Creating Visual Guidelines for Xubuntu

[Pasi Lallinaho]

On 07/20/2012 01:59 AM, Benedek Imre wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I think all of us know how important is the identity of a brand. The
> brand identity visually appears through a graphic design. This graphic
> design has to be aesthetically well formed, pleasing, systematic and
> extended to every details.
> The big brands always have a "Corporate Identity Book", what contains
> these graphic principles.
> (Just a sample:
> http://brandcenterdl.adobe.com/Corpmktg/Brandmktg/Campaign_Assets/guidelines/corporate/corporate_brand_guidelines.pdf
> - this is Corporate Brand Guidelines of Adobe.)
> Since I got in contact with Xubuntu, I experienced its visual
> appearance is a bit fragmented in media, it's not so unified as it
> should be.
>
> Because of this I think we should create a Visual Guideline for Xubuntu.

I created one quickly around the Karmic cycle [1].

> In case of such brand as Xubuntu is, which is definitely 'worldwide',
> this kind of document should be very useful. If somebody would like to
> create an official online or offline document, presentation, learning
> material etc for Xubuntu anywhere in the world, should check this
> public guideline only, and he/she will be able to make it with
> appropriate, unified design.

How much we wanted this to happen, it is just not happening.

Even if we had guidelines, people are not going to follow them as
strictly as we wanted (see above, we *had* one, but older-than-Karmic
logos still exist in active websites). What we need is active people who
are willing to contact people to change logos and such. Creating
guidelines for *these* people would be good, though it actually exists
at our website already at that scale [2].

> Some examples what we should place into this document:
> - Short introduction to the brand
> - The logo
> - How to use the logo (positioning, sizes, clear spaces etc)
> - Usage examples (of the logo - good and bad examples)
> - Using background picture for header
> - Colors (RGB, CMYK, spot, accompanying colors)
> - Typography (official and replacement typefaces, titles and
> subtitles, alignments etc)
> - Creating layouts (sizes, proportions, columns etc)
> - Creating presentations
> - Creating tables and charts
> - Creating online documents (using header and footer, font sizes and
> types, colors, general suggestions)
> - Using pictures
> - Creating banners
> - CD/DVD labels and covers

We actually have the logo colors available at our website [2]! We can
make the presentation more understandable – along with the colors as
they appear on your monitor.

> We should also create template files for LibreOffice Writer and
> Impress, and we have to ensure the access of these files on the internet.

I think creating template files is more sensible than telling people how
to use the logo (including positioning, sizes and padding spaces). Most
people doesn't really want to go deep enough to either care or
understand about these guidelines.

> I think there are good funds, what we could rely on - these are:
> - The existing logo
> - Identity of Ubuntu
> - Pasi's website theme

The Ubuntu Brand Guidelines [3] you point to are fine, but seriously, I
don't think we need a similar thing in all its complexiness for Xubuntu.

>
> As I'm a graphic designer, I undertake this work - of course with your
> active contribution and with listening to your suggestions.
>
> What do You think about all of these?
>
> Sincerely, Imre
>
> (I've posted this also on mailing list.)

For some reason, your mails tend to break my Thunderbird; I can't see
correct header information, and there is no padding between the content
and the window border. Can you try to send your mails in plaintext in
the future, assuming that'd fix the issue? Thanks.

Cheers,
Pasi

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Artwork/Karmic/Guidelines
[2] http://xubuntu.org/marketingresources/
[3] http://design.canonical.com/the-toolkit/ubuntu-brand-guidelines/

-- 
Pasi Lallinaho (knome)                      » http://open.knome.fi/
Leader of Shimmer Project and Xubuntu       » http://shimmerproject.org/
Graphic artist, webdesigner, Ubuntu member  » http://xubuntu.org/

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