Hi Brian, Nik, Bernhard, all, On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 7:34 PM, Brian Coale <coale.br...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hey everyone! > > Nice to see so much discussion over this, it really shows that this is an > active community and that you care about what you are doing here. That's a > definite positive for me.
I hope you'll stay with us :) > I really don't think "who did what first" matters as much as having a strong > branding identity, perhaps we should look at it from this point of view > rather than that of entitlement. +1. Colored circles aren't a particularly strong branding element, and neither is a curve. They're pretty generic and would be more suitable, as Nik pointed out, when they have a stronger symbolic value for a particular product. In this case, it seems that the OOo 3 splash screen was created before before Equal changed its branding, but the curved line and colored circles motif has probably been done many times over around the world across the decades. Even the wireframe gull style has commercial implementations elsewhere (e.g. ASB Bank - https://www.asb.co.nz/story_images/1343_portal_s3745.jpg - the wireframe design is like the complex designs featured on banknotes to make counterfeiting more difficult so it kind of fits in). It could be argued that whatever design we come up with, someone, somewhere has done something similar, or will do something similar independently in the future. > "Our splash screen curve is based on the SUN reverse-s, but when its lying > down, where's the association? I think the reverse-S should always be > vertical. Otherwise it dilutes the brand. This would be something for the > new project to consider." > > I absolutely agree with this. OpenOffice.org, after all, is a product of Sun > Microsystems, and should be treated as such. I would really like to see the > branding and image more closely relate to the branding and image of, hmmm, > say Java? Sun and Java are household names in the computer industry, and I > think reminding people that they are related will only strengthen the > branding and legitimacy of OpenOffice.org. When I told my boss we should > migrate some of our dated Microsoft Office systems of OpenOffice.org she > said "who?", but I bet you if I told her we needed to update our Java she > wouldn't even blink an eye. The S-curve is present on the splash screen and the website (horizontally), and in the icons and Start Center (vertically). It was inherited from Sun's branding. I disagree that we should pursue it further. To give OOo a more independent (i.e., community driven) and unique identity this should be replaced with something more fitting (e.g. a feather outline, a wing outline, etc if we stick with gulls - even that is up for debate). Especially considering that Sun will become Oracle. > "I'm only saying this because I feel strongly that the coloured dots should > not be added to the OOo identity, not with such little relevance or > thought," > > And this is a very valid point. Every element in a design should have a > purpose, not just thrown together because it "looks good"; Personal > preference should take a back seat to the message and the mission of a > design piece. If we are serious about helping this product become a real > competitor, we have to be absolutely serious about it's image and branding. +1. I think that the OOo logo is where our efforts should be focused, and branding elements should be secondary supports. This is one of the reasons I personally prefer brighter colors in designs - it doesn't draw so much attention away from the logo, whereas our current splash screen is pretty haphazard with overly strong colors and attention-grabbing elements scattered around. There should be a sense of harmony and continuity between the logo and its supporting branding elements, and that's one of the major reasons behind the new project we hope to set up. > Very well put. I know a lot of people here might not like the idea of change > to time-tested design elements, but without change, or at least discussion > about change, there can be no innovation. Are we to roll out the same splash > screen every version? Look at our competitor, Microsoft, does Office 2004 > look ANYTHING like Office 2007? They change the look and feel ot their > products for good reason: Obsolescence and "perceived" obsolescence for > one; Make the new stuff look new so you'll want it, and so it will make the > old stuff look old so you don't want it anymore. A version number isn't > always enough to make people want to jump on the bandwagon, they want to > "see" that it's better. And that's where we come in. Absolutely. We could even go to the extent where we evolve the design over the lifecycle of a release. If someone could put forward a good enough proposal to advance the design while keeping it in line with the general theme that has been set, then we could have slightly different splash screens for OOo 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, etc... instead of being restricted to 3+ yearly cycles. > In summary, I think this is an unexpectedly great discussion over what > started out as a whimsical observation, and I think everyone has added > relevant and thoughtful insights to the overall discussion. I mean no > disrespect to the designers of the current packaging, it obviously had > support of the greater part of the community when it was voted for, and for > good reason, but no matter what any one of us can create, we can do better > as a team. Thanks everyone! This is definitely something I'd like to see more of - more collaboration, more emphasis on expertise (e.g., decisions are made by votes within the project, not necessarily involving the whole project as the OOo 3 splash vote did) and flexibility (i.e., the design isn't set in stone for the next X years - some changes might be made if there is good reason to do so). In less than a week, there will be an official meeting in Hamburg to decide the future of OpenOffice.org's visual identity/branding (including the new project proposal), and this discussion has raised additional points that could be considered. I'll add them to the wiki page [1], and I'd encourage anyone interested to do the same and add any items they'd like Bernhard to raise at this meeting. Thanks to everyone who has taken part (and those who will take part)! [1] http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Design_Artwork_and_Branding_Project_Proposal Regards, Ivan. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: art-unsubscr...@marketing.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: art-h...@marketing.openoffice.org
