This post covers the new setup, file and application icons for OpenOffice.org 3.2.1, all of which have changed significantly from the last major release.
New Setup Icon
New Application Icons
The OpenOffice.org application icons have changed significantly; only the two gulls and the application symbols have been carried over into this new design. The new icons are orb-like and dispense with the colors that used to make each application more familiar to Microsoft Office users (e.g. blue for Writer, green for Calc…).
By making the application icons uniform in color and orb-like, OOo is really distinguishing itself from its main competitor. The similarity of the icons may also symbolically reflect the modular architecture of OOo: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base and Math are just modules running on top of the base OpenOffice.org application. The new icons also look lighter and less cluttered compared with the older icons.
OpenOffice.org
Writer
Calc
Impress
Draw
Base
Math
The 16×16 version of each icon has the blue orb appearing behind the main gray orb; for all other sizes the opposite applies.
New File Icons
The new file icons likewise are likewise markedly different to their predecessors. Other than using the same colors and crisp style of the application icons, there is no OpenOffice.org branding in them whatsoever.
It is hoped that these will become the universal ODF icons that other applications supporting ODF will adopt. Non-ODF documents will bear a blank white rectangle with no words inside.
ODF Document
ODF Template
ODF Text Document
ODF Text Document Template
ODF Spreadsheet
ODF Spreadsheet Template
ODF Presentation
ODF Presentation Template
ODF Drawing
ODF Drawing Template
ODF Database
ODF Formula
Other Document
Other Template
Other Text Document
Other Text Document Template
Other Spreadsheet
Other Spreadsheet Template
Other Presentation
Other Presentation Template
Other Drawing
Other Drawing Template
Other Database
Other Formula
Downloads
If you’d like to have a closer look at the icons yourself, you can download the ICO files, or PNG images of all the icons extracted from each .ICO file (this will allow you see the 8 and 256 color versions of each icons).
Hi , If I am not mistaken the Open Office can also open pdf files, Can u share with us the icon proposed for showing the pdf files…
Thanks for such wonderful work.Great Going
@Varun: There will be no PDF icons since I believe the PDF import works only as an extension. In any case, OOo will not be the default application on anyone’s system (except maybe the developers
) for opening PDF files so it would be bad UX practice to take over people’s icons in that case.
Hi,
“By making the application icons uniform in color and orb-like, OOo is really distinguishing itself from its main competitor. The similarity of the icons may also symbolically reflect the modular architecture of OOo…”
I have to say that, although I like the new shape and overall design of the icons, I think the “colorlessness” of the icons is a huge mistake. It renders OpenOffice.org applications bland and hard to notice, especially compared to its colorful MS Office competitor. It makes file searching and application switching unnecessarily hard and long. It makes OOo less accessible (for dyslexics and people with bad eyesight). It makes OpenOffice.org less usable.
As for the symbolism of “belonging together” and “separation from MS Office” (and Google Docs and past OOo versions and others), look at Adobe’s CS3 icon refresh: Adobe applications became immediately and easily recognizable and, with their uniform shape and style, clearly expressed their togetherness and set themselves apart from other icons.
P. S. What editor was used to make these? And is there any place to get these icons in SVG?
I have to agree with Mirek2 here, although the design of the icons are clean, the colorlessness of them will without a doubt create confusion when using the program. And to be honest, I am not at all wild about the “orb” application icons. I understand that Oracle wants to separate itself from MS Office, but using this now very standard color code would increase the usability, accessibility, UX Experience and comfort of the application while decreasing confusion by both new and existing users. Being different at the expense of user friendliness just doesn’t make sense to me, particularly not for an application suite that is still attempting to woo new users.
@Mirek2 and @Coaleb: Usability concerns have been raised in the corresponding discussion thread on the Branding list – please add your comments there too as they will be more visible to people who have the ability to make changes.
Hellow
These new icons are good, but there were be better with colours. It is more quick to recognise the application !
[...] OpenOffice.org new application icons [...]
I totally agree with @Mirek2 and @Coaleb, colours are very important in icons, if you do not want to be confuse with Microsoft, use different colour, but use diferent colours for diferent icons, please!!!
The new set up, file and application icons look great. I am looking forward to this.
I too agree with all those here (@Mirek2 particularly) who don’t care for the new icons. In fact, these colorless icons are a reason I will be sticking with OOo 3.2.0.
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The same monotone color for all module (Writer, Calc, etc) icons reduces the recognizability of the modules themselves, thereby decreasing the usability and user-friendliness within OOo. “By making the application icons uniform in color and orb-like, OOo is really distinguishing itself from its main competitor” and shooting itself in the foot. It is a step counter-productive to attracting users from the competitor. And surely with all the press and attention OpenOffice has gotten over the years, it is not suffering from an identity crisis anymore.
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“The similarity of the icons may also symbolically reflect the modular architecture of OOo…” and though that is important for developers (who know that anyway), the symbolism is trivial for end users (who probably know it anyway, too).
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“There is no OpenOffice.org branding in [the file icons] whatsoever.” A good idea because the seagulls are messy in the file icons, but the ODF “logo” is bland and ugly and does not achieve a “lighter and less cluttered” appearance, as is claimed for the application icons. Why not keep the “orb” theme and include a simple “O” for odf-docs and a blank “orb” for non-odf. “It is hoped that these will become the universal ODF icons that other applications supporting ODF will adopt.” As they are, I certainly hope not!
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@admin
Thanks for your well-intended reference to “the corresponding discussion thread on the Branding list”, but it has become such a forest over there, I can’t see the trees anymore, but I’ll do my best
The colour issue is also being discussed as an OpenOffice bug at their bug list:
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=112141
Feel fre e to visit and vote for this bug if you also feel that OpenOffice should reintroduce colours to their icons
The 3.2 icon set was clear, distinct and highly professional in appearance. The 3.2.1 set is exceptionally bland, difficult to distinguish when normal or small icons are used, and most importantly reminds me of the 1.0 beta test icons (colorless, confusing, and non-discript). While Oracle is well known for a low-frills, strong function business approach, this is definitely one area where spending time with the use of color, clarity, and descriptive design makes a huge impact on the appearant professionalism to the user. The key to to office suite market, as MS discovered in the late 1980′s, is to address to concerns, needs, and desires of the users as they will have to largest impact on what is purchased. As in all fields of engineering, and computer science is generally considered a filed of engineering, the best ideas are worthless until there is a supportive market for them. In this case, it is clear that the current icon set is not being well recieved by many users and the overall market. I strongly recommend the “K.I.S.” approach — “Keep It Simple” (i.e. round out the 3.2 icons or some similar approach, but definitely ADD COLOR !)
Wow, how do you mess up this bad?
For a second there, I was like, “why is there an AT&T logo in my quicklaunch?
The application icon doesn’t bug me. The new file icons however, are making me nuts. The whole color scheme is silly, and I think it is a step backward in user experience.
I’ve been using OOo for years and when I opened it up, it looked as if I was picking my application off of a piece of paper. It’s so bland and colorless. No, it isn’t “minimalist” or “sleek.” It’s just ugly and the lack of color and all of the icons looking exactly the same makes everything kind of blend into the background. The old color scheme made OOo seem friendly and easy to work with from the start. It just seems so impersonal now. It’s cold and mechanical and new users will be turned off by it.
I can understand uniformity, but this is just stupid. The old icons were easily identifiable without even having to read anything. You could tell by the shape and color what you were clicking on right away. It’s just the fact that having everything look exactly the same slows you down because you can’t sift through things as easily.
You wouldn’t think that something like this would be a big deal, but it’s HUGE. This is the first thing someone sees when they open OOo, and it puts you in an irritated mood immediately because you have to stop and take the time to look around for what you want since everything kinda mushes together. This is the face of OOo, it should stay colorful, friendly, and easily accessible.
yea i agree with that. the icons are a huge backstep in OOo´s graphical evolution….
Well I guess also oracle is a great backstep but yea..
I agree with everyone who said that the new icons are less intuitive and hard to distinguish. I still using the 3.2.0 version because of this and I really want that the next version bring back the colorfull “old” icons, or new icons, but colorfull. And I think that the similarity with other programs like MS Office isn’t a problem. I think we have to be humble and use what is good in another’s softwares and what is good for the users.
Please, bring back the colorfull icons!
I’ve uninstalled 3.2.1 and reinstalled 3.2.0. These new app icons are a usability BUG, and I’ll put up with a few esoteric functionality bugs to get the old icons back. This is simply inept design and brand management. I was of the “Sun/Oracle/whatever” thinking until now, but if this is an example of Oracle’s influence on the project, it’s time to start keeping the “fork” option in mind.
I actually like the style of the new icons, but I will agree with many others that the distinguishing colors for the different file types is sorely missed.
I prefer a higher screen resolution and my icons are pretty small… now I have one less visual cue to use when I am hunting through my document folder.
Color should be added to these “new” icons. I have deleted 3.2.1 and reinstalled 3.2 so as to use very attractive and functional icons.