sascha brossmann <brsma.s@gmail.com> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> On 3/1/06, Pascal Klein <4pascal@tpg.com.au> wrote: > Making branding icon sets is a lot of work, which is just going to > be seen in that one distribution. as far as i understand it would not be restricted to be used just in ubuntu, will it? though, given the, erm... disputable >;-> sense and understanding of all things design in the FOSS community it will propably not spread as widely as it could. > Although the icon set thus far obviously is great work, pity it had > to be a contracted artist rather than someone from the community. depends on what the community delivers, doesn't it? i have more than serious doubts that the community currently(!) is able to deliver near-to-professional quality in terms of design, especially compared to the (technical) quality FOSS as a whole has risen to (if i do not take graphical interfaces and certain types of special domain applications into account, that is). why that? some roughly sketched points in lose order (and all my very personal opinion): * the community lacks the presence of enough extraordinarily skilled (i.e. with a non-hobbyist background) _and_ committed individuals who could provide a sort of leadership to make a difference. further it severely lacks the presence of skilled and committed individuals who could provide a solid basis for and guide along lesser skilled contributors. * compared to the FOSS hackers, the FOSS design community is insufficient in both quality and number of contributors. this could be at least partly resolved by e.g. trying to target art & design educational institutions in order get more contributions from academics in that field. especially as most professionals won't be at all interested in contributing, at least not without getting paid for it. in contrast to (professional) software developers, FOSS is a one-way street for most designers: in practically all cases they won't get anything back which they can *use* themselves. apart from pure boredom (which won't happen to most pros i know) i cannot think of any justifiable motiviation apart from purely idealistic enthusiuasm or, maybe, at best, being a kind creative outlet. * understanding design as (visual) icing on the cake is still an all-too-widespread belief, especially amongst software developers. but design is not about things looking nice. it's about making the things at hand manageable (_and_ pleasurable, as such) - looks are only a part of that story. * existing larger projects like e.g. tango are creating visual metaphors without being actually able to define or influence the interactions that they should serve. it should be the other way round, everything else is constant tinkering with basically broken kettles. FOSS design needs a larger perspective. soon. * if i look at the current results, bottom-up design methods don't seem to work well. yet, mind you. lack of experience how to use them appropriately and still achieve professional results. * design != art (requires different skills, different methodologies and a different mindset) btw: i would really, really, really like to see the name "art team" changed to reflect this. mind you, i *do* recognise (and very happily i do) how things have progressed during the last years. but things are still lightyears behind of where they should be (and where the two other major desktops are or are heading). one of my main concerns being what could be named *copycat desease*: nearly complete absence of strong original ideas combined with the tendency to imitate the looks of other desktops (without really understanding the concerning interactions). and a painful lack of skill, knowledge, and competence in both creation and evaluation/discussion. makes at least two major barriers that need to be overcome. propably more. best, sascha <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8"><title></title> <style type="text/css">  </style> <div> <div>By and large, I agree. I just would like to add that the art team has always been a scattered,  unorganized group of individuals, without direction and guideline. In such a situation, it is impossible to produce anything but random improvisations.  Providing strict guidelines and precise time limits for projects could revitalize the group. But for this to happen, you need a project leader who could be anyone knows enough about the parameters of the job.   </div> <div></div> <div>Regards, J. Mak</div> </div> -- :: www.brsma.de :: ..: .:. . :.. ..: . . . . . . :: public key id 0x2EA549A0 ::.. :: . . . . .. . . . :: fingerprint 0A0C AE42 62F5 DB65 C5A1 E335 53FB 3888 2EA5 49A0 -- ubuntu-art mailing list ubuntu-art@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art </blockquote> <hr size=1>Enrich your life at <a href="http://finance.yahoo.ca">Yahoo! Canada Finance</a>