Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Invite a pro graphic artist to contribute logo/icon design

Hi Ivan, David, all,

Thank you for all your thoughts and opinions. Ii tried to cut them down 
to the main message - please have a look if this is what you meant.

My comments below...

Ivan M. schrieb:
> [...] On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 9:07 PM, David
> Nelson<commerce@traduction.biz>  wrote:
> > [...] On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 15:12, Graham
> > Lauder<yorick_@openoffice.org>  wrote:
> > > I would oppose this in the strongest possible terms, when that
> > > has been done in the past, the artist, disappears after taking
> > > the glory and they are never seen again.  [...]
> > >
> > > We have the chance to build up the art project again by giving
> > > people meaningful projects, don't let's screw that up by bringing
> > > in "fly by nighters".  Longstanding contribution to the project
> > > should be prerequisite.
> >
> > If I got a green light from you guys to go talent-scouting for
> > graphic artists, I'd certainly prefer to bring home long-term
> > recruits rather than occasional contributors. That being said, some
> > of the highly-talented graphic artists out there might not have the
> > time or inclination to get involved on a permanent basis. [...]
>
> [...] repeated one-time contributions are unsustainable and damaging,
> and that was kind of the norm in OOo's Art project. Contributions
> that introduce large inconsistencies in branding are particularly
> problematic and unhelpful.
>
> LibreOffice needs a broad (big picture) strategy to ensure
> consistency and recognition across various instances of its branding
> (icons, splash screen, etc.). We can't do that unless there is a
> certain amount of continuity in the contributions and contributors.
> [...]
> I hope we can have a collaborative, co-operative and
> iterative design process when it comes to defining LibreOffice's
> branding.

I fully agree with Ivan (and Graham) about the necessity to create a 
consistent branding with continuous contribution. If one artist creates 
a single or a set of graphics for our central visual area, it influences 
the visual recognition of our community and product.

Please remember the OOo 3.0 splash screen with reflexion, shiny surfaces 
and wrong colored dots.

But I'm not at all against inviting new contributors - even if they 
decide to stay only for a short period of time. Nobody of us is able to 
tell if (s)he will be contributing some time in the future, so this is 
not the point IMHO.

What would be necessary was already mentioned by Ivan:

*collaborative work*
People will have to agree upon providing the sources and be influenced 
by the comments of the team to combine their ideas with the general 
branding language.

*co-operative work*
If someone uses the sources to implement another (better?) approach to 
our branding, this is a positive attitude for us - for artists feeling 
rivals in a design competition this might be very unusual.

*iterative work*
Even if the first artist leaves the team, the work has to be re-used, 
improved and modernized during the time. With the main contributor this 
might be easier, but if the other two preconditions are met, the team 
will be able to keep the track.

To reach these goals I'd ask to provide the sources in a format editable 
by open source applications like GIMP or INKSCAPE.

Even if most professionals prefer other applications, an export to these 
formats should be possible.

If possible contributors agree to this ideas, I'd like them to be invited.

With the positive attitude we had in the OOo Art Project in combination 
with being visible as well in the product as on the web, people might 
stay even longer as they wanted to...

Best regards

Bernhard

PS: I would *not* invite them to create a specific part of our main 
artwork (like icons or logo), but invite them generally by telling them 
what are the topics of our present work. So this would rather be a 
contribution to our ongoing tasks instead of an order.

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