[ubuntu-art] Moving things forwards.

[Andrew Laignel]

I've been subscribed to this list for a few months now, and have been 
slightly disappointed at how things are progressing.  I have seen quite 
a lot of good ideas go by, with people saying 'yes, I like that' and 
then it disappears into history and someone else posts something and it 
all starts again.  There seems to be a mockup->post->dissappear cycle.

I think it's the result of their being no actual official input, and no 
officially managed archive of contributions.  There is the wiki, but 
each entry could be anything from a photograph of a sketch to a complete 
mockup.  It's also hard to know when anything new has been added without 
checking each link individually each day.

At this point I think what is really needed is an official voice to have 
a look at all the contributions, group all the viable ideas in one place 
and then say why each idea is good/bad and what the official opinion on 
it 'making it' as the default theme is.  It would provide an excellent 
reference point on whats already been done, and what is being looked for 
in an official theme.

I like to think I am fairly good at design but I have no idea if my 
current mockup is anything like anything that could be official.  I 
cannot work on problems and refine it to meet the specifications if I 
have no idea what they are and I see this symptom in quite a lot of 
posts - the designer simply stops due to a lack of direction.

I do not think it would take much to refine the wiki slightly with the 
current potential candidates and run them past Mark, or at least someone 
official so they can say a bit about each one and what is 
liked/disliked.  At the least it would spur people on to improve on 
things and respond to the comments. 

One of the most important parts of a design brief in my opinion is a: 
the brief, and b: liasing with the clients at various stages to make 
sure things are going the way they like.  We just seem to be missing 
both of these and seem to be just spinning our wheels. There is a lot of 
talent on this list and the wiki, and its a shame to see it 
under-utilised. :(