A new one is coming, and we look forward to discussing the new NanaZip icon with you!

[SakuraNeko]

Today, we want to tell you.

With your help in this matter of icon design, we have gone one step further!

First of all, please let us thank:

• @RGarrido03 : Presented a prototype of our document logo
• @lychichem : Reference prototypes of our program icons
• @RobbyMeeker : An interesting suggestion was provided to us
• @BoxterMaiti : Provides impactful solutions of its own design

There are also friends like @bitsper2nd, @wangwenx190 and @Void48 ...... who put forward their own solutions and understanding for the design of the logo.

And finally we'd like to thank 四月天: our logo designer, who integrated everyone's suggestions and refined the design!

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Now, the new logos of NanaZip are born.

• It contains an application icon with high contrast optimization.

Usually	High-Contrast-Themes (In Black Themes)	High-Contrast-Themes (In White Themes)

• A logo for archived files supported by NanaZip.

• And a file icon dedicated to the NanaZip self-extracting format.

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Here are some screenshots of the new design in our Canary version.

We hope you like them!

We would like to thank you all again for your help!

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What do you think of these designs?

Keep joining the discussion on our logo!

Sakura Neko

October 13, 2021

[MouriNaruto]

Note: I think we also should thank to @SakuraNeko. I think he is an excellent coordinator between the logo designer, the community and me. He has also made a lot contribution about the logo designing progress.

Kenji Mouri

[nyakaspeter]

Wow, this looks a lot better than the current icon! When is this coming to the Store? BTW some kind of indication of the archive format (like the letters on the old 7-zip icons) would make it even better I think.

[bitsper2nd]

Nice job @MouriNaruto & @SakuraNeko. Can't tag the logo designer, but I hope that person is reading this. Now I can actually interpret this as the logo for an archive program. I enjoy the dog watermark. Gives it a more personal touch. Also works perfectly as the the letter "N" from Nanazip.

PS: Can you share a mockup of the GUI using the new icons and logo?

[BoxterMaiti]

New icons looking great, guys! It has a nice touch of personality! Can't wait for further development on this software! :)

[wangwenx190]

New design looks a lot better!

[lychichem]

Wow, this looks a lot better than the current icon! When is this coming to the Store? BTW some kind of indication of the archive format (like the letters on the old 7-zip icons) would make it even better I think.

Seems difficult now as you have to include all the icons with all the size in assets folder. If I tell you now Nanazip has just three icon with different colours but have 239 png files in assets folder, you can imagine how many png files have to be included in assets folder if you make 24 filetype icons as 7-zip do now. The size of Nanazip will significantly grow.

[SakuraNeko]

@nyakaspeter :

I saw your suggestion and it is very commendable.

Wow, this looks a lot better than the current icon! When is this coming to the Store? BTW some kind of indication of the archive format (like the letters on the old 7-zip icons) would make it even better I think.

In his reply, @lychichem mentioned our reasoning that this would significantly increase the size of our software, which is contrary to the original intention of NanaZip.

It may be difficult for us to carry more content in NanaZip's file icons without further changes to Microsoft's storage model for the software's digital assets.

Looking forward to your reply!

Sakura Neko

October 13, 2021

[SakuraNeko]

@bitsper2nd:

I've updated the screenshot of the actual run and it's from our Canary version.

Sakura Neko

October 13, 2021

[nyakaspeter]

Wow, this looks a lot better than the current icon! When is this coming to the Store? BTW some kind of indication of the archive format (like the letters on the old 7-zip icons) would make it even better I think.

Seems difficult now as you have to include all the icons with all the size in assets folder. If I tell you now Nanazip has just three icon with different colours but have 239 png files in assets folder, you can imagine how many png files have to be included in assets folder if you make 24 filetype icons as 7-zip do now. The size of Nanazip will significantly grow.

@lychichem @SakuraNeko Okay, I understand the problem, here are some ideas:

• What if you only included special icons for the most popular archive formats? Like zip, tar, rar, 7z and maybe iso. I think that would cover the vast majority of compressed file formats that an average user would come across.
• I don't know if this is possible, but it might be worth looking into if some kind of composition can be used with the file icons? Like only storing transparent png files that spell the individual formats and putting that on top of the same archive icon. Probably this feature doesn't exist yet, but maybe it will in the future, there's definately some kind of development in that area with the animated taskbar icons in Windows 11.
• Release a separate MSIX with the file icons here under the releases tab, where file size may not matter as much, and publish the "slim" version with just the 3 icons on MS Store.

Of course I will understand if the app takes none of these directions, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter. Keep up the good work!

[MouriNaruto]

@nyakaspeter

What if you only included special icons for the most popular archive formats? Like zip, tar, rar, 7z and maybe iso. I think that would cover the vast majority of compressed file formats that an average user would come across.

Release a separate MSIX with the file icons here under the releases tab, where file size may not matter as much, and publish the "slim" version with just the 3 icons on MS Store.

In my point of view, NanaZip should be a lightweight application with modern and unified user experience. So I don't want to provide special icons and extended version. My creed is writing the most compact implementations by using the least syntaxes and third-party libraries.

I don't know if this is possible, but it might be worth looking into if some kind of composition can be used with the file icons? Like only storing transparent png files that spell the individual formats and putting that on top of the same archive icon. Probably this feature doesn't exist yet, but maybe it will in the future, there's definately some kind of development in that area with the animated taskbar icons in Windows 11.

I have not found this feature is existed yet. But I will definitely consider about that if Microsoft provide this feature in the future. Because it can improve the user experience and still keep my creed.

Kenji Mouri

[bitsper2nd]

Actually, the more I think about it, the official Nanazip logo should be more simple. That will allow it to be more recognizable and differentiate from other programs. Look at the examples below. They are representations of the brand instead of being a literal zip or folder icon.

My latest suggestion is to keep the dog. That will serve as the letter N for Nanazip. Ditch the CD icon and even the folder icon. A square or background as the background for the dog would suffice. It can even be more clever, and more gentle like the making the logo a dog tag/chip that represents that Nanazip is your trusty, favorite dog companion.

It will be more consistent with the other icons you are using for the SFX and Filetypes. Because the dog is the most clever detail that will help the user feel and know they are on Nanazip. Thoughts, @MouriNaruto @SakuraNeko?

[RobbyMeeker]

In my point of view, NanaZip should be a lightweight application with modern and unified user experience. So I don't want to provide special icons and extended version. My creed is writing the most compact implementations by using the least syntaxes and third-party libraries.
Kenji Mouri

Definitely agree. Personally I prefer apps that blend into the operating system it resides in. I think the proposed icons do that well.

Perhaps the context menu app icon looks slightly out of place, but with the new design language in Windows 11 this will be the case with basically every application. And I'm nitpicking at this point.

[skyunix]

[SakuraNeko]

@bitsper2nd :

Thanks for the suggestion, I think it's a great suggestion!

However, we don't think now is the time for us to rebrand NanaZip again. In fact NanaZip still has a lot of things to do (see our roadmap).

When we finish modernizing the user experience (before the 2.0 release), we'll likely rebrand our logo to make it more compatible with the interface.

If we forget about this idea by then, I hope you'll remind us again.

Thank you very much for your offer, and let's see NanaZip grow together!

Sakura Neko

October 14, 2021

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Update: In fact, there are still many users using NanaZip in Windows 10 for well-known reasons. we think the current logo does a good job of balancing out the older versions.

[SakuraNeko]

@Marvll :

Great design!

Thanks for giving so much of your time!

When we plan to rebrand our logo, we'll take your suggestions into account!

Hope you'll join in then. We'll have a good discussion!

Sakura Neko

October 14, 2021

[MouriNaruto]

I think we should create a new issue when we will rebrand our logo in the future. So I lock this issue.

Kenji Mouri

[AndromedaMelody]

• This comment is converted from the discussion (@techeac , @MouriNaruto discussed in #125).
• For more information, please read Migrate Discussions to Issues #274. Thank you.

New Default icon?

^{Originally posted by @techeac 2022-03-17T13:48:01Z}
I find the default icon too similar to that of folders where the color scheme specifically makes things confusing to sort.

E.g.

Is there a way for me to change this?
Regardless i'm sure other people would appreciate it (as seen from a review or two from the Microsoft store).

Thanks!

^{Originally posted by @MouriNaruto 2022-03-17T14:01:08Z}
Is there a way for me to change this?

I think it's nice if you can design a new one for us.

Here is the original file type icon: https://github.com/M2Team/NanaZip/raw/master/Assets/NanaZip_HighResolution_ArchiveFile.png

I will note your contribution in https://github.com/M2Team/NanaZip/blob/master/Documents/People.md if you design a new one and it's good enough to use.

P.S. NanaZip doesn't accept the icon which is not originally designed unless you have explicit permission from the original author.

Kenji Mouri

[AndromedaMelody]

• This comment is converted from the discussion (@spettoijmm , @MouriNaruto , @LegnaOS discussed in #197).
• For more information, please read Migrate Discussions to Issues #274. Thank you.

File icon update

^{Originally posted by @spettoijmm 2022-08-08T02:22:02Z}
I tried updating the NanaZip file icon with some fluent design principles. What do you think?

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^{Originally posted by @MouriNaruto 2022-08-08T02:52:14Z}
It looks good in my perspective.

But I think I need to know opinions from other people in the community.

Kenji Mouri

^{Originally posted by @spettoijmm 2022-08-10T20:00:55Z}
No problems. In the meantime, I'll see if I can do a study to update the toolbar icons this weekend (if I have time).

^{Originally posted by @MouriNaruto 2022-08-11T16:29:16Z}
It's not necessary to create new toolbar icons because I will use XAML CommandBar with Segoe MDL2 Assets icons to replace the Win32 toolbar and bitmap icons. Hope to understand this decision.

Kenji Mouri

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^{Originally posted by @LegnaOS 2022-08-08T03:37:56Z}
Thanks to the designer! ^_
^
From this icon design, it can be seen that the main visual features from NanaZip are kept intact, and the third icon is more relevant from the analysis of conforming to the characteristics of Zip files, but the lock-type icon will mistakenly think that the file has been encrypted, and it is recommended to adjust it to zipper lock. The lower left corner can be reserved empty space for different version releases such as Preview and Edge to mark well.

Because most of the Explorer display for small icons (such as 16 * 16 ~ 48 * 48), not HD original size icons (such as 128 * 128, 512 * 512), can be appropriate for small icons to improve its recognition

^{Originally posted by @spettoijmm 2022-08-10T19:56:49Z}
Thanks for the advice and tips on how to improve. I will edit and then post an updated version.

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^{Originally posted by @spettoijmm 2022-08-13T20:29:17Z}
Following @LegnaOS tips, I made new versions of the icons, now with a Zipper lock. I'm also posting my idea for the preview versions