Artwork
In this section, we cover the Fedora Artwork Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork
Contributing Writer: Nicu Buculei
How to select a "winning" theme
MairinDuffy opened[1] a debate on @fedora-art about the best way to select the final theme in a release: "We have not yet had a case where more than one theme met this basic requirement. In case we do have multiple themes that meet this requirement, we need a fair method to choose which theme is selected as the default" and going further, she proposed a solution and asked for opinions: "My suggestion is that we have a vote within the set of active Fedora art team contributors. The problem is how do we determine who is allowed in this vote - who is active? "
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00095.html
SamueleStorari opted[2] for a wide vote in the community "I think the vote will be totally open to the whole community." arguing that "the graphic it's made for all, think about art, think about expression, it comes from the inside need of someone to express to other, to comunicate.", an opinion endorsed by MariaLeandro[3] and IanWeller who proposed[4] an alternate and complex system "Or, perhaps even better, take a two-part voting approach; 50% of the vote allocated to current Art Team members (recent contributions, 6 months, yada yada) and 50% for the community."
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00099.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00105.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00114.html
On the other hand, NicuBuculei opposed[5] the community vote invoking the notion of competence "the trouble is that the large community knows little about usability and good design", an opinion similar to that expressed[6] by MatthiasClasen "Taste is not something that can be decided with simple majority. Voting for the default theme would pretty much devolve into 'which is the coolest looking background when glancing at a bunch of screenshots', which is not at all what a good default theme is about. This forum is the place for qualified and interested people to work on the art that makes up the default theme. It should also be the place where the default theme gets put together."
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00101.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00116.html
Another argument against a community-wide vote was raised[7] by MairinDuffy "we don't really have time to plan for a Fedora-wide vote, and since there's not much time to wait on people to vote and to get the word out, we won't have a good representation of our base in the vote results."
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00106.html
From his position as a Fedora Board member, JeffSpaleta came to the conclusion "I consider the multiple rounds of discussion over the themes as a prolonged 'community' decision. The final artwork decision is a culminating event in a process. Are people encouraged to participate in the earlier stages of that process as part of the art team? if they choose not to participate in the previous rounds do they have the context to make informed decisions at the final stage? Have they earned the right to be a part of the final decision? I'm not sure they do."
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00111.html
As a solution to get the themes as soon as possible into the hands of the users and receive early feedback MairinDuffy issued a last-minute call[9] for packaging the current proposals into Fedora 10 Beta "if we could get a package put together with the wallpapers that are in the running so far it could make the Beta." The call answered quickly by MartinSourada [10], who created the packages.The packages were reviewed and are already available in Rawhide.
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00123.html
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00137.html