up vote 7 down vote favorite

You guys know the little red icon that sits next to your username and lights up whenever you've got updates? I looked at the unread icon when it was lit up and immediately thought of gmail, so then I looked at the gmail icon (especially the favicon) and the two look exactly alike. They look even more alike when the unread icon is lit up and red like the gmail icon.

I was just worried that their might be some sort of legal issue with this. On a different note, I don't really like it because it just makes me think of Gmail. If you made the "M" shaped lines not extra bold it would look perfect.

gmail favicon ase unread icon

share

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote

I made that icon from scratch and didn't think about the Gmail icon. I've seen plenty icon sets that has the mail icon similar to that. After all, it's just an envelope. The reason the unread icon is red is because that's our convention for all SE sites. The mail icon has a different style(flat) from the rest of the icon on the site because it sits on the top bar, should have an engraved looked like the embossed text on there.

I don't think it's a major issue for now, unless more people object to it.

share
1  
I noticed the similarity to the GMail logo as well, which is one of the reasons why I suggested switching it to a clock or something else. This isn't to say that I object to it, just that the similarity is pretty obvious. – Kyle Cronin♦ Feb 2 '11 at 23:05
@Kyle since you and @Senior both raised this issue then I'm open to change it. It may be sometimes next week though. – Jin Feb 2 '11 at 23:14
Since other sites have other weird things (and not always envelopes) would it make sense/be possible to use the Apple? – Martín Marconcini Feb 7 '11 at 10:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged