Notes & DraftsSiri Reitertag:sirireiter.dk/blogSiri Reiterikiwiki2022-03-25T11:42:43ZMakvärkethttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/171001_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2017-09-30T22:00:00Z
<p>A visit at Makvärket in Knabstrup, close to where we used to live,
was the height of my week.</p>
<p>I wanted to share the spirit of that place with my project peers
from Mejeriet. I wanted to make them understand that the building is far
from being in a shape "too bad to fix", or "a project too big to
realize". They got it.</p>
<p>A lot had been renovated since I was there a couple of years ago. An
assembly hall. A huge kitchen. Dormitories. New toilets. And a roof and
three portals in the passage between two huge buildings, bringing
light and air to the core of the building complex. Incredible! And so
beautiful.</p>
<p>I didn't take pictures. I can't seem to be able to find the old ones either.
I'll go back soon.</p>
A source of inspirationhttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/170910_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2017-09-10T08:39:26Z
<p>I'd like to invite everybody to see
<a href="https://ind.ie/beyond-the-clouds/">this online talk with Aral Balkan</a>.</p>
<p>In his talk he explains everything I believe is important for software
development: The 1 % surveilling our every move through online services.
How we can take back our human and democratic rights through design of
decentralised services. He advocates for <a href="https://ind.ie/ethical-design/">Ethical Design</a>,
which means designing technology that is "decentralised, private, open,
interoperable, accessible, secure and sustainable", "functional, convenient
and reliable" as well as "delightful".</p>
<p>It's everything I believe in, beautifully put.</p>
<p>He is an english designer, software developer and human data rights
activist. He moved from the UK because of new data anti encryption
laws there and is currently living in Malmö. He and his wife Laura
have a work platform Ind.ie, (which reminds me of the potential in
<a href="https://couchdesign.dk/">CouchDesign</a>). They've created an app,
Better, that stops you from being tracked while surfing the web.</p>
<p>Watch the talk here: https://ind.ie/beyond-the-clouds/</p>
<p>Jonas heard about Aral Balkan and the concept of Ethical Design at the
<a href="http://www.kaospilot.dk/">Chaos Pilot University</a>, while presenting
himself and the network <a href="https://support.homebase.dk/homebase/">Homebase</a>
he runs there to the new team of students. His colleague Anders pointed
towards the talk as further reference for the students.</p>
<p>It strikes me as brilliant in its clear and straightforward communication,
and it could be a great source of inspiration for Debian Design.</p>
<p><a href="http://sirireiter.dk//tag/Aral/">Aral</a></p>
Week 36http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/170910-2_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2017-09-09T22:00:00Z
<p>This week I've spent two days working to bring down the update waiting time
for the editing role on the website <a href="http://byvandring.nu/">Byvandring.nu</a>.
I've created a first draft of <a href="http://byvandring.nu/vejviseren/arkiv">a tag pool for
Vejviseren</a>, the
<a href="http://byvandring.nu/vejviseren">blog</a> of the site.
Created with <a href="http://ikiwiki.info/">Ikiwiki</a>.
I also fixed a few style issues have annoyed my eye for a while.</p>
<p>Like many other projects of mine, that website is a work in progress,
a prototype, a place where I practice and learn. There are things that
work well, others don't exactly work well. The author uses and promotes
the site actively, and sometimes I even get to do some artwork.
It's essentially gratifying.</p>
<p>And then the annoyances. I am on them with renewed enthusiasm.</p>
<p>However, I need to work on my tendency to get annoyed with all the things
that could be better. My designs, my routines, my skills, the services I
use. I sometimes take it out on Jonas, and I did this week. However, I
appreciate being able to work like I do with the things I work with.</p>
<p>I've spent two other days on a brochure design to be presented next week.
I want to share more of my work, but I better wait 'till a later phase of this
particular design.</p>
<p>During the week I had half a day in Holbæk. I went for a meeting with a
former colleague from the small publishing group Fjordliv, I was a member
of a few years back (it's closed now). She has a book on the way, and
invited me to set it up for her, which I'll be happy to do. I love
designing books.</p>
<p>This week my choir, Orøkoret, started the new season. Every thursday evening
I'll be occupied singing and socializing with other local voices, endorphins
flowing.</p>
<p>It's been a rainful week, and I have spent about an hour daily cutting
grass with scythe, raking and moving those small stacks of grass or pulling
burning nettles out of the soft, wet soil.</p>
<p>I've been looking forward to a lamp making course Saturday, but we were
supposed to be outside, and it was raining, starting half an hour before
and continuing for the rest of the day, so we called it off, and will try
again next saturday.</p>
<h2 id="whatsnext">What's next</h2>
<p>Coming up is a meeting with my co-developer of design solutions at Friis-Holm
Chocolate. Mikkel Juul. He is hard to get at, because of the busy life at
the chocolate factory and the many conventions they attend. So now we have
decided to meet regurlarly, but shortly, every other week. I'm convinced it
will speed up our development time and also be even more fun and interesting.
We have a lot of designs in development, but I'm most excited to show him
the brochure proposal.</p>
<p>Monday I'll join a course on sociocratic methods in local development projects.
This is related to the project <a href="http://mejeriet.oroe.dk/">Mejeriet</a>.</p>
<p>Yoga classes start tuesdag. It's my intention to get back into my fleeing
habit of doing the five tibetans every morning, and my yoga teacher is a
strong advocate of that in particular. We always start our sessions with
a round, so I get a firm push in the back every week.</p>
<p>A meet-up in the local artist network is scheduled tuesday evening.
We have an exhibition in December, and two books on the way, which I am
designing, and have been putting off for a month now. The time has finally
arrived to restart those processes.</p>
<p>Saturday will be the lamp workshop, hopefully.</p>
Design in Debian - Debian Designhttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/170731_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2017-07-30T22:00:00Z
<p>Uniform is a project in Debian Design.
Uniform makes it possible to make a unified look and feel with a clear identity
in Debian packages with user interface.
The Uniform package can offer system wide defaults for other packages
in order for them to alter their own default design choices.
Uniform applies design traits across desktop environments, window managers,
applications and services at the moment of installation.
The tool is handy for customized blends and forks of Debian
- and for the next stable version of Debian.</p>
<p>Starting with color and typeface schemes, the scope of the package can
potentially expand to include other configuration issues like
choice of widget theme, icon theme, wallpaper and voice management.</p>
<p>The Uniform package converts design configurations into different programming languages.</p>
<p>Initial choices prompted by Uniform during installation</p>
<ul>
<li>Title</li>
<li>Tagline</li>
<li>Logo</li>
<li>Profile
<ul>
<li>Wallpaper</li>
<li>Color</li>
<li>Typography</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>One application of a color or a set of colors doesn't necessarily mix well into the next
To overcome some of these obstacles to uniformity, a set of semantics is recommended.</p>
<p>Ressources for semantic expressions of color and typographic design</p>
<ul>
<li>SASS ressources</li>
<li>The Google Material Design project</li>
<li>Bootstrap</li>
</ul>
Cleaning day may mean more than cleaning up the househttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/160806_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2016-08-06T11:16:56Z
<p>Saturday is my cleaning day. I've recently started expanding the cleaning
concept to my digital and management clutter. So it's a day for tying loose
ends. Sort, toss, tidy. Finish and archive.</p>
<p>This week has been about initiating the setup for our intern as well as developing
and finishing a handfull of print jobs, a few still pending, needing to get
done before monday morning. Work seems to come in waves.</p>
<p>I've agreed to read and correct spelling and markup mistakes in a client's blog,
possibly providing him with graphics (already did the creative part of that).
The task could be postponed, but it's better to do it ahead to take out stress
of dealing with eventual failures and mistakes. It's never fun to do that last
minute before - or even after the newsletter is sent out. Visit the blog
<a href="http://byvandring.nu/vejviseren/">Vejviseren</a> at <a href="http://byvandring.nu/">Byvandring.nu</a>
this Monday at noon (it's in Danish).</p>
<p>I'll start a new habit of backing up and updating my computer on Saturdays
today. We use git for version control of our web sites, and I've started
using it for my design documents, but lacked the habit tied to using it in that
area of my work, so the archive is not up to date, and frankly, it's a mess,
tying my effectiveness down when searching for reference files for new jobs for
the same client.</p>
<p>If I can squeeze it in, it would be nice to spend some time in the garden,
it needs tending. But it's probably better to postpone that for tomorrow or
use those tasks for a productive break from screen time. Compost, strawberry
plants and the usual removal of a hundred out of thousands of small trees.</p>
<h2 id="touchingissues">Touching issues</h2>
<p>Following a conversation with Jonas about it, pointing towards CouchDesign,
here are some of the subjects I've been touching with my client work this week,
each somehow related to <a href="http://couchdesign.dk/">our pending's list</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>layered pdf with pdf inclusion</li>
<li>color management (for press and for print)</li>
<li>bar code generation</li>
<li>process documentation</li>
<li>archive structure</li>
<li>key signing (using caff)</li>
<li>design management</li>
<li>licensing</li>
<li>slippy maps</li>
<li>scss</li>
<li>vector drawing optimization</li>
<li>documenting work, tracking</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="demerits">Demerits</h2>
<p>I sent an advent calendar to the printers' shop without the date numbers.
I somehow tied the design of that part to the producer, subconsciously presuming
they came with the diecut drawing. I never even gave it a thought, and was
reminded by the client asking.</p>
<p>I struggled more, however, with dealing with a reported color failure on another
job. It's been a while since I've had issues with that, and it took me by surprise.
It was an office printer job. Jonas had yet another long read to deepen his already
rather extensive knowledge on color management and to brush up on what to take
into consideration. I've successfully taken care of it from his hints, and
now I/we are going to document what I did.</p>
<h2 id="documentingmanifestooftoday">Documenting manifesto of today</h2>
<p>Documenting a routine is not the same as improving it, even if it needs it.
Confronted with an unfinished or dormant project, issue or bug, it is not the
right time to deal with it. Simply document it.</p>
Growing with an internhttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/160716/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2016-07-17T20:10:54Z
<p>After telling a friend about our desktop distribution design oriented journey through India
last december-february, she got her son interested in our activities. We met in spring,
and soon we got an internship arranged and approved, starting late this summer.</p>
<p>His name is Nikolai. He is studying computer science at <a href="http://zibat.dk/">Zealand Institute of Business and Technology</a>
in Roskilde.</p>
<p>Jonas and I had a deep look into our <a href="http://couchdesign.dk/pending/">pending projects</a>
in our partnership platform <a href="http://couchdesign.dk/">Couchdesign</a>.
We believe we have some interesting projects for him to work with.</p>
<p>We have a strong intention to document and sharpen our communication effort concerning
the subjects we touch in our work and life. My first instinct is to blog, since writing
is a good way for me to clarify my thoughts. We have started collecting notes about our
digital routines. We are getting ready to give talks about free software and free (and libre) graphics.
Few people know enough to see the endless possibilities in open collaboration and in
free software.</p>
<p>We will invite Nikolai to understand and create setup and user documentation for some
of our routines, then work to improve them. We have picked four issues for him to dig into:</p>
<ol>
<li>Collaborative communication online.</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.debian.org/ShowMeBox/">ShowMeBox</a>. Testing a Pure Debian Blend for a tiny computer.</li>
<li>Print. Do we need to buy a new printer or can we solve our current printer problems?
Research and share findings on a global database.</li>
<li>Music - shared storage and accessibility to home server.</li>
</ol>
<p>Our friend and free software colleague <a href="https://copyninja.info/">Vasudev</a> in Bangalore is invited to participate in
our regular online meetings.</p>
The good lifehttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/160313_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2016-03-13T08:20:23Z
<p>It doesn't matter if I'm messy or lazy or don't reach my goals,
or if I do. What matters is to feel good about what I do.</p>
<p>I feel good when I do what's important to me.
Resistance is about uncertainty. It's natural. So I try to relax about it.
Take a bite and try it out anyway. Or take a break before I dive in.</p>
That goddamned perfection againhttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140330_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2014-03-29T23:00:00Z
<p>Since the MiniDebConf Jonas and I have been travelling in
Spain, France and finally staying in Belgium for a week,
getting some work done. It's been harder than imagined to
work during travel. I haven't exercised either, and regained
at least three of four kilos I spent much time and effort
getting rid in the year preceding. I thrive in my home and
find it hard to keep my own time and focus when I am deprived
of my own space.</p>
<p>It was challenging to give a talk, "Why aren't more designers
using Debian or working for Debian", my first public talk.
I've been working to recapture my points in writing, to make a
stronger statement, but I seem to blur my own views with
conflicting ones, and I'm loosing momentum every day.</p>
<p>One of my reasons for speaking up was to do it even though
I'm not at trained speaker and have "nothing" to contribute
but my opinions from the angle of a user that happens to be a
designer. Not claiming to be a superior designer, but one that
would like to contribute if it was easier to figure out how.
And since the community wants to encourage designers to
contribute to the Debian project, I figured it to be a good
idea to talk about how this has been challenging to me as a
dedicated user and completely out of the question for any
other designer I know - or knew before the minidebconf. No
reseach, no scientific proofs, just my wiew from my "dumb
user" and designer's perspective.</p>
<p>I saw one single attendant rolling his eyes during my talk.
I didn't care at that time, but I've given that look more
consideration than the people approaching me after the talk,
saying thank you for voicing <em>their</em> opinions and thoughts.
I think that's absolutely astonishing and at the same time
it's just typically me. It makes me angry, first with myself
for not speaking to this man's perception of things, then with
myself for not just letting go of that image. I'm really glad
that so many seemed to listen with curiosity and interest.
What if one more - or half of the auditorium - had rolled
their eyes? I don't like to feel that vulnerable.</p>
<p>The truth is, though, that I'm really not. I gave the talk
against my fear of failure and public humiliation and I'm
convinced that my thoughts and actions matter, just as
anybody's does, if we dare to say what's on our minds and to
take action. I believe it's in anybody's power to "make a
difference" and even "change the world" - at least in a small
way. I guess that's one of the underlying reasons to be a
designer in the first place. That <em>is</em> quite a strong position
to take.</p>
<p>I've created the wikipage http://wiki.debian.org/Design - well
knowing that design is a word with many meanings. Everything
is design. Since the talk I've been in doubt about that page.
About the project, my aim with it, what to do about it, how to
move on with just a tiny babystep, and I realise that I'm
simply afraid to be disturbing someone's peace, making people
angry or roll their eyes at my fumbling attempts to figure out
in public what can be done to make a thriving community of
designers collaborating with coders to make better, more
usable and attractive software in the free, wide world. I'm
starting a design process, not presenting a perfect, finished
solution.</p>
<p>Now, having put these thoughts into words, perhaps, my mind
will be somewhat appeaced and let me move on with my intended
tasks of cultivating that acclaimed space in the Debian
information jungle into a friendly and welcoming place with
info that makes it easier to be a contributing designer in Debian.</p>
Last minute proposalhttp://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140228_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2014-02-27T23:00:00Z
<p>I've been asked to make another design proposal for the
Minidebconf. People have been brainstorming. I could have
asked them to do that months ago. I didn't, because I was
working with my own ideas.</p>
<p>We need to know who and what we are aiming at with the graphic
communication, as well as with the conference. Who is the design for?
What should they do? Why? Who is the conference for? Who should
be interested?</p>
<p>Is the design for people in Barcelona only?
Is it for women only?
Is it for current developers?
Or is it for local politicians? Male or female?
Students? - only?
Does the communication have other goals than getting people
at the venue?
Should the design reflect the organizers - or rather not?
Does the geography have to play a role in the visual imagery?</p>
<p>These are questions that should always be asked. I made
the mistake to answer a lot of the questions myself, based
on my second hand knowledge and guesses. A common mistake,
I've made before and will probably make again. I'm used to
working on my own, that's my poor excuse.</p>
<p>To my mind, the gathering, the meeting in the flesh and the
communication and sharing of knowledge, is far more important
than local landmarks.</p>
<p>I don't feel that strongly for a location oriented
identity design. La Sagrada Familia doesn't have anything to
do with a gathering for free software development, does it. How?</p>
<p>Oh, that was the minidebconf in Barcelona <br />
Oh, that was the minidebconf arranged by Debian Women <br />
Oh, that was the minidebconf that made a point out of being inclusive <br />
Oh, that was the minidebconf that…</p>
<p>The identity design might have more to do with support to the
local group than with any of the other aspects of the
conference. Interesting.</p>
<p>This table of colors shows different ways a blue and a purple
could go. I put the green colors there to have more options
covered for the discussion today. You can see how the different
hues interacts with the red of the logo.
The colors can be referred to like this: B3, C6, A4 etc.
<a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/mdcb2014_colors4.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140228_en/600x-mdcb2014_colors4.png" width="600" height="309" class="img" /></a></p>
<p>Click on the image for full size version.</p>
<p>Here is an idea based on all the purple colors. Fun, uplifting,
feels like many voices. Too many colors for T-shirt print, maybe:
<a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/mdc2014_banner3.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140228_en/400x-mdc2014_banner3.png" width="399" height="168" class="tall" /></a>
<a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/mdcb2014_t-shirt_mock2.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140228_en/600x-mdcb2014_t-shirt_mock2.png" width="600" height="586" class="img" /></a></p>
<p>Here is some ideas of how to implement a minimalistic
solution that I recommend for minidebconfs:
<a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/mdcb2014_t-shirt_mock3.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140228_en/600x-mdcb2014_t-shirt_mock3.png" width="600" height="586" class="img" /></a></p>
<p>My suggestion is that the banner (and everything else
displaying the event) has the logo of the organizers placed on
it. The font used for headlines etc is semantically of another
nature than the logo, though it could be the same. I prefer
neutral fonts, that can be reused by the next minidebconf, and I
suggest a sans serif font. A condensed font makes huge display
easier to fit.</p>
<p>Don't be confused by displayfonts, I aim to show you that type
alone speaks loudly, and if this typography should be recycled,
we should not choose one of them, but go with the "neutral" sans
serif.
<a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/mdcb2014_bannerhor_mock5.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140228_en/400x-mdcb2014_bannerhor_mock5.png" width="400" height="716" class="tall" /></a></p>
<p>I need suggestions of free and good sans serif fonts.</p>
Colortest1http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140218_en/2022-03-25T11:42:43Z2014-02-17T23:00:00Z
<p>My proposal for visual design for the MiniDebConf has been
received well. People seem to like the general idea, which
worried me the most. If people hated that idea, I'd have
to go back and cook something up on Miró…</p>
<p>However, organizers in Spain do worry that the visual
expression will be confused with that of a local political party.</p>
<p><a href="http://ciudadanos-cs.org/comunicacion/CAMPANYES/CS-TE-ESCUCHA/cartel-te-escuchamos-v3-01.jpg"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140218_en/200x-cartel-te-escuchamos-v3-01.jpg" width="200" height="283" alt="election poster" class="tiny" /></a>
<a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/mdcb2014_postersizeA_mock2.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/entry/140218_en/200x-mdcb2014_postersizeA_mock2.png" width="200" height="283" class="tiny" /></a></p>
<p>I see no danger of that. They use speech bubbles and orange.
So does the telecompany Orange (if it still exists) - and Ubuntu.</p>
<p>By the way, I see in this small size that my new choice of
font for the speech bubbles is too weak. It needs more work.</p>
<p>It's been suggested I try out a brighter orange.</p>
<p><a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/colortest1.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/colortest1.png" width="400" height="425" class="tall" /></a></p>
<p>The color in the middle is my original choice, the one at the
top is fine, but you can almost tell no difference, when they
are not placed closely together.</p>
<p>The same danger of confusion will (not) be there with any orange
from "curry" to "crocus".</p>
<p>I show the color in the bottom because it makes it evident how
narrow the gap between these colors is - there is very tight
room for adjustments. Yellow is too bright and cheap looking,
like a discount sign color.</p>
<p>I've looked into other colors, but so far I've not found any
good replacement, since I no longer have any gut feeling to
hang my hat on, except for the Debian logo color - they have
to be a good match. I know I'm free to do whatever, Jonas just
reminded me, but of all the colors in the World, thinking of
Spain, I only feel orange. Not blue, not green, not purple.
Red is already used. Yellow looks cheap. A dusty palette is not
uplifting…</p>
<p>I could choose a pink, and that would actually be fun. But pink
is not serious. Pink can't be taken seriously. Like women can't?</p>
<p>OK, now it's gotta be pink!</p>
<p><a href="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/pink.png"><img src="http://sirireiter.dk//blog/pink.png" width="400" height="128" class="tall" /></a></p>
<p>Well, I'm not really serious now.</p>
<p>The serious thing to do for me now will be to watch some Spanish
movies to get a new gut feeling about Spain. A dosis of Almodóvar
would be suitable. Alternatively I must chat with some Spanish friends.</p>
<p>But maybe, just maybe, the Barcelona organizers will be just as
happy with the new orange color as I am. Life can sometimes be
that easy.</p>