[l008com]

So I have a "standardized" style of icon I've been using on one of my sites. It's a colored round square, with a white border, and the 'art' inside the box is also white. So each icon is 2 colors, white + something else. The something else is different for each icon. This style of button works out well for me because its relatively easy for me to whip up something new. But anyway, I've been struggling to come up with something for the icon for "writing a review". This is what I came up with the other day. It's one of my existing review stars, but with a hollow star instead of solid, and a pencil (or chalk?) 'writing' the star. Thats about as creative as I can get. Something about it doesn't seem quite right. Aside from the fact that this is the only icon that extends beyond the white border.



Here's the icon in use:
MenuLizard : Stoneham : Deli Works & Pizzeria

I know the spacing on the page is off, that page is far from finished right now.

[Spheric Harlot]

IANAD, but the only issue I notice is that if you're right-handed, you'd tend to draw DOWNWARD first, rather than ending where the graphic currently is.

IOW, I'd START where the pencil is now and end at the top, where the line fades out. Which is thus where the pencil should be, given that the outline has been drawn.

That's all I've got - but I'm really only in this thread by accident, and have no clue about graphic design.

[andi*pandi]

Hmm, I like the icons, bright and easy to understand, but perhaps you should think about the difference between Voting and Rating and Writing a Review. Is there a difference? At first glance on your website, I'm confused by that. Does writing a review mean I voted? Can I vote without writing a review? If they are two different things, they should be two different icons.

I also think that all the icons on the same level should be the same size, and that nothing should protrude. Unity in the interface. Just a simple pencil could be fine without the star.

[besson3c]

Have you thought about using the GeoIP plugin to determine where the visitor is from so that by default they get restaurants belonging to their state?

[l008com]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Hmm, I like the icons, bright and easy to understand, but perhaps you should think about the difference between Voting and Rating and Writing a Review. Is there a difference? At first glance on your website, I'm confused by that. Does writing a review mean I voted? Can I vote without writing a review? If they are two different things, they should be two different icons.

I also think that all the icons on the same level should be the same size, and that nothing should protrude. Unity in the interface. Just a simple pencil could be fine without the star.

Actually there was a difference between voting and rating, but I'm in the process of removing that difference. So far this is the only icon I've made that didn't abide by the rules (which I made up). I have an icon that is just a pencil but it doesn't make for a good icon. I'll try making the sizes match and see if that helps the look at all.

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Have you thought about using the GeoIP plugin to determine where the visitor is from so that by default they get restaurants belonging to their state?

Yeah soooorta. Problem is, those services are wrong so often. They're right a lot, and close a lot. But compared to other things in life, the failure rate is pretty high. And it has to be right on to be useful. There's no point in showing someone all the restaurants in the town 5 miles away (which is how my IP usually resolves). My mobile app uses phone based location services to show you nearby restaurants. That works a lot more accurately than GEOIP. And actually I can use that same service on newer web browser's, which determines locations based on visible wifi networks. But I haven't gotten around to that yet. Besides, this post is about my 'write a review' icon anyway

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

IANAD, but the only issue I notice is that if you're right-handed, you'd tend to draw DOWNWARD first, rather than ending where the graphic currently is.

IOW, I'd START where the pencil is now and end at the top, where the line fades out. Which is thus where the pencil should be, given that the outline has been drawn.

That's all I've got - but I'm really only in this thread by accident, and have no clue about graphic design.

Maybe you should throw some more acronyms in there, just to be on the safe side