[libreoffice-design] Roadmap - More structure, please!

Hello all,

As we all know, there's a lot of design work to be done over the
coming months/year. Recently, we have had a broad, general roadmap
proposed, which is a good first step. However, there are specifics
that (IMHO) should be decided as early as possible so that we can
channel people's creativity into areas where they will confidently
have a good chance of making a difference and seeing their work in the
hands of LibO's users. So, this is one of the first discussions I
would like to continue here on the design list.

Just for reference, here is the proposed roadmap [1]:

* For LibO 3.3: Use the branding material what is available and refine
it according to the feedback that is available until now. We might be
able to provide essential and stable information for the other teams
(artwork, presentation material, portable LibO version). --> let's
call that "initial branding"
* From LibO 3.3. to 3.4: Finalize the branding stuff for "initial
branding" and further refine it (e.g. create missing MIME icons etc.)
and use it for the software. More important, start working on the
"community branding" (e.g. brainstorming, community values, demos,
agreement, ...).
* After LibO 3.5: Use the "community branding" and for both the
software and also for the web presence etc.

For 3.3, is there anything left to refine, and is there still time to
do it? For example, I noticed that the LibO installer icon comes in
only 32x32, which looks bad on versions of Windows where icons are
scalable - is there time to change things like that?

Between 3.4 and 3.5, there will be a transition from initial branding
to community branding, but we will supposedly already have new
mimetype icons in 3.4. If the community branding is different, the
we'll have a different set of icons in 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5. The examples
of community branding given are broad, but what about specifics, such
as the logo? We've already had lots of logo proposals; will the logo
be up for change between 3.4 and 3.5? If the community branding is
going to involve such a major overhaul, then I don't think spending
too much time refining initial branding would be a wise decision since
it's probably going to be dropped in 3.5.

Of course, this depends on the time spans we're talking about (i.e.,
will the time between 3.3 and 3.4 be the same as the time between 3.4
and 3.5). It also doesn't even begin to consider UI & UX changes - can
we expect any (bigger) UI changes in 3.4 and 3.5? Is there anything we
can start working on in that domain?

I don't mean to say that all these questions need to be answered now
(or that we need a super-detailed point-by-point roadmap to hold our
hands each step of the way). I'd like to see how many of the blurry
details can be brought into focus initially so that we can start
working on things that will have tangible results soon.

Regards,
Ivan.

[1] http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Work_Items

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