QupZilla, the lightweight Qt web-browser, is on the hunt for a brand new app logo.
David Rosca of the QupZilla development team has sought help from designer Adrien Vigneron in updating the browser’s brand, feeling that the current ‘globe on starburst’ design is just ‘not great enough’.
QupZilla is a cross-platform, Qt-based browser. Although it is not the most widely known ‘window on the web’ it is, like GNOME Web and Midori, a commendable open-source alternative to the major players.
Could a brand new icon boost its appeal further?
Drafts For The New QupZilla Logo
Adrien Vigneron is the designer tasked with working a new identity for the lightweight web browser.
From a segmented sweating oranges to a shark in search of a hockey team, it is fair to say that all of his proposed designs are novel in their variety. And to the designers credit they’re also extremely well made.
But are these drafts the right fit for QupZilla?
A Bad Icon Is A Bug
Good app icons can dramatically change the way people feel about the software it represents. An icon is, in effect, a statement as much as it is an identity.
A low-res, badly designed icon with no thought behind tells the user that they’re getting a low-res, badly designed app knocked together quickly. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself how often you scroll past apps with bad icons in the App Store or Google Play!
But looking well designed and being well designed are not the same thing.
A decent app icon should convey the purpose of the app from the moment you see it. It should also be distinct and recognisable. This is not an easy balance to strike.
QupZilla has a decent logo — on paper at least. It ticks all the right signifiers: an ice-blue globe (shorthand for ‘internet’; and why most web-browser icons tend to be round) in front of a dynamic starburst (visual shorthand for ‘speed, power’, etc).
But it’s not unique.
A quick google for a ‘generic browser logo’ presents a sea of similar iconography. QupZilla needs to make a statement with any new design, but not stray too far from colloquial metaphors or symbolism.
Like I said earlier: not an easy balance to strike.
The good news for existing and potential users of the browser is that no final decision on a new icon has yet been taken.
The QupZilla team is open to suggestions and thoughts on the proposed new logos and what is presented above and on Adrien’s blog remain under development.
Feel free to share your own stab at a new icon idea in the comments below.
QupZilla 2.0 In The Works
On to more practical matters. Work on QupZilla 2.0, the next major release and to be based on the new QtWebEngine backend, is still underway.
A bug-fix release of the current 1.8.x series, based on QtWebKit, now deprecated but available in the package archive of most major distributions, is due for release later this month.