[ubuntu-art] // Flight6 Artwork: First Impressions //

[Julian Oliver]

(Disclaimer: I know this is far from a final release, and that the artwork is also experimental at this state. 
It even says so in the login graphic! These are my immediate thoughts, straight of the chest and written as I played around)

After booting the LiveCD I was initially impressed by the fact it detected and setup my 1400x1050 (wide) screen. 
Has something changed with the fonts? Ubuntu looks very crisp and sharp, far more so than other LiveCD's somehow.

I was really pleased to see the life-ring for 'Help' finally removed. That inadvertently spelt "danger is nearby" 
and was always something of an eyesore next the the icon for firefox. The Ubuntu icon looks good but the Evolution icon is
barely there, misted out somehow. Is it inactive?

I'm drawn to scope the perimeters of the new Ubuntu desktop and find myself looking at the logout icon in the far right - 
I immediately dislike it, finding it looks far too 'sharp' when compared to the remainder of the icons on the bar. 
The large amount of black in the image may in fact contribute, coming across as a hole or pit in that corner of the screen. 
Out of interest on several occasions students of mine (on Breezy) have asked me what the logout icon is actually an image of. 
When i point out it's a door, they say "oh, i think i see it now". They do the same with the 'Development' tools icon
in the Applications menu. A recent class of mine was divided into 'coathanger' and 'builders trowell' ;) 
None of us could guess what either option had to do with software development however.

Further to the left of the logout icon is another that looks like a mouse with a red circle crossed out over the top. 
Clicking on this reveals two wireless networks. I had no idea that was an icon relating to my wireless network. 
Is that supposed to be an image of a RJ45 network plug? The graphic seems very ambigious. The red circle doesn't say 'Inactive'
it says 'Very Broken'.

I'm setting up my wireless network preferences, I choose my WEP type and away we go. The small swirl while dhclient is 
looking for a lease looks good in itself but doesn't fit in with the desktop at all - a green and blue wisp, 
almost an animated logo in itself, reminiscent of Yin/Yang or something, an alien aesthetic. It's the most animated thing I've seen
in the Ubuntu desktop and looks overdone as a result.
 
I'm browsing my own file-system and check out the new window theme. First impressions are that it's not as classy classy as the previous. 
It's too garish (not to mention 'caramel') for the remainder of the desktop and sits far 'above' the earthen browns of the background as though
it wasn't supposed to be there. Ubuntu feels like it has become more synthetic - we've moved from Earth to Glass or even Perspex. 
The overt shinyness of the window theme opposes the icons it hosts. Ubuntu had a subdued 'coolness' to it before, 
as though it didn't need to talk too much to earn the respect of the eye. 
I think you could get by tuning down the tan and settling it back into brown again. 

Similarly the progress bars are also strangely shiny, bearing no relation, in implied material consistency, to the scroll bars 
or any other part of the desktop experience for that matter. 

Most glaringly the tired old Gnome icons (for home, refresh and the fwd/back arrows) are most troubled in this combination. 
Perhaps if all the icons were replaced with their Tango equivalents the window and progress bar theme would make sense. 
As it stands the desktop has lost significant polish, missing an internal and very much material contiguity that existed prior. 
In themselves the minimise, maximise and close icons of the window look quite ok. Overall the new window theme looks like a poor 
attempt at a 'Brown Aqua'.

I switch to the human theme via appearance preferences and see what was once a collection of folders turn into a crate of amorphous 
caramel-coloured forms. It takes a moment to actually recognise the form of a folder in the icons themselves. 
They look bad against the light background of nautilus, garish even.

The visual landscape of the desktop is now quite confused. My USB mass storage has an excellent logo, clean and somehow immediately fitting 
with the rest of the desktop, especially the Ubuntu logo itself as it shares a common orange in the USB graphic accompaning the device icon. 
It looks at rest and has no forced bling or sparkle.

"Install System Permanently" icon looks very out of place, from a bygone era of icons. Wireless network level meter looks out of place next to the 
new mean sunglasses-like icon representing the network devices. It looks heavily aliased next to this icon. The power-plug next to it looks
thoroughly beaten up. It's extremely clear which icon belongs to which icon family now.

I hit logout and am met with a good third of the screen taken up with a mix of icons that seem to bear no relation to where I've been. 
The switch-users icon looks good and doesn't beg for attention. No jagged parts and it's in tones that can fit with the rest of the desktop experience. 
Regardless all icons have deserts of space between them and look pretty confused together. 
The red icon amongst them looks like it's taken some damage. Looking closer I realise it's supposed to represent a shine.

Cheers!

Julian

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