a category.

[+silverquill]

I chuckled when I saw this thread because I recently visited Groundspeak HQ in Seattle, WA and spoke with the two lead creators/administrators of Waymarking and I asked them the same question. .

 

I, personally, am enamored by the great potential that Waymarking can become for people young and old in appreciating all the history, places-of-interest, and endless waymark locations that exist worldwide. I asked Brian, the other Waymarking administrator about creating a mobile app for Waymarking for a smartphone and he replied that although the idea is a good one, it will not happen at Groundspeak anytime soon.

 

Glad you got to meet these guys. There are very impressive and tremendously enthusiastic about Waymarking.com and have devoted a lot of time to it. We owe them a lot. I was aware that the person who had done these was gone, and the new ones are a different style, smaller and less colorful. We had a discussion about this some time ago. As mentioned, these get done in batches so there is a lag. In the meantime, the generic icon for the "department" gets used. I'm sure that if there were a "talented graphic artist" in our ranks, a volunteer wouldn't be refused! Volunteerism has always been a mainstay of Groundspeak. Actually, Waymarking is ALL volunteer, from those who create and manage categories to those who create them. Or is someone out there getting paid?

 

The full potential of Waymarking has yet to be realized. Although I think there may be ways to improve our ties with Geocaching, I think the real future lies outside of the geocaching world. It will probably be up to us to find ways to promote Waymarking in other venues. But that is another discussion.

[+kallehaugerne]

Just read your little discussion about icons and I learned a lot. But what can you do if you want to make a suggestion to a new and more suitable icon for a category? I'm thinking of the Way of St. James category. I'm big fan of this category and I really think it is a pitty with the tent icon. A much better icon would be something with the shell or the yellow arrow

which are official icons/symbols of The Way.

 

Any ideas about how to get on with this?

[+lumbricus]

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=309525

[+lumbricus]

But there would still be the problem to add them, only Groundspeak can do that. I wrote Bryan today let's see what he'll answer.

[+pstidsen]

I would love to do some icons for this if needed/wanted

[+lumbricus]

I would love to do some icons for this if needed/wanted

I will talk with Bryan next week about this. Thanks for offering your help.

[Biquidou]

FYI

20130212, we sent a proposal of icon for our category "French Benchmarks", gif file 40x40 pixels

20130301:

Hello Biquidou,

Thank you for your patience. We have updated the icon for the French Benchmarks Waymarking category.

Happy Waymarking,

Nicole

Community Support, Groundspeak

[+lumbricus]

Pstidsen, I talked with Bryan, he would like to see one example.

Could you do one?

It should be gif and should have the size like the other icons.

I'm looking forward to see one

Thanks,

lumbricus

[Biquidou]

I'm really sad too with this answer

 

Mainly for categories with "Generic icon" like for an Insect Hotel

 

Perhaps opening the enrollment will help (cf http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=316241&pid=5307533&st=0entry5307533)...

[+lumbricus]

I'll talk with Bryan today. Adding an icon (selfmade, Groundspeak has no effort with it) couldn't be a big problem.

But perhaps we have to collect them first. Adding single ones could take too much time, not sure if there has to be an update for that, etc.

Please post the icon here, Tante.Hossi.

Thanks!

[+lumbricus]

Can't wait to see the icons!

[+fi67]

As far as I can see, Cairns was the last category with a specific icon. There are currently 42 categories (including Fish Ladders) that came later. So there's a lot to do.

[+Waywizard]

I will be posting new user created icons to categories. Please just post them to this thread and they will get uploaded to the category. If I see an issue with the posted icon I will let you know. Note: Way of James and New Apostolic Church have been updated. Fish Ladders will be when it is released.

 

A hidden admin,

Waywizard

[+Max and 99]

I will be posting new user created icons to categories. Please just post them to this thread and they will get uploaded to the category. If I see an issue with the posted icon I will let you know. Note: Way of James and New Apostolic Church have been updated. Fish Ladders will be when it is released.

 

A hidden admin,

Waywizard

 

Wow, that is great news!

[Biquidou]

Super !

[razalas]

Here are two icons that I have created to be used as category icons.

Way of St. James

 

Fish Ladders

 

I don't know how much work this will be for GS to change these icons.

 

Thanks for the new icon for the Way of St. James, looks much better now

 

I have worked on creating some icons to help:

 

Grand Opening

 

Human Migration Monuments

 

Património Português (Portuguese Heritage)

 

Spanish Heritage

 

I hope they are ok

 

Thank you for setting the new icons

 

I apologize for my bad english!

[+Waywizard]

Here are two icons that I have created to be used as category icons.

Way of St. James

 

Fish Ladders

 

I don't know how much work this will be for GS to change these icons.

 

Thanks for the new icon for the Way of St. James, looks much better now

 

I have worked on creating some icons to help:

 

Grand Opening

 

Human Migration Monuments

 

Património Português (Portuguese Heritage)

 

Spanish Heritage

 

I hope they are ok

 

Thank you for setting the new icons

 

I apologize for my bad english!

 

These look great but need to be gif files. If you can convert them to gif, I will update them. Also make sure they are 40 x 40 pixels.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Waywizard

[+Waywizard]

Some more icons

 

Church of the Christ Scientist

 

Deutsche Denkmallisten - German Monument Registers

 

Kiwanis International

 

Soroptimist International

 

I hope this icons are Ok to everybody!

 

These have been uploaded.

[+lumbricus]

[razalas]

Sorry, here they are in gif and 40 x 40 pixels:

 

Grand Opening

 

Human Migration Monuments

 

Património Português (Portuguese Heritage)

 

Spanish Heritage

 

Thank you.

[razalas]

Another contribution

 

Political Revolutions

 

Thank you.

[+lumbricus]

Which category is is this made for?

Secret!

[+Rikitan]

To Razalas:

 

It's nice proposal, but didn't you loose quality during conversion to .gif and size reduction?

There is strange 'pixelation' around drawing ...

Shouldn't it look rather like this?

 

Edited October 17, 2013 by Rikitan

[+Rikitan]

Or let's compare:

 

version with redundant pixels and without:

[razalas]

To Razalas:

 

It's nice proposal, but didn't you loose quality during conversion to .gif and size reduction?

There is strange 'pixelation' around drawing ...

Shouldn't it look rather like this?

 

 

Or let's compare:

 

version with redundant pixels and without:

 

Yes, the original was in .PNG and during conversion to .gif lost quality and gain that pixelation.

It's better now thank you.

[+puczmeloun]

Wow, new icons Great to see... I were so surprised with fish ladders icon, that i've almost felt down from chair...

[+Waywizard]

After having a travel day yesterday, I was able to get all the new icons uploaded today. Keep them coming.

[+lumbricus]

Once again - a new category icon suggestion.

 

Insect Hotels

 

Nice!

Could you add a bee in a upper corner?

[+lumbricus]

Serious: Can you add on?

[+Chasing Blue Sky]

And another one. Only a proposal - I don't know if it's good for everybody.

 

Auction Houses

 

I like it, except I would replace the nail hammer with a wooden gavel.

[+fi67]

Now I remember why I do not work in the graphic field

 

At least I tried.

 

Tripoint and Multipoints:

 

 

Preserved Machines on Public Display:

 

 

Austrian and Swiss National Heritage Sites:

 

 

Current and Former Exchanges:

 

[+Rikitan]

Now I remember why I do not work in the graphic field

 

At least I tried.

 

 

How to say it .. I don't want to demotivate anyone and this is not a reply to any particular effort, just kind of recommendation how I see it.

 

If we open from our profile pages full matrix of icons, we can see many different styles. But some of them are repeating and visually I like them most. They are tiny drawings with blue sky behind, very stylish! I'm talking about these ones:

 

 

.. later appeared different style of icons, also really neat:

 

 

.. this is only my personal view that I found these styles awesome (when limited to 40px gifs) .. enough to maintain some consistency. I wouldn't be fighting against any icon, proposals are great, just for an inspiration

[+fi67]

First I had thought about this as well. But I came to the result that it would not be the best idea to copy someone else's style (apart from lacking skills to do this at all). After two generations of GS icons, now we have a switch to user generated icons. I think it is very well justified to allow a break in the styling history here.

[+lumbricus]

I'm seeing that a little bit like Rikitan.

I like the old (very old) icons most. This style of art is called Pixel-Art. I would not say that it's coppied if the new ones look like Pixel-Art.

I can't do this designs and I think perhaps noone of us can do it. So we have to think if someone knows someone who can do this for us (for free would be good!).

If we don't find an artist who helps us we have to do them by our own. In this case I think the best idea is, to collect more and watch them together in a line.

In my opinion they should fit together. How do we know if they fit together when we load up an icon all three days?

We waited so long, a few weeks should be no problem.

@pstidsen: What about your icons? I thought you work on some?

lumbricus

[+lumbricus]

 

I tried it one time, so what do you think?

[+lumbricus]

Ups, what we forget is, that the icon has to be 24x24 for the grid, so I tried another version:

 

[+fi67]

 

I tried it one time, so what do you think?

 

More 'classic' than the other proposal. I like both versions.

 

But your bee looks much healthier than Tante.Hossi's

[+Rikitan]

Ups, what we forget is, that the icon has to be 24x24 for the grid, so I tried another version:

 

Thumbs up! Or we can use Tante.Hossi's proposal and save this one for "Beehouses"?

[razalas]

 

I tried it one time, so what do you think?

 

Quite good, you are a Pixel-Art artist

 

Ups, what we forget is, that the icon has to be 24x24 for the grid, so I tried another version:

 

 

I thing that "Tante Hossi" is right, the icon is 40x40px and is resized for the grid.

[+lumbricus]

Perhaps you missunderstood me. I meant that we have to take care when we create an icon in 40x40 that it will be resized to 24x24.

So if we have too much details in the bigger version, it could be that we have problems with the small version.

 

I tried another one:

 

Love Padlocks

 

 

 

Comments are welcome!

 

Edit: Added the 24-pixel version.

Edited October 24, 2013 by lumbricus

[+dieSulzer]

 

I tried another one:

 

Love Padlocks

 

 

 

Comments are welcome!

 

Great!

[+lumbricus]

...Great!

 

Thanks!

 

Here is another try:

 

Unique Artistic Shop Signs:

 

 

[+lumbricus]

Millstones:

 

 

Edited October 25, 2013 by lumbricus

[+lumbricus]

Quiz: Category?