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
