On Tuesday 16 Nov 2010 12:48:38 Christoph Noack wrote: > Hi Thorsten, hi David! > > Before I start: I really appreciate any activity which strengthens our > community, improves collaboration and - not to forget - improves how our > users perceive our software and the community. Reading the initial idea > of the "art contest" reminds me of some of the darker sides of the > OpenOffice.org project. I won't go into details of the already written > thoughts - I think many people already expressed their experience with > that. > > Moreover, I think Thorsten seconds the experiences we made ... and > although I don't want to doom any kind of (well prepared, smaller) > contest or artwork request, I think this is neither the right time and > the right approach. > > (By the way, I tried to comment Thorsten's thoughts, but I failed, > because everything is important to me. So please bear with the TOFU for > that single time *g*). > > > To start with an additional thought: Only start with such an activity, > if you are sure that the outcome will be really used. This is something > we try to make our internal clients aware of: If one misses to do some > homework (or the information you need is just not there), and the > contest doesn't lead to something the organization had in mind, then > either a) the "spirit" will turn into strong disappointment, or, b) you > just pick "any" design proposal to please somebody (design proposal: > artwork, workflow design, software architecture). > > So are we ready to work on the "Community Branding"? We (in terms of the > LibO community) are still about planning the homework, not even doing > it. The "Community Roadmap" is e.g. one of the TDF work items [1] - > deriving the "goals", "mission statement", "strategy" Thorsten talked > about. So it might help even more people, to start to work on that. > > This is one of the reasons why I've asked for the branding roadmap [2] > some days ago - and some of you agreed to it (most people I know from > the time at OOo), as well as the Steering Committee. We are aware that > the community branding is very important, and this is the reason for > letting the current dust settle a bit. > > The dust ... We miss some "tailored" communication framework at the > moment to make our communicate more efficient. Furthermore, we currently > try to suit the needs of our users with a decent LibreOffice 3.3 > release. I know that some of the people that I consider essential here, > are unable to support a topic like "artwork (contest)" at the moment. > > To sum it up, I don't think that we are lacking skilled and experienced > artists (with regard to OOo) - the more I am pleased to see some new > names and great proposals. But what I really miss are both background > information and a better communication framework. For the community > branding - however we will develop it - these are essential > prerequisites. So, personally, I'd like to focus on that first.
Big +1 > > Cheers, > Christoph cheers GL > > [1] http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDF/Work_Items#general_Community > [2] http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User:ChristophNoack/Work_Items > > Am Montag, den 15.11.2010, 10:51 +0100 schrieb Thorsten Wilms: > > On Mon, 2010-11-15 at 16:25 +0800, David Nelson wrote: > > > @TDF guys: I'd like to make one last plea for my idea of a logo/mascot > > > competition (if you have clear arguments against it, I'll drop the > > > subject). > > > > Contests are devoid of the traditional client/designer relationship. > > There tends to be no strategy, no briefing, no iterations. > > > > A contest means that each participant invests their time, betting on > > creating the one design that will be selected. Contest holders don't > > value people's time and effort and you have to wonder if participants > > value their own time and effort. > > > > Contests do not speak of community and cooperation. It's everyone > > against everyone else. Building on each others work is discouraged. > > > > The risk of ending up with a "good" design that just lacks some > > refinement is sometimes met with a refinement stage after the contest. > > There you can marvel at design by committee in action. > > > > You will often see lots of participants with little or no design > > education and a panel of judges that have little to no clue what they > > are actually looking for, either. Do you think BMW, Apple or Gucci would > > hold a logo design contest? > > > > http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/2010/10/spec-work-and-contests-part-two. > > html http://www.no-spec.com/ > > > > > 4) We can capitalize on the contact we've made with Ubuntu Artwork; if > > > they're willing, they can "foster" us in this to some extent, and LibO > > > participants can learn and develop a lot of good workflow methods and > > > practices from an experienced and successful "big brother" project. It > > > will also develop and strengthen this new relationship. > > > > You are deluded regarding the scale, reach and success found in Ubuntu > > Artwork (as a community project). I told you before, but apparently you > > didn't listen. Does it help to show this are not just claims of some > > random guy if I say I have been involved since 2007 and have been > > sponsored to attend the Ubuntu Developer Summit 2 times? (Hmm, guess > > that means nobody should ask me about successful team-building!) > > > > Guess I sound overly negative, but I just want to avoid wrong > > expectations. > > > > > > On to the constructive part, what should happen: > > First you need a good briefing. Even if you still do a contest, you > > should have one. At the core is the mission statement of the entire > > project. What are the goals? Based on that, you might formulate a > > strategy. That's the foundation to decide on your tone and message. What > > do you want to express with your visual design? Set priorities. > > > > Without a good briefing, you have nothing to evaluate designs, expect > > for the highly subjective "I like this" vs "but I like that". > > > > Also see: > > http://thorwil.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/design-in-collaborative-projects/ > > > > Developing such a briefing, as well as technical and legal requirements, > > is a task best handled by a small group. > > > > You could then select a single or maybe 2 or 3 designers, based on their > > availability and past work. > > > > Or, if you must, have a concept/drafting phase open for all. But instead > > of turning it into a contest, it should be a designer's job distributed > > on many shoulders. -- Graham Lauder, OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html OpenOffice.org Migration and training Consultant. INGOTs Assessor Trainer (International Grades in Open Technologies) www.theingots.org -- E-mail to marketing+h...@libreoffice.org for instructions on how to unsubscribe List archives are available at http://www.libreoffice.org/lists/marketing/ All messages you send to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
