Libre Graphics Magazine - Volume 1, Issue 2

2011·40.5 MB·English

by  Libre Graphics Mag

Index
4 Masthead
6 Editor'sLetter
7 ProductionColophon
9 NewReleases
10 UpcomingEvents
12 CopyleftBusinessDaveCrossland
14 TheheritageofourpixelsEricSchrijver
18 CodingPicturesRicardoLafuente
22 SettingabookwithScribusPierreMarchand
24 Bestofsvg
26 DesktopPierrosPapadeas
28 InterviewwithOxygen'sNunoPinheiro
35 Showcase
36 AllisonMoorePapercut
38 AntonioRobertsWhatRevolution?
40 MakingyourworkflowworkforyouSethKenlon
43 OnbeingaUnicorn:thecaseforuser-involvementinFree/Libre
OpenSourceSoftwareLibreGraphicsMeetingSpecial
44 TalkingaboutourtoolsLibreGraphicsMeetingSpecial
46 AdaptableGimp:userinterfacesforusersgingercoons
51 ResourceList
55 Glossary1.2
4 MASTHEAD
LIBREGRAPHICSMAGAZINE1.2
Masthead
A Reader's Guide to Libre Graphics Magazine
Editorial Team Inthismagazine,youmayfindconcepts,words,ideasand
AnaCarvalho [email protected] thingswhicharenewtoyou.Good.Thatmeansyourhorizons
gingercoons [email protected] areexpanding.Theproblemwiththat,ofcourse,isthat
RicardoLafuente [email protected] sometimes,thingswithsteeplearningcurvesarelessfunthan
thosewithout.
Publisher
gingercoons That'swhywe'retryingtoflattenthelearningcurve. If,while
readingLibreGraphicsmagazine,youencounteranunfamiliar
Administrative Partner word,projectname,whateveritmaybe,chancesaregood
StudioXX http://studioxx.org there'sanexplanation.
Community Board Atthebackofthismagazine,you'llfindaglossaryandresource
DaveCrossland list.Theglossaryaimstodefinewordsthatareuniquetothe
LouisDesjardins worldofLibreGraphics.Theresourcelistprovidesvaluable
AymericMansoux informationabouttools,licenses,whateveritemswemaybe
AlexandreProkoudine mentioning.
FemkeSnelting
Practically,thismeansthatif,forexample,you'rereadingan
Contributors articleaboutScribus(seepages22to23),youcanalwaysflipto
DaveCrossland,SethKenlon,PierreMarchand,AllisonMoore, thebackofthemagazine,lookupScribusintheresourcelist
PierrosPapadeas,NunoPinheiro, AntonioRoberts,Eric andbecomequicklyinformedaboutit.Thisprovidessome
Schrijver. instantgratification,givingyoutheresourcesyouneedto
understand,inamoment,justwhatwe'retalkingabout.
PrintedinMontréalbyMardigrafeonrecycledpaper. Wehopeyoulikeoursystem.
http://mardigrafe.com
LicensedunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-ShareAlike
license(CC-BY-SA).Allcontentshouldbeattributedtoits
individualauthor.Allcontentwithoutastatedauthorcanbe
creditedtoLibreGraphicsMagazine.
Contacts
[email protected]
http://libregraphicsmag.com
ImagesunderaCCAttributionShare-Alikelicense Imagesunderotherlicenses
Cover,insidecover,indexandshowcaseseparatorpageillustrationsbyManufactura Signsin“BestofSVG”areallinthePublicDomain.Theycanbefoundin:
IndependentebasedonimagesbyFlickruserfdctsevilla. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UK_motorway_matrix_fog_nuvola.svg
Photoofgingercoonsbyherself. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohituskielto_p%C3%A4%C3%A4ttyy_352.svg
PhotoofRicardoLafuentebyAnaCarvalho. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norwegian-road-sign-406.0.svg
PhotoofAnaCarvalhobyLuísCamanho. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raitiovaunun_pys%C3%A4kki_533.svg
PhotoofDaveCrosslandbyMaryCrossland. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K%C3%A4velykatu_575.svg
PhotoofEricSchrijverbyhimself. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeichen_238.svg
Illustrationsin“Codingpictures”byJoanaEstrela,LídiaMalho,TelmoParreira,Sofia http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laser-symbol.svg
RochaeSilva,FábioSantos,EdgarSprecher. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PN_Pcha%C4%87,_aby_otworzy%C4%87.svg
Illustrationin“SettingabookwithScribus”byManufacturaIndependentebasedon“Book http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GHS-pictogram-explos.svg
8”byFlickruserbrenda-starr. Blenderscreenshotin“Resources”byWikipediauserDingTo.GNUGeneralPublicLicense.
Signsin“BestofSVG”byWikimediaCommons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blender3D_2.4.5-screen.jpg
Screenshotsin“Desktop”byPierrosPapadeas.
Photosin“InterviewwithOxygen'sNunoPinheiro”byManufacturaIndependente. General
Iconsandwallpaperin“InterviewwithOxygen'sNunoPinheiro”bytheOxygenproject. Advertisements,withtheexceptionofthoserepresentingLibreGraphicsMagazine,arenot
Photosin“AdaptableGimp:userinterfacesforusers”bygingercoons. necessarilycoveredbytheblanketCCBY-SAlicense.Itisbesttocheckwiththeprojects
Screenshotsin“AdaptableGimp:userinterfacesforusers”byBenLafreniere. theyrepresentbeforereusingthem.
AllimagesintheShowcasesectioncanbeattributedtothecreatorsmentionedtherein.All
arelicensedCCBY-SA.
GIMP,Inkscape,Kdenlive,MyPaint,ScribusandWebFontDownloaderscreenshotsin
“Resources”byManufacturaIndependente.

6 EDITOR'SLETTER
LIBREGRAPHICSMAGAZINE1.2
Getting used to misuse
ginger coons
Usecases,attheircore,areaboutthewayusersproceed twoextremes,weboilinaconstantlyreconfiguringseaofuse
throughasysteminordertoachieveanoutcome. Normally, possibilities,materialandmentalaffordances.
therearelotsofdiagramsandsmalldetailsinvolvedincreating
ausecase. Butwe'renotheretogoovertechnicaldetail. Whichiswhy,inissue1.2ofLibreGraphicsmagazine,we're
Instead,we'reheretotalkaboutthatcore,theideaoflookingat lookingattheinterconnectingtopicsofusecasesand
pathsofuseandinteraction. affordances.Wecanlookatitfromatechnicalperspectivebut,
perhapsmoreproductively,wecanalsolookatit
Thenthereareaffordances,thefeaturesofathing,its philosophically. It'sabouttheideaoftheaffordancesofthe
possibilities,thewaysinwhichitmightcometobeused. work,whoit'sfor,whatitcando.
Clearly,then,we'retalkingaboutthewaythingsareusedand, Thatappliesbothtotheworkdesignersdoforothersandalsoto
morespecifically,thewaythingsaredesignedtobeused. theworkofothers,asitisemployedbydesigners.
Asdesigners,artists,makers,builders,wemakethingsthatare Use,misuseandhappyaccidentsareallareaswe'rekeento
ofuse,inonewayoranother. Atthesametime,wemakeuseof discussandexploreinthisissue.Welook,thistimearound,at
theproductionsofothers.Wedobothofthosethingsonan glitchart,smartworkflows,thehistoryofthepixelandits
almostconstantbasis,inourlives,ourvocations,ourwork. adoption,userinterfacesdesignedtoworkforinsteadofagainst
youandanynumberofotherexcitingtopics.
Agraphicdesignermaydesignaposterwhichservestheuseof
informingviewersaboutthatwhichitpromotes.Thatsame Wehopeyou'llstickwithusaswewanderthroughthediverse
designerusesasetoftools,howeverdiverse,tofashionthe meaningsofwhatitistouseandbeused.
poster.Thus,thebuilderisbuiltfor. Boththeposterandthe
toolsofthedesignerhaveaffordancesandpotentialusecases.
What,afterall,istheproperuseofaposter?Isittoberead?Is
ittobeattractive?Isittobetakenoffthewallandfoldedintoa gingercoonsisamemberoftheLibreGraphicsMagazine
paperairplane?Tobestolen,onlytobehungonanother,more editorialteam.
privatewall?
Oursoftwaretools,intheiraffordancesandpotentialusecases,
defineforus,toacertainextent,whatwemayandmaynotdo.
Thosedecisionsareputinplacebythepeoplewhodesignthe
tools.Together,asusers,developersandallareasbetweenthe
PRODUCTIONCOLOPHON 7
LIBREGRAPHICSMAGAZINE1.2
Versions under control
Ana Carvalho & Ricardo Lafuente
Whenworkingonaproject,ithelpstohaveaproperworkflow changethathasbeenmade,usingversioncontrolmakes
setup,onewhichcanhelpusdoawaywithboringand collaborativeworkmuchmorestraightforward,givingusthe
repetitivetasksthroughasmuchautomationaspossible.Oneof abilitytoalwaysknowwhatthestatusofourprojectisand,if
thecrucialpartsinsuchaworkflowisversioncontrol. necessary,reverttoolderversionsofanyfilewithouthassle.
Themostpopularproprietarydesignsoftwaretoolshaven'tyet Nevertheless,versioncontrolsystemsrequiresomelearningand
incorporatedthelatestimprovementsinversioncontrol—in hand-holdingtogetcomfortablewith. Amongallthetechnical
manycasesit'stotallyabsentfromsoftwaresuitesandisusually jargon—learningthemeaningsandeffectsofcommitting,
providedbythird-partycommercialplug-ins.Theconsequence reverting,staging,branching,merging,rebasing,pruning,
ofthisisthatregularusersareforcedtoadoptverycrudeways annotating—weareslowlybecomingfamiliarwiththiswayof
ofmanagingtheversionsoftheirwork,usuallywithawkward working,andaredefinitelyseeingtheadvantages.
numberingandnotesonthefilenamesthemselves.Thingslike
“illustration7-final_version3-PRINT-FINAL-SRSLY_THIS_IS_IT-
final2.jpg”shouldbefamiliartomorethanafewdesigners. PROPCOURIER 1.2
Ontheotherhand,theFree/LibreandOpenSourcesoftware Theever-evolvingtypefaceforthismagazine,PropCourierSans,
(f/loss)worldisverymuchintouchwithversioncontroland benefittedfromsometweaksforissue1.2. Mostofthework
otherprojectmanagementstrategies.Thesestrategiesquite dealtwithpunctuation,softeningtheweightofthemostused
oftencomefromthedomainofsoftwaredevelopment.Thus,the punctuationglyphs.Wealsobeganworkingonkerning,the
thoughtofusingaversioncontrolsystem(vcs)forthe headacheofchoicefortypedesigners. Inordertopreserveour
productionofthismagazinecameupearly.Thereisawide neurons,wedecidedtokernaswego:aftertypesetting1.2,we
arrayofchoiceforthispurpose.Themostpopularoptionsare lookedatprintedproofsforthemostglaringkerningproblems
Subversion,Git,Darcs,BazaarandMercurial. Itshouldbesaid (asin“f/loss”)andfixedthem. Eachissue,we'llbeaddingmore
thatthere'ssomeheavyargumentaboutwhichvcsisthebest kerningpairsaswefindtheneedforthem.
andthisdiscussionisnearingthestatusofaholywar.We
decidednottowastetoomuchtimeweighingchoicesand
insteadrunwithoneandseehowitfared—andGitwaswhat
westuckwith.
Clichéasitmightsound,versioncontrolisoneofthethings
thatonceyoupickup,youcan'tfigureouthowyouever
managedtodowithout. Notonlydowegetafulllogofevery
8
LIBREGRAPHICSMAGAZINE1.2
NEWRELEASES 9
LIBREGRAPHICSMAGAZINE1.2
New releases
Reclaim your tools
Documentstheslowbeautyanddiversityof
byJakubSzypulka activitytobefoundateventhemosthectic
meetingofsoftwarecontributors. Inthis
http://vimeo.com/18568225 case,documentingLibreGraphicsMeeting
2010. MadeusingKdenliveandAudacity.
AdaptableGIMP
Anewversionofgimp,whichallowsusers
http://adaptablegimp.org tomakeeasycustomizations. Readmore
aboutitonpages46-50.
ArtistX 1.0
Aversionofgnu/Linuxwhichbillsitselfas
http://www.artistx.org/site3 abletoturna‘commoncomputerintoafull
multimediaproductionstudio.’ Basedon
Ubuntuanddesignedformultimediaartists.
CrunchBang 10
CrunchBangisversionofgnu/Linux
notableforitscommunityofuserswho
Statler
activelysharescreenshotsoftheir
modificationstothedesktop.Theysharenot
http://crunchbanglinux.org onlyscreenshotsoftheirmodifications,but
alsoinstructionsforreplicatingtheirresults.
What's new with you?We're always eager to find out what designers,
artists and others using and working with F/LOSS are up to.
[email protected]
Telluswhatyou'vedonelatelyat
10 UPCOMINGEVENTS
LIBREGRAPHICSMAGAZINE1.2
Upcoming events
1-3 30 APRIL
We're very pleased to
present a calendar of
upcoming events which APRIL 1 May
encompass all things
graphic design, media
art and F/LOSS. Given
that there are few events Flourish 2011 Linux Fest
which tackle all three CHICAGO Northwest
subjects, we aim to offer
BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
you events where you
can be the agent of
change: the F/LOSS
designer at a traditional
design event, or maybe http://flourishconf.com/2011 http://linuxfestnorthwest.org
the designer at a
predominantly software
developer event.
10-13 9-13
May May
Libre Graphics Icograda
Meeting design week
MONTREAL VILNIUS
http://libregraphicsmeeting.org/2011 http://icograda.org/events/events/
calendar738.htm