"Ooh, what's that one?"<br><br>OSX is long held as one of the boldest and most unique designs in the industry, when Windows was just toying with XP - Apple made the ultra-shiny, over-glossed look and threw in every effect they could think of and paired it with a pinstripe. If you look at OSX now, compared to when it was first demonstrated, it has toned down dramatically; no pinstripes, for example.
<br><br>That being said, I'm a firm believer in designs that are both bold and unique. If it's unique, people will remember it. If it's bold, people will talk about it. When you see a desktop screen-shot of Vista, you know it's Vista. Vista is bold, unique. When you see OSX, you can see the dock - the signature - Unique to OSX. Apple has always been bold, and the big "X" on the box shouts at you. "Ooh, what's that one?"
<br><br>If you want to make an argument for just being Unique - that bold should be beyond our users, then I would be tempted to present Amiga. There's an operating unique to itself, but there's no oomph in the design. I've only ever -heard- of these Amiga users, and I only hear that the Amiga users out there are the ones unwilling to let it go. I doubt anyone will walk by an Amiga in a store and be captured by it. It's unique, and users of Amiga reminisce about it - but it's not being talked about in anything other than fond memories.
<br><br>Linux users have posted pictures of Vista-clone desktops, or OSX-like machines. You forget them, because it's not unique or ever as polished as the original. Linux/Ubuntu is not Vista, it's not OSX, it's not Amiga: Ubuntu needs to be Unique and bold - Capturing - Ubuntu. Ubuntu can be that, and be user-friendly at the same time. It doesn't need to be jet-black to be bold, bold isn't a colour or a specific design. It doesn't need to have patterns and pinstripes - it needs to stand out; "Ooh, what's that one?"
<br><br>When 3 computers are lined up at computer store X - you don't want Ubuntu to be passed. If it makes the stand, people will notice it and be drawn to it for it's beauty - and stay for the amazing operating system it is. You want whoever passes that computer to say...
<br><br>"Ooh, what's that one?"<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 2, 2008 9:43 PM, Andrew Laignel <<a href="mailto:a.laignel@ukdotcafe.com">a.laignel@ukdotcafe.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">Who wrote:<br>> How does a conventional 'vote for the one you like' allow us to see this?<br>><br></div>Maybe you could vote 1...5 on each entry then look at the tally graphs<br>for distribution?
<br><div class="Ih2E3d">>> into love it/hate it camps which should be avoided at all cost. Ideally<br>>> a default theme should not be even noticed by the public - being neutral<br>>> and innofensive as possible should be the goal. A perfect demonstration
<br>>> of this is Apple, where the current theme for OSX is crips, clean,<br>>> stylish and probably as neutral as you can get - no loud colours,<br>>> drastic layouts or hard edges.<br>>><br>><br>
> AFAIK, this has never been the aim for the Ubuntu default theme - and<br>> I don't think it ever will be. Sometimes going for love it or hate it<br>> beats going for bland. At least then people see it!<br>>
<br>> As long as I can remember the Ubuntu Theme has been part of the<br>> branding, something that helps make Ubuntu known, something for people<br>> to talk about. From this point of view, it has worked very well - if
<br>> you see a screenshot of linux and it is brown, you _know_ it is ubuntu<br>> - if you see a blue distro.... who knows...<br></div>I'm not saying don't be brown, or to lose the Ubuntu theme, but to avoid
<br>anything overly stylized. Most people using a computer will never touch<br>the default theme settings, and the less likely that a sizable<br>percentage will be sitting in front of something they hate the better.<br>If people want something really cool/different (ultra dark/steampunk
<br>etc) then maybe there should be some alternate themes shipped with it so<br>if someone does have a look into the menus something is there.<br><br>Ulitmately if you really want a radical theme you can with very little<br>
effort. The focus should be on giving the people who simply don't care<br>about the subject as pleasant an experience as possible, rather than<br>forcing them to change it because it's horrible (to them).<br><div>
<div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>--<br>ubuntu-art mailing list<br><a href="mailto:ubuntu-art@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-art@lists.ubuntu.com</a><br><a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art" target="_blank">
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art</a><br></div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-Ken Vermette