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    <title>Graphic design</title>

    <para>The graphic design work line exists to cover brand design,
    typography design and themes design mainly.  Additionally, some
    auxiliar areas like icon design, illustration design, brushes
    design, patterns designs and palettes of colors are also included
    here for completeness.</para>
    
    <para>Inside CentOS Artwork Repository graphic design is performed
    through Inkscape (@url{http://www.inkscape.org/}) and GIMP
    (@url{http://www.gimp.org/}).  The Inkscape tool is used to create
    and manipulate scalable vector graphics and export them to PNG
    format; it also provides a command-line interface that we use to
    perform massive exportation from SVG files to PNG files in
    automation scripts. On the other hand, GIMP is used to create and
    manipulate rastered images, create brushes, patterns and palettes
    of colors.</para>
    
    <tip><para>Combine both Inkscape and GIMP specific functionalities
    and possibilities to produce very beautiful images.</para></tip>
    
    <para>The CentOS Project Corporate Visual Identity is made of
    different visual manifestations (e.g., Distributions, Web sites,
    Stationery, etc.).  Visual manifestations implement the corporate
    identity concepts by mean of images.  To produce these images, we
    decompose image production in "design models" and "artistic
    motifs".</para>
    
    <para>Design models provide the structural information of images
    (i.e., dimension, position of common elements in the visible area,
    translation markers, etc.) and they are generally produced as
    scalable vector graphics to take advantage of SVG standard, an
    XML-based standard.</para>
    
    <para>Artistic motifs provide the visual style (i.e., the
    background information, the look and feel) some design models need
    to complete the final image produced by automation scripts.
    Artistic motifs are generally produced as rastered images.</para>
    
    <para>The result produced from combining one design model with one
    artistic motif is what we know as a @emph{theme}.  Inside themes
    directory structure (@pxref{Directories trunk Identity Images
    Themes}), you can find several design models and several artistic
    motifs independently one another that can be albitrarily combined
    through @emph{theme rendition}, a flexible way to produce images
    for different visual manifestations in very specific visual
    styles. Inside themes directory structure, theme rendition is
    performed in @file{trunk/Identity/Images/Themes} directory
    structure, the required design models are taken from
    @file{trunk/Identity/Models/Themes} directory structure and the
    action itself is controlled by the @code{render} functionality of
    <command>centos-art.sh</command> script.</para>
    
    <para>In addition to theme rendition you can find @emph{direct
    rendition}, too. Direct rendition is another way of image
    production where there is no artistic motif at all but design
    models only. Direct rendition is very useful to produce simple
    content that doesn't need specific background information. Some of
    these contents are brands, icons and illustrations.  Direct
    rendition is performed in @file{trunk/Identity/Images}, the
    required design models are taken from @file{trunk/Identity/Models}
    directory structure and the action itself is controlled by the
    @code{render} functionality of <command>centos-art.sh</command>
    script.</para>
    
    <para>@xref{Directories trunk Identity}, for more information
    about The CentOS Corporate Identity and how graphic design fits on
    it.</para>

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