Meeting May 27, 2025 at 08:47 CDT
Summary
Michael Catanzaro announced the Fedora 42 release party, and
participants discussed improving the consistency and quality of Fedora
desktop wallpapers. Allan Day highlighted the challenge of agreeing on
a wallpaper style, while Michael Catanzaro and Allan Day emphasized the
need for brand consistency. The working group agreed to request the
Fedora wallpaper design team to consider a more consistent visual style
across releases, with Neal Gompa (Conan Kudo) and Allan Day
volunteering to communicate with the designers.
Details
Fedora 42 Release Party
Michael Catanzaro announced an invitation to participate in the Fedora
42 release party on Thursday, May 29th, from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC.
Matthias confirmed their willingness to be involved, assuming their
laptop is returned. The event will include a 15-minute slot to present
Fedora 42 workstation work.
Desktop Wallpapers Discussion
Michael Catanzaro initiated a discussion on improving and maintaining
the default desktop wallpapers. It was noted that the
gnome-backgrounds-extras subpackage has been removed, consolidating
wallpapers into the main gnome-backgrounds package. While more
wallpapers are now installed by default, the quality and consistency of
the default wallpaper remain a concern, with the last recorded
discussion on the issue being eight months prior.
Challenges in Wallpaper Style Selection
Allan Day highlighted the recurring nature of the wallpaper discussion
and the difficulty for the working group to agree on a specific design
direction due to the diverse preferences and the group's non-design
focus. Allan suggested options such as a vote or delegating the
decision to someone like Jakob Steiner. Michael Catanzaro acknowledged
the potential of delegating but noted the removal of the Fedora
community from the process.
Opinions on Current Wallpaper Style
Matthias and Neal Gompa (Conan Kudo) expressed the view that the
current Fedora wallpaper style is already unique and recognizable. Neal
Gompa (Conan Kudo) specifically mentioned the watercolor paint style
and noted its appearance in OMG Ubuntu. Jens-Ulrik Petersen expressed a
preference for some of the earlier wallpapers but found the latest one
unappealing.
Desire for Branding Consistency
Michael Catanzaro and Allan Day voiced their agreement on the need for
more consistency in the wallpaper style across Fedora releases to build
stronger brand recognition, similar to Ubuntu and Gnome. Michael
Catanzaro disagreed with the idea that the current wallpapers
effectively communicate a consistent Fedora identity. Allan Day
emphasized that the wallpaper should communicate the qualities of the
Fedora product.
Moving Forward with Wallpaper Issue
Michael Catanzaro questioned how to progress on the wallpaper issue,
suggesting options like presenting it to the Fedora developer community
or holding a vote. Michel Lind supported the idea of voting within the
working group first. Allan Day suggested discussing options with the
current design team member, Madeline, as a first step.
The Role of Release Code Names
Neal Gompa (Conan Kudo) suggested that linking wallpaper designs to
release code names could provide a thematic connection and more
uniformity. Matthias and Michael Catanzaro expressed their disagreement
with having code names for the six-month release cycles. Michel Lind,
however, found the Ubuntu model of using animal code names every six
months effective for branding.
Proposal for Consistent Visual Style
Michael Catanzaro proposed requesting the Fedora wallpaper design team
to consider incorporating a more consistent visual style across
releases, without specifying a particular style. Neal Gompa (Conan
Kudo) agreed with the need for a generally homogeneous style,
clarifying that their earlier disagreement was against completely
changing from a humanistic to a geometric style. The proposal to
request greater consistency in style was agreed upon by the working
group.
Delegating Communication with Designers
Neal Gompa (Conan Kudo) volunteered to talk to the design team at
Flock, noting that the team is expected to be present. Allan Day
offered to continue as the liaison but expressed openness to Neal Gompa
(Conan Kudo) taking on the task. It was agreed that both Neal Gompa
(Conan Kudo) and Allan Day could communicate with the designers.
Meeting Conclusion
Michael Catanzaro expressed satisfaction with the progress made and
moved the wallpaper issue to pending action. The agenda items were
completed, and the meeting was adjourned on schedule.
Suggested next steps
Neal Gompa (Conan Kudo) and Allan Day will communicate with the Fedora
wallpaper design team to request greater consistency in the visual
style of the default wallpapers from release to release.
The group will invite Jeff (new Fedora project leader) to attend a
future meeting.
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