Remote View

1y ago

💅 Voyager icon design contest — Submissions thread

EDIT: NOW CLOSED! Thank you to everyone that entered! 💙

As part of the v1 launch, I’m hoping to adopt a new community-driven app icon! 🥰 As promised, here is the thread for your submissions! I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

NOTE: Please only post finalized submissions here! If you would like to workshop your submission with the community, feel free to make a separate thread. :)

What do I win??

wefwef ahem Voyager is a free and open source project, so there isn't a cash prize or anything. But, credit to you will be officially in the app settings and the Github repo readme!

Submission deadline

Submissions accepted NOW through July 16th, 10pm CT (depending on submission volume, may be extended).

Selection process

I will lock the thread after the submission window and nominate 3 icons (see below tips for what I’m looking for). I’ll take into account votes and comments from people. :) If there are very few submissions, I may extend the window to submit. Shortly after, I’ll create another thread for the community to vote to choose one of the final three!

Tips

I encourage you to make the app icon FUN and colorful! Give the app a soul that reflects the community driven nature of Lemmy and the greater Fediverse. Icons using the display-p3 colorspace are encouraged. I love how an interconnected rainbow represents the Fediverse, and I’d love to see your personal artistic style :)
I am purposely allowing raster icons for this contest, because I think too many app icons look bland, generic and… well… corporate vector bleh. I love the fun style of these Fediverse illustrations by David Revoy: https://framablog.org/2022/12/08/framasoft-2022-a-casserole-cooked-up-thanks-to-you-thanks-to-your-donations/?print=print

Rules

Edited 2am CT Jul 10: Added rule against AI generated artwork

3 submissions max per artist
🆕 No AI generated art, please
Please, no submissions resembling the Apollo icon (sorry!) to respect Apollo’s app icon branding
For each submission, required assets:
- (For contest submission)
  - Single 512x512 square PNG designed for iOS should be in your comment. (If you have an iOS device, I recommend this site to test)
  - Optional sentence or two explaining your icon
- (Upon being selected)
  - 1024x1024 PNG or SVG iOS app icon.
  - 1024x1024 PNG or SVG “maskable” variant for Android app icon. Tips here: https://web.dev/maskable-icon
  - BONUS/OPTIONAL Splash screen image - Design a full screen app launch screen that is maskable to fit various device aspect ratios. This is totally optional.
Your work should be licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0, or less restrictive. :)

107 comments

My attempts:
- I like the second one a lot
- Oh my god the second one is amazing!
- the second one is really really good
- Second one is perfect.
- I really like the 2nd one. :) I feel like it should be unique and not a design based on the mouse.
- 2nd one!
  I'm personally not a big fan of the lemming character (in general), and nothing says we have to go that route!
  Love the voyager probe
- The second one is really good!
- I like both very much. 1st one is a bit creepy with those red eyes, but both are quite unique and can be recognized very well.
- I think the first one is also great. The color stripe could be a bit more defined for it to even be noticeable when icon-sized. And I wonder how it would look like with a thinner body, but I guess you've probably tried that already

I just wanted to create something related to space and thought of this design. Here is my submission. Please feel free to post any feedback.
Image
- This is my favorite of the lemming versions, at least so far. The visor looks nice and clean. No “sad furry” vibes (no offense to furries, but seems strangely restrictive in an app icon).
- I like this one. I hope more people see it.
- this one is clean, fun, thematically voyager and clearly lemmy 🐭🧑‍🚀👍
- This is my favourite, hope it wins
- This is my favourite of all the submissions so far!
- Looks nice! Reminds me a bit of the vision pro ^^

I tried to give ya something that isn't another rodent face so ya have some variety for the contest.
These are based off of some old NASA space shuttle mission graphics that I loved.
- This is it! Either version works for me.
  
  Thanks!
- I love it. These remind me of shuttle-era NASA mission patches.
  
  Thanks for the kind words!
- These are both really great, but I definitely prefer the 2nd. The 1st has a shape that evokes the “navigation pointer” seen in map apps, and I think that association pollutes what would otherwise be a great icon.
  The 2nd doesn’t have that shape and therefore that association, the “V” is very clear yet stylized as an object entering the atmosphere. I love it!
  
  Thanks! Glad you like them!
- The second one here is great and really stands out from the other submissions, especially with the non-pastel colour scheme.
  
  Since it’s flat, it would also be pretty for color variations.

This is such a fun and cool idea, but.
Please, absolutely do not choose an AI generated piece. If people have to prove the piece is genuine via sending in a PSD, SAI file, etc (any file that shows layers) or sketches. So be it.
An AI piece would take away from the fun and authenticity from this. Artists, writers, voice actors, and other creative are having a hard time as it is with the rise of AI. And the AI bros defending it. A person who uses AI and calls themselves an artist is the same energy as someone taking a frozen meal and heating it up a microwave calling themselves a chef.
AI Is an interesting tool and has its uses, but people are abusing it right now and it's getting harder and harder to tell what is authentic.
- Hey! I appreciate this point and I will add it to the rules (hopefully nobody is offended with me changing them after starting)
  Also, because this comment isn't an actual submission, I will probably remove it at some point. I hope you can understand :)
  
  Absolutely up to you of course, but I really disagree with OP's premise. The best icon should win, not the most "handcrafted" or whatever. AI assisted tooling has gone mainstream at least since Photoshop included generative fill as a first class feature, excluding it from such a competition on the basis of "the poor artists have it rough" seems like an odd take to me. Especially since you could easily use AI for all relevant layers and then submit the Photoshop file with it.
  
  Completely understandable, thank you for responding to the comment and not just deleting it in the first place! AI is a pretty contentious topic but most of it was trained on art where the artist didn't consent on having their art used for training or being synthed. I see so many people that take commissions and make money of this, but don't disclose they are using AI. Some people care, many don't.
  I am inspired to make an Icon, so we'll see. =)

These are some variations on the previously posted space lemming/mouse:
Calm universe (previously posted) | High res, no mask

Lively universe | High res, no mask

Colourful universe | High res, no mask

Also, if you want to customise your Home Screen icon on iOS (for this or any of the other submissions), grab the high res image link and follow these instructions on how to do that.
- Wow, gimme that LSD fever dream of third icon! Colourful and unique, and I love the wide opened eyes
- all of them look great i think, i think the first one looks best
- I'd probably go with the second one. The last one looks definitely a bit LSD-induced ^^
- @aeharding@lemmy.world is it okay to have some hints at apollo?
  
  These are great! can you change the style of the eyes to not bear resemblance to Apollo? That’s my only concern.

My goal was to somehow work a lemming into the aesthetic of space exploration with big, bold elements that can easily be modified or recolored for special occasions. Nothing seemed to click until I saw a certain lemming photo and realized it was a great opportunity for a "once you see it, you can't unsee it" nod to our Lemmy mascot. (Let me know if you guessed what it is before viewing the photo!)
- Very clean, love the space theme. Reminds me of Star Trek.
  
  Thanks! There's definitely some LCARS in there

These icons and splash screens are inspired by your original icon. I went with a colorful galaxy theme which I thought was fitting with the name, Voyager.
I'm excited to see all the designs everyone made, and look forward to using Voyager 1.0!
Icon 1 -- Splash screen 1
Icon 2 -- Splash screen 2
Icon 3 -- Splash screen 3
- Icon 2 please!!!
- Icon 1 !!!
- I don’t like the bright splash screens. They need to be dark.
- I love the 2nd or 3rd

Here are my submissions! I also went with the space/ astronaut lemming theme. I tried to make an icon that would be recognizable & familiar to lemmy, but also unique and fun. I included two options with slight variances.

Update third entry - with thicker strokes as suggested
- Definitely one of the best
  
  Thank you!
- These are great! that first smiling one in particular. Well done, I hope this gets up.
  
  Thank you!

My submission is based on the two Voyagers I thought of first. Both of which were and are exploring uncharted space.
Logo
The Lemmy is modified to resemble the Voyager space probe which was send out into space as a greeting to the universe. The background is inspired by the warp animation from Star Trek where the other Voyager flew trough space on an unlikely journey makeing friends along the way.

I’m not a designer or anything, doing this for fun. Found a few royalty free images and thought of this. Let me know how it is. I have only one submission… Hope you guys like it! Any feedback is welcome :)
- Should look like this on the Home Screen.
- See, now I'm considering an icon that looks like a technological burger.
  
  The imagination to what that might look that is open to interpretation 😆
- I fear the true beauty of the icon won't be coming through on a 5 mm x 5 mm icon, other than that I really like the style.
  
  Haha thank you. Well yes, the texture of the paint won’t be visible you’re right. But it’s the overall look that I thought matches the look of what voyager is based around…we’ll more or less 😂

I definitely don't expect this to win, but I thought a retro NASA theme would be cool. Maybe someone with skill can use this idea and make something better :)

My lack of design experience is showing here but I enjoyed having a go, maybe my idea could inspire other people with more artistic talent! Basically just wanted to tie in the fediverse logo.
- I like the dark one, it’s nice to see some submissions that are based on the fediverse and not just restricted to lemmings!

I thought it might be fun to try to incorporate the 5 colors of the Fediverse icon for the background of the icon and have the logo standout by using white to contrast against the background. I also wanted to incorporate a space theme and feature Saturn and Jupiter since they were highlighted by the original Voyager 1 probe.
https://i.imgur.com/A9vSJHH.png
I also don't have an iPhone, so I couldn't 100% simulate its look as an iPhone app icon, but I did my best to simulate it on my Android background.
https://i.imgur.com/M4mhTXC.jpg

Here are my humble three submissions!

The first is a bit of a mashup, mixing the proverbial light bulbs that go off in community threads and has a lemmy with full cheeks (probably after eating... a little too much!). Also, it looks like an ice cream cone. It's a bit more pop-art.

Only the finest content will do: the second one has a bit more of a 'fine dining' aesthetic, where users engage online in a sophisticated, gentle-lemmy manner. Its nose is tipped upwards, as if looking down on lesser memes.

The third one is more attached to your sought-after design. I attempted to channel the similar Fediverse art style, while keeping it simple enough for an app logo.

One last icon :p

These were all made with Midjourney. I prompted it with voyager space probe, satellite, radio telescope, other things of that nature.
- I like the third one, but have mixed feelings on the prospect of our community icon being AI generates.
- I love the first and third ones but I can understand why some people would be against the AI route
- Pretty terrible icons, no offence to you
  (Some offence to mid-journey)
  
  I personally don’t like the lemmy mouse icon so I would take anything different. Considering it’s named voyager the NASA voyager is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe someone with artistic skills can create a similar theme without AI.
- Ugh...AI generated
- Really like the first one. Maybe it’s a bit too detailed for an icon though? Regarding AI/no AI, I think the most important is that it’s a good looking icon, who cares how it was made. But that’s just me.
  
  Yes, it's difficult to judge how an icon actually looks like on the home screen. That's definitely too much detail for that, but looks nice nonetheless

107 comments