RobotDx - round 4: ten orthogonal variants of r3-01 Big Sticker
Zach picked r3-01 Big Sticker: a white head with a calm two-dot face and a big rose
#f483a5 heart sticker tilted over its lower-right corner. Each variant below changes exactly one design axis and
holds everything else at r3-01's value, and no two variants move the same axis - so the winners combine ("r4-03's heart
position + r4-07's tile"). Every card puts r3-01 beside the variant at 256 / 64 / 32 / 22 px, on a light and a dark GNOME top
bar, in the dock, in all four health states and as the real 22 px GTK icon. The face is the same in every mark and state;
health shows only through the heart (full, half, broken, dotted).
| Variant | Axis | r3-01's value | This variant's value |
|---|---|---|---|
| r4-01 HUD Corner | Heart placement | Lower-right corner, hanging off the head's bottom edge | Upper-left corner, hanging off the head's top edge |
| r4-02 Hero Heart | Heart scale | Heart 8.9 (half-diagonal), head : heart about 5.6 : 1 | Heart 12.9, 45 % bigger (head : heart about 3.9 : 1); pushed outward so it clears the eye |
| r4-03 Upright Heart | Heart rotation | Tilted -10 degrees | Upright, 0 degrees |
| r4-04 Vinyl Sticker | Sticker material | Thin white border (2.6), flat, no shadow | Thick die-cut border (4.2) and a soft drop shadow; the 22 px icon leaves a wider cut-out instead |
| r4-05 Squircle Head | Head shape | Rounded rectangle, corner radius 16 | Wide squircle (superellipse, exponent 2.2, nearly an ellipse) in the same box; the heart keeps its distance from the outline |
| r4-06 Bold Outline | Head outline weight | 2 px grey rim (1.75 px at 22) | 4 px grey rim (2.8 px at 22), same colour |
| r4-07 Rose Tile | Colour inversion | White head on the page, no tile | White head on a rose dock tile; the 22 px icon is a solid tile with the white head and sticker cut out of it |
| r4-08 Close Crop | Framing | Whole head inside the frame | Cropped in 15 % (7 % at 22 px): the head bleeds off the top-left of the frame, heart and eyes still whole |
| r4-09 Pixel Heart | Heart drawing style | Smooth vector heart | 9 x 8 pixel heart, drawn full / half / broken / dotted on the pixel grid (upright at 22 px) |
| r4-10 Soft Cushion | Depth | Flat white head | Head shaded like a cushion (white centre, cool grey edge); the 22 px icon gets a faint tone inside the rim |
Not used: the suggested 11th axis, sticker peel (a lifted, curled corner). A curl is drawn on the heart's own outline, so it changes how the half / broken / dotted states look (a second axis), and it overlaps 04's sticker material. Layout fits: a bigger heart or a thicker rim can reach past the 64 px frame, so the whole composition is shrunk or shifted as little as needed (uniformly, so no proportion changes); the card says when that happened.
- All ten are original geometry - rounded rectangles, superellipses, square pixels and the round-1 heart - with no Disney silhouette or artwork.
- In the top bar only the heart takes colour (GTK's
.warning/.errorclasses); the head and face keep the panel's ink, and stale changes shape only. - File checks: all 80 files pass: symbolic files use only rect / circle / path with fills, opacity, transforms and GTK state classes; full marks use no text, fonts or raster; the face markup is identical to r3-01's in every file; the builder reproduces r3-01 byte for byte with no override.
Top 3
- 109 · Pixel HeartThe only heart that is exact at 22 px: 9 x 8 whole pixels on whole pixels, so full / half / broken / dotted are crisp in the real GTK render (see the 22 px rows) where the vector heart's half and dots blur. It is also the video-game heart Zach liked in round 2, and it changes nothing else.
- 202 · Hero HeartThe heart is the life meter, so making it the biggest thing in the mark makes the states readable at 32 px and in the top bar (the 22 px heart is about 14 px wide instead of 10.4); the head shrinks into a supporting shape and the face is untouched.
- 307 · Rose TileThe one variant that changes how the app looks in the dock: a rose tile with the white head and sticker on it is distinct from every other icon, and the white sticker rim keeps the rose heart visible on the rose ground. The 22 px icon is the busiest of the set, so combine this tile with 09's pixel heart for the top bar.
All 10, with the reference
Contrast
| Pair | Ratio | Floor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| face on the white head | 15.80:1 | 7.0:1 | pass | |
| face on the cushion's darkest edge (r4-10) | 9.65:1 | 7.0:1 | pass | |
| rose heart on its white sticker (the same pair as r3-01) | 2.43:1 | 2.3:1 | pass | |
| rose heart on a dark dock or panel | 6.79:1 | 3.0:1 | pass | |
| white head and sticker rim on the rose tile (r4-07) | 2.43:1 | 2.3:1 | pass | |
| the head's grey rim on a white page (what keeps the head visible there) | 1.65:1 | 1.5:1 | pass |
The floors are r3-01's own numbers for the colour pairs the brand fixes (rose on white is 2.43:1, which is why the sticker has a grey rim and the head a grey outline): no variant introduces a pair worse than r3-01's.
HUD Corner
Where a game keeps its life hearts: the top-left of the screen. The mark's weight moves to the top, away from the chin.
Heart placement - r3-01: Lower-right corner, hanging off the head's bottom edge. This variant: Upper-left corner, hanging off the head's top edge. Layout only, no axis: full mark kept inside the frame: scale 1.00, shift (+4.0, +8.0) px; 22 px icon kept inside the frame: scale 0.96, shift (+3.1, +3.6) px.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-01 HUD Corner
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-01-hud-corner.svg · brand/logos/r4-01-hud-corner-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-01-hud-corner-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Hero Heart
The sticker becomes the hero and the head the supporting shape: the life meter is what survives at 32 px and below.
Heart scale - r3-01: Heart 8.9 (half-diagonal), head : heart about 5.6 : 1. This variant: Heart 12.9, 45 % bigger (head : heart about 3.9 : 1); pushed outward so it clears the eye. Layout only, no axis: full mark kept inside the frame: scale 0.97, shift (-1.6, -5.3) px; 22 px icon kept inside the frame: scale 0.86, shift (-0.3, -1.8) px.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-02 Hero Heart
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-02-hero-heart.svg · brand/logos/r4-02-hero-heart-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-02-hero-heart-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Upright Heart
An upright heart reads as an instrument (a gauge) rather than a decoration slapped on, and its sides land on the 22 px grid.
Heart rotation - r3-01: Tilted -10 degrees. This variant: Upright, 0 degrees. Layout only, no axis: full mark kept inside the frame: scale 1.00, shift (+0.0, -0.5) px; 22 px icon kept inside the frame: scale 0.97, shift (-0.4, -1.6) px.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-03 Upright Heart
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-03-upright-heart.svg · brand/logos/r4-03-upright-heart-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-03-upright-heart-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Vinyl Sticker
Reads as a real vinyl sticker stuck on the head. A 22 px mono icon cannot carry a shadow, so its die-cut gap gets wider.
Sticker material - r3-01: Thin white border (2.6), flat, no shadow. This variant: Thick die-cut border (4.2) and a soft drop shadow; the 22 px icon leaves a wider cut-out instead. Layout only, no axis: full mark kept inside the frame: scale 0.99, shift (-0.2, -5.4) px.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-04 Vinyl Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-04-vinyl-sticker.svg · brand/logos/r4-04-vinyl-sticker-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-04-vinyl-sticker-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Squircle Head
A softer, rounder head with no corners; the heart still hangs off the same stretch of the outline.
Head shape - r3-01: Rounded rectangle, corner radius 16. This variant: Wide squircle (superellipse, exponent 2.2, nearly an ellipse) in the same box; the heart keeps its distance from the outline.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-05 Squircle Head
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-05-squircle-head.svg · brand/logos/r4-05-squircle-head-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-05-squircle-head-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Bold Outline
A chunkier rim carries the shape in the dock and beside bold top-bar text; the head reads as an object.
Head outline weight - r3-01: 2 px grey rim (1.75 px at 22). This variant: 4 px grey rim (2.8 px at 22), same colour.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-06 Bold Outline
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-06-bold-outline.svg · brand/logos/r4-06-bold-outline-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-06-bold-outline-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Rose Tile
The brand colour becomes the ground, so RobotDx is a coloured tile in the dock; the white sticker rim keeps the rose heart visible on it.
Colour inversion - r3-01: White head on the page, no tile. This variant: White head on a rose dock tile; the 22 px icon is a solid tile with the white head and sticker cut out of it. Layout only, no axis: full mark fitted into the tile: scale 0.80, shift (+6.8, +4.2) px; 22 px icon fitted into the tile: scale 0.83, shift (+1.1, -0.2) px.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-07 Rose Tile
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-07-rose-tile.svg · brand/logos/r4-07-rose-tile-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-07-rose-tile-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Close Crop
A head bigger than the frame is bolder at 16-32 px: the face and the heart are all there is to read.
Framing - r3-01: Whole head inside the frame. This variant: Cropped in 15 % (7 % at 22 px): the head bleeds off the top-left of the frame, heart and eyes still whole.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-08 Close Crop
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-08-close-crop.svg · brand/logos/r4-08-close-crop-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-08-close-crop-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Pixel Heart
The video-game heart Zach liked in round 2, and the only style that is exact at 22 px: whole pixels on whole pixels.
Heart drawing style - r3-01: Smooth vector heart. This variant: 9 x 8 pixel heart, drawn full / half / broken / dotted on the pixel grid (upright at 22 px).
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-09 Pixel Heart
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-09-pixel-heart.svg · brand/logos/r4-09-pixel-heart-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-09-pixel-heart-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg
Soft Cushion
Adds the soft, inflated feel of the character it nods to without changing a line of the geometry.
Depth - r3-01: Flat white head. This variant: Head shaded like a cushion (white centre, cool grey edge); the 22 px icon gets a faint tone inside the rim.
Reference - r3-01 Big Sticker
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
r4-10 Soft Cushion
GNOME top bar - dark and light
Dock tile
Health states, full colour
The real 22 px GTK icon - ok · warn · error · stale
brand/logos/r4-10-soft-cushion.svg · brand/logos/r4-10-soft-cushion-symbolic.svg · states brand/logos/states/r4-10-soft-cushion-{warn,error,stale}[-symbolic].svg