Currently in 2.8, we have this manipulator widget:
{F2838433}
We want to re-design it to become less distracting, take up less space, and to be able to replace the XYZ angle indicator in the bottom left
This is the design we've arrived at:
In the corner of the screen, users will see this:
{F2838509}
On rollover, we reveal the sphere, like so:
{F2838512}
== Process
This gives some insight into our design process. We went through these alternatives before arriving at our final design: