Mark Lundquist said the following on 30/11/06 12:48:
Niclas Hedhman wrote:
I have just hired a Graphics Designer here at CodeDragons, and we don't
think we will manage to fill his pipeline with commercial work from the
start. I have previously promised that he will be available some of
I'm sorry I missed this announcement completely.
the time
for work at Cocoon. He knows html and css a little bit, but it is
not his
I'll take on this part of the "job".
main skill. He makes graphics. Icons, logos, photo assemblies and so
forth.
His name is Thien Luh Tay, and will shortly start subscribing to
this list,
I'm not sure if you read this already, but anyway: welcome Thien.
OK, well, I have in mind a Cocoon task for a graphics designer!
There've been discussions here before about how the main Cocoon site
needs a face-lift... compare cocoon.apache.org with maven.apache.org or
springframework.org, the latter two sites have a clean, light look, and
they feel "modern". The Cocoon site looks heavy, kinda thick and blocky
and "old-school".
+1 (Thien: this means I agree)
I'd like to see some choices for a new treatment of the masthead/banner
region along the top of the page. Just that. Not looking for a full page
design here, just a different look across the top. The real site
revision would incorporate some other things as well, like different
visual styling for the nav sidebar, but for now let's just concentrate
on the masthead.
This sounds like a good idea, although I do think that the
masthead/banner has a large part in the definition of the "look and
feel" of the site. In other words the final choice for the banner is
also a global decision for the look and feel of the rest of the page.
Still, small steps can take us where we want to go.
Here are the branding "rules" I would propose...
1) Elements that must be retained from the current design:
(a) the Apache feather logo (though preferably reduced in size from how
it appears on the site today)
+1
(b) the Cocoon logo. The cocoon logo may appear in either of two forms:
(i) as unadorned, stylized text, as in the current masthead on
cocoon.apache.org, or (ii) as text within its traditional "frame" of a
bordered, oblong field with rounded ends as seen on
cocoon.apache.org/2.1 under the heading "Apache Cocoon". I think the
Cocoon logo is cool and conveys a strong identity, we should keep it.
I agree that we need a Cocoon logo, although I'm not "set" on this one.
I personally don't think this logo is cool, but I won't start a fight
over it.
2) Elements that /need not/ be retained (may, but need not be):
(a) the text "the Apache Cocoon Project"
Depends on the logo. I agree that the name "Cocoon" should not appear
twice in the masthead.
(b) the text "http://cocoon.apache.org";
+1
(c) any of the current color scheme. I'd like to see a range of concept
samples using variety of color palettes. In particular, the colors used
by the Cocoon logo can be varied. I think I would still like the logo
text to be either black or white depending on the background color, but
the background color can be anything that looks appealing with the rest
of the artwork and color palette.
+1
I prefer "sophisticated" colors to screaming yellow and orange and the like.
From there on out, it's wide open! I would love to see a half-dozen or
so different ideas, and then we can see which ones people think are the
coolest :-).
+1
Thien: if you take on this assignment (and I do hope so), please start
asking any question you'd like to be answered. Do note that you have a
lot of "listeners" and a few people responding, which doesn't mean that
the others don't care.
All: I know it is quite early for this, but in order to review the
galleries of samples that Thien will be delivering ;-) we need a space
to put them. I don't mind to help out in getting them uploaded, but it
would be nice if it's not a "public" place such as the wiki or Daisy on
the zone, to avoid endless discussions (which we will probably have
anyway) with a huge group of people.
content that matters..." and I agree — however, improving the content
vs. styling require different skill sets and don't really compete for
resources, so I say let's work on both at the same time, 'cause visual
impressions matter, too :-)
True.
Bye, Helma
