Karmic Artwork

[Pasi Lallinaho]

Cody A.W. Somerville wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:17 PM, Pasi Lallinaho <open at knome.fi
> <mailto:open at knome.fi>> wrote:
>
>     Here is the current state of the artwork cycle for Karmic. There
>     hasn't
>     been that much discussion, so I would be really glad if you could give
>     your opinions on things.
>
>
> First off, I'm glad we're finally getting the ball on the go for
> artwork but lets try to start earlier in the cycle for karmic+1 so
> that we'll have more time to actually have time to possibly implement
> larger artwork projects.
I know we're a bit late again, but personal and money business issues
have been keeping me away from really digging deeper into the artwork
stuff. We definitely need more people to help and more people to start
sending these mails to the list. Steve, you are also part of the team
and can start such discussions. ;)
>  
>
>     1. Wallpaper / gdm theme
>
>     There is a draft version of the wallpaper/gdm theme on emonk.fi
>     <http://emonk.fi> [1]. As
>     on the Jaunty cycle, I think we'll just use a modified gdm theme
>     as the
>     background. Maybe lighter colors for the tree for wallpaper mode? This
>     wallpaper works for both wides and normal monitors. Cody suggested
>     it's
>     a bit too blocky for his taste, but what others of you think?
>     Personally
>     I think it's a good depart from the earlier style [2], but it could
>     maybe be a bit lighter. (As I look it now, it needs some more
>     texture at
>     least.) Opinions please.
>
>
> I believe I said it was too "blotchy", not "blocky. Depending on how
> you look at it, it looks like someone spilled something on it (ie.
> water damage).
Right, sorry for remembering incorrectly. I can't really see a water
damage there, please let me know if you see it as Cody does. We can
change this, but what should we change there? I don't know what part or
thing is causing it, so I'd really appreciate if you could describe what
makes you feel like this.

I will totally make some modifications to the image, but basically at
this point they concern mostly lightness/brightness issues and the
texture. Again, if you feel something else should be changed, please let
me know and we'll look at it.

1.1 Countdown banners and release artwork

I suppose we can use this artwork again for the release artwork. I also
think that we again should modify the artwork a bit and add that little
something. We also need to work on the countdown banners. Of course
we'll use the image, but should we do some JS slides like Ubuntu did
last time or do we still want just a static banner? I want your opinions
and ideas. Even wild ones, as long as they don't contain any pink
animals. (Steve!)
>
>     2. Icon theme
>
>     We are currently using Gnome Brave [3]. Steve suggests that the new
>     community-based theme Humanity [4] would be worth using. I agree,
>     but we
>     should test run it [5].
>
>
> I'm very happy with the current Icon theme (gnome-brave) as well.
>
> Humanity also looks nice but I'll refrain further comments until I see
> a re-coloured version that I can test.
>
> Ultimately, besides having to look good please ensure that the icon
> theme we select is "complete" enough to actually use.
Absolutely agree. Steve, do you have any ideas of how complete Humanity
really is for Xfce?
>
>     3. GTK+ theme
>
>     We want to refresh our GTK+ theme. Steve suggests that we use
>     something
>     Alvaro [6] -based, and personally I'm totally fine with that.
>     Overall it
>     looks quite good and with some tweaks to the menubar and colors, I
>     think
>     we're fine. Opinions?
>
>
> I also well love MurrinaXubuntu. I've been using it for quite some
> time and only rarely run into issues that I'm sure we could fix. I'd
> be happy to see MurrinaXubuntu become the default for karmic.
As I said earlier, I need to rewrite it/base it on the new Murrine
gtkrc. I/we can't let it slip out with the old stuff.
>
> I'll take some screenshots and upload them to the wiki.
Thanks for doing that.
>
>     4. xfwm theme
>
>     I propose we still keep with the Xfce default. I like it, a lot.
>
>
> Agreed.
>  
>
>     5. U/Xsplash / Live CD boot menu
>
>     Do we want a basic logo only? Do the technical reasons keep us from
>     doing anything else? Can we still change the U/Xsplash at this
>     time? Is
>     the image the only thing we want to change or are we going to do
>     something with the throbber et cetera? Or will we just use the Ubuntu
>     theme [7], change the colors and the logo? Will Michael be able to
>     help
>     with Usplash, if we need help? Cody, I need especially your input on
>     this one.
>
>
> I imagine we'll stay with usplash since xsplash sucks if you don't
> have support for KMS. Lionel has already updated the code as he
> mentioned and I'm fine with the current theme but you're welcome to
> update it if you want. I'm sure we can assist you with it if you do
> the art.
Okay. I want to change it. We can't just always think of changing it but
then just wait for +1 release.
>  
>
>     6. Documentation theming
>
>     We will try to theme the documentation with Jim. I am waiting
>     details on
>     this.
>
>
> Great. This is in much need of a refresh. The artwork is still using
> the old colour palette.
Jim, I still need details on this so I can start working on it with
Steve. No hurry though, just a reminder.
>  
>
>     7. New website look
>
>     As we are switching from Drupal to WordPress [8], we need to create a
>     new look for the website [9]. It is still unsure if any of this will
>     happen before Karmic release, but it's definitely coming and I'm
>     hoping
>     we can create something that lasts for a bit longer than the current,
>     big and clumsy design. It might have looked great then, but it's
>     really
>     starting to wear out. If you have any ideas, come on and let the
>     rest of
>     us know them.
>
>
> Still looks better than what we had before. :) 
Sure, but there is a lot of room for improvement as well. And I'm also
eagerly waiting for the migration to WordPress for many reasons.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -- 
> Cody A.W. Somerville
> Software Systems Release Engineer
> Foundations Team
> Custom Engineering Solutions Group
> Canonical OEM Services
> Phone: +1-781-850-2087
> Cell: +1-506-471-8402
> Email: cody.somerville at canonical.com
> <mailto:cody.somerville at canonical.com>
I also removed the "normal" logo from the Xubuntu Artwork Guidelines
(https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Artwork/Guidelines), since there is so
many problems concerning how it will look in various places and
contexts. For now, let's use the simple logo and think of a better
looking logo again once we have time. The simple logo really rock, as it
works so smoothly in so many places with so little work.

-- 
Pasi Lallinaho
Xubuntu Marketing Lead
Web-designer, graphic artist
IRC: knome @ freenode