Re: New GNOME-Office Web Site

[Ryan Pavlik <abiryan ryand net>]

Charles Goodwin wrote:

> > /theme/marketing/design motif on my Abi web page: 
> > http://www.ryand.net/oss/abi . I am excited about this design and the 
> > possibilities it brings to the projects.
> >    
> I have uploaded a mockup of a sort of a "splash image"
>
>
> [Yes I read your explanation]
>
> Problems I consider it to have:
>
> 1) Too complicated
>
>   All good logos are simple.  Period.  If it can't be recreated easily
>   with a pen and pencil in black and white, it's too complex.  That's a
>   golden rule of logos from my logo design handbook.  (Yes, I'm still
>   writing it... it's nearly 2 pages long.)
>
>   Also, how would you use this as a 16x16px icon?
>  
Oh, goodness, I didn't mean that would be the logo.  That was an 
"apple.com" style web site main page splash.  I've uploaded some icons 
of the concentric rings/ GO button to my page

> 2) Too much maintainence
>
>   What happens when an application changes it's logo or we get a new
>   application.  It's just too much work to maintain it as a logo.
>  
It's an SVG.  Each of the icons I just imported right in from a PNG into 
Inkscape.  I could edit it, almost anyone could edit it.  Plus, that's 
just a promotional image, that we could use until it's stale, then swap 
it with a different Concentricity/ GO button image, without the icons.

> 3) Too graphical
>
>   Where exactly is the content / information going to fit into it?
>
> In short I think it make a nice flash animation but that's very
> different to a dynamic, maintainable, community web page.
>
> I'm very glad to see your efforts and contributions and hope that you
> take this as constructive criticism.
>  
Yes, thanks for the comments!  I didn't intend for this to be the "logo" 
per se.  It was just a sample of the theme.  I suppose I should have 
mentioned my influences:  I like some components of apple.com, the new 
mozilla.org, the new gnome.org home page, and others.  That splash/large 
web page icon is just that: for use on a web page, and to provide 
interested people with a glimpse into my creative design vision for the 
site.  It was also intended to be constructively criticized, to get some 
feedback as I finish building my model.


> I invite you to look at (and constructively criticise!) my WIP ideas:
> http://www.charlietech.com/goffice/index.html
>
> Forget the logo momentarily as we can swap that in/out at will.
>
>  
>
> > The GNOME Office acronym, GO, also provides numerous "catchphrase" 
> > marketing opportunities, and one of these can be found at the bottom 
> > of my mockup. ("GO beyond.")
> >    
>
> Very good point and definitely something we should build upon.
>
>  
GO just screams at me "great brand name."  I hope someone else can come 
up with other short and sweet phrases.

I invite you (and the rest of the list) to check out all the new images 
I uploaded to my page: http://www.ryand.net/oss/abi
I hope to have a fully working prototype ready for preview this weekend, 
but until then, the extra images may flesh out your understanding of my 
design.

> > As you may have observed, I am committed to revitalizing the Internet 
> > presence and customer vitality of GNOME Office.  I believe that with 
> > appropriate, creative, effective design and marketing, the GNOME Office 
> > project can grow from a "meta-project" into a vibrant customer and 
> > developer community, and the GO brand can become a "household name" in 
> > the minds of the project's target customers, as OpenOffice.org, MS 
> > Office, and to an extent, KOffice have done.  There is much potential in 
> > the collective resources of the GO community. 
> >
> > I have even more extensive ideas than those I am able to detail in this 
> > message.  They will be posted to the above web site once they have 
> > reached an appropriately completed level.
> >
> > I would be honored to volunteer to recreate the web page of GNOME 
> > Office.  I have received offers for help from the AbiWord list, and have 
> > already received a partial SVG version of the Gnumeric logo, in addition 
> > to the AbiWord logo that I made.  If project leaders or developers have 
> > any ideas as to how I could improve my plans, re-organize the project 
> > hierarchy, or even just an SVG logo from the projects, it would be 
> > greatly appreciated.
> >    
>
> I am glad to read this - somebody with similar ambitions to Dom and Jody
> (although they wisely express their ambition in amazing advancements of
> their respective projects) and other active GO contributors (which I
> hope will one day be including myself).
>  
I am happy to be of service!  Let me know if there's any way I can help!

Again, thanks, and keep checking up on my page for previews of the 
Concentricity/GO Button design!

Ryan