[ubuntu-art] What are we working towards?

Sun Nov 11 03:46:44 GMT 2007

Great email!  I was beginning to have a lot of the same questions wondering if I'm wasting my time trying to contribute.  

> Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:10:26 +0000> From: mailforwho at googlemail.com> To: ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com; mark at ubuntu.com> Subject: [ubuntu-art] What are we working towards?> > Hi all,> > Does sabdfl still read this list? Some of these questions here may> only be able to be answered by him (or kwwii - are you employed to> work on this at the moment?). After some deliberation I've copied him> in. Sorry Mark if you don't think you needed to be!> > It's really cool to see this list alive again with so many ideas and> discussions - some of the stuff looks really sweet, I wish I had more> time to contribute (though I think the standard's getting well beyond> me!).> > While there's still so much energy around I think we need to get some> more definition of what the goals of the artwork team are here so we> can channel it in the right direction. I hope I haven't missed> anything about what exactly is being worked towards...I haven't been> keeping up with ALL the list mail recently and couldn't make the> meetings, but I couldn't see a clear description of goals or process> (emails like 'how far for Hardy' have gone unanswered... and> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtTeam which supposedly contains UDS> conclusions is not very detailed) The minutes of the latest meeting> say in response to a question about what we will be changing:> > "Nov 01 18:47:53 <kwwii> install screen, usplash, gdm/face broswer,> Desktop Wallpaper, GTK theme, colors, metacity/emerald theme, icons,> splash screens"> > That sounds mighty exciting, and a lot of what I am asking below has> clearly been discussed (from the minutes again)> > "Nov 01 18:03:47 <kwwii> we had a meeting at UDS today> Nov 01 18:04:07 <kwwii> and talked about the form of the art team and> how we lead the process"> > But I'm not sure enough info has made its way here yet. Maybe it has,> sorry if I've missed it.> > In years gone by, I feel artwork effort has been misdirected due to us> (as a team) not really knowing what our aims were, not meeting> deadlines in the release process and not knowing who we were designing> the work to please and producing the style of work that was wanted. It> would be sad to see this flurry of enthusiasm ending in some of the> same mistakes being made again and people being upset about the> process. I am NOT trying provide bunch of 'stop energy', but I am> trying to find out what the structure we need to work under> (/around/over/through...whatever), for the best things to happen is!> > So, if we are going to start brainstorming and investing time once> more I would really like to clarify for all contributors.> > 1. Are WE (the artwork team) designing a DEFAULT theme or some> 'community themes' to be shipped separately in another package? This> is important because it affects the kind of design we do, and I would> expect for some people, how much time they have to offer. Obviously,> there have to be caveats with respect to the quality of the work - if> for some reason (and the stuff so far suggests it will not happen) the> team produced something horrific it would not make sense to included> it. This brings me on to Q2> > 2. Who will decide what work will make the cut and what will not. If> we ARE designing for the default theme then how will we decide when to> stop brainstorming and settling on ONE of the ideas to hone (see 2.2).> How can we ensure we are producing work that IS going to be accepted?> There are a few important aspects to this> > --2.1 How will we get the people who will be making FINAL decisions> about the work involved _at crucial points in the process_ well before> the end . If sabdfl is going to be choosing work then how can we get> his opinions before we reach crucial junctions at which we might turn> away from what is desired. There is certainly enough talent in the> team to work towards and produce what is desired, but communication of> that might need to be better than it has been in previous releases.> > --2.2 What is the time-scale for our development? We need this to be> clearly defined _whether or not_ we are designing for the default> theme or for a bunch of community themes. If we are going for default> work then we need to be sure to make and meet deadlines for review and> feedback. The same is true even if we're just doing 'extra' themes,> except the community is more able to define what will and won't be> included. In the past with community themes lots of work has been> dumped on a few members of the team and Daniel Holbach when he was> already incredibly busy - I wasn't involved in the last few releases> so this issue might be fixed now....See 3 for more on this. Another> reason the deadlines are important is so we give the documentation> team and the web team time to update to reflect the new art.> > --2.3 I am not at all sure what other stuff relies on the art (docs> and web aside) - which other parts of the Ubuntu Jigsaw do we> interlock with?> > --2.4 Who is in charge of what in the team/calling which shots? kwwii,> I guess is the head here? Is there going to be a hierarchy?> > 3. How are we distributing and packaging the work? We should be doing> this throughout the process so we can see how it is working - to avoid> last minute rushes on packaging. My understanding is that Launchpad> has very good facilities for making this 'JustWork' - are enough> people familiar with them now?> > I am sad that I do not have much time to add at the moment - so I> guess I am asking these questions less for myself and more for the> people who will be spending a lot of time on design for the next> realease. By answering them I hope we will have a better understanding> of how to use people's time effectively.> > I do not presume I have asked all the important questions, so please> jump in if you think there are other things to clarify.> > I hope this whole email doesn't come across as pompous or> presumptuous, I know this was discussed at UDS, I'm sad I could not be> there (but I would be sure I'm not the only one!) - I only want to be> sure that the effort people invest is well directed and that the art> we make rocks as much as possible!> > Happy Designing,> > Who> > -- > ubuntu-art mailing list> ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art
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