To "Who" it may concern ;-) I've just returned from an epic 17 day trip, the last couple days of which were spent shuffling between bed and the toilet after eating something nasty. I have been following the emails and will respond once I get my head back in the right place - it has been a very long flight home.
You've summed up most of the issues that lie before us in once nice email. I promise to answer them as soon as I can think clearly again :-) -- Kenneth On Sunday 11 November 2007 00:10:26 Who wrote: > Hi all, > > Does sabdfl still read this list? Some of these questions here may > only be able to be answered by him (or kwwii - are you employed to > work on this at the moment?). After some deliberation I've copied him > in. Sorry Mark if you don't think you needed to be! > > It's really cool to see this list alive again with so many ideas and > discussions - some of the stuff looks really sweet, I wish I had more > time to contribute (though I think the standard's getting well beyond > me!). > > While there's still so much energy around I think we need to get some > more definition of what the goals of the artwork team are here so we > can channel it in the right direction. I hope I haven't missed > anything about what exactly is being worked towards...I haven't been > keeping up with ALL the list mail recently and couldn't make the > meetings, but I couldn't see a clear description of goals or process > (emails like 'how far for Hardy' have gone unanswered... and > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtTeam which supposedly contains UDS > conclusions is not very detailed) The minutes of the latest meeting > say in response to a question about what we will be changing: > > "Nov 01 18:47:53 <kwwii> install screen, usplash, gdm/face broswer, > Desktop Wallpaper, GTK theme, colors, metacity/emerald theme, icons, > splash screens" > > That sounds mighty exciting, and a lot of what I am asking below has > clearly been discussed (from the minutes again) > > "Nov 01 18:03:47 <kwwii> we had a meeting at UDS today > Nov 01 18:04:07 <kwwii> and talked about the form of the art team and > how we lead the process" > > But I'm not sure enough info has made its way here yet. Maybe it has, > sorry if I've missed it. > > In years gone by, I feel artwork effort has been misdirected due to us > (as a team) not really knowing what our aims were, not meeting > deadlines in the release process and not knowing who we were designing > the work to please and producing the style of work that was wanted. It > would be sad to see this flurry of enthusiasm ending in some of the > same mistakes being made again and people being upset about the > process. I am NOT trying provide bunch of 'stop energy', but I am > trying to find out what the structure we need to work under > (/around/over/through...whatever), for the best things to happen is! > > So, if we are going to start brainstorming and investing time once > more I would really like to clarify for all contributors. > > 1. Are WE (the artwork team) designing a DEFAULT theme or some > 'community themes' to be shipped separately in another package? This > is important because it affects the kind of design we do, and I would > expect for some people, how much time they have to offer. Obviously, > there have to be caveats with respect to the quality of the work - if > for some reason (and the stuff so far suggests it will not happen) the > team produced something horrific it would not make sense to included > it. This brings me on to Q2 > > 2. Who will decide what work will make the cut and what will not. If > we ARE designing for the default theme then how will we decide when to > stop brainstorming and settling on ONE of the ideas to hone (see 2.2). > How can we ensure we are producing work that IS going to be accepted? > There are a few important aspects to this > > --2.1 How will we get the people who will be making FINAL decisions > about the work involved _at crucial points in the process_ well before > the end . If sabdfl is going to be choosing work then how can we get > his opinions before we reach crucial junctions at which we might turn > away from what is desired. There is certainly enough talent in the > team to work towards and produce what is desired, but communication of > that might need to be better than it has been in previous releases. > > --2.2 What is the time-scale for our development? We need this to be > clearly defined _whether or not_ we are designing for the default > theme or for a bunch of community themes. If we are going for default > work then we need to be sure to make and meet deadlines for review and > feedback. The same is true even if we're just doing 'extra' themes, > except the community is more able to define what will and won't be > included. In the past with community themes lots of work has been > dumped on a few members of the team and Daniel Holbach when he was > already incredibly busy - I wasn't involved in the last few releases > so this issue might be fixed now....See 3 for more on this. Another > reason the deadlines are important is so we give the documentation > team and the web team time to update to reflect the new art. > > --2.3 I am not at all sure what other stuff relies on the art (docs > and web aside) - which other parts of the Ubuntu Jigsaw do we > interlock with? > > --2.4 Who is in charge of what in the team/calling which shots? kwwii, > I guess is the head here? Is there going to be a hierarchy? > > 3. How are we distributing and packaging the work? We should be doing > this throughout the process so we can see how it is working - to avoid > last minute rushes on packaging. My understanding is that Launchpad > has very good facilities for making this 'JustWork' - are enough > people familiar with them now? > > I am sad that I do not have much time to add at the moment - so I > guess I am asking these questions less for myself and more for the > people who will be spending a lot of time on design for the next > realease. By answering them I hope we will have a better understanding > of how to use people's time effectively. > > I do not presume I have asked all the important questions, so please > jump in if you think there are other things to clarify. > > I hope this whole email doesn't come across as pompous or > presumptuous, I know this was discussed at UDS, I'm sad I could not be > there (but I would be sure I'm not the only one!) - I only want to be > sure that the effort people invest is well directed and that the art > we make rocks as much as possible! > > Happy Designing, > > Who -- ubuntu-art mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art
