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home server spin-off: Creative Brief Kickoff for Promotional :15 Social Ad #200

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opened 2026-05-16 11:31:54 +00:00 by producerrob · 3 comments

producerrob commented

2026-05-16 11:31:54 +00:00

🎬 Creative Brief Kickoff: Fedora Home Lab Promotional Concept

👋 Hello, Fedora Community!

Before diving in, I want to introduce myself — you can learn a bit about who I am
and why I'm here in my Welcome Ticket →.

📋 What This Ticket Is About

I'm starting the process of building a creative brief for a promotional concept
centered on the upcoming Fedora Home Lab spin — with the goal of using it as an
on-ramp to bring new and curious users into the broader Fedora Server ecosystem.

The core strategic idea:

Use the fun, accessible, tinkerer energy of Home Lab as a gateway —
then show users the path toward the full professional power of Fedora Server.

Before I can write an effective brief and move toward execution, I need your help.
The questions below are here to make sure anything we create is technically honest,
community-accurate, and genuinely useful — not just visually polished.

Your answers will directly shape the brief. The brief shapes the creative.
The creative represents you. So this part matters.

❓ Questions for Engineers & Contributors

1. Where is Home Lab in its release cycle right now?

I want to make sure any promotional material sets accurate expectations.
If Home Lab is pre-release or in an active development phase, the tone and
claims of the work need to reflect that — we should be generating excitement,
not overpromising.

What is the current status of the Home Lab spin?
Is there a target release window I should be aware of?
Are there features that are confirmed vs. still in flux?

2. How would you describe the difference between Home Lab and Server — in plain language?

The strategic bridge between these two products is the heart of this campaign.
I can write a version of this, but I want it grounded in how the people who
build these products actually think about the distinction — not a marketing
approximation of it.

What does Home Lab make easy that Server intentionally doesn't abstract?
Where does a Home Lab user typically hit a ceiling that Server solves?
Is there a natural "graduation moment" between the two?

3. Who is the Home Lab user, from your perspective?

Creative work lives or dies on audience clarity. I have a hypothesis
(curious tinkerers, self-hosters, people who've outgrown a NAS or a Pi setup)
but I'd rather validate or correct that than build on an assumption.

What use cases are you seeing or designing for?
Is there a user persona or community archetype that feels most representative?
Are there forums, Reddit threads, or community spaces where these users already gather?

4. Are there any technical claims or comparisons we should avoid?

Promotional creative has a way of accidentally implying things that engineers
immediately clock as wrong or misleading. I'd rather surface those landmines now.

Anything that's commonly misunderstood about Home Lab or Server?
Any competitor comparisons that are sensitive or off-limits?
Anything the community has pushed back on in past messaging?

5. We're also writing guides for both Home Lab and Server — how do those connect?

The guides and the promotional creative should feel like they're part of the
same universe. If the guides are already in progress, I want the campaign to
lead people toward them — and I want the tone to match.

Who is leading the guide writing, and can I connect with them?
What format are the guides taking — quickstart, deep-dive, video companion?
Is there a documentation site or landing page these will live on?

🤝 How Your Participation Helps

I know your time is the most valuable thing you can contribute, so I want to be
transparent about the return on that investment:

Your technical clarity prevents me from creating work that misrepresents
the product and has to be corrected or pulled later.
Your community knowledge means the creative will resonate with the actual
Fedora audience — not a generic "Linux user" approximation.
Your early input compresses the feedback cycle significantly. One
conversation now saves three rounds of revisions later.

The goal is creative work you're proud to put in front of people.
That starts here, with you.

📎 Next Steps

Once I have responses to the above, I'll draft a formal Creative Brief and
share it back in this ticket for comment before anything moves to execution.

No timelines are locked. No creative decisions have been made.
This is the foundation stage — and you're the foundation.

Thanks in advance. 🙏

# 🎬 Creative Brief Kickoff: Fedora Home Lab Promotional Concept ## 👋 Hello, Fedora Community! Before diving in, I want to introduce myself — you can learn a bit about who I am and why I'm here in my **[Welcome Ticket →](https://forge.fedoraproject.org/join/WelcomeToFedora/issues/173)**. --- ## 📋 What This Ticket Is About I'm starting the process of building a **creative brief** for a promotional concept centered on the upcoming **Fedora Home Lab spin** — with the goal of using it as an on-ramp to bring new and curious users into the broader **Fedora Server** ecosystem. The core strategic idea: > *Use the fun, accessible, tinkerer energy of Home Lab as a gateway — > then show users the path toward the full professional power of Fedora Server.* Before I can write an effective brief and move toward execution, I need your help. The questions below are here to make sure anything we create is technically honest, community-accurate, and genuinely useful — not just visually polished. **Your answers will directly shape the brief. The brief shapes the creative. The creative represents you. So this part matters.** --- ## ❓ Questions for Engineers & Contributors ### 1. Where is Home Lab in its release cycle right now? > *I want to make sure any promotional material sets accurate expectations. > If Home Lab is pre-release or in an active development phase, the tone and > claims of the work need to reflect that — we should be generating excitement, > not overpromising.* - What is the current status of the Home Lab spin? - Is there a target release window I should be aware of? - Are there features that are confirmed vs. still in flux? --- ### 2. How would *you* describe the difference between Home Lab and Server — in plain language? > *The strategic bridge between these two products is the heart of this campaign. > I can write a version of this, but I want it grounded in how the people who > build these products actually think about the distinction — not a marketing > approximation of it.* - What does Home Lab make easy that Server intentionally doesn't abstract? - Where does a Home Lab user typically hit a ceiling that Server solves? - Is there a natural "graduation moment" between the two? --- ### 3. Who is the Home Lab user, from your perspective? > *Creative work lives or dies on audience clarity. I have a hypothesis > (curious tinkerers, self-hosters, people who've outgrown a NAS or a Pi setup) > but I'd rather validate or correct that than build on an assumption.* - What use cases are you seeing or designing for? - Is there a user persona or community archetype that feels most representative? - Are there forums, Reddit threads, or community spaces where these users already gather? --- ### 4. Are there any technical claims or comparisons we should avoid? > *Promotional creative has a way of accidentally implying things that engineers > immediately clock as wrong or misleading. I'd rather surface those landmines now.* - Anything that's commonly misunderstood about Home Lab or Server? - Any competitor comparisons that are sensitive or off-limits? - Anything the community has pushed back on in past messaging? --- ### 5. We're also writing guides for both Home Lab and Server — how do those connect? > *The guides and the promotional creative should feel like they're part of the > same universe. If the guides are already in progress, I want the campaign to > lead people toward them — and I want the tone to match.* - Who is leading the guide writing, and can I connect with them? - What format are the guides taking — quickstart, deep-dive, video companion? - Is there a documentation site or landing page these will live on? --- ## 🤝 How Your Participation Helps I know your time is the most valuable thing you can contribute, so I want to be transparent about the return on that investment: - **Your technical clarity** prevents me from creating work that misrepresents the product and has to be corrected or pulled later. - **Your community knowledge** means the creative will resonate with the actual Fedora audience — not a generic "Linux user" approximation. - **Your early input** compresses the feedback cycle significantly. One conversation now saves three rounds of revisions later. The goal is creative work you're proud to put in front of people. That starts here, with you. --- ## 📎 Next Steps Once I have responses to the above, I'll draft a formal **Creative Brief** and share it back in this ticket for comment before anything moves to execution. No timelines are locked. No creative decisions have been made. This is the foundation stage — and you're the foundation. Thanks in advance. 🙏

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2026-05-20 15:59:01 +00:00

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home server spin-off

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2026-05-21 12:16:59 +00:00

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2026-05-21 12:18:06 +00:00

pboy added this to the home server spin-off project

2026-05-21 12:20:14 +00:00

theprogram commented

2026-05-22 10:57:00 +00:00

Where is Home Lab in its release cycle right now?

The Home Lab is currently deciding on the applications to come as defaults. We have put out to users, they have come back to us with their setups and likes.
We will now decide what they will be.
We will target release for Fedora 45, but it may be pushed to Fedora 46.
Features are not confirmed, but goals are #197

How would you describe the difference between Home Lab and Server — in plain language?

Home Lab is for fun things that people might want at home. Things like serving media (Jellyfin) , sharing documents (NextCloud), sorting and sharing pictures. As well as mail and filesharing.

Home Lab is meant to be low resource, cheap and accessible. For example, single board ARM or low end Intel Celeron.

Server is for professional workloads, is scalable and may be resource hungry. Server is for anything.

Home Lab is a 'Spin' of Server. In Fedora, a Spin is a release that comes preloaded with things one might typically need. The base is the same.

People would outgrow Home Lab when they want to make all the decisions about installed software themselves.

Who is the Home Lab user, from your perspective?

Home Lab is for people that want some basic decisions to be made for them. People that don't want to spend hours researching Apache vs Nginx.

Home Lab is for people that want the services, and want to make it easy.

Home Lab will be about installing on the cheapest, smallest, fit for purpose devices. See the linked goals above again.

Are there any technical claims or comparisons we should avoid?

We should only make comparisons to ourselves. This is in the spirit of Fedora's Four Foundations, Freedom Friends, Features, First. https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/

We would particulalry like to promote First - that we have the latest software but do not sacrifice stability.

We have sometimes been criticised for being a little behind on our builds of Firefox and Thunderbird, though this is not so relevant on a server.

We're also writing guides for both Home Lab and Server — how do those connect?

The lead authors for the Guide are Mat H (me) and Jocelyn Gould.
The Guides will be text only. As Beginners Guides, they will be modelled after https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/beginners-guide/

We would like them to be linked from Fedora Docs site somehow. It has not been negotiated (but there are good connections between server, the authors and Docs) https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/beginners-guide/

Creating the Guides has been instrumental to how we will create the Home Lab. People have been forthcoming and willing to share info and make recommendations on the guides. This info will in turn help us design the Home Lab itself. Although we have recieved conflicting information, so not everyone will be getting what they recommended. Again, we will go back to the Fedora Mission and Foudations, and the Goals of the Home Lab to inform our decisions.
All technology is political. Mat considers inserting smiley face here

1. Where is Home Lab in its release cycle right now? The Home Lab is currently deciding on the applications to come as defaults. We have put out to users, they have come back to us with their setups and likes. We will now decide what they will be. We will target release for Fedora 45, but it may be pushed to Fedora 46. Features are not confirmed, but goals are https://forge.fedoraproject.org/server/tickets/issues/197 2. How would you describe the difference between Home Lab and Server — in plain language? Home Lab is for fun things that people might want at home. Things like serving media (Jellyfin) , sharing documents (NextCloud), sorting and sharing pictures. As well as mail and filesharing. Home Lab is meant to be low resource, cheap and accessible. For example, single board ARM or low end Intel Celeron. Server is for professional workloads, is scalable and may be resource hungry. Server is for anything. Home Lab is a 'Spin' of Server. In Fedora, a Spin is a release that comes preloaded with things one might typically need. The base is the same. People would outgrow Home Lab when they want to make all the decisions about installed software themselves. 3. Who is the Home Lab user, from your perspective? Home Lab is for people that want some basic decisions to be made for them. People that don't want to spend hours researching Apache vs Nginx. Home Lab is for people that want the services, and want to make it easy. Home Lab will be about installing on the cheapest, smallest, fit for purpose devices. See the linked goals above again. 4. Are there any technical claims or comparisons we should avoid? We should only make comparisons to ourselves. This is in the spirit of Fedora's Four Foundations, Freedom Friends, Features, First. https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/ We would particulalry like to promote *First* - that we have the latest software but do not sacrifice stability. We have sometimes been criticised for being a little behind on our builds of Firefox and Thunderbird, though this is not so relevant on a server. 5. We're also writing guides for both Home Lab and Server — how do those connect? The lead authors for the Guide are Mat H (me) and Jocelyn Gould. The Guides will be text only. As Beginners Guides, they will be modelled after https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/beginners-guide/ We would like them to be linked from Fedora Docs site somehow. It has not been negotiated (but there are good connections between server, the authors and Docs) https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/beginners-guide/ Creating the Guides has been instrumental to how we will create the Home Lab. People have been forthcoming and willing to share info and make recommendations on the guides. This info will in turn help us design the Home Lab itself. Although we have recieved conflicting information, so not everyone will be getting what they recommended. Again, we will go back to the Fedora Mission and Foudations, and the Goals of the Home Lab to inform our decisions. All technology is political. *Mat considers inserting smiley face here*

producerrob commented

2026-05-23 00:42:51 +00:00

Author

This is great! thanks again for all the detailed information and getting me up to speed.

Quick Question: For clarification on the time frame what are the tentative target releases for Fedora 45 and 46? December 2026, May 2027?

This is great! thanks again for all the detailed information and getting me up to speed. **Quick Question:** For clarification on the time frame what are the tentative target releases for Fedora 45 and 46? December 2026, May 2027?