Voting for the new visual identity for Debian 13, “Trixie,” wrapped up recently. As always, this selection process was highly community-driven. The poll, which was open to the public, received 2,817 responses.
From six finalists who made it to the final stage, the Debian community has chosen a winner. You can check out all the options here.
The theme “Ceratopsian,” created by Elise Couper with the help of the great open-source vector graphics editor Inkscape, has officially been selected to represent the visual identity of the future release.
Inspired by Trixie’s vibrant and playful nature, the beloved triceratops character from Toy Story, Ceratopsian also pays homage to the sleek aesthetic of a previous Debian 10 “Buster” theme, “futurePrototype,” by Alex Makas.
Just to clarify, in that case, a “theme” refers only to several graphical elements. This includes the wallpaper you see on your desktop, the look and feel of the login screen and boot screen, and the graphical appearance of the installer used during Debian’s initial setup.
Do I like this artwork? Well, please don’t get me wrong. I like this distro from the bottom of my heart and bet on it for many projects. But, to be completely honest, this artwork… it’s hard for me to like. In fact, most of the six options, except perhaps “Trixie Tracks,” feel, pretty basic to me.
It’s hard to believe these are the best ones submitted for Debian. With all due respect, I think any professional artist would likely agree they come across as a bit amateurish (it’s good that there is LMDE).
But that’s just my opinion, of course. Maybe Debian developers deliberately sought an effect with an unadulterated, unpolished retro feel. In fact, this is what every version of the distribution has given so far.
Anyway, the official announcement can be seen here, and previews of the new “Ceratopsian” theme are here.
We’ll get to see the final look of the new “Trixie” release in about half a year, around mid-2025, when Debian 13 is expected to debut. Congratulations to everyone who voted and the entire Debian community.
