This is the work blog for the KDE Visual Design Group a group of dedicated designers striving to improve community participation in design for KDE as well as design work in general for KDE applications and Plasma.

måndag 3 mars 2014

Monday Report #5

In which we talk about community efforts, the work done so far in the community, the icons and show some work in progress things.


During the Linux Action Show spot I talked a lot about community and community efforts and I wanted to shine a light not only on the things that HAVE been done, but the things being worked on and the things yet covered.

Lets start by talking about the community contributors. Right now there is a handful of people throwing ideas into the ring. Some are new to the whole "design-malarkey" and some are old dogs in the field but all are awesome designers in my eyes. It takes courage to say "look what I made". It's showing something you've done and cared about and hoping that people see that first and give it the respect it deserves. 

I want to kick off with a quote from the forums:

"I'm not really a designer, in fact I've never designed an icon before in my life [...] I am, however, enjoying myself"

This is one of those things I consider to be the best wins of this project - it sums up my hopes precisely and really fills me with creative energy for my own projects. That sensation of letting yourself be engulfed by the work and enjoy doing it is something I think many of us know and love.

...

Then we have this awesome piece of work by legnaVI for the Krita tool icons. Now legnaVI is using windows because he/she (I don't know the gender of legnaVI) needs for it his/her education.

That is even cooler in a way.

If you contribute - or whatever you do - there are sometimes needs that you need to consider. If you're forced to use Windows, or even if you prefer it and still wants to contribute - go for it! I'd prefer it if you used Linux but this is not an elite club, this is a community. Perhaps a KDE user might feel more at home - but this is for all. Being a part means you are a part.
And just look at those icons, that is some handsome work right there!

...

Then there are the system tray icon thread. That grew incredibly fast with idea after idea being posted and talked about.
The amazing thing is that many of the idea's may not have been picked up by the Plasma-NM team but they where ingenius like Leroux massive icon theme for system tray and network manager (of which only a tiny snippet is seen on the right).
Right now, scanning through the thread, reading the debates and discussions is like sifting through a gold-laden river of design notions and concepts. I recommend it!

Right now I'm trying to find a Plasma Theme'r who can cooperate with Leroux because I demand that this is made available in a theme! :)

...

But there is more, so much more! These where just two examples. Right now talks are being done concerning a vast array of topics - from System Settings to a Universal Themer, a new "Get cool stuff" method and more and more and more!

So if your a dev and need design luvvin - Post about it in the forums! If you're a community member and have an awesome idea, scribble it down on paper and post about it in the forums! The more the merrier and the better the end result will be!


...

Now lets get down to some of the work done by the VDG people. Right now, in secret a group of our top-voodoo brand-designers are looking into something massive, the Plasma Logo. You know it as "the Cashew" and it will change in the future is the plan. The work being done is to create a layout and visual style based on the hard rules of print design and logo work (and there are a thousand and one rules there) and there is nothing to show right now - but I want you to know it's there and it's coming (as soon as Carneval in Venice and Rio is over).
Plans are also on the move to set up a Wordpress blueprint for blogs and launchpages based on the Plasma Next theme's and visual goals.

Over in the Plasma NEXT area, Andrew "The Design Machine" Lake (Aided by Marco and Ivan), is working on a prototype for the Plasma Theme to be used in both Plasma Current and Plasma NEXT.



At the same time Uri, Nuno and Acidrum are hard at work on icons and the future icon theme. Safe to say I don't wish to disturb them in their work but visually they are going for what can be described as an idea based of the multiple ideals of Mirrors Edge and Polygonal Art. Sounds strange? Trust me, it will be awesome!

Ideas are being drafted for future features and more! But that's just the tip of the iceberg soon as things fall into place more and more things will come popping up.

Oh and before I forget - have I mentioned wallpapers? Well, if not, those are coming too... Now back to work for me!


Next monday report will be a tad bit more exact and with more details for everyone to gush over. Until then, check out the forum, join in the work and help the devs or ask for help!

15 kommentarer:

  1. Keep up the good work, guys!

    SvaraRadera
  2. Veeery nice taskbar d(^_^)b

    SvaraRadera
  3. KDE really becoming something that I would eat caviar out of :D

    SvaraRadera
  4. As long as I can change it all, I don't care what you do with it.

    SvaraRadera
  5. Wow wow wow, like the task bar.
    How can i see the comment box in english?

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. That is a good question... :) I have yet to be able to change the comment box to English in blogger (also the idea is that we're gonna move the blog to the homepage instead so I haven't really invested too much in finding out).

      Consider it a very simple lesson in Swedish or something ;)

      Radera
  6. Just posting to say one thing
    DAT TASKBAR
    Can't wait for plasma 5. KDE 4 was pretty terrible when it came to visual appeal
    Hopefully a new plasma and an oxygen theme should come soon

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. We're trying to do some kind of prototype (since a majority of us are sitting in the current plasma to work on this) so with a little luck something usable will be out soon so people can test it and play with it (although - it wont be the final, just something to play with until Plasma Next comes out)

      Radera
  7. Task-bar look really good, keep work on it! :)

    SvaraRadera
  8. I really like that taskbar, it would be nice if that embeded color line show not only the status of the window but also the progress of a task, for example a file is downloading or files being copied it fills like a progress bar.

    Sorry for my english and thanks for all the hard work!

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. That is a brilliant idea! :D

      Noted! (the question is if we have time to implement it for the coming freeze but it's going in there, well done).

      And your english is fine :)

      Radera
    2. I thought that this was the original plan :D

      Radera
  9. Hi Jens! I think that an important goal for the new design of Plasma is provide as soon as possible a perfect integration with gtk2 & gtk3 applications, maybe developing a gtk2/gtk3 theme very similar to the qt4/qt5 one or a theme engine capable of this! One of main problems of previous version of KDE SC4 was the inconsistency of gtk/qt integration under Plasma (due to gtk theming system, obiouvsly!). I think that the perception of coherence in a DE is very important, and it could give, in some way, a perception of general quality!
    Have you already thought something about that?
    Sorry for my crappy English, keep up the good work, man! ;)

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. I totally agree that's one of the reasons I switched from kde to gnome-shell,eclipse and chrome look terrible in kde,the GTK theming issue has to go away really.

      Radera
    2. Don't worry about your english - the reason GTK apps look bad in KDE and not vice versa is because GTK isn't very flexible sadly unlike Qt that mimics the environment its on. Thats why it is always good to for example install Qtcurve and use that for GTK apps and KDE apps.
      So this is waaaaay out of our hands - the GTK guys are in charge for handling GTK and all we can do is create themes to use in GTK while on KDE to cover it up.

      Not a great answer but thats the issue as it is.

      I wish the issue with GTK could be solved, it would rock if it was possible for them to do so, I hope they can (this is not my forte btw), but like I said: we can't do anything for it except try to repair GTK apps appearence as best we can.

      Radera