I had a chat with @theprogram and it led us here to this point.
We propose creating a series of official Fedora wallpapers - each inspired by a different world region - as a way to celebrate global diversity and grow regional outreach.
The first in the series (Fedora 44 or a future release) could feature any region(maybe Asia or Africa), with future releases spotlighting South America, Eastern Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East, and more.
Why this matters
Fedora is a global project, we want every region to also feel seen.
A region-themed wallpaper helps put Fedora in context with real people and cultures.
It sparks interest: āHey, Fedoraās doing something with my region!ā
Itās a subtle but powerful way to drive DEI work visually - on every desktop.
The idea
For each Fedora release (starting with Fedora 44), we pick one region and design a wallpaper inspired by it.
Over time, we build a collection of wallpapers showing Fedoraās global footprint.
Alternative
If rotating regions feels too exclusive, we could:
Create a single wallpaper that blends elements from multiple regions.
Or offer a wallpaper pack: one default, and extras that represent different regions.
Benefits
Shows Fedoraās commitment to diversity in a simple, visible way.
Can tie into regional outreach events (e.g. Fedora Africa Week, AMAs, blog posts).
Helps people in underrepresented areas feel seen and part of the Fedora story.
Sparks conversations, contributions, and local pride.
I believe having this would help us run visible outreach in these regions and even post blogs tied to these regions which again would help promote contribution opportunities.
Hi, the the āreturnā isnāt in direct revenue - itās in contributor numbers, diversity, and stronger regional networks, all of which feed into Fedoraās DEI long-term sustainability.
The visual diversity would set us apart as a distro. We can also get more contributors from different regions adn retain the numbers ( this would make people feel seen and theyāre more likely to engage and stick around).
Again, this will give us a visual story to share in blogs, social media, and events - increasing visibility in target regions without extra effort.
I like the idea of creating a sense of belonging, but I am worried about the political aspect that might come from the idea. You touched on it a bit in the proposal about how going with one country could unintentionally exclude others. I think that the selection process could become politically charged. On the idea of the wallpaper pack, a lot of work goes into the wallpapers as they are hand illustrated, usually by Madeline, and I donāt think it is possible or realistic to have more than one wallpaper created by the design team per release be the default.
An alternative solution is to maintain our current process for the main wallpaper, while at the same time introducing an open call for community-submitted wallpapers. This would allow people to showcase their home countries in their chosen medium. Weād have to come up with some rules and guidelines, of course, but I think it would be do-able.
By doing it this way, we can avoid the potential issues of picking a single country and open up the opportunity to everyone to create a wallpaper. Having individuals from different regions create the artwork would also help make sure the wallpapers are culturally accurate and respectful. It would also be a great way to invite more people to contribute and get involved, and hopefully have them stay around the design team!
@lochipi, theoretically maybe, but I think Iād need to see some evidence that a mere wallpaper would genuinely incentivise someone to contribute to a distribution, to believe it: Iāve seen some wonderful wallpapers, but I know itās never affected my decision process. (Would it yours?)
@ekidney, considering that Red Hat is incorporated in the USA, and maintains government contracts, would the USās current administrative personnel be a significant decision factor? The mere perception of violation of US EO 14151 (and, to a lesser extent, 14173) might be considered a contractual violation. Although Iām a layman, I believe that your idea about soliciting community submissions is more feasible, indeed.
TBH I hadnāt really thought of it from Red Hatās POV. I was just thinking more about how with much is going on in the world at the moment that I feel it could snowball pretty quickly.
The proposal is for each wallpaper to represent a region rather than a single country, isnāt it?
Iām not the target audience for these wallpapers, and I wouldnāt say a wallpaper per se has affected my decision process, but the answer to the question ādo I feel like I get to genuinely participate in a community that influences this distro?ā absolutely has. And that seems like what the proposal is trying to achieve.
Not necessarily new contributors, perhaps maybe Fedora users in this context (I think we can easily get them). I understand it might be difficult to just convince someone to contribute to the distro with just a wonderful wallpaper. But also, reviving the regional community meetups (which Iām currently working on) and organizing regional Fedora activities and talking about this, I guess it may make a difference. Awareness: got few new interested contributors from my region, most of them are Fedora users after a few blog posts I made.
I should say this does seem like a good idea to me - indeed, the goal of broadening the Fedora world could be better served by encouraging people to contribute artwork, rather than just contribute concepts which a remote insider team controls the actual realisation of.
@pg-tips, I think KDE has a dedicated Discourse thread for art submissions thatās always open, since they ultimately control the Krita project. Fedora doesnāt appear to have something similar, so maybe an equivalent could be a first step.
Regardless of whether the OPās proposal is ever implemented (which would necessarily require a smaller scope, and would be time-limited), maybe having somewhere thatās always available to display art created on Fedora would inherently serve this purpose.
In general I think itās a nice idea to get additional wallpapers to choose from for anyone. Iād rather see it as an addition to the current wallpaper process as itās designed to be as neutral as possible - not favoring anyone/anything. It would bring a personal note to it as well
It is also a great opportunity for new community members to contribute in an individual way and with something they are passionate about. In general (== logistics) - It would need to align with the current timelines and workflow though.
I believe a great opportunity to discuss this further / ask additional questions / gain a better understanding / brainstorm (and probably things I missed to list here) would be the Design Team video hang out happening every Monday 1.30pm UTC & also join the Matrix channel
Disclaimer: this comment is not intended to shut the conversation down here but more like encouragement to continue this discussion and get to know/meet the design team as well.
The suggestions for the 44 wallpaper are Space, Sustainability and Science Fiction. All have strong connotations of political idealism.
I think Fedora should embrace and recognise that we are seeking contributors from all over the planet. Embracing the āregionsā is in line with Fedoraās current strategy for doubling our contributor base.
Why not from every corner of the world, add the point of view from different users, to the topics Fedora Linux is proposing?
In the past there was always a Supplemental Wallpaper Package available which has been selected by the community. However the main issue with that was, the work involved, to select and control the copyrights of each Wallpaper. In the end when getting into complications with the law, it would be the responsibility of RH to solve. This was leading to the way how it is managed today with the Wallpapers of the Fedora Community.
I guess that is why @jbley invited you to Join the meeting & matrix. So you can get an idea what is needed to create a Wallpaper and the real work involved with it!
As long as you want to make it a part of a new release , you would also have to make a official change request. As the Wallpaper is a part of the Source of Fedora Linux.
why not open the fedora wallpaper design up as a worldwide open source competition and each local winner gets a small prize .. ie a small laptop running fedora.
im sure there are few small laptops around that wont run Windows but most certainly run fedora.
Iāve seen contests like this before (Red Hat Research did some : Open Source Contest | Red Hat Research) and they can be a good way to get people interested and active.
My only question is about how it works in open source:
Will it fit Fedoraās community values?
How do we handle the licensing for the designs people send in?
Will it bring in people who stay and contribute, or just those who want the prize?
If we can figure these out, I think it could be a fun way to get more people involved.
the fedora dei-team would be the steering committee overseeing the whole competition that way the competition can abide any and all principles that fedora dei-team would like it to take.
if there is an incentive, a small prize for example, then it gives the whole fedora wallpaper competition a worth that worth is something that continues long after the event.
The idea of having sets of pictures from different areas in the world is a great idea. They are not only nice to see but can be a source for new knowledge for people who donāt live there.
