Re: GNOME Free Agent T-shirt Proposal

["Bryen M. Yunashko" <suserocks bryen com>]

Cool concept...more below

On Tue, 2010-04-06 at 15:08 -0500, Brian Cameron wrote:
> I was thinking that we could make two versions of the t-shirt.  One
> version to sell for $20 that has nothing on the back.  A second
> version
> will have the following text on the back and would be given away for
> no-charge to volunteers who work on GNOME but do not work for a
> company
> that works on GNOME.  People who work on GNOME for a company would pay
> $25 for the second version of the tshirt with this text on the back:
>
>             Free Agent
>     GNOME Free Software Volunteer

Personally, I'd feel a little skittish about walking around in a t-shirt
with "VOLUNTEER" emblazoned across it.  It just makes the person wearing
it seem less important, when we know that's not the case in our
community.  It feels like one of those shirts you see at events where
there are volunteers helping out, they're important, but they don't
quite know everything and if you really want authoritative answers, you
go looking for someone who isn't wearing a shirt marked "volunteer."

There's a variety of reasons why people participate in GNOME without pay
and they don't necessarily mean they're doing this out of the goodness
of their heart or whatever, but for some of us, we feel participation is
a necessity.  I personally do not equate "job" with "pay" and any work I
contribute when I'm not elsewhere getting paid, is to me, still a job.

A stronger word that gives those of us who don't get paid more
credibility and esteem is in order, I think.  Word that pops into my
mind is "Contributor" but frankly I think that word is getting overused
and we should think of cooler words.   (Guess this is the part where I
say something but don't actually offer a constructive suggestion what
word to use. :-) )
 
> I am hoping that people on the marketing-list can help with:
>
> 1) What do people think of this proposal?  Any ideas on how to further

Again, cool idea.  :-)

>     improve it?
> 2) As I mention above, Dongyun is agreeable to creating an image that
>     is more focused on the relationship between GNOME, SugarLabs, and
>     OLPC.  Any ideas or direction that we could give to Dongyun would
>     be helpful.
> 3) Perhaps the proposed image above is a bit too busy.  Do people have
>     suggestions on whether the image created for this t-shirt should
> be
>     changed?  Should less colors be used for an image intended for a
>     t-shirt, for example?

I don't know that it's too busy, per se.  It's not a style that I would
personally run to the store and buy.  Frankly, it's got a more feminine
appeal to it, in my opinion, which is not a bad thing.  I think too many
t-shirts are created out there that focus on the male consumer, even if
we are in a community that seems male-dominated.   

Color-wise, I wouldn't mind more color.  I've been known to wear
multi-colored shirts, and with style!  :-) 

I do think the design is beautiful, just not something I would
necessarily wear personally.  The concept behind it is awesome though
because it demonstrates that GNOME has a global impact, and that concept
should remain intact whether with this design or some other design.

(This is purely opinion on my part and others may disagree with my
perception of the design.)

> 4) I need someone with graphic design skills to put together a mock
>     up image of the t-shirt to help facilitate moving this forward.
>     Can anyone help?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brian