[ubuntu-art] Starting the Theme Team application process

[Frank Schoep]

Hello fellow artists,

The time has come to properly announce the start of the theme team application 
process. It's an entirely new phenomenon so I will take the time to describe 
what it is and why you should take notice.

At the moment we're working full force on getting ideas in for the upcoming 
Human look in Edgy. This is going well, but there's a lot of good theme ideas 
which do not readily fit in the guidelines we've already set out for Edgy's 
Human look.

Theme ideas that come to mind are Tropic, recently proposed by Viper550, and 
Outdoors which was included in Dapper. These extra themes all have a distinct 
direction and look to them and it would be great if we can offer them to the 
end user in Edgy. Note that these themes are created and developed for use in 
Ubuntu, I'm not talking about "external" themes.

To make the process of adding such co-developed themes as smooth as possible 
we need to establish a solid communication between the theme developers and 
the official Ubuntu side of things.

This basically means that the theme developers can find a helping hand in me 
and Kenneth to get their themes polished, packaged and included in Edgy; 
we'll be here to help and assist you.

The first step in getting towards that goal is identifying the interest for 
developing themes. I want to create a list with Ubuntu themes, including a 
lead development contact and what artwork parts of the operating system the 
theme will provide. Each theme will have its own "theme team" that way.

What I want to ask you now is to drop in on this discussion, either privately 
or via the list, if you want to develop and maintain a theme for Edgy and 
want to use the assistance we can offer. Please take the time to supply the 
following information:

- your full name (you will be listed as the main contact for the theme)
- your e-mail address
- the name of the theme, alongside a short description
- a list of which artwork part(s) the theme will provide:
    - GDM theme
    - login splash
    - desktop wallpaper
    - GTK theme
    - window borders
    - icon set

Applications are accepted up until the 13th of July, 2006. I've added this 
date to the Edgy artwork plan Wiki page, alongside the final deadline for 
theme team's work, which is now set at the 24th of August, 2006:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Specs/EdgyArtworkPlan

One last thing I wanted to say is that a theme team has a lot of freedom to 
approach their artwork the way they see fit. The mailing list, Kenneth and I 
can provide assistance and guidance when desired, but in the end it's the 
team's theme.

Once your applications are in, I will discuss the details like communication, 
licensing and Art Council matters with the lead developers of each theme.

I'm looking forward to your applications and feedback.

With kind regards,

Frank Schoep