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Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 20:51:06 +0200
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Subject: Re: Cygwin visual brand
From: Berthold Barth <berthold DOT barth AT googlemail DOT com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
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Thanks a lot for your opinion Chris.

As maintainers, you and Corinna are really the linchpins between the
existing community and the world. You've got the knowledge =A0that is
required to improve the design without severing the existing bonds. At
the same time, please let me illustrate my point of view before you
decide that you don't want it.


> So far, I have not really cared for either of the proposed redesigns. =A0I
> don't think a mascot is necessary on the web site and I think that, as
> messy as the current cygwin web site may be, there will be only a very
> minor benefit to any redesign which just changes the layout. =A0When I
> look at most of the popular free software projects out there they seem
> to be getting by on pretty simple layouts.

I have not proposed any design changes yet, and for good reason: I am
very keen on doing design by the book, controlling the output and the
message. I think we agree there is nothing more stupid designwise than
random decorations. Design is meant to facilitate what is ultimately
the purpose of the website (to learn about the benefits of Cygwin,
about using it and finally downloading it). I'm neither drawn to
hippos nor random design alterations, with apologies to the respective
contributors.

That being said, I am certain that a redesign with these constraints
in mind will accommodate a host of new or struggling users, enable
them to find the required information faster and with less help and
attract software designers that have been shying away from cygwin for
some reason or another. And I'd very much like to help make this
happen.


> I sincerely hate these discussions about what's "best" about something
> visual because it always devolves to self-proclaimed experts voicing
> their opinions and when it comes to subjective things like web-site
> layout everyone can be an expert. =A0The bottom line for me is that I want
> something that I can maintain and I don't want to spend any of my time
> tweaking and discussing with someone else about it.

I have to strongly disagree with your here Chris. Graphic and Web
design is by no means a subjective issue, quite the contrary. Much
like in software design, there are hard, highly complex rules to be
followed that lead to desired results. I'm not suggesting a layman's
round table design, but a professional design project with
predetermined stages and distinct milestones toward a visual identity
that reinforces Cygwin as a serious software product and enables new
and interested users to determine without help what they can do with
it and why they should use it.

Frankly, I could have started already, just doing a mock-up of what I
think Cygwin represents. Except much like you, I need precise
information to go to work. I need to know the scope and purpose I'm
setting out to capture. I need to be briefed, and the single best
person to brief me are you. You know the software inside and out, know
who uses it and why and what people struggle with in terms of
comprehension. I need you to inform the design process before anything
can happen. I hope you can find the time.

> I appreciate that people want to contribute. =A0I really do.
> Unfortunately, this is not something that I'm really comfortable
> accepting contributions for.

If you think there is no objective reason to grow the Cygwin user
base, inform new users better and create a professional representation
of the work done by you and the contributors through a visual
identity, then so be it. I've failed to get someone to migrate 20-odd
cobbled-together Excel tables into a proper database, too. I have no
reason to impose this on you and the Cygwin community. As you stated
above, there is software that is fairly successful in the open source
world despite an incoherent visual design. But I'm betting each and
every one of those applications could do considerably better if it
were better represented visually and more approachable.

If you're willing to do this, you have my email address, and I can
have a questionnaire ready for you within a week that will cut down
considerably on the time we will need for the discovery process. I'm
looking forward to it.

Cheers,
Berthold

PS: If you're still on the fence about this, you may want to check out
my website at www.berthold-barth.de - the site itself and the first
two articles are fairly good examples of what I'm talking about.

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