I LOVE YUMMIE ... but what is that droplet icon?

[reesmaxwell]

I've just gotta say .. I've been using Yummie for a couple of months now as a new Mac Switcher and just love it!  I'd used FTPVoyager and IPSwitch on the PC.  I just love all the icandy in mac apps.  Yummie is so ... well, yummie!

I now have the latest version, and I am so appreciative of the desktop droplet.  It is really handy to drop my files onto it and not have to do anything else.  I actually have it sitting in my dock right now since I use it so much.

That all said, WHAT is the droplet icon?  It looks like an outbox, with a green arrow indicating it is an outbox ... and a fork propped up in it.  Really, it looks like a fork but I can't imagine that is what it is.  I had thought maybe it ... well, no, I don't have any other ideas.  What the heck is the fork thing in the outbox?     (Your candybar like icon for Yummie is fantastic ... I'm guessing someone else did your droplet icon?)

I guess you could be keeping with the food/yummie theme and have a fork/spoon that is used to launch items as in a food fight .. as an FTP droplet.  A catapult would work I suppose, but isn't really food/yummie related. 

OH, I THINK I GOT IT!  Is it supposed to be a bus tub?  That would be food related, and have to do with someone else taking your stuff for you and transporting it.  Maybe it is a bus tub with one side missing, and it has a dirty fork in it?  I'm reaching here, but I know that someone stayed up late designing the icon and so it must be 'logical'.   

Anyone else have any ideas about what that icon is .. and if you think it could be improved .. what would be food/candy/yummie related that would mean automatic sending of your goods (ftp)? 

Beuller ... anyone, anyone??

[JD]

Hey Rees,

Firstly, thank you for all the praise - very much appreciated!!

Well, you got it right first time for the droplet (aka FTP Alias) - it's an out-tray icon, with an up arrow indicating it will upload, and the fork (yes it's a fork) is there to tie in the Yummy theme of tastiness

I've actually been thinking about how to improve that icon, so suggestions (or contributions if you are so inclined) are most welcome

-Jason

[reesmaxwell]

Cool!  I guessed it!   

I was thinking something along the lines of http://foodservice.oneida.com/resources/oneidaFoodservice/images/libraries/content/ill-bus%20box2.jpg crossed with http://www.restaurant-services.com/images/BusBox.jpg

The metaphor is a dish bus tub, where your stuff is taken away by someone else (referring to the automated ftp droplet method of ftp).

And you could still have your green arrow.  (Or maybe use the same arrow as is used next to your main program icon when it is uploading, for consistancy.)

What do you think?

[JD]

While it does make a lot more sense within the Yummy theme than the 'out tray' I currently have, I have to admit - I've never heard of a 'dish bus tub'. Maybe it's an American thing? If you didn't know - I'm British

[justG]

While it does make a lot more sense within the Yummy theme than the 'out tray' I currently have, I have to admit - I've never heard of a 'dish bus tub'. Maybe it's an American thing?

I've not either, and I was born and raised in the States. Perhaps it's a regional/state-specific thing. =)

[reesmaxwell]

  Oh, I always think my experiences are the same as the rest of the world.  Sorry.   

So at many of the restaurants I go to, if it is one that expects you to 'bus your own table', they have a black heavy-duty plastic 'bus tub' on top of a cart at the edge of the room somewhere where you put your dishes into when you're done with your meal.  Some local restaurants don't expect you to 'bus your own table' but they still have a bus tub out near the kitchen where you can still bus your own if you're so inclined.  Maybe it is a West Coast US thing?

Not sure if I ever saw it in Oklahoma.  I think cafes have this often.

So, neither of you have ever seen what I'm talking about?  Hmm! 

Other than the bus tub idea, it is difficult to think of a food related metaphor where things are being taken away from you.  Usually things are given to you.  Well, sometimes people 'send a dish back' to the chef because the meat is underdone or something .. but that doesn't have any good iconography associated with it. 

Are there any other times you can think of when a food related item/items are being taken away from you or you're offering them up to others? 

Okay, one answer: when offering servings of cake or pie or something to others ... still, not sure how to iconify that. 
Most of the metaphors aren't really suited to food .. like the truck/transport thing, or sending mail, or a Star Trek transporter, or a rocket blasting off for distant locations, or things rolling down a conveyor-belt in an assembly line, or ...

When it comes to food-related stuff .. when is the focus on giving to others?  If I'm a server, then that is always the focus, but an icon of a server's hand showing a tray of desserts would just look like someone was giving those to me. (Or am I just that self-focused?)   

I guess a hand that is giving a piece of pie on a plate, with the perspective of the arm coming out from me and the hand/pie plate smaller in the slight distance .. that would give the effect of giving something to someone ... but still, not a super strong image.  Hmm, very interesting.

[JD]

Hehehe well, what can I say? Welcome to the world of icon design 

For the moment then, the existing icon does work well enough - even though you started this thread, you did describe exactly what the icon conveys

Any other suggestions? Anyone else want to chime in?

[reesmaxwell]

But ya gotta admit, having a fork in an outbox is a bit odd, right?  Then again, you Brits do things differently than us Americans.  (We keep out forks in our inboxes and put our knives in the outboxes.)    

[JD]

LOL ok you got me there 

[reesmaxwell]

   Hey, how about a kid dressed in a Halloween costume with a bag held open in front of him/her?  That would lend to the impression that you're supposed to put something in there.  The kid could be looking at you with a grin and a sort of puppy-dog face that says, "Hey, don't be a schmuck ... give the kid something!" 

I'm getting closer!  It is related to food, yummie candy in fact, and represents giving something away to someone else!  Woo-hoo!!

(Oh my, it is after 3am here ... off to bed before I start coming up with really odd suggestions!)

-Rees

Here's the idea .. but cartoonified:

[JD]

I was beginning to wonder what part of the US you were in that was still awake! 3am?!?! Get Some Sleep!

The idea is basically sound, but how on earth I could possibly fit all that into a tiny icon is beyond my capabilities, I'm afraid...

[reesmaxwell]

What, you don't keep all your icons at 128 x 128?  Odd.

 

Okay, now it is 10 after 4am ... really got to go to bed now!  (Kids will be up in 2.5 hours now.)

[JD]

Well, of course I do

But you have to consider the smaller sizes that can be displayed too - right down to 16x16 pixels. A properly designed icon will have special versions for the smaller sizes to make them look as good as possible. While the OS does a good job of scaling the 128x128 icons down, when the image is complex to begin with then the scaled results are just a fuzzy mess and the only solution is specially designed icons for the smaller sizes.

[justG]

So at many of the restaurants I go to, if it is one that expects you to 'bus your own table', they have a black heavy-duty plastic 'bus tub' on top of a cart at the edge of the room somewhere where you put your dishes into when you're done with your meal. 
...
So, neither of you have ever seen what I'm talking about?  Hmm!

Oh. Right. Okay. Yeh, I've seen that before, I just didn't know it had a name. =)