(aka New Icons for Media Composer)
This post is the first in a series of articles about some of the smaller features and changes in version 3.0 of Media Composer and Symphony.
Something that you’ll likely quickly notice in version 3.0 is that the Lift and Extract icons have been changed and the weightlifter guy has been replaced with an icon using an up arrow. Scandalous, you might say! How could Avid possibly get rid of that goofy icon that we’ve all come to love? Well, considering I was one of those that was a party to his removal, I’ll tell you.
One of the challenges with quirky/idiosyncratic icons and features is that they are difficult to discern by new users or those who “grew up” in a different editing program. Though we would never want to homogenize the system so that every editing program behaved identically, there are certain assumptions that users make, simply based on how most programs — both editorial and non editorial — function today. The old Lift (weightlifter) and Extract (scissors) icons created problems for new users. The lift icon’s function wasn’t obvious and, more importantly, the scissors icon actually implied a different function. (Scissors typically are used to indicate a “Cut” command — as part of the Cut/Paste paradigm — which is a very different operation from Extract.) In addition, the key point that the Lift and Extract commands were complements to the Overwrite and Splice commands, respectively, wasn’t clear from their icons.
We did some focus testing and came up with a new set of icons with upward arrows that better informed the user of the function and, by using yellow and red icons, their relationship to Splice and Overwrite. Here's a quick look at the evolution of the icons. Notice that an interim version used a curved arrow which we determined wasn't clear enough.
| Original |
Interim |
New Icon |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
These weren't the only icons that changed, by the way. Here's a list of all the icons that changed in this release:
| |
Original |
New Icon |
| Splice-in |
 |
 |
| Overwrite |
 |
 |
| Replace Edit |
 |
 |
| Segment: Extract/Splice |
 |
 |
| Segment: Lift/Overwrite |
 |
 |
| Fit To Fill |
 |
 |
| Play Loop |
 |
 |
| Audio Play Loop |
 |
 |
| Cycle Picture/Sound |
 |
 |
| Cycle Trim Sides |
 |
 |
| Copy to Clipboard |
 |
 |
| Clipboard Contents |
 |
 |
Naturally there were some long standing users who mourned the loss of the weightlifter (though, sadly, no one mourned the loss of the scissors) and one even wrote a very funny ode to the weightlifter guy, which I've repeated below:
I woke up this morning expecting just another day at work. Everything seemed normal when I got here. But as I looked around I realized there was a familiar face that was missing (OK, so the guy doesn't so much have a face per se, but does that make him any less human than you or I? If you click him, does he not bleed?). I launched the Avid, opened a sequence and marked a clip. Just like I do every morning. But today was different. Today, there was no little man to help me lift that clip out of my sequence. In his place, there was just an arrow. An *ARROW*. Like that clip was just going to remove itself from my timeline automagically!
Unfortunately, the cold reality is that media files are heavy. It takes a strong man to move a media file. I mean, that's why people buy Avid software. Editing on Avid is like being with a strong man. Or at least it used to be.
So when you get home and crack open that 40 of OE tonight, pour a little out for the little man.
My apologies to those of you out there who will miss the little guy. He's on his way to the place where the purple triangle lives.
-greg