Why design matters
Patrik Bubák
bubapa at privacyrequired.com
Tue Aug 4 12:24:38 CEST 2015
Hi Steve and thank you for the feedback!
> What kind of designer are you, and what are you likely to be the best
> at if you jump in? For the record I don't think we have a professional
> designer on board right now. I personally am a computer scientist, but
> do usability research and HCI theory research for a living. Because of
> that I might occasionally put a big emphasis on justifying why a
> change is needed and whose needs a proposed approach fulfills.
Lately I specialize mainly in UI/UX, branding and digital art and I want
to make those my main fields of focus, although I am good at editing
photographs and doing manipulations. I am also a designer by degree who
understands, that good design cannot be without proper in-depth
research. For more info about me and what I did so far you can visit my
portfolio.
I currently help out Ubuntu GNOME. I created their visual identity,
which is yet to be approved by the GNOME foundation, but we don't see
that being an issue, since using their symbol was the real problem that,
when used as a standalone without the wordmark, created a great deal of
confusion. My current work with UG involves everything from the
interface to branding (wallpapers, icons, Ubiquity, Plymouth).
Why I signed up to the list is, should an extra pair of hands, eyes and
a brain be needed, help coordinate the way the Xfce desktop could go to
improve its usability, aesthetics, and the general feel. I did so,
because I am, like everyone here, a huge fan, and I see great potential.
Again, a huge thanks to everyone involved in creating this awesome
experience.
I know you don't take seriously when someone plain bluntly sends you an
email with "your app sucks", and you shouldn't. Mostly it's the users
fault that the app "sucks". I admit there are times when things could be
improved and more polished, but that's what designers are for, to help
with UI/UX. Everyone here does an excellent job considering it's mostly
a hobby, but then again, the best projects now were hobbies when they
started.
As far as the desktop is concerned, I focus greatly on details, which
may not bother a programmer, but they might a consumer, because frankly,
it's design that sells. It's like with food, the eyes eat first, and
users tend to feel more at home when everything is more polished.
The Shimmer project did an amazing job in this regard. I use some
elements, particularly the xubuntu-icon-theme even in Gnome. I am yet to
find a better replacement wide and far.
If there's something I can be helpful with, drop me an email.
On Tue, 2015-08-04 at 10:27 +0100, Steve Dodier-Lazaro wrote:
> Hi Patrik,
>
>
> Generally speaking I think we are at Xfce very open to non-development
> contributions (though right now what we need the most dramatically IS
> developers' time). I raised the issue because of the very obvious
> connotation that design has to people outside the field (aesthetics
> and visual aspect of products). I think we pretty much have the brand
> identity and looks of Xfce covered with the Shimmer project, even
> though right now the default theme hasn't been updated (because of
> technical issues as far as I recall). I'm not involved with that so
> won't talk about it further.
>
>
> What kind of designer are you, and what are you likely to be the best
> at if you jump in? For the record I don't think we have a professional
> designer on board right now. I personally am a computer scientist, but
> do usability research and HCI theory research for a living. Because of
> that I might occasionally put a big emphasis on justifying why a
> change is needed and whose needs a proposed approach fulfills.
>
>
> I think one of Simon's more urgent projects is to re-organise the
> settings UIs of Xfce, so it would be useful to have some information
> architecture skills (something I don't :p), to have experiment designs
> to either assess the findability of different settings options or
> figure out how potential Xfce users would express a need to change a
> specific setting.
>
>
> As I said in my previous email, another much needed contribution is to
> analyse some survey data and start redesigning the interactions around
> session saving/resumption (with a focus on documenting the
> capabilities you need out of the OS since I'm not sure yet how we can
> suspend and resume GNOME applications safely).
>
>
> Of course, if you are able and willing to do graphic design
> contributions, that is also equally welcome! As Simon pointed out
> there might be technicalities that we have to deal with, but I
> personally would love all my systray icons and panel plugins to behave
> identically (with regard to spacing, appearance on focus, and looks of
> the popup menu when clicked).
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> On 25 July 2015 at 14:35, Patrik Bubák <bubapa at privacyrequired.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> what you wanted me, or anyone else to be aware of by going
> through that article I understand.
>
> Talking for myself, the only reason why I haven't provided
> anything else but writing down some basic thoughts is because
> I wanted to know the community's standing on the matter.
>
> I am a designer by degree, dedicated to self-improvement in
> every area I am involved in, so believe me when I say
> extensive research and a proper design process are not
> something unfamiliar to me. Rest assured I am not somebody who
> needs to be lectured about the design process, but I
> understand why your raised this.
>
>
>
> On Sat, 2015-07-25 at 14:09 +0100, Steve Dodier-Lazaro wrote:
>
> > Hi Patrik,
> >
> >
> > I'm a bit too busy to go point by point through your email,
> > but I urge you (and anyone else serious about making design
> > contributions to Xfce) to read
> > this: http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/visual-design-is-not-a-thing
> >
> > Remember, design is a family of evidence-based processes. We
> > currently have data sitting that needs to be analysed in
> > order to redesign interactions around session saving and
> > resuming, and I don't have the time to get started on that.
> > Anyone is free to help, so long as they understand the
> > basics of quantitative analysis and grounded theory.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > On 25 July 2015 at 13:32, Nicolas Kovacs
> > <info at microlinux.fr> wrote:
> >
> > Le 25/07/2015 12:48, Patrik Bubák a écrit :
> > > Now I'm not going to give you charts, but it's a
> > fact that visually Xfce
> > > is one of the least popular desktops, although I
> > am aware it was created
> > > for speed and functionality.
> >
> > I don't know where you get that information.
> >
> > My company installs Xfce-based desktops for schools,
> > town halls, SMB's,
> > public libraries. Nobody complained about it being
> > ugly.
> >
> > http://www.microlinux.fr/mled.php
> >
> > Xfce is perfect as it is.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Niki Kovacs
> >
> > --
> > Microlinux - Solutions informatiques durables
> > 7, place de l'église - 30730 Montpezat
> > Web : http://www.microlinux.fr
> > Mail : info at microlinux.fr
> > Tél. : 04 66 63 10 32
> > _______________________________________________
> > Xfce4-dev mailing list
> > Xfce4-dev at xfce.org
> > https://mail.xfce.org/mailman/listinfo/xfce4-dev
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Steve Dodier-Lazaro
> > PhD Student
> > University College London
> > Free Software Developer
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Xfce4-dev mailing list
> > Xfce4-dev at xfce.org
> > https://mail.xfce.org/mailman/listinfo/xfce4-dev
>
>
>
>
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--
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Nothing ruins creativity like too many voices weighing in. We call it
the Ice Cream Principle. Tell 10 people to go get ice cream with one
condition: they all have to agree on one flavour. That flavour is going
to be chocolate or vanilla every time. Groups of people don't agree on
what's cool or interesting, they agree on what's easy to agree on.
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