Myself and Melanie Kim playing with some metaphors (apologies for bad resolution/contrast; I don't have a scanner so I took photos of the pages)

http://mchua.fedorapeople.org/sketches/sys-config-firewall-iconsketch-1.jpg

http://mchua.fedorapeople.org/sketches/sys-config-firewall-iconsketch-2.jpg

http://mchua.fedorapeople.org/sketches/sys-config-firewall-iconsketch-3.jpg

Thoughts?

Holy moly Mel, these are FANTASTIC. My favorite is the Rambo one ;-)

Here's the ones that I think are strongest - I think you should these run by Thomas to see what he thinks:

#3 Force field
I think this would be challenging to render for folks to recognize it but it's a good and unique metaphor so it might be worth a shot at trying to render.

#11 Shield
It's a good metaphor. The challenge here is distinguishing it from the SELinux iconography which currently consists of a police badge/shield-looking thing, so make sure you review those first if you decide to render this one.

#19 Traffic Cop - my favorite :)
I love this metaphor and I think it may be unique enough that you won't have to worry about clashes with other security-related things. It's the strongest metaphor IMHO as well - the firewall really does regulate traffic trying to route through your computer. Additionally, system-config firewall has red/green status icons that are kind of similar to traffic lights so I think even visually the traffic light concept relates to the app.

Based on Thomas' feedback I'd try to render one or more of them (depending on what he thinks) using the gnome-icon-theme style & palette. Unfortunately we don't have great documentation of how to do this but I made a start here: https://fedorahosted.org/design-team/wiki/IconGuidelines

lapo's source for the system-config-firewall icon
system-config-firewall.svg

preview of system-config-firewall icon
system-config-firewall.png

lapo completed the icon work... closing the ticket as resolved. Let me know if there are any issues.

tarball of system-config-firewall and system-config-firewall-new icons in all sizes
06Apr2010-sysconfigfirewall-icons.tar.bz2

preview of system-config-firewall-new icon
system-config-firewall-new.png

I think this is completed; please re-open if not.