i love the website-design proposal!! it doesn't just look AWESOME but could also make the website more usable, as you said.
Am Sonntag, den 20.02.2011, 01:40 +1100 schrieb Nik: > Hullo Design! > (whoa, once again, LOOOOONG Email, sorry, but these issues were > "circumnavigated", they really need to be brought up). > > This will seem counter-productive to say but I REALLY don't want to slow > us down! Especially now in this time of urgency. > *(I even have a very quick and stringent timeline/plan for execution of > these suggestions at the bottom of this long email)* > But I've been putting this off for some time already and the situation > will get worse if we do much more without considering it; > > There are many *many* things that need to be designed RIGHT NOW: > banners, cd covers, collateral, ads, website graphics, flyers. > The Community cannot wait any more. > Because we are unable to provide all of this right now, the community > will go ahead and make their own (often harmful to our desire for a > professional image). It is already happening. > Right now we are asked to make banners, the point of which is to be seen > by as many people as possible. > I don't think we're ready for that yet to be quite frank. But we have > to, nonetheless, it's for the best cause! > > Since the MIME-type icons have been the only major work so far to go > through rigorous iteration within this community, their design is being > appropriated onto all the formats we are working on; > - The fund-raising banners are using the "pale innerborder + dark > outerborder + clipped corner" treatment from the logo/icons > - The impress templates are using the radial gradient / vignette from > the icons (this is a great project/initiative by the way) > - Paulo has turned the icons into --may I be so rude as to say-- F#©k!n% > GORGEOUS wallpapers! =O > > But there is a problem. These design elements made sense on the icons; > - Coloured outline: a folder lining > - Pale inner border: depth of paper-stack > - Radial gradient: top-lighting of pile > - Clipped corner: from our logo > > But they don't make sense everywhere, and right now they are being > carried over to other formats due to convenience/consensus-status. > *This problem and the other one mentioned above, could be fixed if we > created a Design motif or theme;* > - We could use it (the motif) without mixing metaphors > - The /community/ could use it without having to design from scratch and > undoing our work on brand consistency > > This wasn't a problem in OOo because there was; > - The Seagulls = theme (openness, sky, flying, freedom) > - The wired gulls (as fugly as they were) = motif > > The usual process for this (I know most of you will know this, but bare > with me one sec) is that; > 1. The chief characteristic of the company/org is identified. Specified > as a desirable "image/perception". > 2. A strong logo is created, which allows for; > 3. The extrapolation/derivation of a design motif. (preferably VECTOR > and simple, it will need to be printed on LARGE materials) > 4. They form the basis for a start to the style guide, including Brand > guidelines and colours which reflect the "image/perception" > 5. High quality stock photography is used to support (which is glaringly > absent in LibO) > 6. Templates are made available to all, to make it easier to adhere to > this consistent "image/perception" > > I think it has (wisely) been decided that our LibO design /theme/ is: > "paper". To build on user familiarity with a paper office. Good, "check". > I'll skip my reservations about the logo and deciding colours without a > "theme" for now. > If anyone has a D90+ / 450D+ or other higher quality DSLR, please > consider taking some stock photography we can use (the potential subject > matter would need to be discussed in another thread). > > Right now the closest thing we have to a motif is the clipped corner, > which is promising, BUT... > At the moment *all* things are inheriting a "bordered box and corner" > which creates many "cornered boxes" on one page, this isn't a great move. > It reduces the effectiveness of the corner design if it is in too many > places, being used like a layout element rather than as a branding element. > For example, it is present on the LibO homepage in 6 places right now, > with no rhythm or alignment. > One very prominent clipped corner on the page should be enough. This > isn't to say it shouldn't reappear elsewhere, but the dark grey > "floating" corner element should NOT appear elsewhere in the layout. > Repetition isn't always a sign of consistency, sometimes it's a great > sign of limitations. > For example, I've uploaded a (nasty and rough) example of how I would > imagine 1 corner would suffice and make a bigger impact; > http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/File:Onecorner.jpg > It could also serve some important purpose: download button / > back-to-top button / or if LibO is feeling adventurous and moves the > Logo to the top-right, it could serve as the home button. > > But this is all branding-speak. What I want to say, loud and clear; > *WE NEED A DESIGN-MOTIF. URGENTLY.* > > I propose the following timeline because it is necessary and because I > have heard a few people (Johannes? Paulo? Jaron?) suggest they may be > available soon. > - *2 or 3 days* to discuss on this list ideas about what the motif > should be. What the "perception" should be. > - *1 or 2 days* to design a vector composition > - *1 day* when Bernhard+Christoph+Ivan (as the most-active and senior > members of the Design list) decide on 1 motif > - *1 day* to refine as per feedback. > So this could be all done in a week if we are agile. > > I know it isn't ideal, but the current logo was made in the same > circumstance. And we cannot go on treating the logo/icons as > Design:formatting elements!!! > As soon as we have a Design motif, in a couple of variations, it will be > easier to make everything look professional and clean (assuming the > motif itself looks this way). > > In the mean time, I strongly recommend that the fund-raising banners be > made *IN AS SIMPLE A WAY AS POSSIBLE!* > So that they do not hint at a Design/style that we will not adhere to > long-term, or create a perception of a Design direction which has not > already been decided. > They should be as /neutral/ and /occasion/-specific as possible and bare > no strong /stylistic/ elements whatsoever. Otherwise people will come to > think of them as the LibO "style" and we will have to honour it. > Right now too many > different/incomplete/disparate/unintentional/inconsistent design items > are making their way to the public and our ability to intelligently > "master" a design style or direction for LibO is slipping out of our > hands. The more this continues, the more LibO will be a haphazard > collection of randomly made design elements. > It'll be like OOo all over again. > > I would really appreciate if some of the Design leadership (Bernhard, > Christoph, Ivan) commented on whether they thought this plan is > feasible. Or updated it with times that are more appropriate. > > > On 2/19/2011 9:28 AM, Christoph Noack wrote: > > @ Paulo, Nik: If you have some time, could you please dive into working > > on the missing graphics? It would be great if you could coordinate this > > on this list, to avoid doubled effort. If you miss the time, I'll jump > > in tomorrow ... but I'd like to work on other less visible funding > > stuff :-\ > > > > The missing items are listed here: > > http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design/FoundationChallenge#Required_Items > Hi Paulo and Christoph, > I will work on some Community banners seeing as how they are urgent. > I think Paulo can work on the same thing without "doubling" our efforts > seeing as how multiple banners are needed. > Whaddaya reckon? > > > > > you know, some people do also miss normal web banners. > > > Yes. Most of them are called "Marketing executives" ;) > But they invented Google-ads to satisfy /that/ crowd. > > ... > > IVAN!!! > I know you're immensely busy old chap, but I'd be super-interested to > know what you think about all this. > > -Nik > > -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@libreoffice.org List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/www/design/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived for eternity ***
