Re: [Gimp-user] GIMP name, icon and general graphic look

[Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre prokoudine gmail com>]

On Fri, Oct 20, 2017 at 6:41 PM, Ross Martinek wrote:
> Okay, please forgive me if I get a little acerbic, but I’ve spent most of my
> life fighting those who think appearance is more important than it is.
> Appearance is, at best, completely, utterly, secondary to everything.
>
> Function, on the other hand, is absolutely vital—to everything. When I meet
> someone who says they aren’t good looking, I tell them “Real beauty is on
> the inside, it comes from within. The outside is mere window dressing.”
>
> So asking developers of some of the best graphics software to spend time
> thinking about appearance, other than the user interface, is a complete,
> utter waste of their time.

Wow, hold on :) I respectfully disagree.

First of all, we do care about the appearance of GIMP. In fact, we can
be extremely opinionated about its appearance. Not that it was
entirely in our power to make great illustrations and suchlike (with
few exceptions).

Secondly, this is a users mailing list. The idea is that people who
lurk here are of artistic persuasion :) That makes it a good enough
place to discuss this to _me_.

> Worried about “branding”? GIMP is free. It is “sold” because it works, and
> works very well. Its beauty comes from within. It doesn’t need a flashy ad
> campaign. It doesn’t need to look professional—it is professional and anyone
> who looks past the exterior knows it.

uncapable software + bad visuals = no go

uncapable software + good visuals = might work, but not for long

capable software + bad visuals = underestimated by potential users

capable software + good visuals = world domination proceeds as planned

What's so bad about good visuals then? Yeah, in-house VFX apps can be
ugly as sin while doing the job, but that's hardly something to brag
about, no?

The project could do with some visual refreshing (somewhat covered in
upcoming 2.10). The nature and the scope of the refresh is a perfectly
sensible topic to discuss, in my opinion.

Alex