So this is on from the mail bag (KDE-artists mailing list)

Cristian Oneț:

I would like to ask the help of KDE artists to revamp the artwork of
KMyMoney [1]. It wasn't touched for a few years now (ever since we
moved the application sources into the KDE repository) and we would
like to freshen it up for the next release that we'll make somewhere
this summer.

Here is a list of resources that can be customized (their position in
the application can be viewed at [1]):
[2] The background of the home page
[3] The background of the title label
[4] The splash screen background
[5] The application icon
[6] The file type icon
[7] The home page (a rendered html)

The resources are greyscale so that the application color theme kind
of adapts to the system selection color. The application's site [8] (a
bit outdated) has a green ($ I guess ) color theme.

[1] http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html
[2] https://projects.kde.org/projects/extra ... ground.png
[3] https://projects.kde.org/projects/extra ... ground.png
[4] https://projects.kde.org/projects/extra ... rtlogo.svg
[5] https://projects.kde.org/projects/extra ... ymoney.png
[6] https://projects.kde.org/projects/extra ... ymoney.png
[7] https://projects.kde.org/projects/extra ... money/html
[8] http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/index-home.html

Now this is a bit of a handful, but the dev-team will be most pleased for any idea - sketches to mockups to finished artwork.

If you got any idea - just say so

If anyone's looking for inspiration, a quick image search topics related to the app (budget, finance, accounting) turned up a common set of elements:



A pen, a chart or table, and a calculator.

Some, or all, of these elements could perhaps serve as a basis for any visual design.

Regarding color, well that's up for grabs, but a common theme that emerged from the image search was de-saturated neutrals with a hint of blue. So maybe you could go with a 3 color palette: pure black, a mid-tone grey, and a sharp blue for accent. Sorta like the palette in this picture:



Now blue may just be a popular color, so if you're tired of blue then just pick a different color. Whatever the color palette, it'll become part of the identity for the app, so try to use it consistently throughout the app.

Hope this helps with at least beginning to come up with a set of visuals that'll fit the muse of the app developers. Visual Design isn't sacred. We should all feel welcome to participate in the process. Throw stuff at the wall. See what sticks!

Hi!

I installed the program and I visited the existing website.
Is there something, what you want to adopt to the new artwork, or would you have an complete overhaul?

Bye!
davidb

I am totally for removing the weird blue background with "Kmymoney" in it. Personally I find that plain ugly. Not only in this case but also in case of applications like k3b. It creates the feeling of shareware for me. (As all those weird free (not opensource) programs that want advertise they have a pro version and print their logo everywhere possible).
Apart from the embedded logo, the simple blue color looks bad imho. I think such an approach should not be chosen in an application as it works against all efforts created by the creators of themes.
I do not know if it is the case in kmymoney, but as bad as printing the logo everywhere is advertising the developers name. I think there is a reason for "About" entries, although I can see the rationale behind the decision of the developer.

What do you think?

(Just as a note: I know writing what should not be done is not constructive, but I want to help establishing a few guidelines for application developers and would like to know if you agree.)

brandy_000 wrote:Hi!

I installed the program and I visited the existing website.
Is there something, what you want to adopt to the new artwork, or would you have an complete overhaul?

Bye!
davidb

Regarding the website, it's really outdated in its look. We will probably move to use the KDE template.

As for the application, I'd say it's just updated artwork, but not changing usage workflow or other stuff that implies major code changes.

I'm all for changing splashscreen, backgrounds, icons, which by now really show as a KDE3 application.

We had Oxygen icons for finance applications that we had not got around to use.
I sat down and changed that in KMyMoney, so git master now uses Oxygen wherever possible.

In the process, I found we still miss at least 2 icons:
- for cash accounts (could be similar to view-bank-account)
- for online banking (view-bank with a download arrow could work here)

We are open to critics and contributions. Ever since we lost our designer, artwork is an area where we lag behind other apps.

What do you guys think regarding my last comment (removing the custom single color areas with the logo in it behind headings)?
I would make the headings bigger (like in plasma 2) and remove the blue background.
I think it adds inconsistency with other applications and apart from that looks really ugly (ihmo).
Furthermore it scales not well across different color schemes.
I am of the opinion, the application itself should embed it main application icon in the application itself (reminds me of shareware).
I think this could add a bit of beauty.

New icons would be another major step. I would vote for as monochromatic as possible (especially for the toolbar).

I think for the rest coding skills may be required in order to further improve it. Especially the tables need some love (see http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/images/reports1.png).

I also dislike the many buttons right under the tabs as shown here: http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/images/reports1.png
Those are typical toolbar entries and should not be buttons imho.
If you really need it, I would suggest to make them vertical.

kdeuserk wrote:What do you guys think regarding my last comment (removing the custom single color areas with the logo in it behind headings)?
I would make the headings bigger (like in plasma 2) and remove the blue background.
I think it adds inconsistency with other applications and apart from that looks really ugly (ihmo).
Furthermore it scales not well across different color schemes.
I am of the opinion, the application itself should embed it main application icon in the application itself (reminds me of shareware).
I think this could add a bit of beauty.

New icons would be another major step. I would vote for as monochromatic as possible (especially for the toolbar).

I think for the rest coding skills may be required in order to further improve it. Especially the tables need some love (see http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/images/reports1.png).

I also dislike the many buttons right under the tabs as shown here: http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/images/reports1.png
Those are typical toolbar entries and should not be buttons imho.
If you really need it, I would suggest to make them vertical.

Would you care to put a couple of pictures together to show what it would look like?
My only concern would be if it looks too "boring". We are dealing with lots of numbers here, and that's boring and plain enough.

Other than that, We're open to changes, and I'll be dedicating my time to the aesthetic refreshment.

First of all, I am not sure if I like the idea of having the heading of the current "page" in the left sidebar and again on the top, but if you like it, I would suggest something like that:
http://ubuntuone.com/0DdXOCpr9ewcndc8W1oQ6F
Before the "KmyMoney" logo was bigger than "Reports", which should not be the case if you ask me.

However I would fundamentally change things in the UI. As I do not have a lot of time a the moment, I will try to outline my ideas at a later time.

kdeuserk wrote:First of all, I am not sure if I like the idea of having the heading of the current "page" in the left sidebar and again on the top, but if you like it, I would suggest something like that:
http://ubuntuone.com/0DdXOCpr9ewcndc8W1oQ6F
Before the "KmyMoney" logo was bigger than "Reports", which should not be the case if you ask me.

However I would fundamentally change things in the UI. As I do not have a lot of time a the moment, I will try to outline my ideas at a later time.

It could work. I'll be waiting for more suggestions

In case of icons, this could be a good inspiration: https://www.iconfinder.com/search/?q=ic ... king-icons

Another big issue is the logo itself. It's really outdated, but we never got a proper replacement for it.

For the application logo I would either leave the coin and adapt the style of the new icon set for it (square, not too much gradients etc.) or use something like https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/174631/bag_money_icon if you think the coin does not fit anymore.
I would not make the icon too complex, as it will not be recognizable in small scales, like the gnu-cash icon: http://www.gnucash.org/images/gnc-download.png

I've been looking into it as well - the biggest issue for me is that I don't grasp it (I have a company but my bookkeeping is in the form of a huge plastic bag of receipts). My plan is that when me and my husband visit my mums in two weeks I'll show it to her and ask her what she thinks (she's the economical one, also she hogged all the economical genes so it was none left for me).

Just so you don't think I've forgotten it.

As for application icon I have an idea - why not throw that one to Uri and Acid (the icon designers for Plasma Next) and get them to use it as a "sketch base"? They are right now trying to come to grips with the new icon theme and having something real to try it on might be a good thing?

I'm fine with using it as a test. Just keep in mind not to go too much into monochrome icons.
The subject of the application is arid enough, we don't want to bore our users to death, please.