Hi geekos.
Given recent developments in the community about our branding efforts, it is that I write this email.
The openSUSE Conference gave time to the SUSE team to present new ideas and guidelines about branding. The idea behind this presentation was to aid designers and contributors who use our brand to promote our community and distribution. Many of them have to produce print materials on their own and need help with the design.
Up until now, our branding has decreased in strength and as a result, we might end up looking for ideas every time that we need to create materials for the distribution without having a core that guides our thoughts when creating artwork for events, LUGS, etc. Having to deal with such work is hard and slows down the overall progress of our branding efforts.
I wanted to open the discussion about these branding guidelines proposed by the team here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-r_ML-MnMo
Let me start by asking some question in sequence so we can answer in proper thread style
1. Ken and his team showed a new color palette, graphic elements such as a lightbulb and a geeko to use for posters and other print materials to be used as guidelines for future artwork that requires openSUSE branding. Are these branding guidelines going to be published in our wiki? Will they replace or add to the current guidelines placed in the wiki?
http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Artwork_guidelines#Colors
2. Ken discussed the possibility of changing our current logo to match more closely the work that SUSE did on their logo to build a stronger brand image. Can you explain more about this idea? What conventions, proposals or extensions do you have in mind about the logo changes?
Which also means the font should be changed? As far as I can see, this has already been done for oSC: http://www.opensuse.cz/files/styles/obrazek_full/public/welcome.png We have discussed about the logo font in the past, and I already came up with a few proposals. Which font are you using on the above image? Is it a free font?
3. Richard asked during the video about possibly integrating this branding design into the distribution and what that would entail. What are the plans of the team about making branding materials available but at a distribution level? I also heard wallpaper proposals mentioned during the presentation and, if possible, would you share those?
4. Ken and the team work to help the openSUSE Community work on branding and create materials that will help further us as a brand. What is the relationship that the SUSE Design team has with the community? Ken explained to the audience that they are part of the community and if you can, would you explain how that goes about? How is their team part of the community and what methods do you use to communicate your work with other team members around the world?
5. Miscellaneous questions. Add questions of your own about the branding presentation here...
Is the svg design done with Inkscape? Exports to svg from proprietary software (like Adobe) do not work very well. Greets Marcus