[ubuntu-art] Ubuntu Powder

[Thorsten Wilms]

On Tue, 2009-03-31 at 13:48 -0500, Matthew Nuzum wrote:

> As a matter of fact over my lunch I put together four themes based on
> clearlooks. I used the same wallpaper for each, an image of sakura
> blossoms, desaturated and then added a hue to match each of the
> themes.
> 
> I will create a poll and start asking some of the people I know to
> give their opinion on the appearance to see what they like.
> 
> I have two concerns... the human icon theme does not look good with
> the colours I'm using. I'm going to take a wild guess that it would
> not be OK to ship another set of icons on the CD so I've got to work
> out a solution to this before I make the screenshots.
> 
> The other concern is how to get the most meaningful results. I've set
> the themes so that the only difference is the colour. Would it be
> meaningful to have four screen shots of themed desktops stacked one
> above the other and letting them choose the one they like? Should
> there be an application open on the desktop, and if so, what?


The top level question is if it actually makes sense to create a theme
for women? It isn't even necessarily a question of demand, because
sometimes the supply has to come before the demand.

Since this is not going to be the default theme, it must be for women
who will customise the appearance?

>From my own anecdotal experience, women are at least as interested in
changing the wallpaper as are men, if not more so.

I'd say the not-that-technical among them won't even think of changing
the widget theme - or would need encouragement to do so. Not gender
specific, actually.


How do desktops customised by women look like? Are there recurring
themes?
Are there common characteristics women look for in desktop appearance?
Are there common complaints, perceived shortcomings of common offerings?
Do the findings here suggest that the target group can and should be
more specific?


What is the state of cognitive psychology, neurology, gender studies
regarding this issue?

What information is there on cultural differences?


What is done in other fields to speak to women? Design language?
We're talking about colors, shapes, textures, motives.

-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/