I didn't realize we were in this topic
I make themes. Novice effort. But I make them. I used to upload them for all to access on opendesktop /pling, until Pling went sideways on me on Two Separate Occasions. The first time I forgave it. The second time the horse kicked me, I listened to my grandmother.
Now, what I make sits on my computer. I have a website mostly built for it, but have not felt much motivation to bother with it lately as simply put- no one had asked for any update on that. Don't get me wrong, I am not offended by that- but the pressure to get it done would be based on demand and if there is none; I don't feel compelled to rush.
That being said... I have made a wide variety of themes and while it can definitely be said that I have my own style; I did try to give a lot of range to suit other peoples tastes.
Which is nice, really. I do not have to worry about trying to make "One Theme that Everyone Likes."
With a distro, however, the Theme is just that- an attempt at making One Theme that Everyone likes. And that is utterly impossible.
A distro relies on having a unique and signature Look and Appearance that acts like a 'brand image' for that distribution. Needless to say, this means that the theme will often follow the supposed 'most trending.'
I say 'supposed' because try doing a net search on 'popular linux themes' and you will find nothing but tech articles telling us what we want without providing any statistics or studies to back up their data. It's a manipulation effort, not a scientific one.
But those supposed trends are all a distro developer has to go on. That, and feedback on a site like this.
While I would not encourage anyone to choose their distro based on the theme, but rather on performance, I 100% support Logans feedback of what he thinks of the appearance and theme.
The Zorin Appearance App itself seems ok. But the themes themselves... Always grated at me. The creamy whites mixed with mauve and blue just... I punch my monitor. Until it bleeds.
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I believe, since you have at least some experience with theming, that you should be one they ask to provide a custom theme or two (light and dark) for the new os. It may even be a help to them because you would be assisting with the choice for the background to compliment Taskbar, windows, dialogs and such. Having seen some of your work i believe it would be a beneficial partnership.
Edit:
I guess they might want to add to the forum to.... apperance topic.... we've already expressed the need for two more now... maybe after 16 is out of beta they'll pay a little attention to the forum. Like the os, this could use some upgrades as well.
Hey buddy!
Your right, its impossible to please everyone, not an easy task to accomplish.
But I must say, you know that I am a stellar nerd, and as such, any themes you create that are outer space themed with stars and stuff, you know I am going to like it lol.
Regarding theming, its in my humble opinion, that they ultimate goal, is to provide at least 4-different themes to choose from, that you can change from an appearence menu.
This would give the user the option of choice, this way they can choose the theme that they like best.
And since you make some awesome themes, I don't think a user would have much to complain, if you had an option of 4-themes or more to choose from.
I myself prefer dark based themes. I have sensitive eyes, white backgrounds make my eyes run. You can do a lot of awesome theming, using dark backgrounds as your template.
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To me, changing only the colors and not the graphics is not having four multiple theme options. That is One Theme that comes in different colors.
Oomox is not a theme making tool.
No, its Ferengi getting ear lobe massages from a dobble girl.
@Aravisian you have even said you've made your own icons... working with the visuals that make the Taskbar, title bar, backgrounds and edges it takes gradients, from what i understand, to give the illusion of multiple dimensions. I'm not saying it wouldn't be time consuming, but easier for you than me.
lol
dobble... It's Dabo...
@337harvey, I have thought about asking the ZorinGroup for permission to make a Cinnamon theme in the Zorin OS style for the Cinnamon-on-Zorin users. But have not done so as it may seem forward and - no one else has ever asked for one.
I think that the Zorin Groups desires for a theme basic appearance and my own designs of a themes basic appearance are worlds apart.
The advent of xfce 4.16 and my testing of Gnome on Z16 alpha has led to some interesting makings on my end recently, though.
Correct!
Truth is, if it were not for Aravisian, I wouldn't have the great looking theme that I have now, despite the GTK difficulties surrounding OS 12.4.
My OS would look like bland Gnome Shell 3 before. And even after switching to XFCE desktop, it still look like bland XFCE if it weren't for the awesome theme he helped me install.
Your right, theming isn't just about colors, and it never has been with Aravisian. He does make his own icons, thats part of the theme package. Window borders, titlebars, all thats changed. Window background changes, you name it.
Aravisian is an artist when it comes to OS themes. Of course I support is passion to do so. And I hope that he continues to do so, as people like myself appreciate all that he does.
And regards to Aravisians website, alas, I have to admit, I totally didn't even remember that he was making one. I am not even sure if he told me or not.
One thing I can say is, I have built a website before, even using the easy way using site creation tools, and avoiding c++ programming.
I can tell you from experience, you start building your site with such excitement. Then as it progresses, it becomes a chore. By the time your done, or mostly done, you want a break from it.
Next thing you know, its now 3 years later, and you haven't done a thing since. I don't know about Aravisian, but building websites, just not my thing. lol
I respect his attempt to try though, my God do I ever respect his theming capabilities!
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It was supposed to be a secret. Was going to surprise you with the website jumping out of a cake on your birthday.
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Well, I must admit that would be a surprise wouldn't it. It be like that moment in Christmas story, where the guy got the famous leg lamp from the box made in Frageelee.
Yes, he dived into that box big enough for a fridge to fit inside, only to discover, that the prize he won, was indeed, the leg lamp.
The reaction on his wifes face, when he put it on display in the front window, and turned it on for the whole neighborhood, was shall we say, quite interesting.
It was then that she realized, that was most certainly not the surprise she was looking for that eveninig. I am sure she rather he won a new furnace, that way they wouldn't have anymore klinkers.
I didn't want to pressure you, hence the pm... but obviously i was wrong, you want to be pressured...i feel your pain. Well, get it done already will you... customizations, XFXP, a zorin paradise.... sounds great.
May want to include cinnamon desktop install instructions on there. I know you have them here, but it'll be one of the first things asked to utilize your artwork.
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Mr. Harvey
All theming must be filed in triplicate as per TPS protocals. If the theming has not been filed to TPS document satisfaction, one must come to work on Saturday, in order to fulfill said requests.
Didn't you get the memo?
Riiiigggghhhhtttt, so if you can just get that done, that would be grrrreeeaaattt.
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He says holding a coffee and planning on not being here
Where's my stapler.... have you seen my stapler?
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Makes sense. I've actually been thinking about trying to create my own icon themes for a while as I've recently started learning material design. I want to try and one-up the Paper icon theme (which is my favourite) whilst not making something that looks overly flashy/gimmicky (EG: Papirus). I believe I'd be able to complete it given enough time, but last time I tried I barely made 4 icons for one size before giving up. I'd love to also port it to Android as most icon themes look kinda bland and boring. Plus I want my computer and phone to look consistent with one another. I'd say Paper was an improvement on Android Oreo's icons! I just need to stop procrastinating and just do it! 
It takes some perseverance. That is true. I also ported my Aeolus icon set to android for the same reasons you state.
For several sets I made, I had to individually design and make hundreds of icons. The application icons alone can require at least 150 different distinct icons. The application icon folder will contain about 500+ icons - but many are repeats.
Or symlinks- which... I strongly advise using symlinks to the greatest advantage possible.
I make everything in size 512px or 256px minimum, then batch process them to the appropriate sizes.
Making an icon set is...daunting... to say the least. If you are planning on staying as original as possible, you will need some Serious Time Management skills. Even so, a couple weeks in and my work starts looking pretty sloppy and tired.
I would encourage anyone to try their hand at theming. But Icon sets are not for the faint of heart.
EDIT: you may have an easier time of it. Where I prefer 3D icons, your preferred 2D icons (Flat icons) are much easier to make.
Definitely. Material design is a lot easier to learn since it's all basic shapes. Of course, I have my own style as well which I was thinking about making into an icon pack (similar to macOS styles, lots of gradients) but since I have no guidelines for my style most icons turn out pretty inconsistent.
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The worst thing you can do is sit staring at the screen wondering what to do, next.
I like to make an outline at the outset. Come up with a Base Element Design that all Icons must adhere to (mostly). Some inconsistency can be good - it keeps things interesting and allows a unique look. But too much is a problem. And no deviation makes the icons start looking the same, harder to tell apart and makes it hard to make each one really represent.
The way I do it is I always start at the "places" directory. The folders are the most commonly seen icon. They give the first impression. And, the Home Folders contain elements of the others- like Pictures, Documents, Templates... These then lead to your Mimetype icons and so on.
How you organize is up to you - I have my own way of doing it - but Be Organized. Once you have your base template, you can then make a base template for differentiating Mimetypes from Status from Category... And always remember that Most Status and Action icons will be displayed Very Small. So be sure to design those icons to be very clear as to function. Fewer Details with more Obvious function.
EDIT: We have gone way off topic, here. I think Jgordon or Carmar should splinter off the last fifteen posts or so...
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Ha Ha, Well I have just had a play with Z16Alpha on live USB with persistence. My first problem was...No Sound. 
Here we go again me thinks.
So back to terminal and alphaserver settings, unmuted almost everything and set Loopback active. Followed by:
sudo alsactl store
Reboot.
Settings>Sound>Speaker Test
then worked. I can also hear music and sound through my browser and stuff.
(That reported reverse mousewheel bug takes a lot of getting used to when scrolling around in Settings)
I had a play with the new panel right click settings thing. Changed panel height to 35 easy. Changed to more transparancy, which seems to be percentage opacity i.e. 10% is see through. I can't see how to make panel background 50% dark as I have with Z15 i.e. grey tint not white tint. Does that mean we still need Gnome Tweaks.
I have to say performance, even using a USB, is slick.
Getting a bit annoyed with mouse loosing focus when going Superkey>Settings etc. Seems too sensitive. But I expect there is a setting for that now 
That's my first impressions so far. More playing will follow.
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