ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Benjamin Humphrey <humphreybc@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi fellas,

That's a good idea. Sorry, the title page hasn't exactly been high on my
agenda recently considering that we're way behind in content for chapter 4
and chapter 2. I originally planned for title page submissions not to take
place until beta(!) which is halfway through March. Obviously after wolter
kicked off the process, more people have jumped on the bandwagon and
submitted stuff - which is fantastic as it means we get lots of ideas.

I don't want to say to three of you "goodbye" and then just choose one
person. Firstly, that's not up to me - I'm not a dictator, I don't make
decisions like that solely - it's up to the team. Secondly, I would rather
the four of you work together to produce one final image, instead of just
one person. It's very mean declining you after the work you've all done and
just selecting one person. You've all shown strengths in different areas, so
I think if you could come together to create something that would be
fantastic.

Right now, I see the strongest proposal from Vish. I'm not the only one who
thinks that, as all of the blogs etc that have been running stories have
also chosen that one from the page because it looks the best. I personally
think that it fits in with the manual nicely, although the colours and font
could use some tweaking to align to the style present in the manual body.

As for the Lynx, once again this is up to the whole team to decide. I
personally think wolter's lynx looks fantastic and I love it on Vish's
proposal. I highly doubt it will remind people of O'Reilly or Apple, and it
definitely gives us our own identity - how many other Ubuntu publications
use a watermark of the development animal?

I don't think we will have many problems creating an illustration each
release. Wolter's one looks great for this release, A friend of mine, Martin
Owens, is an excellent artist, and once the manual gets bigger we will have
lots of people who want to have a shot at getting their image on the cover.

Feedback from the rest of the team, please?

On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 9:06 AM, Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Benjamin
>
> I talked with Vish, Wolter and David. We all agree on that continuing
> to add disjointed proposals for the cover page design is a waste of
> effort. We think the project should select a single designer or small
> team and not invite yet more proposals. This for higher efficiency and
> to avoid frustration.
>
> I notice you spend some effort on your feedback, but the whole of it
> doesn't permit us to see a single direction.
>
> The design of the title page should follow from the goals/strategy of
> the project and especially what we want to communicate right there. It
> will send a message, so we better make sure it is the desired one.
>
> We need to define:
> - The audience. Who we need to talk to.
> - Context of use. How and where people will come across the manual.
> - Tone and message. Think "reassuring" or "upbeat", just as examples.
> Part of the message will also be the light that we cast on the whole of
> Ubuntu.
>
>
> I see the following problems with a lynx on the cover:
> - It's damn hard to create a really good illustration of a lynx.
> - It will likely remind people of O'Reilley. Nice books, but we should
> want to have our own identity.
> - A cat and a 10 ... people are bound to think of Apple, see above.
> - It _might_ end up being in conflict with the desired tone.
>
>
> We would like to hear what you think of this first, but feel free to
> move this to the list immediately.
>
>
> --
> Thorsten Wilms
>
> thorwil's design for free software:
> http://thorwil.wordpress.com/
>
>
>
>


-- 
Benjamin Humphrey

Ubuntu Manual Project Leader
Dunedin, New Zealand

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual
www.interesting.co.nz
www.benjaminhumphreyphotography.com