( I no longer follow this list closely, I use FWN to keep up with it. )
Does the Artwork team think, overall, that using a blue palette for
our
desktop theme (background) helps Fedora with its identity and
branding?
Unequivocally, yes.
Color is very much intwined with branding.
For those in the computer industry, IBM is known as "Big Blue" for a
reason - the main color of its logo is blue.
Would IBM be smart to use some other color ?
I don't think so.
Even if Fedora might be "Little Blue" I think the same logic applies.
Don't break what you have worked so hard to build.
I have worked with the design department of a large agricultural
equipment manufacturer that always uses the color green. Most people
already know what company that is even if I haven't named it. Back to
my point, all the designers there at some point get "tired" of
incorporating that color in all their designs. It seems like a rut,
it looks dated because it is the same thing they've been doing for
years. The point to remember is that the reason to use a specific
brand color isn't for the people close to or inside the project ( or
company ), it is for the people _outside_ the project to help them
identify with the project. It doesn't matter if the people within the
project are sick and tired of blue, or green, or red, or whatever
color is the chosen color. The identifying color should keep being
used so that everyone outside the project is better able to at a
glance identify something as Fedora.
Using "shades" of blue will also dilute the Fedora brand. Only use
the colors that are chosen. Using a blue slightly different creates
confusion in brand awareness. Note there are two different chosen
blue colors the last time I looked at the logo usage document.
That doesn't mean that _everything_ has to be blue.
Máirín Duffy at one time developed some color palettes that would
work well with the Fedora brand colors.
<http://mihmo.livejournal.com/37350.html>
I don't think all of the colors in those palettes would be usable,
but it provides a starting point for colors that work well with the
Fedora blue. Note the word "complementary" has a different meaning
when talking about color than it does in common usage.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_color>
Yes, introduce a small range of colors that can act as relief or as a
counterpoint to the Fedora blue, but don't drop or de-emphasize a
color that now defines Fedora.
Charles Dostale
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