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Author	Topic: Redesign the vehicle icons, please.	Post a Reply Back to Topics

trrblSwftSwd Champion Author Philadelphia Posts:141,141 Points:153,030 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Jun 12, 2011 1:48:27 PM Ignore trrblSwftSwd Report Abuse When I started entering prices on my iPhone app, I was oblivious of these vehicle icons that are attributed to your user account as you accrete points. Then one day, after I reached 10,000 points, an icon appeared on my profile. I got curious and found out what it meant. In examining these icons, however, I can't really deduce a logical progression in the color scheme or the types of vehicles. It seems like this current schema has grown organically. Can it be redesigned to make more sense?

trrblSwftSwd

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Philadelphia

Posts:141,141
Points:153,030
Joined:Apr 2011

Message Posted: Jun 12, 2011 1:48:27 PM

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When I started entering prices on my iPhone app, I was oblivious of these vehicle icons that are attributed to your user account as you accrete points. Then one day, after I reached 10,000 points, an icon appeared on my profile. I got curious and found out what it meant. In examining these icons, however, I can't really deduce a logical progression in the color scheme or the types of vehicles. It seems like this current schema has grown organically. Can it be redesigned to make more sense?

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bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,363 Points:4,120,705 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Jun 16, 2011 11:11:36 PM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse Don't change what isn't broke. (Although, I think that once I get to 3,500,000 points, I should get to add my own icon...) [Edited by: bytebug at 6/16/2011 11:14:22 PM EST]
Edwierdo Rookie Author Chattanooga Posts:13 Points:464,720 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Jun 16, 2011 6:20:41 PM Ignore Edwierdo Report Abuse Skateboard for me!
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,634 Points:3,679,735 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jun 16, 2011 1:27:49 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse chriskraus: It evolved in stages. If it were redone from scratch, it might do something more intuitive.
chriskraus Sophomore Author Boston Posts:152 Points:23,085 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Jun 15, 2011 12:10:51 PM Ignore chriskraus Report Abuse I don't get the order of the icons. You start with the car that changes color, then you go to all red with some smaller vehicles that get bigger, and then, the icon for 1,000,000 - 1,249,999 is exactly the same as 3,250,000 or More - Red Car. In theory, wouldn't it make sense to do vehicles that get bigger, with a 5-color scale for each vehicle? Like: 5 Motorcycles (darker to brighter), 5 Tricycles (darker to brighter), etc?
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,178 Points:3,250,695 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jun 15, 2011 6:49:46 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Could I get a tricycle, please?
CampKohler Champion Author Sacramento Posts:9,446 Points:1,562,015 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Jun 14, 2011 7:32:17 PM Ignore CampKohler Report Abuse I want a wheel barrow.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,535 Points:2,356,130 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Jun 14, 2011 8:53:47 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse My understanding is the icons and their colors grew over time as people approached the threshold of the highest icon/color. I think it used to max out at 500,000 points originally and the extended it to 1 million. After that they added a bunch of different shapes. I agree that a logarithmic approach would be better.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,178 Points:3,250,695 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jun 14, 2011 8:21:14 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Why does there need to be a logical progression? Who cares! And just because, in your opinion, there isn't a logical progression doesn't indicate a stagnant web site. The progression of the car icons is what ever the site owners want it to be!
trrblSwftSwd Champion Author Philadelphia Posts:141,141 Points:153,030 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Jun 14, 2011 8:09:01 AM Ignore trrblSwftSwd Report Abuse I appreciate your comments, Zimcity, but I believe it's the attention to small details like this that differentiate the good from the rest of the pack. The fact that this has not been addressed appears to be a sign of stagnation that has beset this website....
Zimcity Champion Author Twin Cities Posts:65,354 Points:3,689,610 Joined:Aug 2001	Message Posted: Jun 13, 2011 7:04:35 PM Ignore Zimcity Report Abuse Don't think so hard about trivial stuff. As you said it was a fun think they started 10 years ago, and the concept of having the vehicles having some significance has come up once in a great while. Perhaps the biggest "drive" has been to get something different for the 3.5 mil car. In the end, as you said, it's just something for fun that new members can use to track their progress as members and there are far more important things for the site owners to worry about.
trrblSwftSwd Champion Author Philadelphia Posts:141,141 Points:153,030 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Jun 13, 2011 9:13:19 AM Ignore trrblSwftSwd Report Abuse Kwzh, I like your idea of logarithmic progression. The color scheme, however, is going to be confusing no matter what if there are too many colors, so should we get rid of them (or have them not matter). How about re-vamping the vehicle icons to more clearly denote the progression (i.e., from more cheaper vehicles to more expensive, or simpler to more complex)? Or switching to some other scheme that is more obvious, like 0 to N stars? Of course, switching to a non-vehicle scheme throws a monkey wrench into the "zoom" or stripes add-on, which recognizes the consecutive 90-day postings. Scoutmaster poses a meta question: are icons needed at all? Perhaps not, but icons, in my opinion, represent an element of "fun" or incentive factor for the newer members, so they serve a purpose. Another meta question: should the icons represent all three types of accomplishments: points, consecutive days, and postings?
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,634 Points:3,679,735 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jun 13, 2011 1:34:42 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse You're correct -- there's no logical progression, and it's been through at least two ad-hoc extensions, while mostly attempting to preserve the icons that people already had. The latest extension was to add more icons at the high end, retaining the red color but changing the shape. I've previously argued that we have too many levels; it should be on a logarithmic scale, not a linear one. I would prefer to use only the basic vehicle shape for non-moderators, and go only by color. Off the top of my head: 0=(blank) 10k=brown 35k=black 50k=silver 100k=violet 250k=blue 500k=cyan 1m=green 2m=yellow/gold 5m=orange 10m=red After the "beginner" colors, they would go in spectrum order, with red at the high end. It would take increasingly longer times to "level up", but so what? The higher your score, the less you care about the icons anyway. [Edited by: kwzh at 6/13/2011 1:36:04 AM EST]
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,178 Points:3,250,695 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jun 12, 2011 3:52:46 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I say get rid of the vehicle icons all together!