FWN/Beats/Design

Artwork

In this section, we cover the Fedora Artwork Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork

Contributing Writer: Nicu Buculei

Post-inclusion Feedback for the Beta Artwork

After the new wallpaper design was included in Rawhide and presented to the users, the feedback process started.Jef Spaleta forwarded a concern raised on the OLPC list by Mikus Grinbergs, about the religious implications of using a temple "Seems to me whoever chose the background that was introduced last week did not consider that items with overtones of dissentious subjects such as politics or religion might elicit emotional reactions. I'm concerned that when my system prominently shows a picture with a temple, that might be interpreted as 'Mikus worships paganism'."

Martin Sourada did not support this reaction: "I don't see a valid reasoning there. There is vast difference between you worshiping ancient Greece gods (not that it would be something bad if you actually do) and having a huge Zeus' temple wallpaper hanging on your wall, let alone the wallpaper in your PC." Paul Frields explained "the conveyance as far as I know is simply to acknowledge the heritage of the 'Leonidas' name. Any other inference is probably a stretch" and Brian Hurren also supported this line of reasoning: "I think that the modern meaning of a Zeus temple is a lot broader now than it was before. Kind of like an old abbey in England would have a different meaning now." The conversation was spiced by a very sarcastic reaction from Máirí­n Duffy "I'm just too distraught to carry on. I feel like my entire world is full of these things symbolizing other things, and I'm finding myself strangely offended by everything."

Matthias Clasen raised another kind of criticism regarding the composition: "IMO it is really overloaded with all too well-known motifs, to the extent that it appears almost like a satire of a constructed background image. I mean, it has clouds and mountains and doves and a black forest and a green lawn _and_ a greek temple. Any 2 out of these 6 might combine to a nice background, but all six are just too much for my taste", a kind of positive feedback appreciated by Máirí­n as the purpose of releasing the graphic concepts early "Thank you for the feedback. Receiving this kind of feedback is exactly why we aimed to get a wallpaper into the beta."

A Possible New Direction for the Wallpaper

Considering the received feedback Máirí­n Duffy, raised the idea of a possible change of direction and going with a different theme, islands "I saw the movie Mama Mia this weekend for the first time, and it's a movie based on a pretty Greek island" or Mount Olympus "we could take the temple out of the current wallpaper and focus a bit more wholly on the mountains as the symbol of Greece rather than the temple", with Martin Sourada supporting a simplification of the 'temple' image "Hm... I'd say get rid of the trees or make them just complimentary part of the wallpaper, drop the focus away from mountains and instead have it on the temple" and Nicu Buculei whising more time to gather post-beta feedback "possibly this will make Paul nervous and it may put some deadlines in danger, but before committing to a radical change, I think it would be useful to see the post-beta feedback from a larger mass the users: the first wave of reviews, blogs and forum talks (the perception setters). We all here, supporters or critics, are pretty much subjectively involved and I think a breath of fresh air from the outside is valuable."

Completing all the Graphic Pieces

Máirí­n Duffy posted on @fedora-art a template proposal for various banners which would be used in Fedora 11 "What do you think about this as a base style to go with for the various banners/splashes for F11?" and asked the team for opinions about the Greek cultural motifs "Is it too over-the-top Greek? I was trying to go for a subtle and contemporary interpretation of a classic Greek motif." Charles Brej was enthusiastic and started working on a Plymouth theme based on it "I do like. Simple yet styled. I made a plymouth splash based on it" and Nicu Buculei proposed combining with the wallpaper image "I would like them more vivid, maybe combined with the photo we are going to use as a background?" a proposal took and improved Máirí­n, in what Paul Frields calls "art volleys".