[kde-guidelines] [kde-artists] We need a Vision!

[Jens Reuterberg]

We worked on a Visual Design Vision in the beginning of the VDG project to 
formalize and create a visual sensation that we wanted to implement.
This of course also spill over in our view of the UI elements (and why I've 
been harassing poor Thomas Pfeiffer every day).

Also as for the marketing aspects two of us work and/or study copywriting and 
are well versed in the marketing issues of design and all of us have 
experience in communication methods for marketing and promotion.

As for our current vision we tried to marry the "selling points" of KDE and 
Plasma, its technological achievements and brilliant technical behind-the-
curtain work with a more softer notion of high-tech.
To divorce it from the too vague "We like high-techy stuff" we added the 
concept of the "future that never was". A positive sensation of technological 
excellence. Our main issue now is to keep hammering that goal without making 
it "gimmicky" (gimmicky things like the Steampunk theme, can be fun for a 
short while but its not sustainable in the long run) and keep presenting it to 
the community as a shared visual design goal.

So essentially trying to combine the current "selling points" with a grander 
vision that didn't break the former ideas but refined them and could also be 
presented as a "soft idea", an idea that conveyed emotion more than exact 
factual details thereby creating a "marketing goal" in the process for the 
visuals.

Anyway - long and the short. I would love to help out. I should forewarn you 
though that I :
1) Talk like a viking epic when I'm tired (and these days "tired" could be 
used as a vocational description for me)
2) Tend to be very stubborn
3) Have long conversations in my brain about ideas and then assume others 
where present when they where, in fact, not.

:)

/Jens

On Tuesday 11 March 2014 15.25.46 Jos Poortvliet wrote:
> On Tuesday 11 March 2014 14:55:13 Björn Balazs wrote:
> > (sorry for wild cross-posting! As we are not subscribed to every list,
> > please keep Heiko, Thomas and me in CC when answering)
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dear fellow KDEans...
> > 
> > we - Thomas, Heiko and me, aka the Usability guys - need a valid project
> > vision for our work and the current page about the vision of KDE is
> > completely outdated.
> > 
> > UX always serves a certain purpose. There is no universal good or bad.
> > In order to provide consistency and hence a smooth experience for the
> > user,
> > the definition of what is desired and what not has to be made on a high
> > level. We call this a Vision.
> > 
> > We already made a first little shot [1] and got some helpful first
> > reactions from the community. But the vision is not only a very important
> > part of the UX process - it is also important for design and other
> > shareholders.
> > 
> > We need to continue this work. With this mail, we invite you to help us
> > shape something that does not only stear UX work. Jens, we would esp. love
> > if someone from the design team would hop on, same is true for marketing -
> > others feel welcomed as well!
> > 
> > Next, within the group of vision-volunteers, we want to create a
> > suggestion
> > for the vision. During this process, we plan to also again ask users about
> > the importance of different aspects if possible. Then we want to discuss
> > the Vision with you before we start a discussion with the broader
> > community.
> > 
> > Do you have any better suggestion how to proceed?
> 
> I do, as always, and I'd love to share some of the thoughts over a walk or
> lunch ;-)
> 
> Also, count me in when it comes to putting in some thoughts and work.
> 
> I am a little skeptical - we're a very diverse community and I don't think
> you can draft ONE vision for all of KDE - especially considering we're
> trying to expand what KDE is further and further (improv is hardware,
> bodega & owncloud & ghns are server, there's mobile, tablet, ...). But that
> note can and should be part of any discussion...
> 
> /J
> 
> > Cheers,
> > Björn, Thomas & Heiko
> > 
> > [1] http://user-prompt.com/the-vision-of-kde/
> > __________________________________________________________________________
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