F8 artwork

[Máirín Duffy]

Nicu Buculei wrote:
> Do you think is the case for us to start a 3 round process similar with 
> the one proposed for F7? - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/FC7Themes
> We can easily adapt it with dates following the F8 schedule.

+1

I think this is a good idea. I agree with Matthias though and I think we 
should try to tone the style down a bit. We can come up with a theme 
concept collaboratively but I think when we actually create it, we 
should try to not be quite so literal with the artwork, and instead try 
for a bit more abstract and clean look for most of the theme.

I do not think that it's a matter of being 'hard to top', though. I 
think especially for the artwork that is not easily changed by end users 
(wallpaper and GDM theme are easiest to swap out), we have to think 
about the artwork forcing a particular theme down user's throats when 
their tastes are quite different. E.g., there's balloons in grub, if I 
like a dark techno/shiny look for my system - well that's not going to 
really jive with the fun happy balloons I will have to see up until 
login ;-). It's not easy to switch those out. (I've seen quite a few 
complaints to this end on fedoraforum and on IRC.)

We also want to make it easier for folks to remix and customize Fedora 
for redistribution. We will make this much more difficult for these 
folks if every nook and cranny of the OS has overly thematic artwork. 
Fedora is even more of an 'upstream' now.

With those things in mind, a good approach I think could be to focus on 
the wallpaper and GDM and tone down the rest. We can still make a big 
impression and 'keep up the tradition' or whatever, and use the 
wallpaper and gdm theme to showcase what FOSS graphics tools can do, but 
still keep happy those folks who like personalizing their desktop and 
don't agree with our style by leaving the rest plainer in comparison.

Another random idea - as each of us go through the process of actually 
implementing the artwork, if we took good notes we could write up a 
series of how-tos that would help folks who want to spin their own 
Fedora distros figure out how to customize the theme of their spin. We 
could even publish these in Red Hat Magazine under the Open Palette 
column that Nicu and I started.

>> - Personally, I'd like to explore a somewhat different style of artwork
>> for F8; something much less branded and image-based (maybe stripes :-)

Heh ;)

>> -- if only because the F7 artwork is pretty much at the top of the
>> quality scale for this kind of heavily image-based, branded artwork (as
>> the initial F7 reviews show), and will be hard to top...
> 
> I agree about exploring a new style because I think we should bring 
> something fresh in each release and because is fun to explore different 
> styles.

+1

I can think of two potential next steps -

1) Let's start the theme concept 3-round process again. Let's nail down 
all the details right here ASAP so we can write up the announcement - 
what parts of the theme will be 'thematic' vs which will be toned down, 
and a schedule of how the round process will go. I propose that we 
basically announce that this go-round we are focusing mainly on the 
wallpaper and login designs to serve as the 'showcase' for the release's 
artwork, and the rest of the artwork (whatever the bootup process will 
entail, whether it be something new or grub/rhgb, and the 
installer/firstboot artwork) will be toned-down and less thematic.

2) We should have a general discussion here on list to get our thoughts 
out on where F8's artwork could go. What desktop wallpaper are you using 
these days? Have you seen any cool ones lately? Seen any cool current 
graphic design in general lately? Have an idea for a nice style we could 
use? Send it to the list and we can discuss and try to come up with a 
general style to push for. :) What kinds of feedback have you heard on 
the Fedora 7 theme? What have you heard about other distro's themes? Do 
we want to get into photomanip, 3d rendering, vector-based, or some 
combo of the three?

Does this sound reasonable?

~m