Humanity without humans (default Artwork)

[Turing Test]

I think it's a shame that Mark Shuttleworth's original idea of "spirit
of humanity" for Ubuntu's artwork seems to have been dropped.

Is true that having images of people in a multi-cultural product is
totally unacceptable from a interface design perspective, as several
cultures forbid this representations. But I doubt that reverting to a
totally abstract theme is the only possible solution for this. I'd
like to propose an idea for a theme that explicitly portrays the idea
of strong human imagery, while keeping free of direct human
representations.

The idea is to use indirect signs of human activities. This can be
done by showing traces of humans, like footsteps. An image of a beach
with footsteps on wet sand could do the trick. Trails tell stories
about humans; so showing several trails that join and advance in
parallel does effectively transmit the idea of humans walking together
side by side.

Plus this image will make a beautiful landscape for the wallpaper.
Just search for images of footsteps to see several examples of what I
have in mind:

http://images.google.com/images?q=footsteps&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search


A different option would be to show images of tools. But it would be
difficult to find a tool so universal that it can be understood in all
cultures. Maybe a children's toy?


I would like to contribute such a theme for Ubuntu. But since I don't
own developed artistic skills I simply will throw the idea and hope
that someone will catch it and create the suggested artwork. I'd love
if this happened.

I wonder whether the decision to use the Ubuntu logo as the default
desktop image is final. I suppose it is to late to make such a theme
in time for the release?

I hope not to reopen the flaming debate on the controversial default
artwork with this post! :-)