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
