The look of new Linux Mint

[jobastr]

A theme takes much time to create, do the work every month seems not feasible.
However it might be possible to create a part of the theme every month, which would have a complete set at each new version.

[shane]

I think... that we have many members in this community who are very talented when it comes to art and design... and just like we have maintainers for various editions, we should have either one talented person in charge of graphic design and themes, or a team of talented people... He/She/They will choose artwork that will be used across editions as much as possible.

My reasoning is: as Mint develops release after release into her own... a far cry from the early Ubuntu + codecs image, we need to start spreading the work load. This will allow people to focus on what they are good at. The community repository is a step in the right direction... we should be expecting 5 editions for the Gloria release... I don't think any other distro provides this level of a tailored experience out of the box!

We should build on the momentum we have gained in the Linux world! Number 3 on distrowatch... a hand full of devs 3rd after distros supported by Canonical and Novell... beating a distro supported by Red Hat! This is no small feat. We are doing something very right. Of course right now we do depend on the work of the Ubuntu devs... But with that we take the good *and* the bad of Ubuntu. We should break out of this mould sooner or later if we are to come into our own... and by this I mean our own independent repos and base.

Anyway, we're discussing on artwork here... I think having an artwork person or team is in order... it's about division of labor... my 2 cents.

[jobastr]

I am not safe sure to understand indeed the sense of your comments, sorry but my English is very limited.
You would be for this project?

[shane]

basically, what i'm saying is we should have an artwork team... I don't think I would be included in that...

[jobastr]

It was just a suggestion, but I do not think it will be followed.

[midas]

Hé jobastr, some beautiful GDM you have made. I saw it on the Mint-Art website...

[cespinal]

I'm sorry to be the black sheep here but, one thing a have found Linux users to be is that they love originality and therefore, strive to customize their systems as much as they can.

Having this said, is it really that important to change the artwork on every release? cuz at the end of the day everyone ends up feasting on fine artwork over the web .

My opinion is, as the community keeps producing good art, the developers can focus on creating stable,hardware supporting systems.

[jobastr]

Hé jobastr, some beautiful GDM you have made. I saw it on the Mint-Art website...

Yes, and I have many to come.

[jobastr]

To cespinal

However, the first thing that attracts the curious, the aesthetic of this distribution, and often keeps to its stability and its little more.
Just read the posts of newcomers to be convinced.
The current look is starting to be old, I am convinced it is time to change it, but this is only my personal opinion.

[shane]

I, for one, like to customize my desktop. Any given configuration of themes lasts a maximum of about one month on my machine... But that is me. There are many who will go with the default themes for as long as they use the OS. Just think of how many Windows machines you have seen with green grass and blue sky wallpaper... What about the blue and green XP theme... (not like you have much of a choice). So it is not necessarily changing for every release... It's about style and trends which change with the times... which is most apparent in the fashion industry. Not that Mint looks bad right now... far from it. It's just that a fresh look doesn't hurt, as long as it looks good. And looking good is a feature!

[trot2millah]

Wallpaper aside, I personally am in love with the theme of Linux Mint. The majority of distros out there are so focused on the domination of one color (Fedora blue, openSUSE green, Ubuntu orange) it just gets tiresome on the eyes. The subtle combination of green, blue, purple and black just makes for a much fresher desktop experience, and I have no intention of ever changing a default theme. That's as good a sign of stellar art and design as I've eve heard.

[shane]

... combination of green, blue, purple and black ...

Just an observation... replace the purple with beige and we'd be talking about XP ok... its not subtle... more retina searing

[ruel24]

I agree that the arwork in Mint, so far, is just superb. I love the shade of green. It's both relaxing and fitting. Personally, I'd make all versions using green, instead of other colors like blue. Mint = green. You don't see OpenSuse or Fedora using other colors for their different desktops. Keep it consistent.

[hinto]

I love it so much, I installed the Mint Tools (and Theme) on top of Ubuntu Karmic.
(I had Mint 7 installed already on other pcs)
-H