Icon Redesign – The Insider's View!

Long-term users of MineMarket will remember that we had coloured icons before the all-grey icon set in MineMarket 4.6 to MineMarket 5.4. For many users, coloured icons are easier to identify and quicker to find. So, we've brought back colour and given all icons a fresh new look.

We would like to share some of the design ideas with you. Maybe this will be interesting. Maybe this will be just a diversion. We are hoping that you will smile a little because there are a few fun things to explore.

Colour

(And by the way, although the result of much international collaboration, MineMarket is developed in Australia, and we use Australian English in the user interface and documentation.)

In addition to black, white and grey, we have these colours in the new icons:

  • Blue—The primary colour for Datamine, you will see blue in icons related to shipments. Think of the big blue oceans! We also use blue for package groups, organisations, freight and service contracts, and anything related to liquids.
  • Orange—The contrast colour for Datamine and the traditional colour of the MineMarket logo, you will see orange in icons related to trucks. Think of iron ore dust on high-visibility mine trucks! We also use orange for packages, products, commodities, companies and purchase contracts. As the brightest of the colours, orange also features in icons related to incidents, alerts and tasks.
  • Purple—You will see purple in icons related to trains. Think of a mountain range looking purple in the distance as your trains traverse a wide open plain! (Ok, that is a bit far-fetched, but we have 4 transport types and wanted 4 colours, and I like purple.) We also use purple for contributors, supply materials and organisation roles.
  • Green—You will see green in icons related to barges. Think of green riverbanks or seaweeds closer to shore! We also use green for anything related to money (invoices, payments, journals, prices, taxes...), stockpiles (because they are worth money!), sales contracts (because they make you money!), analytes, brands and containers.

Little things to look for

  • Magnifying glasses—If you want to find something in MineMarket, you'll most likely use an explorer. Look for the magnifying glass on every explorer as well as in the global search bar.
  • Drawing pins—Ah, the days of a big map on the wall... That's right, location icons all have a drawing pin in the corner.
  • Arrows—At the mine, at the port, at your trading desk – MineMarket helps you track all the moving pieces! You will find arrows on the coloured lines in despatch icons, in icons for unit conversions, material flows, transactions, movements, blending, routes, currency exchange, parities, repurchase contracts, trades and of course in the system refresh icon.
  • Calendars and clocks—Whether it is planning, shifts, despatch line-ups or historical data, look for a calendar page or clock.
  • Black borders—Some objects are based on a type or template. Look for a thin black border around template icons. The scripting icons also have a black border.
  • Folders—Many objects in the Solution Explorer are organised in categories or groups. Look for a hint of a folder behind category icons.

Some fun

  • The all-seeing Audit Explorer has a huge eye.
  • All contract icons include a pen and signature.
  • The Country Editor has the side of the globe that includes the UK to celebrate the location of our icon designer.
  • The Delivery Term Editor icon shows agreement.
  • The Despatch Order icon links the rectangle of contracts with the four colours and the arrow of despatches.
  • The icon for discrete unit divisions includes a division sign.
  • The Discrete Units Grouping icon shows a package being added to a package group.
  • The Interest Rate Editor icon makes the interest sign part of the graph.
  • The Mark To Market icon suggests a mirroring of contract terms in the form of a stack of coins.
  • The Premium Matrix Editor icon suggests combinations of criteria for applicability.
  • The Pricing Editor icon combines a price tag with a volatile (but ultimately positive) graph.
  • The Tax Editor icon has scissors taking a cut.
  • The Toll Accounts icon shows that these are stockpiles that you hold on behalf of someone else.
  • The Translations icon includes the inverted question mark to celebrate and acknowledge the strong contribution of Spanish speakers in our MineMarket team.