[OSM-newbies] Contributing Art, icons, GUI elements?

[Sebastian Klein]

Ken Vermette wrote:
> Oh yes, forgot to ask... Is this a replies-on-top mailing list? I've 
> been on a few that get.... Fidgetey with that.

No fixed rules, if you are actually considering this, you probably have 
better manners than the average list user. ;)

> Anyway, I can most certainly chip away at those in my spare time. I was 
> somewhat bored already, so while I was waiting for a reply I did take a 
> hack at re-designing the OSM logo icon, I can't post it to the wiki, it 
> won't let me, but I can link it:
> 
> http://kver.ca/images/75f879eb1281252156_1.png

Maybe not start with the main logo... There has been a heated debate 
after someone stepped in with a new logo design. However a gentle change 
that improves some of the design flaws of the current logo might have 
slightly better chances to get accepted. (Note, that there is no fixed 
decision process for this.)

> I can upload the SVG once I set up a wiki account and get it to 
> autoapprove status for uploads. 

SVG is best. Also consider licensing your artwork under PD/CC0, this way 
in can be included in icon sets like [1] and used by a variety of 
(differently licensed) software.

> If there's anything very specific that's 
> needed (and not just my random selections) please, do tell me. It's a 
> little hard to tell what's critical/important/wanted since I don't 
> speak... That (Russian, German?). :S

There was a project of the week recently [2]. The week is over, but you 
can still take it from there, some of the icons are good, others still 
need improvement or redesign.

One useful thing would be to improve the map controls (openlayers) on 
the main site: The "Plus" on the upper right look exactly the same as 
the two "Pluses"  on the top and bottom of the zoom slider. The controls 
do very different things, but look exactly the same. It should be more 
apparent, that there is a popup window behind one of the pluses.

Another project that would benefit a lot from better icons is the JOSM 
editor. You can download the file overview.osm [3] and open it in JOSM 
to see the current icons. Unlike the mapnik icons, they can (and should) 
be coloured and the challenge is to make them recognizable in 16x16 
format. The icons are managed by Ulf Lamping and Christoph Eckert. The 
user page of Ulf has some resources [4]. See also [5] for a list of 
icons. New icons can be posted to the JOSM bug tracker. [6]

Generally it might not always be straightforward to get your artwork 
accepted and included. Don't give up too fast, try to find the right 
people, or ask on the list if you are having trouble! ;)

[1] http://www.sjjb.co.uk/mapicons/introduction
[2] <http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Project_of_the_week/2010/Jul_25>
[3] 
<http://josm.openstreetmap.de/export/3426/trunk/styles/standard/overview.osm> 

[4] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Ulfl
[5] 
<http://trac.openstreetmap.org/export/HEAD/applications/share/map-icons/index_all-abs.en.html>
[6] https://josm.openstreetmap.de/newticket

Looking forward to your contributions,


Sebastian