JH
Futureproofing for high-DPI displays
I collaborated with the exceptionally talented Jon Hicks to update and refresh the entire Skype emoticon palette for higher PPI devices.
The launch of devices such as the iPhone 4 and Motorola Droid with higher PPI screens pushed the mobile team into moving beyond simple pixel-doubling and a realization that a total overhaul was necessary to futureproof the work.
As a team this was a huge task over several months — we had to consider and make informed decisions on pixels vs. vectors; the arrangement of the emoticon palette on different form factors, the merits of PNG and SVG-T; balancing line weights at different sizes and most crucially of all, keeping a sense of the original set without drifting too much into ‘quirky’.
Read more on Jon’s journal: New Skype Emoticons
