[IAEP] [Sugar-devel] [SoaS] Request for Artwork: Boot Screen

Christian Marc Schmidt christianmarc at gmail.com
Sun May 31 20:07:40 EDT 2009


Thanks Sean--a visual would be good to fully understand the proposal.
I guess my feeling on all of this is that less is more--as Eben said
earlier, the boot sequence is really just the set-up for the UI. I'd
be happy if we simply did away with the split-XO, but I'm also
on-board with adding a bit of color, though I would caution not to
overthink it. The reason the Mac OS boot sequence you mention works so
well is due to its simplicity. Instead of a face, we have the XO as
our emblem--and the circle, while making a reference to connectedness
and community, transitions into a core feature of the UI in Home...

Either way, looking forward to seeing your mockups!


Christian


On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 5:54 PM, Sean DALY <sdaly.be at gmail.com> wrote:
> I like Gary's most recent one with the dots filling in color
>
> I got halfway through a mockup with XO avatars appearing, then
> Activity icons, but I feel using either will just be too confusing...
> one could think network discovery was happening, or Activity loading.
>
> After much reflection, I think the friendliest greeting we could offer
> to Learners is a face, a Speakish one with eyes rolling around the
> ring (and a growing smile) while the colors come on. There are still
> many people who fell in love with their little Macs because of the
> smiley face.
>
> But... that's outside the Sugar HIG and I would think twice before
> stepping outside of that. So I reread them and came up with this idea
> (which I hope to mock up tomorrow): instead of dots, I want to do
> oblong ovals like a big version of the Activity spinner graphic. I
> searched high and low on sl.o and laptop.org for an SVG but only found
> a lo-res PNG :-( so I'll just improvise ovals. What I like about
> presenting the spinner is: immediate identification of a waiting
> period, no confusion with other elements (the filled in dots are too
> similar to networks in the Neighborhood view). Also I like that the
> spinner has 11, not 12 dividers; that asymmetry is interesting and
> remains clocklike. I like Gary's proposal of empty ones filled with
> color which I'd like to keep. And... I'd like to start the middle XO
> icon small (e.g. neighborhood view size) and step it up in size with
> each spinner step; grow in importance as the system builds, until at
> the end normal size.
>
> As for the colors, I'm not sure I like the color pairs... I'd like to
> try solid colors, moving through the spectrum rainbowlike. Less
> Sugarish perhaps, but visually stronger might be.
>
> Not sure if the initial logo flash is enough, but concerned that
> keeping it around might fight the spinner ring.
>
> Will have a visual tomorrow to show (holiday so I will have some time)
>
> thanks
>
> Sean
>
> On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 10:50 PM, Christian Marc Schmidt
> <christianmarc at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Sean DALY <sdaly.be at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Re: grey vs. colors in progress: Actually, I have an issue with
>>> all-grey... users could worry that colors are not working in the Sugar
>>> UI.
>>
>> If we treated the XO in the center in the selected color combination,
>> we would not only address Sean's point, but also act as a signifier of
>> identity. But I take it this is a technical challenge? I do also agree
>> with the point that gray means "in progress". A simplified version of
>> the current boot sequence, without the spinning/split XO, would work
>> well I think.
>>
>> I wouldn't overthink the gray dots--they are just status indicators
>> and the more important aspect in this case (in my opinion) is the XO
>> and the radial arrangement that references the ring in Home.
>>
>>
>> Christian
>>
>>>
>>> I think we should consider colors although I do appreciate the "still
>>> loading" context communicated by grey.
>>>
>>> I will post a mockup later expressing that approach; grey dots present
>>> right from the start (ring power!), filling in with color during
>>> progress... the ring "approaching" colors from grey
>>>
>>> I would not recommend customizing the splash/progress from within
>>> Sugar... boot time is often a tense moment fraught with impatience
>>> (especially after a freeze/crash) and predictability in how Sugar
>>> "usually" loads is I think desirable
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>> Sean
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 6:22 PM, Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com> wrote:
>>>> On 30 May 2009, at 16:36, Christian Marc Schmidt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I agree with your points--comments below:
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Christian,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 30 May 2009, at 10:17, Christian Marc Schmidt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Gary, this looks good, though I wonder about the loss of the XO in
>>>>>>> the center. The boot sequence was intended to establish the UI, and in
>>>>>>> many ways the XO does signify the Sugar brand as much (more?) as the
>>>>>>> logo. Suggestion: Could we not simply show the logo for a few seconds,
>>>>>>> before transitioning into the current boot sequence? I'd hate to lose
>>>>>>> the current sequence, I think it works very well, and Eben will attest
>>>>>>> that much time was spent arriving at where we are today...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yes, agreed, the original boot up is very hard to beat (showing a child
>>>>>> as
>>>>>> central). Just bouncing ideas about here. My only criticisms of the
>>>>>> original
>>>>>> would be:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1) not liking the kid icon breaking into a rotating arrow treatment
>>>>>> (seems
>>>>>> too forced/smart, the whole XO icon is a stronger identity, appearing
>>>>>> dots
>>>>>> show progress just fine)
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes, I fully agree! A stationary XO icon would be simpler, less forced.
>>>>>
>>>>>> 2) seemed odd for the dots to appear from 6 o'clock to 6 o'clock (12 to
>>>>>> 12
>>>>>> feels more natural to me)
>>>>>
>>>>> Agree with that, too.
>>>>
>>>> Cool. There's a sample animation of the 2 above uploaded.
>>>>
>>>>>> 3) lack of any colour (though this is tough to avoid breaking HIG
>>>>>> iconography on colour use)
>>>>>
>>>>> Here, I think it would be best if the XO would have the colors set in the
>>>>> UI...
>>>>
>>>> Sebastian is truly, madly, deeply going to hate you for this suggestion ;-)
>>>>
>>>> I do like that use of greys to signify that 'things are not ready yet' so
>>>> I'm on the fence here. I did try another animation with the dots appearing
>>>> in the 12 logo fill/outline colours. I did wonder about showing them all as
>>>> grey from the start, and then lighting up with colour.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> --Gary
>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> --Gary
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Christian
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 10:59 PM, Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Folks,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Just to get a basic, safe, default starting point in there, I've
>>>>>>>> uploaded
>>>>>>>> one simple treatment to:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>  http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Marketing_Team/Boot_Logo#Sugar_Boot_Logo_Animations
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Will try to upload a couple more tomorrow.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Night,
>>>>>>>> --Gary
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> P.S. Should pull this back on list, your call Sean, but probably worth
>>>>>>>> getting a couple more ideas up so that folks can input to some
>>>>>>>> alternative
>>>>>>>> treatments.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 30 May 2009, at 00:58, Sean DALY wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Christian, Eben
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I'm not sure if you are on sugar-devel but this is I think an
>>>>>>>>> outstanding opportunity for Sugar branding, "celebrating" Sugar
>>>>>>>>> interface.iconography and greeting children.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I know nothing about the plymouth boot animator, but i deduce that
>>>>>>>>> consecutively named files will do the trick
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I'm willing to attack this but before I try scraping screenshots, do
>>>>>>>>> you guys have any interface assets i could grab?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Input greatly appreciated
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> thanks
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Sean
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 12:32 AM, Sean DALY <sdaly.be at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Maybe we could work on it together?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> here's my idea.... like my booth rollup banner mockup which Christian
>>>>>>>>>> 7 Eben both liked, I want to stay as much as possible within the
>>>>>>>>>> Sugar
>>>>>>>>>> HIG and iconography.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> boot should start with our logo ... smaller than in the previous SoaS
>>>>>>>>>> ... (not sure yet if should be with or without "labs")
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> The ring is iconic ... I want to keep a ring at boot... but instead
>>>>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>>>>> dots, I want XO avatars - kids!
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> In the middle... each succeeding image with a colored Activity
>>>>>>>>>> icon...
>>>>>>>>>> matched to the corresponding XO avatar appearing in the ring. So kids
>>>>>>>>>> understand that Activities are for them.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> And ending with... kids around the Journal!
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Alternate idea: cycling through the 12 logo color combos?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Not mutually exclusive... logo could be on the bottom of ring
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> What do you think?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> thanks
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Sean
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> P.S. I've actually done something similar with a titling sequence for
>>>>>>>>>> a short film. I started with the final image and wiped elements,
>>>>>>>>>> backing down to the first image
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I use imagemagick a lot no problem to create a script which could
>>>>>>>>>> inject arbitrary text into a ppm file
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 11:47 PM, Gary C Martin
>>>>>>>>>> <gary at garycmartin.com>
>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Hi Sean,
>>>>>>>>>>> FYI, this came in off list.
>>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>>>> --G
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> From: James Zaki <james.zaki at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>>>>> Date: 29 May 2009 22:24:06 BST
>>>>>>>>>>> To: Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com>
>>>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Sugar-devel] [SoaS] Request for Artwork: Boot Screen
>>>>>>>>>>> I'm in touch with a design company who owes me a favour or two.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I could get them to whip up some concept designs for inspiration?
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> James
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> 2009/5/29 Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On 29 May 2009, at 21:37, Sean DALY wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sebastian, Gary
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'd like to take a stab at it, I've actually had an idea brewing
>>>>>>>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>>>>>>>> awhile
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Cool, shout if you need extra hands/review.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> --G
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> What's the deadline please?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> thanks
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sean
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Gary C Martin
>>>>>>>>>>>>> <gary at garycmartin.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On 29 May 2009, at 18:41, Sebastian Dziallas wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi folks,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> sorry for the short notice, but this is rather urgent. I've been
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> spending yesterday afternoon to update the packages in our SoaS
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yum
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> repo
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> to reflect the changes for Fedora 11.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> As it turned out, the plymouth package has been partly
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> rewritten,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> and I
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> was wondering (also with regard to #709), how we wanted to deal
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with a
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> new boot screen. For now, I've just implemented the old Sugar
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> logo
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> again, but we might also want to have something more shiny
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (probably
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with a progress bar).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Some form of progress indicator would be a useful addition.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not really that good at art and the Sugar logo thing there
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> was
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> at
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> first nothing more than a quick hack, so it'd would be really
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> great if
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> someone could have a look and work on such a boot screen.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm happy to give it a look/shot from a graphics point of view if
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> one else steps forward.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So. When did you need it by?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> OLPC is currently doing the same for their 1.5 software release,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> which
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> gives us a good possibility to have a look at the file
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> structure:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.freedesktop.org/~halfline/olpc.tar.bz2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Please let me know if there's anything I can help with.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm new to plymouth, but looking at the content of olpc.tar.bz2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> it
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> seems simple. My main question is where should I look for the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> config
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> that describes which images get loaded in what order. Perhaps the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> names just conform to some hardcoded protocol? How about the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> location
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> of corner-image.png, perhaps hardcoded again?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm just downloading your latest Soas build so will have a dig in
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> there to see what you have done already – I'm just wondering if
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> is really as easy as generating a bunch of png files with the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> correct
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> file names :-)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> --Gary
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> --Sebastian
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sugar-devel mailing list
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sugar-devel mailing list
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>>> Sugar-devel mailing list
>>>>>>>>>>>> Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>>>>>>>>>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> anything at christianmarcschmidt.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 917/ 575 0013
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> anything at christianmarcschmidt.com
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com
>>>>>
>>>>> 917/ 575 0013
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> anything at christianmarcschmidt.com
>>
>> http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com
>>
>> 917/ 575 0013
>>
>



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