<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffcc" text="#000000"> Artists! Based on conversations on this list, as well as meetings and interviews, I would like to announce the appointment of Frank Schoep (Ubuntu) and Ken Wimer (Kubuntu) as "Artists in Chief" for Edgy Eft. They report to me, in the sense that I will approve their high level direction, but they have authority to decide the final images selected for: - usplash - login background - login splash - desktop wallpaper They will also lead the work tweaking icons, widgets and window manager decorations for the default theme in both distros. In the case of Ubuntu, Human will remain the default theme for Edgy, and in the case of Kubuntu Ken and I have yet to confirm a direction. In addition, they will liaise with Jane Silber of Canonical in the design of any packaging for Edgy Eft. Note that we will probably continue to ship *dapper* CD's through the Edgy release (given that Dapper is our long term supported release) but the Edgy packaging artwork will be used for Edgy DVD's on Amazon. These appointments are for Edgy, and we will select new AIC's for Edgy+1. The positions are part-time work funded by Canonical. The AIC's will be the primary interface between the art and distro development team, they will attend distro meetings and will be able to oversee packaging. The AIC's will also lead the "theme teams" for the default themes. In addition to the default themes, we will create "theme teams" for additional themes that may or may not make it into the final release of Edgy. We are in the process of selecting an Art Council that will be appointed by the Ubuntu Community Council. The Art Council will decide which theme teams we will encourage new art team members to contribute to ( in other words, the "leading candidates for inclusion"). The decision as to which themes will ACTUALLY be included will be deferred until we are closer to release, with a good idea of how complete and polished the themes will be. We will aim to have a selection of themes that meet a variety of requirements in terms of palette, accessibility, and speed. I did intend to get the Art Council in place before making this announcement, but given that Edgy is such a short cycle we need to unleash the AIC's right away. Please join me in congratulating Frank and Ken on this appointment! Mark </body> </html>