F8 artwork

[Nicu Buculei]

Máirí­n Duffy wrote:
  > I looked at the F8 release schedule and the calendar and came up with
> the following (somewhat aggressive, but if all goes well we'll have
> everything for the feature freeze deadline) schedule:
> 
> - Round 1 deadline: Monday July 2nd
>   - Any ideas that don't have a formal proposal on the mailing list + a
> proposal page linked off of the F8Themes wiki page will be out of the
> running at this point.

Seems fine

> - Round 2 deadline: Monday July 20th
>   - Any ideas that don't have fully fleshed-out and polished artwork,
> at least 1 wallpaper and let's say 3 supporting graphics, will be out of
> the running at this point.

OK

> - Round 3 deadline: Monday August 20th (F8 feature freeze)
>   - Any ideas that don't have fully-polished and implemented versions
> of the following will be out of the running:
>     - wallpaper
>     - gdm theme
>     - bootup artwork (whether it's the new system or RHGB graphics and
> grub screen)
>     - installer artwork (splash, banner, and 15-color anaconda graphic)
>     - firstboot artwork (splash, banner)

I feel like this is asking a little too much, an almost complete theme 
and we may still have a number of competing concepts at that time, but I 
am not very strong about this.

> If we really, really get stuck and end up with more than one really
> awesome theme by the round 3 deadline, we can always hold a vote of
> Fedora contributors similar to the F7 naming vote process. I'm hoping
> that it won't be necessary, though. If we don't have any completely
> finished to the specifications above by the deadline, we can dig in and
> work on the one that's closest to being complete at that point.

And if we have just only one theme at that point? Will we have the 
authority to endorse it as the way to go?
For F7 nobody objected because the decision was made by a supreme, 
unquestionable authority (RH Desktop Team), maybe we should define 
clearly the process and our relation with the Desktop Team.

> Do these dates make sense? If so, would anybody object to me going ahead
> and announcing the F8 theme process? - I'm thinking a Fedora News
> announcement, here on this list + marketing + websites list,
> fedoraforum.org, and I can make a post on Fedora Planet as well.

I think the dates are just fine, go ahead with the announcements.

> On a related note, I would also like to add some more
> milestones/deadlines to the process even though they aren't part of the
> theme selection process. Please tell me if you think I'm completely
> insane with these items & deadlines.

No you are not insane, these are good to have. We may not consider them 
blockers or not be very strict about dates and accept a couple of days 
delay.

> - Milestone 4: Mon 10 Sept - concept discussion for F8 marketing
> materials on the marketing list. Come up with a standard tagline for the
> release the way we did "Reach higher" for the new static FPO website,
> and maybe some promo banner ideas as well.

This is fine.
If I understand you correctly, the tagline is related to the graphic 
theme (DNA - Evolved, FlyingHigh - Reach higher)

> - Milestone 5: Mon 24 Sept - finalize artwork/design for F8 DVD/CD
> labels and sleeves. At least a professional-printer (eg screenprinting)
> ready version of each needs to be made of the labels - 3 or 4 colors at
> most. An additional set with more colors / more complex design could
> also be prepared for home users with inkjet printers.

Is not this a little earlier? Those last milestones my go in parallel 
schedule, CD covers are not blockers for screenshots in the press kit 
and are not blocked by the promo banners, all of them use the release 
theming as a root.

Anyway, we should create a page similar to the ThemingOverview for all 
those marketing related graphics, as a central point of reference.

> - Milestone 6: Mon 5 October - prepare a 'promo kit' for the release.
> This would be aimed towards Fedora ambassadors and other folks wanting
> to promote Fedora 8 at conferences/shows/gatherings during launch time.
> Include some standard screenshots folks can use, some printer-quality
> artwork (sources for the theme work would be great), and a link to the
> logo at fedoraproject.org site, all gathered in one page on the wiki for
> easy access. I've noticed we've gotten a lot of inquiries about these
> materials for F8 and were not prepared. Another idea for the kit: PDF
> informational sheet about the release with preliminary release notes (or
> information about the most compelling features being introduced in the
> release) and a couple screenshots.

Yes, this is useful, we will have to work closely with the marketing team.

> - Milestone 7: Mon 15 October - finalize fedoraproject.org promotional
> materials. Probably will consist of: (1) F8 tour with screenshots, (2)
> big promo banner for the front page of the site at launch time. Work
> with the websites and infrastructure teams to get a staging site set up
> and ready to go for the final release date.

Another "yes" from me on this.

Maybe yet another milestone working with the documentation people on the 
Firefox start page?

> Also to make my meaning clear, by 'basic' I'm thinking just an abstract
> (likely blue) graphic style with a plain Fedora logo and that's it. No
> balloons, dna, bubbles, or anything like that. :) So it could have a
> style, and that style could even complement what the theme is, but it
> wouldn't have the balloons or whatever the theme element is in it. (Does
> that make sense?)

Say instead something like "Tentacles" or "GNOME Curves" (with a Fedora 
touch) from the default selection of wallpapers and I am sold.

>> Question: F7 changed the icon theme to Myst partly to match the blue 
>> of the rest of the desktop. We will do something similar in F8 or the 
>> opposite (do the desktop artwork to fit the icon theme). The same 
>> about Metacity.
> 
> +1 They need to match somehow. Problem is we don't know if we can depend
> on Echo at this point.

Call me pessimistic, but I have my doubts about Echo.

-- 
nicu :: http://nicubunu.ro :: http://nicubunu.blogspot.com
Cool Fedora wallpapers: http://fedora.nicubunu.ro/wallpapers/
Open Clip Art Library: http://www.openclipart.org
my Fedora stuff: http://fedora.nicubunu.ro