[bengibollen]

First of all I must say that I really like the idea of the new icons and I think they are a good addition to the database.

But I'd like to give some critique:
When I first saw the icons, the first thought were "wow...they are big". When I thought about it a little I concluded that maybe they have to be that big because of all little details in them. I looked at them for a while and felt it seemed like a good idea before I continued on my task to look up information on a specific lens. I looked up and down in the list and found that it was actually a bit problematic to spot the correct row. The eyes got distracted and constantly fixed themselves on the icons instead of the text while scanning.

I have a big interrest in usability and my conclution from this experience is that maybe the icons should be toned down a bit in the listings. They are bit to large compared to the text and they have more contrast than the text; black and bright red while text have a shade of grey. If the size is important to convey all the details, maybe the icons could be simplified to be able to make sense even in small sizes.
Actually -- in my opinion they are a bit messy and i think the designs looks like they don't really know where to stand. On one side is the very simple manual focus icon and on the other side we find the built in hood, wich depicts a very detailed hood and really tiny text. The WR icon is both an umbrella (with tiny rain drops) and also the letters "WR" wich I find a bit redundant.

I haven't had too much time thinking about this, so I dont have a good design for a complete set as an alternative. I actually temporaily lack the tools(computer/software) to create anything like this at the moment. But I can try to explain my thoughts and maybe someone else can help develop the ideas. Generally I believe they should all have the same colour and at most have the same colour contrast as the texts(links) in the lists. Pictographs are nice but they can be really hard to design for some concepts, like quick shift. Acronyms could be the best solution there. In any case; a good pictograph doesn't need an acronym for "explanation". In the case of well known acronyms (WR, SDM...), the strategy could be to keep as is instead of trying to find a fitting pictograph. Well -- I'm a bit split here, because I liked the idea of an umbrella or maybe a sou'wester (hat for really harsh weather) for the WR icon.

I think I'll stop here and see if I get any reactions in this direction before I continue to drag on :-)

[Adam]

If you want to design us some new icons, be my guest. I've already hired a designer to do them, so we'll have to wait and see what he'll come up with.