[ubuntu-art] Applying Kyudo To Impression

[Thorsten Wilms]

On Sun, 2009-02-15 at 18:33 -0500, John Baer wrote:

> This page is not the complete effort of what needs to be done but I
> wanted to submit it to the list for comments.
> 
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Jaunty/Impression/KyudoPage01

= Top Level =

What is the absolute to-level goal of the theme? Is it meant as
implementation of all Kyūdō goals, or would you add, exclude or modify
something?


= Goals =

On "1. Be transparent to the applications it supports":
Does this simply mean: work well with all (GTK) applications?

On "2. Leverage the power of a robust GTK engine with a history of
reliability":
Reliability is the goal, choosing a robust engine is a means.

On "3. Provide a positive user experience":
This leads to the questions of what defines a positive experience to
whom.

On "4. Permit user customization":
While I think some level of it is a good thing, I still have to ask why?
You might want to add a section on assumptions, among them could be:
- some users have a desire to at least tweak their theme as an act of
personalisation (this a matter of user satisfaction, part of usability).
- differences of eye-sight, viewing conditions and hardware mean that
the best possible result can only be achieved with individual
adjustments (pretty much a fact, the assumption would be more on the
side of the users motivation and ability for fine-tuning).

On "5: Perform well on a wide variety of hardware":
Can you derive any conclusions out of this, does this affect any of your
decisions?


= Target Audience =

Users of Ubuntu 9.04 is not wrong, but also not too helpful. I'm very
aware of how difficult this area is. Do you think we can exclude some
groups that will not be users of Ubuntu?


= Color Theory =

Nice excursion. To me it looks like the starting point of your theme is
the decision to base it on a window-background color. Using a neutral
gray for being neutral to content, but moving it a bit towards orange to
make it appear warm for the Ubuntu feel (friendly, welcoming, human).

If this is the case, it is exactly the thing you should write.

The aim at neutrality could make the them interesting for people who
edit images and video . The warm tint speak against this, but with a
very low voice.


Generally I see a number of problems with the ubuntu-typical warm-color
approach:
- Starting with rather intense warm colors makes it difficult to add any
other tones, if you don't start out with a color duo or set (cool colors
will seem out of place if you already have everything filled with orange
and brown).
- The resulting monochromatic palette can be seen as overbearing,
suffocating. On a message level, it speaks against the diversity we
might want to herald.
- Trying to lessen the too-warm impression with amounts of grey can lead
to a pale, dry and lifeless impression.


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/