[CREATE] On the tail of Libre Graphics magazine 1.1, here comes 1.2

[ginger coons]

Hello, Create.

We'd first like to express how pleased we are with the print edition of
Libre Graphics magazine 1.1, which is now being mailed and on its way to
those who have ordered. Second, we're powering ahead on issue 1.2. Below,
the call for submissions. As always, feel free to contribute or cross-post.

Also, we're now open to expressions of interest from projects seeking pro
bono ads. Email for details, either enquiries at libregraphicsmag.com or
ginger at adaptstudio.ca
Same goes if you know any organizations interested in buying ads (full
colour, full page, choice of placement).

Here we go!

-Ana Carvalho, ginger coons, Ricardo Lafuente


*Libre Graphics magazine issue 1.2: Use Cases and Affordances*
*Call for Submissions*

Use cases, at their core, are about the way users proceed through a system
in order to achieve an outcome. Normally, there are lots of diagrams and
small details involved in creating a use case. But we're not here to go over
technical detail. Instead, we're here to talk about that core, the idea of
looking at paths of use and interaction.

Then there are affordances, the features of a thing, its possibilities, the
ways in which it might come to be used.

Clearly, then, we're talking about the way things are used and, more
specifically, the way things are designed to be used.

As designers, artists, makers, builders, we make things that are of use, in
one way or another. At the same time, we make use of the productions of
others. We do both of those things on an almost constant basis, in our
lives, our vocations, our work.

A graphic designer may design a poster that serves the use of informing
viewers about that which it promotes. That same designer uses a set of
tools, however diverse, to fashion the poster. Thus, the builder is built
for. Both the poster and the tools of the designer have affordances and
potential use cases. What, after all, is the proper use of a poster? Is it
to be read? Is it to be attractive? Is it to be taken off the wall and
folded into a paper airplane?

Our software tools, in their affordances and potential use cases, define for
us, to a certain extent, what we may and may not do. Those decisions are put
in place by the people who design the tools. Together, as users, developers
and all areas between the two extremes, we boil in a constantly
reconfiguring sea of use possibilities, material and mental affordances.

Which is why, in issue 1.2 of Libre Graphics magazine, we're looking at the
interconnecting topics of use cases and affordances. We can look at it from
a technical perspective but, perhaps more productively, we can also look at
it philosophically. It's about the idea of the affordances of the work, who
it's for, what it can do.
That applies both to the work designers do for others and also to the work
of others, as it is employed by designers.

Use, mis-use and happy accidents are all areas to be discussed and explored.
We're talking, this time around, about all these things. And we want your
contributions.

Libre Graphics magazine is seeking submissions for issue 1.2, Use Cases and
Affordances. We want your written or visual work, created with Free/Libre
Open Source tools, methods and standards. Flip through issue 1.1 to see what
we've done in past, then propose to do it again, or better, or to do
something else entirely.

Submissions to submissions at libregraphicsmag.com
Submissions for this issue are due by 11:59PM EST, 15 January, 2011
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