[libreoffice-design] LibreOffice Visual Branding (was: Re: [steering-discuss] addition to trademark policy)

Hi Caolan, all!

Moving the trademark discussion to the design list ... guys, please
don't forget to CC Caolan if you answer (him).

Am Donnerstag, den 11.08.2011, 11:26 +0100 schrieb Caolan McNamara:
> On Wed, 2011-08-10 at 14:31 +0200, Thorsten Behrens wrote:
> > Caolan McNamara wrote:
> > > > > Imho quite easy to resolve: use the community logos per default for builds
> > > > > from source. Enable the Logo with TDF tagline on build time and tell people
> > > > > to use this only when doing builds that are supposed to be distributed
> > > > > via TDF resources.
> > > >
> > > > that indeed sounds like a senseful idea. What do others think?
> > >
> > > Its the logical conclusion. Do we think this is a desirable thing
> > > however ? rather than a corner the rules paint us into that force
> > > maintainable of duplicate logos, etc.
> > It makes the whole thing much more consistent, therefore it makes a
> > lot of sense to me.
> >
> > The tm rule then boils down to: stuff from the official tdf/libo
> > website - TDF mark permitted. Stuff from elsewhere: TDF mark not
> > permitted, unless permission explicitely granted.
>
> Alright, swap the logos, default to non TDF one.

Sounds good.

> a) The current with TDF logos are the ones in default_images/brand for
> the about box, the splashscreen and the backing window
> b) We have a --with-intro-bitmap and --with-about-bitmap for custom
> splash and about pngs
> c) So move the current ones to e.g. a TDF brand dir, grab the non-TDF
> pngs from somewhere and stick those into the generic dir
> d) Then for all the distro-config/*conf where the vendor is "The
> Document Foundation" add --with-intro-bitmap/--with-about-bitmap to
> point them to the TDF branded ones
>
> So...
>
> a) Where are the appropriate non-TDF about, intro *and* backing window
> images ? Do they exist somewhere already ?

Nope, since we've shipped only TDF branded versions so far. The only
"different" branding was BrOffice that has been supplied some time ago.

So, have to be created.

> b) Looks like we don't have an option for selecting an alternative set
> of backing window pngs (default_images/brand/shell) ? Is there another
> way to do that already, or should we re-work and simplify
> --with-intro-bitmap and --with-about-bitmap to be a single
> --with-brand-images which points to a dir that contains a full set of
> intro, about and backing window images

I'm not a developer, but this sounds a bit more sane to me. Moreover,
we'll need some more tweaks to fine-tune the visual design ... e.g.
today it is possible to define the position/color/size of the progress
bar.

Furthermore, does this have impact on the installer as well - most
images are explicitly TDFed-ed for Windows.

Personally, I would welcome a change - not only to make the trademark
handling easier. The current graphics totally miss the motif design by
Nik, the contemporary logo is a bit outdated (Bernhard integrated
Paulo's finishing touches into the community logo). So I think a "LibO
Visual Branding Refresh" makes sense ... and will cause some work :-)

Again, here is the proposal Nik once created for the motif design:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/cgi_img_auth.php/b/b3/ScatterInContext_bunch.jpg

Some technical questions (would be cool if those could be answered):
      * Is it possible to use (semi-)transparent images for the Splash
        Screen? Today, we stick with rectangles but more fitting rounded
        edges.
      * Can we add a more attractive progress bar / progress animation?
        For example, a PNG that is "disclosed" as we progress when
        loading?  (Not perfect, but a first step.)
      * Can we adapt the tiling in the StartCenter? It's still designed
        to integrate the previous Oracle branding - and caused some
        worries on my side when designing the first branding images.
      * Can we easily resize the About Box? It would make much sense for
        us to harmonize the different windows that require branding
        (eases our work, the size is branding as well).
      * Can we define / remove / redefine the "debugging messages" for
        the first start of LibO? Bad initial impression for users...
      * Is it possible to draw a "defined" text in e.g. SplashScreen or
        StartCenter? As far as I remember, we use different images for
        development releases ... atm outdated ones. Defining text like
        "Development Release" would make things more easy.

Mmh, this might take some time - so maybe there will be a need to
replace today's graphics and address some points afterwards. However, I
really like to hear your dev opinion :-)

Cheers,
Christoph


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