Wayne, I'm definitely agreeing with you on all that about re-skinning. It's really good news to hear that WMF is looking at doing that with the default install. I shall go check it out!
I would like to suggest that logo ideas or candidates include a colour scheme of about 2-5 colours, so that we can get an idea of how the logo is meant to fit into the visual image of the site as a whole. The submitter would state which colour is meant to be a primary, secondary, or accent colour. Later on, as you suggest, we could take those colour suggestions, and determine where best to apply them. How does that sound? Jesse Groppi On 05/09/2009 19:12, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: > Hi Jesse, > > Speaking personally, I don't think that re-skinning the WE site is > advisable at this stage and I agree with you -- we would definitely > need a very good reason to change the skin and the funding to do it. > We also need to be very sure that we are not creating unnecessary > upstream maintenance dependencies with regards to future releases of > MW. Also WMF have been doing amazing work on the usability project, > progressively developing a new skin based on real research, testing > and feedback. Its pretty impressive if you haven't had a chance to > look at this yet. > > While - Wikia have implemented a number of useful features -- there > are aspects of the Wikia skin which, in my view, look as if they've > been cobbled together and don't seem to form a coherent solution. > > My personal thoughts on the re-skinning question is: if it ain't > broke don't fix it. > > That said, I think it would be worth the effort to analyse and think > about the layout of our landing page. I frequently get feedback from > new users that they find the home page confusing --- but that may be > anecdotal. This in itself is not a trivial exercise and would need > thorough investigation, straw dogs etc. However, I think this may be a > more doable project. > > Anyway -- first things first. The logo. > > The WikiEducator community did not have any input into the design and > development of the logo :-( and now that we're a large wiki project, I > think that its important for community involvement and reflection on > the logo -- it represents who we are. Who knows -- the community may > be quite happy with the visual we currenlty use. Its worth exploring > the pros, cons and looking at draft ideas for the future so we can > take a collective decision. > > Cheers > Wayne > > > > > > > 2009/9/6 Jesse Groppi <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > > Wayne, > > Well, engineering WE's visual identity could be as involved as > completely rearranging all the elements of a page, in a complete > separation from WMF's monobook skin. This is usually referred to > as "re-skinning" the wiki. Wikia did this, I would imagine, in > order to incorporate user interactions that didn't fit in with > monobook. Re-skinning is not something one can do without having > a separate copy of WE's version of MediaWiki to test. To me, it > seems so much of a hassle that one would need to have a very good > reason to change it. > > Do you think there will be a necessity for this sort of thing? > > Jesse > > > On 05/09/2009 17:33, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: >> Hi Jesse, >> >> Good question. The purpose of this discussion is restricted to >> the logo and favicon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon ) >> largely to gauge interest in the community and number of >> candidate submissions we receive. At this point we'll need to >> think about constituting a workgroup to take the design and >> decision of our logo forward. >> >> You're right -- visual identity is much more than just the logo - >> and included all the other things you refer to, i.e. colour >> scheme, design of the landing page, structure of the page, its >> relationship with usability, conversion rates, and its >> relationship with style guidelines etc. >> >> WikiEducator will need to reflect and focus on its visual >> identity as a package some time in the future -- but I suspect >> that this task is more comprehensive and would need a separate >> work group for this purpose? >> >> Cheers >> Wayne >> >> >> 2009/9/6 Jesse Groppi <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> >> >> I just want to clarify some things about the "visual >> identity" of the wiki. I'm definitely no expert, but I think >> that in web design terms this usually includes the logo, >> colour scheme, structure of the page, and can also include >> the methods in which a user interacts with the page. Is it >> this entire group of things that you're talking about? >> >> Jesse >> >> >> On 04/09/2009 21:54, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: >>> Hi Everyone, >>> >>> As an independent project -- WikiEducator needs to develop a >>> visual identity and new logo. As an open collaborative >>> initiative we invite all WikiEducators around the world to >>> join us in developing a new logo for WikiEducator. >>> >>> *History of the current logo* >>> >>> I did not put much thought or energy into the design of the >>> logo currently used on the WikiEducator site. Back in April >>> 2006, when WikiEducator was relocated to a hosted server >>> funded by the Commonwealth of Learning, I had to supply a >>> logo for the website. In the rush to get the server >>> operational, we simply tweaked the visual identity of COL's >>> 2003-2006 three-year plan (see: >>> http://www.col.org/progServ/3YR/Pages/2003-2006-3YR.aspx ). >>> This was back in the days when we had 12 registered accounts >>> on WikiEducator -- now with over 10,000 users we have more >>> minds to come up with a better idea ;-). >>> >>> We have come a long way since then. The strap line of >>> "free eLearning content" does not even begin to describe the >>> breadth and depth of the WikiEducator comunity or its >>> projects. WE are also now far larger than the Commonwealth >>> and a truly global project. The time has come to design and >>> implement a new visual identity for WikiEducator! >>> >>> *Progress and plan to develop a new logo for WE* >>> >>> Back in June 2008 there was some discussion and thought >>> about developing a new logo and our first candidate for a >>> new logo has already been submitted by one of our community >>> members, see: >>> >>> http://www.col.org/progServ/3YR/Pages/2003-2006-3YR.aspx >>> >>> 1) We invite all WikiEducator to table a candidate for our >>> new visual identity by 30 September 2009. Just add your >>> visual idea to the list of candidates on this page: >>> >>> http://wikieducator.org/WE-Logo , listing candidate 2, >>> candidate 3 etc. >>> >>> 2) If you have no artistic ability like myself, please post >>> your ideas and thoughts on the corresponding talk page: >>> >>> http://wikieducator.org/Talk:WE-Logo >>> >>> 3) We will invite feedback from professional graphic >>> designers and post these to the site by 15 October 2009 >>> >>> 4) We will then ask the community to vote on their preferred >>> logo candidate closing votes by 30 October 2009. >>> >>> 5) The OER Foundation will commission a professional >>> graphic design artist to develop our new visual identity. >>> >>> Get your creative juices going -- and we look forward to >>> reviewing candidates for the new Wikieducator logo. >>> >>> Cheers >>> Wayne >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. >>> Director, >>> International Centre for Open Education, >>> Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. >>> Board of Directors, OER Foundation. >>> Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, >>> www.wikieducator.org <http://www.wikieducator.org> >>> Mobile +64 21 2436 380 >>> Skype: WGMNZ1 >>> Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. >> Director, >> International Centre for Open Education, >> Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. >> Board of Directors, OER Foundation. >> Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, >> www.wikieducator.org <http://www.wikieducator.org> >> Mobile +64 21 2436 380 >> Skype: WGMNZ1 >> Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg >> >> > > > > > > -- > Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. > Director, > International Centre for Open Education, > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > Board of Directors, OER Foundation. > Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, > www.wikieducator.org <http://www.wikieducator.org> > Mobile +64 21 2436 380 > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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