From 29 January 2007 through 23 April 2007, the Quark VS InDesign.comDesign Your Own Creative Suite 3 Icons Competition accepted entries of designs for alterate CS3 application icons from designers and illustrators around the world. All the icon designs we received have been collected and converted to Mac- and Windows-friendly PNG and multi-size ICO files, and are below, free to download. Enjoy them on your computer, compliments of the contest entrants, content prize furnishers, and Quark VS InDesign.com.

First Place Winner
Designed by: Kimberly Smith | United States

Download This Collection (Contains both PNG and ICO format images for Mac and Windows.)

Judge’s Comments:
Kimberly Smith’s object-oriented graphics are instantly identifiable to the applications they represent. Although visually complex, they scale surprisingly well to even the smallest of the typical icon sizes, 16×16 pixels. I would like to have seen the Dreamweaver icon designed to fit the purpose of the Web design application instead of its name, but the image is nice regardless. My only other complaint is with the InDesign icon. In the background of the lightbox something has clearly been erased or painted over, leaving harsh white stripes when the icon is viewed at larger sizes. Given that InDesign handles text more than imagery, I would also have liked to see a representation of type amidst the lightbox and slides.

Second Place Winner
Designed by: Danny Dioguardi | Canada

Download This Collection (Contains both PNG and ICO format images for Mac and Windows.)

Judge’s Comments:
Danny Dioguardi’s evolution of symbols from an homage to previous versions through new symbols are beautifully original, immediately identify the applications they describe, and certainly meet the coolness factor. I’m so excited by these designs that I’m profoundly saddened by the fact that Danny only made these three. I would love to see the theme carried through the rest of the CS3-version applications.

Third Place Winner
Designed by: Vito Zgonik | United Kingdom

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Judge’s Comments:
I’m a fan of this set of nine icons from Vito Zgonik. They hold true to Adobe’s CS3 branding scheme by using color-coded squares and two-letter identifiers for applications, but return the symbols and functional communication lacking in Adobe’s icons. Vito elegantly incorporated the symbols as subtle background patterns where others might have been tempted to add louder elements to compete with the central letters. Two things prevented this set of icons from scoring higher in the competition: First, the styled F Flash icon broke ranks and retreated into past Macromedia branding instead of holding a cohesive aesthetic. Second, the symbols Vito used in some of the background patterns didn’t make sense. For instance, grass brushes are used to represent FreeHand and Photoshop. I could understand such a symbol applied to the vector illustration application FreeHand or to Photoshop, which contains the grass brush patterns themselves, but by employing grass for both application icons, it weakened the result for both and looks almost as if the artist ran out of ideas by the time he got around to designing the latter of the two. Despite its relatively minor flaws, the set is beautiful. I particularly enjoy the way it incorporates and updates the popular glass-button style.

Designed by: Danny Dioguardi | Canada

Download This Collection (Contains both PNG and ICO format images for Mac and Windows.)

Judge’s Comments:
Obviously influenced by the branding of Macromedia applications before the acquisition by Adobe, Danny Diogaurdi’s rounded letterforms combine modern and retro styles.

Designed by: Joshua Cortese | NADC WSI TAFE NSW | Australia

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Judge’s Comments:
Funky and original, Joshua Cortese’s set of eight CS3 application icons is visually intriguing and fun.

Designed by: Kimberly Smith | United States

Download This Collection (Contains both PNG and ICO format images for Mac and Windows.)

Judge’s Comments:
Inspired by Adobe’s Apollo application, Kimberly Smith represents Adobe software as the Seven Wonders of the World in a very interesting interpretation.

Designed by: Lauren Swaab | NADC WSI TAFE NSW | Australia

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Judge’s Comments:
Eclectic and funky, Lauren Swaab’s design avoids the most common cliches that often appear in icon designs to create surprisingly effective and refreshingly creative images.

Designed by: Loic Savrimoutou | NADC WSI TAFE NSW | Australia

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Judge’s Comments:
Loic Savrimoutou’s hand-drawn, color-centric icons are a nice touch of minimalism.

Designed by: Natasha KOLESNIKOV | NADC WSI TAFE NSW | Australia

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Judge’s Comments:
Beginning with pencil sketches, Natasha Kolesniko’vs vibrant Photoshop, ImageReady, Illustrator, and InDesign CS3 icons are fun, wild, and pleasing. Sitting beside computer-polished icons on a desktop or dock, these really stand out. They make me want to draw, which is the perfect desire to elicit when the icons represent drawing and design applications.

Designed by: Richard Scott | Australia

Download This Collection (Contains both PNG and ICO format images for Mac and Windows.)

Judge’s Comments:
I was struck by the appropriateness and detail of the symbols in Richard Scott’s images, particularly the dynamic of the figures in the Acrobat icon. His Dreamweaver and Illustrator designs also were dead on in their illustration of the concepts represented by those applications. What I didn’t like about Richard’s icons was the association to Microsoft Office branding they brought to mind. Although Adobe applications integrate with one another about as well as Office applications, few feel excited and creatively inspired by Microsoft Office. The association, I feel, hurts what is an otherwise beautiful collection of icons.