Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork

Ryan Thiessen wrote:

>actually means.  Will the questions of the community go unanswered, or
>will there be a discussion or debate or at least an post explaining
>the reasons why Ubuntu Warty RC1 is shipping with this artwork?  I
>realize that much of the effort today has been correctly focused on
>the release of RC1, and I don't mean to be a nag... but when an isue
>comes up like this the community concerns really ought to be addressed
>in some way.
>
>I don't mean to be confrontational, or subtract from the hard work the
>Ubuntu developers have done to put out this great distribution.  Just
>hoping for some sort of discussion or explanation, that's all.
>
Ryan's hit the nail on the head by asking for community discussion -
that's exactly what this list is for, and so far I think we've seen a very
healthy discussion on the topic.

The background to the theme is the idea of "spirit of humanity". Most
people think of computers as machinery, but today they are far more a tool
of sharing and communication. My computer is how I keep in touch with my
family and friends, as much as the place I do my work. It's not a cold,
plastic thing, it's my connection to the world of the people I care
about. We were looking for visual ways to communicate that and realised
that there was no way to do it without showing people. Diverse people, of
different shapes and sizes, being people. Our logo emphasizes the idea of
people of different ethnic backgrounds working and playing together, so we
tried to work that into it. Now, visually, it's very hard to put people
into computer art. You should SEE some of the early mockups. Nonetheless,
we pursued this idea with professional artists and designers, and the
images you see today are the first in a series that attempt to encapsulate
the theme of warmth, human-ness, diversity, sharing, caring and nature.

The models are representative of diverse people (they are, as it happens,
from three different parts of Africa).

I'm aware the images might be controversial. So is any work of art. This
forum is where that controversy can be explored and where we can ultimately
take a view on whether this theme is something that should stay part of
Ubuntu in future releases.

The Calendar image is exactly that - it will be updated every month with a
new image. You are able to stick with an image from a particular month that
you like, or leave it on the Calendar mode to get a new image every
month. None of the images would be unacceptable on a 60 foot billboard in
any major western city.

One thing that needs to be clear is that the Calendar image is not the
default desktop, it worked out that way unexpectedly for those of you who
had installed a previous release and then upgraded. My sincere apologies if
that caught anyone off guards, especially if it came at an awkward
moment. For new users the default desktop is the image with the Ubuntu logo
on it.

It would be great to see community-contributed themes that also capture the
ideas we are trying to communicate. There may be a much, much better way of
doing so. I'm a little nervous to call for contributions for the Calendar
image :-), but go ahead and publish themes that YOU think communicate the
"spirit of humanity" clearly and warmly. We'll host a repository of those
themes in due course, or support one of the excellent repositories that
already exist, to create a forum for that artwork. I know there's great
talent amongst our community because I've already seen a few contributed
themes that were excellent, and may even be of sufficient quality to be
considered for a future Ubuntu release.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Ubuntu! Building a Desktop OS for the 21st century. www.ubuntulinux.org
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/


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