[ubuntu-art] My idea for Edgy (warning, lots of ranting!)

[Who]

On 5/26/06, Billy <Billy at cozyteapot.com> wrote:
>
>  On Fri, 2006-05-26 at 02:34 -0500, Billy wrote:
>
>  On Fri, 2006-05-26 at 11:03 +1000, Pascal Klein wrote:
>  On Thu, 2006-05-25 at 14:38 -0400, Viper550 wrote:
> > Now that Dapper is behind us, I've got big plans and ideas for Edgy's
> > artwork, Originality is just one of them:
> >
> > We all know that the first "theme cycle" of Ubuntu is over. Dapper and
> > the Human Level is done with, so we need a new color scheme. My proposal
> > for the new color scheme of Edgy is what I like to call: Frozen.
> >
> > I know the following statement will also effect the future of Ubuntu,
> > but what I'd really like to see is the next Ubuntu themes to be based
> > off the 5 elements of Japanese philosophy. These 5 elements are Earth,
> > Water, Fire, Wind, and Void. Warty to Dapper have covered Earth (a.k.a.
> > Human), so the next item in the order of the elements would be Water.
> > But, Mark didn't go with blue by default because he wanted to
> > differentiate Ubuntu from the rest with a unique color scheme (Brown).
> > Going along with that, I decided to still go with Water...but in a
> > different form: Ice. Attached is my mockup of what this Frozen theme
> > would look like (using Ubuntulooks and Human Metacity).
> >
> > But, my goal for Edgy is to make an entire suite of ORIGINAL artwork to
> > be there by default. Except for the Ubuntulooks Engine (which should
> > stay, because we like it and all), I want every piece of artwork in Edgy
> > to be original, not based off anything, built from scratch. I've been
> > concerned that the Ubuntu installations have not had 100% original
> > Artwork. On the first version, we used Industrial and a theme based off
> > Glider, 5.04 at least used the ClearLooks engine, but still that
> > Metacity theme stayed! Now for Dapper, we do have an original Theme
> > engine (based off ClearLooks), we have a brand new original icon set
> > (built from scratch!), but now your "Human" metacity is based off
> > ClearLooks 2 Metacity. Why can't we have 100% original stuff?! And I can
> > even tell the difference between Human Metacity and ClearLooks 2
> > Metacity (slightly different buttons). Even worse, we had several GREAT
> > metacity suggestions on the wiki that we completely ignored!
> >
> > There, now that my rant is over, let me catch my breath...
> >
> > Viper550
> >
>
> We differ ourselves a lot from other distributions and one of the ways
> we intend to achieve that is through the desktop. Although we may
> disagree with the way the new Human icon set is currently being
> developed, or the themes and styles it uses and so on, we are going down
> one chosen path and that is a 'Human' feel.
>
> Not everyone likes the brown and orange tones or the new icon set but
> feedback has shown that the originality already expressed through the
> released artwork is good and generally people like it.
>
> The primary colours used, the styles and general feel of the Ubuntu
> desktop has been decided upon. We have an original theme, with an
> original icon set and changing that every second release is not what we
> plan to do.
>
> If users do not like the Human artwork they are free to change it to any
> of the other themes provided with main.
>
> Cheers,
> Pascal Klein
>
>
>  Yes, and the idea that there should be just primary colors is why ubuntu
> art falls short of the mark. Do you have a second choice in Windows? Do you
> have second choice in mac? I've said it many times. Why not linux? Why not
> Ubuntu? People have repeatedly asked for it from Ubuntu's beginning and
> everytime this 'Human' branding thing is stated. Human/Ubuntu branding would
> not be lost by offering an alternative. It would howerver give people a
> choice and Ubuntu is Linux above and before everything else.
>
> http://kwh.kernow-gb.com/~bvc/theme/devel/Human-Metathemes.png
>
>
>
>  Choice is good business. Strangely, many include color in their choice of
> whether to install or buy. If they knew they had a few choices, or even one
> they wanted. They wouldn't install or buy something else. Just ask GM and
> Ford. They've learned the hard way.
> --

I think that what we started to do with Dapper themes is a good idea -
start with a good theme, and provide really good alternative options
and _make sure people are aware_ that they can change what it looks
like. Mandrake used to allow users to choose a theme at install time
(just throwing it into the mix :P)

But also, yes, lets keep really detailed discussion for when we
actually know what the remit of the art-team is!!