The New and Improved Art Team

[John Baer]

All,

On February 13th the Fedora Art Team hit the wall. I realize now it was
inevitable and no one was at fault.

Since that day many team members searched for answers to the questions
"what went wrong" and "why". Dialogs were exchanged in heated and direct
conversations. The smoke from the event must have been black as it
attracted new members who offered their thoughts and comments.

The problem with art is it all about personal taste and perception. I
believe we can all agree the human eye may view something one way and
then see it completely different at another time. I laughed at myself as
I reviewed the images created on the road to February 13th. I stated I
was satisfied with my rc1 only to create something completely different
a few days later.

A short time ago I presented Fedora to a group of IT professionals
steeped in years of effort in the Windows environment. I needed a good
introduction and I wanted to deliver the message Fedora was more than
Linux. To achieve this result I modified the RHGB artwork to boldly
display the word “fedora” and added a subtitle stating “An Open Source
Computing Solution sponsored by Red Hat, Inc”. The audience received the
message.

In the final analysis the Art Team wasn't ready to do business. By that
I mean we did not have well crafted goals and objectives; effective and
efficient outcomes. For the "New and Improved Art Team" I have a few in
mind.

Goal 1

The art team will enable the users of Fedora to enhance its visual
appearance to meet their need or desire.

Objective 1.1

The art team will craft wiki pages describing how to customized the
appearance of Fedora.

Objective 1.2

The art team will evaluate and recommend suitable upstream artwork
packages to be included in the release.

Objective 1.3

The art team will facilitate the exchange of computer art to promote
Fedora to a wider audience.

Objective 1.4

The art team will investigate creating and maintaining a Fedora
sub-forum targeted to the needs of artist. Sticky posts could point back
to the wiki pages created by “objective 1.1”.

Goal 2

Encourage the use of open source products in the creation of art.

Objective 2.1

The art team will investigate the re-design of the Fedora forum gallery
to include a method of image branding such as “made with inkscape”,
“crafted with gimp”. The effort could also consider targeted subsections
for alternative artwork for icons, RHGB, GDM, KDE, and splash screens.

As I look toward the talented artists who submit images to the Fedora
gallery I considered why they were not a part of the mix.  IMO the team
failed to deliver on the open source value of “inclusion – all are
welcomed, encourage others to join”. 

To quote myself, “If we are going to be open source then we need to do
open source”. :)

The words from David and Paul were right on and although I requested an
apology from the Red Hat desktop team the only apology required is my
own. The answers were all around us, all I had to do is see them.
“Promote Fedora to a wider audience” and use “open source values” when
doing open source business. 

I apologize folks for not seeing the obvious.

To wrap up nothing I've stated in this email is cast in stone. Perhaps
they are only starting points; but if team agrees, we have work to do.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

John