Email

Email originated as a text-only way to exhange digital messages.

The Forthmedia office icons were created to give their web site a unique look. The icons have to scale down, and still convey what functionality they represent. I think the neo-cubist style makes them different from the usual doo-dads you see on the Internet. Whether they work as icons or not depends on whether people click on ‘em.

Computer

The web connects computers, laptops, netbooks, and intelligent devices.

Phone

More and more people are using cell phones as their only telephone.

Camera

Digital cameras have displaced film.

Fax

Businesses still use Fax. Gotta have this icon.

Note: These images are copyright ForthMedia, and used here by permission.

We animated the fm guy to yawn and look bored. Cute? Boring?

This 3D map animation starts with a view of the greater Bay Area, and progressively homes in on the San Jose Museum of Art. The map technology is powered by Google. The widget and animation sequence powered by Forthmedia.

To see an even bigger map with satellite imagery click here. (Hint: Set your browser to full screen mode.)

Yes, but is it art?

From a design standpoint, the Google Maps API uses 3D technology introduced by Adobe into Flash and Photoshop CS4. Also the same Google Maps Navigation in Droid smart-phones. It’s pretty nice.

Now that you have an idea of the range, you can play around with the controls on you own. Try Satellite view. If you get lost, switch to Hybrid to see street names. Is it art? You tell me.

Silicon Valley

The Blueglow Icon Collection on Facebook

If you’ve been following along, you know these neo-cubist icons were being worked on for the better part of the year. The idea behind the "blueglow" project has been to craft a fresh, contemporary look for Forthmedia, without adhering too closely to what all the best web designers are doing. I did away with those rounded-off corners the day before public beta.

Along the way, social networking and mobile phone apps have become even further entrenched in the current zeitgeist. I’ve been playing with the Facebook app for iPhone, but it keeps telling me "This photo set contains no photos," which it does, so I’ll give you a link.

The Blueglow Icon Collection on Facebook

Anyway, this is what the Forthmedia doodads look like. I hope you can make out what they’re supposed to be. If not, I guess I’ll be tweaking them some more.

© ForthMedia

I got feedback that the first version of this icon was not "feminine enough." How could you tell? It must be that you are getting used to looking at this neo-cubist stuff. I’ve been looking at this highly abstract icon so long it’s beginning to resemble somebody I really know.

Neo-Cubist Before After

You can see the hand-drawn concept sketches from earlier this year. Look under Tags on the left, for a gallery of neo-cubist works on this blog.

Elements

Photoshop 3D.

© ForthMedia

This is a re-design of the fm "ContactMe" icon. Above is the eye-candy, full color version.

(No. You can’t use this icon. But you can look at it. Right here.)

It’s supposed to be a guy, talking on the phone, using a wireless headset. We had a problem with the first (1.0) version, because people could not recognize what it was supposed to be, when shrunk down to a tiny, doodad size, like you would use on a Web page.

As a neo-cubist piece, I think it’s pretty animated. The best one yet? At this point, I probably put in more time creating neo-cubist icons than most people put in doodling with pencil and paper.

Cut up icon

As told by Martin Lindstrom in Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy
a smashable brand is one that you can still recognize, "even if it shattered into a hundred pieces." Like a Coke bottle. Or an iPod. So, I thought it would be interesting to see if you could still recognize the icon, even if I cut it up with a pair of scissors. Do you still recognize the brand?

Icon wallpaper

This is what the icon looks like as wallpaper on a hand-held device. Pictured is a first generation iPod Touch, but it gives you an idea of what it might look like on an iPhone 3G. You’ll get that postponed iPhone delivery on Friday, after its available retail.

Note: These icons are copyright ForthMedia, and used here by permission.

»Zoom this

Cubist texture wrapped onto 3D object.

Las Vegas. The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. Cell phone camera.

Grid Spray – April 10, 2009