Hi Bernhard, Nik, all, This is a very important discussion, and now that I have some spare time to write a comprehensive reply, I would like to share some thoughts.
On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 12:46 PM, Bernhard Dippold <bernh...@familie-dippold.at> wrote: [...] >>> We do need a new Art / Visual Design project - in a position that >>> can work not only on marketing material, but on core graphical >>> elements too. >> >> I know this got swept under the rug amidst a flurry of "trademark" >> technicalities, but I'd just like to know once and for all; Is there >> any point on working on an OOo logo, is there any talk of an update >> being considered anywhere on the horizon? version 4 even? I'm fast >> losing faith that OOo is actually OpenSource at all, given that most >> "official" design work is created by Sun and not by the community. > > I know your concerns - shared by many of the (former?) active members of > this project. Berhnard, if it weren't for you, the art project would probably be experiencing deafening silence right now. Many of our very talented and active members have disappeared, and I suspect a lack of impact (by the Art project on OOo's artwork) would be the major cause of this. Personally, I was inspired to join the Art project when I saw your presentation at 2006 OOo Convention [1]. The vision contained in that presentation is yet to be realized, but I stick around because I am optimistic that it can be done. [1] http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2006/presentations/tuesday_c3.odp > Even if I'm in contact with some of the Sun people, I can't give you a > positive or negative reply. If some people in the upper areas there decide > to do something, it's quite hard to show them a better way... > > But there are signs of changes: > - The new ODF related iconset [1] is presented to us explicitly asking us > for comments and improvement of the design. > - Implementation of these icons has been postponed because their > presentation will be able to improved by the community. > > I see a need for a project that covers all the topics related to visual > impression of OpenOffice.org - whether this would be at the desktop, on the > web, in documentation or marketing. Yes! Christoph Noack of the UX project and I discussed something similar during the website refresh late last year (please see the appendix at the bottom of this email for the relevant extract). Unfortunately, due to time constraints we could not actively pursue this vision, but it is similar to what is being discussed in this thread. Now might be the time to try to take action - while there is plenty of time to establish the project and its influence in OOo 4. The community needs to take a more active role to create a consistent, powerful and effective visual identity for OOo. The latest issue with the ODF mimetype icons demonstrates that the art project is either not well known to major decision makers, or it is not considered relevant/useful. It is partially up to us to make sure that these sorts of things do not happen again in the future. > Perhaps "Art Project" is too small as name - "Visual recognition" or > "Branding Art" comes to my mind... Visual Design already exists [2], but Stella is the only one I can see taking part in it. A lot of important branding and artwork activity happens on those pages, but we aren't really made aware of their existence or involved in what goes on. Perhaps this is because a lot of OOo's artwork is derived from StarOffice and it is just assumed that OOo will have the same artwork as StarOffice (with the exception of, say, the splash screen and website). This is an assumption that we might need to challenge. [2] http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Visual_Design_Overview > Such a project will have to be filled with life by Sun people as well as > others. Absolutely, and also from different complementary projects that play a part in forming OOo's visual identity (UX, Marketing and Website are the most obvious examples IMO). > These thoughts are not mature by now - but in such a broader project any > changes to the core design could be worked on by non-Sun members too. By having a project where non-Sun community members can have a real impact on OOo's identity, we could attract more members and interest in the project. And with nicer, more co-ordinated artwork, we could attract more people to OOo. We all want to see OOo succeed, and I think this is an obvious way of helping to achieve that. > Changes to the logo are more difficult, as the present one is trademarked as > image mark. But if discussion on trademark policy and logo license would end > up in introducing a second (community) logo under an open source license, > this logo will probably be created by us! > > You see, I can't give you any "one and ever" reply - but perhaps there is > more than just a silver stripe at the horizon... I hope so :) Regards, Ivan. ------ Appendix ------ On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 9:42 PM, Ivan M <i2initiati...@gmail.com> wrote: >> [... Christoph Noack wrote:] >> What do you think, should we develop a kind of common vision when it >> comes to the application itself and its "representation" in the web? I >> don't know how this could look like - creating a short vision statement, >> bringing the Personas finally to life, think about the intended >> graphical message, ...? Any other ideas? > > Being an open source project, it is easy to become inconsistent - > different projects handle different tasks, particularly in terms of > graphics: the person that designs the splash screen is different from > the person who designs the icons, and that person is different from > the person that designed the website; that's great, and it's great > that OpenOffice.org means different things to different people, but > there are no guidelines to keep things reasonably consistent, which is > what constitutes a good user experience and strengthens the > brand/visual identity. Also, when it comes time to design something > new (or redesign something old), the question is: what do we base the > graphics on? The splash screen? The website? The icons? Or start with > something completely different and add another option to this list the > next time someone asks this question? > > Additionally, as I mentioned in a previous email, some community > products like the website can have multiple contributors, each with > their own style (as you pointed out with the use of rounded corners on > some elements and not on others). So personally, I think a common > vision is very important... if by common vision you mean a set of > guidelines that help us keep things consistent in terms of design. You can read the full discussion starting from: http://ux.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?listName=discuss&msgNo=2288 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: art-unsubscr...@marketing.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: art-h...@marketing.openoffice.org
