Ubuntu Wiki

The Ubuntu community desires to create a high quality Linux Distribution which appeals to a wide variety of user lifestyles and personal preferences.

Goal(s)

The goal is to solicit graphic designs in the form of illustrations or photographs to be used as wallpapers from the community targeted to the release currently under development.

Assumptions

• The Unity desktop, classic desktop, and humanity icon themes may be used.
• The collection of classic desktop themes may include themes which are generally described as light and themes which are generally described as dark.

Subject Matter

It is important to note Ubuntu is shipped to users from every part of the globe. Your images should be considerate of this diversity and refrain from the following.

• No brand names or trademarks of any kind.
• No illustrations some may consider inappropriate, offensive, hateful, tortuous, defamatory, slanderous or libelous.
• No sexually explicit or provocative images.
• No images of weapons or violence.
• No alcohol, tobacco, or drug use imagery.
• No designs which promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against groups or individuals; or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• No religious, political, or nationalist imagery.
• No version numbers as some may prefer to continue to use your theme with an older version of Ubuntu.
• No branding assets like “Ubuntu CoF” or text to permit use by derivative distributions.

Composition

• Your image should strive for subtlety and poetry.
• Regardless of the role or inspiration, the desired result of the successful submissions will render feelings which may be described as light, bright, or cheerful.
• Avoid high frequency images. ( A soft focus is one way to achieve this )
• As the name suggests, visually, it should settle into the “background” of the activity scene.
• Design must accommodate the Unity dock.

Constraints

• The final dimension should be 2560 x 1600 pixels.

• Submissions must adhere to the Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0 license.

• Attribution must be declared if the submission is based on another design.

Specific comments and words of encouragement may be posted to Flickr or topics for discussion to the Artwork mailing list.

Please offer comments and discussions as guided by the Ubuntu code of Conduct.

Screen Resolution and Aspect Ratio

It is important to note the diversity of displays which Ubuntu needs to support. Although the desired image format is 2560 x 1600 pixels the composition should support a variety of image formats.

Typical screen resolutions:

Desktops

Laptops

Tablets

Background Guidelines

• Avoid prominent use of the Ubuntu logo. It appears in enough places already.
• No version numbers. Some individuals may desire to use an older theme, or use the latest theme in their older version of Ubuntu. Let your submission be about choice and do not use version numbers in your artwork.
• Avoid text, it calls for attention too much and will likely look bad when scaled. Plus it can't be translated easily.
• Be careful with small patterns, they might become uneven when scaled.
• Consider how the wallpaper will interact with the panels, icons and windows.
• Show restraint in your use of color tone and contrast. The wallpaper sets the scene for other elements, it is not the main act.

File Formats

• Use PNG format for bitmap files (ie any files in which fewer colors are repeated throughout, especially when the colors are in large blocks). Use JPGs for photos and final images in order to reduce the file size, as this format can cause visible compression artefacts.
• Make the XCF source files available, if you happen to work with GIMP
• Use SVG for vector art.
• Work generated with proprietary applications like Photoshop and Illustrator is acceptable, but files in their formats are useless for many of us.

Templates

An SVG template for use with Inkscape and an XCF template for GIMP. Both have a 2560 x 1600 pixel canvas to use the largest commonly offered resolution, currently. "Passepartout" layers allow to see how things will look when this space is cropped to conform to other common aspect ratios.

This simulates the effect the "Style: Zoom" setting in "Appearance Preferences: Background" will have: the image is scaled up or down such that it fills the screen without distorting it. If the aspect ratio of the image is wider than that of the screen, it will be scaled to the same height and the areas on the side will be cropped. If the aspect ratio of the image is taller than that of the screen, it will be scaled to the same width and the areas on top and bottom will be cropped.

Comments / Suggestions for this Document

The other aspect ratios should also be marked as "* Desired format(s)" ie. 2560x1440[16:9] and 2560x1920[4:3scaled] : The author should be the one to decide on where & what to crop out instead of GNOME's default crop's which sometimes give undesirable results like for example cutting the top off someone's head.