Our banner: let's talk about it.

[Jiggy]

First, I know we don't have a forum banner. We'll figure it out at some point.

As for our main page banner, what do you think? I've heard both positive and negative feedback about its overall feel, but let's talk about specifics... Let's make the best banner we can. :) Here are my feelings:


Love

-Our rotating characters. Even if absolutely everything else were changed, I'd want to keep our Octokitty and Mr. Saturn, along with other unrevealed banner buddies (Prax's name for them) we have waiting in the wings. OverClocked Remix also has rotating characters in its banner, and VC-Reviews used to before it merged with Nintendo Life.
-Those particular shades of blue.
-Our slogan being off-center compared to the site name. It would feel very if it were any other way, and if there's anything I'd like to avoid then it's normalcy.


Not sure

-What our slogan actually says. Even though I was the one who proposed it, I never felt confident about using it; to be honest, this slogan was always kind of placeholder material and we went with it because we couldn't think of anything else. I spoke with one guy who's been in gaming journalism for a while--and yes, I know we're not game journalists, but I still valued his feedback--and he suggested that slogans are so frequently-used that maybe we should just drop it altogether. I don't know if I'd go that far, but we probably need something wittier if we're keeping one. Maybe a video game quote, or rotating video game quotes--or something.


Don't like

-The black part. I didn't think of this until Hive said the banner was too dark and cold, but that black part really sticks out for being so different from the rest, and it does add kind of a darker feel to everything. If we want a fun community with fun people, shouldn't the banner be very lighthearted too? (This was also one of my concerns with forum colors, and it's why I put up a poll asking what our default forum style should be (http://www.gf-park.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73).)

[Hive]

The banner leaves very little to the imagination.

Since we are a video game site, how about making a banner related to video gaming? lol

Also, warmer colors such as yellow and orange should be used so as not to depress current and future members.

[Jiggy]

Since we are a video game site, how about making a banner related to video gaming? lolThis was a very early proposal I had, super-ancient and dug up straight from December 19th last year:

Say we've got a map-style picture with an overhead view, and on one side of the banner there's a stream of water (maybe realistic-looking water) and it's marked with a sign that says "Main St."--like Main Street, except that in this case the "St." stands for "Stream." (Or maybe leave off the "St."; I'm not really sure.) Then on the other side of the banner there's another stream of water (maybe pixelated or cel-shaded-looking water) and a sign marked "You Are Here."It's still an open possibility, I guess, but I thought maybe I was being too clever and abstract for my own good with something like this--though I do kind of love the idea of having an 8-bit river. Maybe if it were the only river, the entire thing wouldn't be too confusing...


Also, warmer colors such as yellow and orange should be used so as not to depress current and future members.How about a shade of green like the one I used for the search button in the right sidebar? Don't get me wrong, I love yellow and orange, but I'm not sure about the general population. :P

[Hive]

haha
yellow and orange are just examples of warmer colors you should use, but I'm loving the 8-bit river idea too~

Sprites are a beautiful thing ^^

[Rotanibor]

Rotating characters are good. Having some cute or cartoonie(I wouldn't go with anime inspired cartoonie though) versions of gaming characters rotating around up there is a good idea. If octo-kitty is an original design though, I'd almost say just make that the site mascot for the moment and give it a more permanent placement. I think it would be a good idea to give your site some sort of visual identity.

Also, I kind of think its probably a placeholder, but if not, dump the Kirby icon from the site. I can't remember what you call that image, but it shows up as the bookmark and in tabs. It needs to have an original icon in its place.

Which shades of blue are you talking about? The whole front page is a bunch of different shades of blue. If you are talking about the light and neon blue colors in the logo, I kind of like those. If the page was any more white though, it would just remind me of the Wii glowing blue at that point.

The slogan is a bit meh on me. I am not 100% what its really trying to convey. For something like a slogan, I think it should be a quick and clear reflection of exactly what the site is. The placement of the slogan I don't have a problem with.

Honestly I think the whole site itself could take on some lighter themes and warmer tones. It looks competent for what it is, but knowing the admins, I kind of feel like it doesn't exactly reflect them. Its all a bit to dark and moody in my opinion.

Though honestly, I think the color and style asthetics come second to the actual format of the page. The whole set up is looking pretty good, but maybe there could be a bit more done to move things around into certain places. I'd have to think about that a bit more.

One last thing: you still need a link to the main site at the top of the forums! Its very hard to find it down below.
As a quick suggestion, maybe you could do something like:
GF-Park Main > GF-Park Forums > Rules, Suggestions, and Construction > Our banner: let's talk about it.

[Jiggy]

If octo-kitty is an original design though, I'd almost say just make that the site mascot for the moment and give it a more permanent placement. I think it would be a good idea to give your site some sort of visual identity.Yeah, I'm aware we need something fairly unique right now. I kind of like the Mr. Saturn, but alright, I'll take him out of rotation for now.

If nothing else, maybe we could find a way to have rotating banner characters and put our kitty somewhere else (or permanent Octokitty banner and rotating characters somewhere else), but I don't know how easy or difficult that would be since this kind of thing isn't my forte.


Also, I kind of think its probably a placeholder, but if not, dump the Kirby icon from the site. I can't remember what you call that image, but it shows up as the bookmark and in tabs. It needs to have an original icon in its place.Yeah, it's definitely placeholder. Octokitty doesn't work in a 16x16 format with a transparent background; we need to invent some other symbol, find a game sprite that works, or just make a "GF."


Which shades of blue are you talking about? The whole front page is a bunch of different shades of blue. If you are talking about the light and neon blue colors in the logo, I kind of like those. If the page was any more white though, it would just remind me of the Wii glowing blue at that point.Yes, those. Definitely don't want to be a Wii site, though. :P


The slogan is a bit meh on me. I am not 100% what its really trying to convey. For something like a slogan, I think it should be a quick and clear reflection of exactly what the site is. The placement of the slogan I don't have a problem with.We have a longer slogan on the About page, which is "For underlooked video games, attention. For mainstream games, viewpoints not often heard and angles not often explored." That's far too long, though, and I'm not entirely sure how to condense it unless we say "Niche gaming and offbeat perspectives" or something like that.

Maybe it really would be best if we just didn't use a slogan or, like RPGamer, pulled quotes from various games.


Honestly I think the whole site itself could take on some lighter themes and warmer tones. It looks competent for what it is, but knowing the admins, I kind of feel like it doesn't exactly reflect them. Its all a bit to dark and moody in my opinion.Canadian's more cynical than I am, but then again I'm writing way more posts--and Prax is even cheerier than me. It's too late tonight, but after I go to sleep and wake up I'll take some example screencaps of different background colors to see what everyone thinks.


One last thing: you still need a link to the main site at the top of the forums! Its very hard to find it down below.
As a quick suggestion, maybe you could do something like:
GF-Park Main > GF-Park Forums > Rules, Suggestions, and Construction > Our banner: let's talk about it.Last I looked, vBulletin doesn't make implementing this as easy as it should be, but I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I agree that it's definitely a problem.

[Rotanibor]

Yeah, I'm aware we need something fairly unique right now. I kind of like the Mr. Saturn, but alright, I'll take him out of rotation for now.

If nothing else, maybe we could find a way to have rotating banner characters and put our kitty somewhere else (or permanent Octokitty banner and rotating characters somewhere else), but I don't know how easy or difficult that would be since this kind of thing isn't my forte.


There are a couple different ways you could seperate them. Put one on one side of the banner and one on the other, put kitty at the top of new news posts to seperate them (though if you get more writers, some sort of avatar may go here instead), or plenty of other places.


Yeah, it's definitely placeholder. Octokitty doesn't work in a 16x16 format with a transparent background; we need to invent some other symbol, find a game sprite that works, or just make a "GF."

I sent you these on irc, but I figure I should just shove them here anyways. Like I said before, if you want to use something else, don't feel pressured at all, I just am having fun helping out. These were done quick and dirty anyways.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/541/69878341.jpg http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1497/gf2.jpg http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6551/gf3r.jpg http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5058/gf4.jpg http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/631/gf5.jpg

Also I can pretty easily edit colors around if need be.


Yes, those. Definitely don't want to be a Wii site, though. :P


Yeah, they are good colors, but yeah I've been seeing a lot of Wii based sites lately using white and light blue colors.


We have a longer slogan on the About page, which is "For underlooked video games, attention. For mainstream games, viewpoints not often heard and angles not often explored." That's far too long, though, and I'm not entirely sure how to condense it unless we say "Niche gaming and offbeat perspectives" or something like that.

Maybe it really would be best if we just didn't use a slogan or, like RPGamer, pulled quotes from various games.


Out of all that, I think the 'niche gaming' part is the part to focus on. I think you could do a lot with a slogan by just emphasizing that one part. If you want to go that direction I'll help think of some slogans a bit later.


Canadian's more cynical than I am, but then again I'm writing way more posts--and Prax is even cheerier than me. It's too late tonight, but after I go to sleep and wake up I'll take some example screencaps of different background colors to see what everyone thinks.


Oh that rough exterior doesn't fool me! I know for a fact he is quite the jolly man! I like that minty green color you used briefly a bit earlier.


Last I looked, vBulletin doesn't make implementing this as easy as it should be, but I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I agree that it's definitely a problem.

Hm. If not there, maybe you could add a banner of some sort onto the cat up above, and clicking that will take you to the main site? It still feels a bit obtuse to me, as it wouldn't be clearly labeled as the front page, but it would work for now.

[Hive]

those slogans sound awkward and forced..

Here are some I came up with late last night while sipping on some hot choco (with marshmellows of course):

"Bumblebee Tuna: It's Faaaantastic!"

"Gaming Fringe: Where growing up is really hard to do. Like, really super hard."

"It's spelled fringe, not 'fridge'..."

"We're just like GAF, but without the 'A'."

"Still waiting for the first female to register."

"Gaming Fringe: But she said she was 18!"
-----
You can thank me later, Jiggs.

[Jiggy]

Rotanibor: Your third GF will be a cool placeholder; I'll put it up shortly. :)
Edit: I changed icons, but it's not appearing yet for some reason. Maybe the Kirby one is still cached somehow.


"Gaming Fringe: Where growing up is really hard to do. Like, really super hard."This would actually work with Prax's fantastic writing (which I know you haven't seen yet, but we're putting up a Prax fanart showcase by the 14th at very latest with artist commentary), but as much as I wish I could capture that same spirit, I usually write like a cold, distant professional.


"We're just like GAF, but without the 'A'."I actually briefly considered using the reference, but I'm not up for causing some kind of forum war. :P Besides, we definitely won't be just like GAF--not if I can help it.




Anyway... I don't know, none of your quotes seem to have much to do with video games either. :P I was thinking about this last night, tossing and turning way too long because of it, but basically I realized the problem with our current slogan is that it says what we're not without saying what we are. I think Rotanibor might be on the right track that somehow referencing the fact that we talk about niche games would be good.

[Jiggy]

Just some demos of possible new colors. Of course, it may be that none of this matters if we change banners anyway, but I'm just showing general concepts.

Here's our current look:

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/currentcolors.gif

And here are mockups:

www.gf-park.com/images/misc/088-current-E7E7E7.gif - Turquoise background, purple navbar, darker sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/0C6-008-EBEBEB.gif - Bright green background, blue navbar, darker sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/9D9-029-EBEBEB.gif - Washed-out green background, blue navbar, darker sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/C40-000.gif - Orange background, black navbar, current sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/EFEFA0-900-EBEBEB.gif - Pale yellow background, red navbar, darker sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/9CF-current-FFD7FF.gif - Light blue background, purple navbar, pink sidebars - Nobody would possibly want this except me
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/050-current-ADF.gif - Forest green background, purple navbar, light blue sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/030-008-A8FFA8.gif - Deep green background, blue navbar, pale green sidebars
www.gf-park.com/images/misc/current-current-ADF.gif - Current background, current navbar, light blue sidebars

[Hive]

the current blue side-bars fit best with the current banner, however, it's the banner that the problem.

Also, the purple task bar is definitely an improvement ^_^

[Jiggy]

I added a couple new demos since you commented, I think, my favorite of which is this:

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/current-current-ADF.gif

At first I was against changing the sidebars to anything other than gray, but once I tried I suddenly took a serious liking to it... This is literally the same thing as our current main page except with light blue instead of light gray, and I think it really changes the entire feel just on its own.

[Rotanibor]

Cool! I like seeing my work up there. Once you have a set theme for the site I'll try making some more designs that would match it a bit better if you'd like.

Out of all of those, I actually still like this. Of course the banner doesn't go with it and you'd probably need a new banner to make it work, the soft green just seems so pleasing to me.

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/9D9-029-EBEBEB.gif

[Hive]

I agree with Rotan, the lime pudding color would go nice with a bright/warmer banner

[Prax]

How dare you remove all that beautiful blue which is my favourite colour ever!

I am just kidding of course, but I'm definitely taking into consideration all of your suggestions for colour changes and warmer looks if you happen to want me to be the one to change the banner. (the original banner was pretty much based on Jiggy and Canadian's input and my favourite things: outerspace, blue, pixelly grunge, cats)

But seriously.. that green? XD I like more saturated or "clean" colours myself... (which I guess means saturated) Is this too blinding for you guys?

http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_bannersample4.jpg

[Jiggy]

How dare you remove all that beautiful blue which is my favourite colour ever!I'll use light blue for the sidebars!

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/050-current-ADF.gif

But seriously... Going by the poll, people seem to like the current blues in your banner anyway and don't like the darkness of the black part on the side, so maybe just start by trying to lighten up the left?

There are so many other possibilities too, like getting rid of the disco ball moon and putting Octokitty over there, then using the right side for other characters (or vice versa), but I'm just trying to take things one at a time...


And we haven't even figured out a new slogan yet anyway. :P What did everyone think of "Niche games and offbeat perspectives"?

[Hive]

The banner should represent what the site/forum is about, and right now there is very little identity to this site.

What differentiates this site/blog from other sites/blogs? (rhetorical)
I think once Jiggy decides on what to implement and add to the site, it should evolve into something unique down the road~

Until then, i suggest creating a banner that has more to do with video games since that's the type of site we are.

[Rotanibor]

I liked that green Prax! I think the other one is a bit too bright, though for websites I tend to like less saturated colors myself.

I have to admit, part of the reason I liked it though was just because it reminded me of the mint boarders from Earthbound.

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2750/mint2.jpg

edit: whoops, I had forgot to resize the picture. HUGE. fixed it though

[Jiggy]

The banner should represent what the site/forum is about, and right now there is very little identity to this site.

What differentiates this site/blog from other sites/blogs? (rhetorical)http://www.gf-park.com/mission-statement/



So what can you expect to see? What are we about? And what in the world compels us to say we’re on the gaming fringe? Here are some examples to help you know if this is your place.

We’ll write about Fire Emblem and not Mario; we’ll write about Castlevania and not Metal Gear; we’ll write about Mega Man and not Resident Evil; we’ll write about Dragon Quest and not Final Fantasy, and we probably wouldn’t write about Dragon Quest either if we were a site intended for Japan. You see, if a game has a multimillion-dollar advertising budget in an English-speaking region then we’re probably not bothering, because you can go everywhere else for blockbusters. We’d rather promote good games that barely scrape the radar of their own creators and publishers. Someone has to.

Likewise we’ll promote features and services whose creators and publishers won’t. Downloadable games are undersold, underhyped, and even under-released by today’s console manufacturers. Pokemon for the masses may have a multimillion-dollar advertising budget, but competitive number-crunching Pokemon? Not so much.

If someone brings up shooters, we think of Star Soldier and Fantasy Zone, not Call of Duty and Halo. We only mention this because if you just asked your monitor what Star Soldier and Fantasy Zone are, then great – we want to draw attention toward series the average gamer has never heard of.

What gets less love elsewhere has our spotlight. Portable more than non-portable, downloadable more than retail, soundtracks more than graphics, classic and obscure more than new and hyped. We’ll cover games by independent developers who published and promoted their own games through PC releases and homebrew on other systems, without looking down on their lack of brand recognition (nor giving them free brownie points), and we’ll even cover free Flash games.

[Rotanibor]

Jiggy, try the background with the mint color from EB and post how it goes. Color code is #6BD3BD

[Iam Canadian]

I liked that green Prax! I think the other one is a bit too bright, though for websites I tend to like less saturated colors myself.

I have to admit, part of the reason I liked it though was just because it reminded me of the mint boarders from Earthbound.

You can't sway my opinion with EarthBound references, Rotanibor. :3

Honestly, I just like sites to be easy on the eyes and I liked the old design for that. Jiggy's idea of just brightening up the black part of the banner is a good one, and I'd like it to have both Octokitty and our rotating icons if possible. Other than that, I don't have much design sense, so I leave it in Prax's more than capable hands. :P

[Hive]

http://www.gf-park.com/mission-statement/

now I understand why you invited me to join~ ^o^

[Rotanibor]

You can't sway my opinion with EarthBound references, Rotanibor. :3

Haha, was my plan so transparent?

[Jiggy]

For whatever reason, GIMP (the image program) seems to only recognize some of my color variations... It can't pick up enough subtleties between any of the greens in that EarthBound picture to create any distinction between that and the soft lime color already posted earlier.

I don't know if it's a problem with my specific installation or what, though. Or a limitation of the GIF format, for that matter...

[Rotanibor]

Oh, you're manually editting them in an image program? For some reason thought you were changing the background color on the page itself and taking screen shots. I can edit the other image easily enough myself in photoshop.

And yeah, GIF would restrict that. It only allows a certain amount of color with some(all?) gif file types.

I also took a quick paint bucket to the logo because the black was distracting me!

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/33/mint3.jpg

I'll stop pimping this design out though if not many people are intrested in it. I just was just curious at this point how it would look.

[Jiggy]

Okay, this took several times longer to create than I thought it would and after a while I just settled for very quick-and-dirty with lots of repeated tiles, but...

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/current-current-AFA-bannerchange.gif

This incorporates the soft green, the deep blue backgrounds, has space for characters on both sides, and I think the entire feel of the banner changes when both sides are bright (even if they're still blue). Alternatively, yellow since Hive wants warm colors (not sure if green counts):

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/current-current-FFA-bannerchange.gif

[Rotanibor]

Its all kind of overwhelming me now because it feels like there are too many colors. The light blue and dark blue both kind of feel independent from one another, and then there is purple and green/yellow. Not only that, it just goes from lighter colors to darker colors. Its a bit all over the place in those designs.

I think it needs to stay either with mostly warm or cool colors, with at most a highlight of one or the other.

There seems to be some confusion on what exactly warm and cool colors are. I looked around on google and found this page that explains it simply. http://www.linartdesigns.com/id90.html

[Jiggy]

Then just this?

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/current-current-DDD-bannerchange.gif

This is basically the front page as it is now, except with a banner that's light on both sides. It might still be a bit too cold for Hive, but the main problem I've been finding with trying to incorporate red, orange, or yellow is that it's difficult to get them to work with any kind of background color.

Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing with red, orange, and yellow, though. I think my Honey Mustard Phoenix forum style (change to it at the very bottom left of the forums) looks fine, but I can't really figure out how to duplicate that effect for the main page... I'll keep trying it for a little while.

[Prax]

Aww.. look how cute these colours look! XD

http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_bannersample5.jpg

Here it is without all the awesome yellow:
http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_bannersample6.jpg

[Iam Canadian]

Personally, I prefer it without the stars and flowers, but that might just be me. :3

[Rotanibor]

Then just this?

This is basically the front page as it is now, except with a banner that's light on both sides. It might still be a bit too cold for Hive, but the main problem I've been finding with trying to incorporate red, orange, or yellow is that it's difficult to get them to work with any kind of background color.

Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing with red, orange, and yellow, though. I think my Honey Mustard Phoenix forum style (change to it at the very bottom left of the forums) looks fine, but I can't really figure out how to duplicate that effect for the main page... I'll keep trying it for a little while.

Yeah that looks better. I personally think the blue on the sides could be de-saturated and/or lightened a tad. It and the banner just aren't harmonizing together as well as I think they could.

I donno, for some reason that the fact the blue is the same color as all the links on the page is bothing me as well. Feels like its distracting from seeing them as easily. Maybe its just me though

fake edit: also I just tried it with a purple color, working off the purple in the tool bar and lightened it a bit.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1301/currentcurrentdddbanner.gif

The banner is still feeling slightly off. Maybe if it was tweaked and the brighter color was on the inside and the darker on the outside? I think it would be good if we had a couple banners of that style to work with on either hot/cold and light/dark color schemes, just to test things out. Although it might be a bit of work make another one. I do like the style of the banner though and think its worth working with.

[Jiggy]

Aww.. look how cute these colours look! XD

[awesomeness]I like it. :O And I'd totally keep the flowers if only they weren't too flamboyant for almost everybody who isn't me, but I don't want to scare people off. :P

Octokitty should be on the far left so it can be the first thing people see every time they visit, though... (Since as English readers our eyes are naturally drawn to the upper left.)

[Rotanibor]

Aww.. look how cute these colours look! XD
Here it is without all the awesome yellow:


Haha, I like those. Looking at it for a moment, I think the straight green sides are a bit much, but when you put a pattern on it it kind of breaks up all that bright green. Its an intresting direction to go in.

I thought it was worth seeing what just a white background looked like, so I tested that out.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2430/gamingfringebannersampl.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1301/currentcurrentdddbanner.gif

[Jiggy]

The way this site is laid out, I can't actually use separate designs (flowers/stars) for the left and right unless I tile a background picture that includes both and distances them enough to make it possible, but it would probably have to be pretty large and would slow down loading the site.

Maybe if we can come up with some game icon interesting enough to use on both sides... Even then, I'm still not sure we need anything, but since we're just tossing ideas around in here until something sticks, anything goes. :)



Edit: Also, we never resolved this, so which of the two banner fonts do you all like or dislike? That and the slogan are still a concern.

[Jiggy]

Concerns still remaining: banner fonts and slogan.


Prax, just as a temporary measure while we still figure out these things, can you give me a banner basically like what you posted before except with these changes: slogan of "Where classic game design lives forever." and Octokitty on the far left because it's our mascot... I already switched the sidebars to your earlier gray-aqua and can switch the background to your light aqua when there's a banner to go along with it. Thanks so much as always. :)

[Prax]

Concerns still remaining: banner fonts and slogan.


Prax, just as a temporary measure while we still figure out these things, can you give me a banner basically like what you posted before except with these changes: slogan of "Where classic game design lives forever." and Octokitty on the far left because it's our mascot... I already switched the sidebars to your earlier gray-aqua and can switch the background to your light aqua when there's a banner to go along with it. Thanks so much as always. :)

Sure, Jiggy! I'll post it up in a sec.. just have to kind of remember what I did exactly..xD

[Hive]

Let me be honest (and completely constructive).
The slogan is uninspiring and derivative.

How about something catchy, like:

"Life is a Game. Play it!"

"Give Us Your Best Shot!"

"Gaming's Lighter Side."

"The Players' Choice."

"Do NOT feed the Octo-kitty."

those are silly, right?
But the point is that they get your attention! <--notice the exclamation mark ^^

You really have to think outside the box with slogans, because a slogan gives potential members a glancing insight into what we're about.
Perhaps it can also give other gamers something to think about, and collectively relate to.

Games are about fun, and so should this site.

hehe :p

[Prax]

Okay people, here's a few to choose from!

Original flavour:
http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_0.jpg

Jiggy's mockup:
http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_1.jpg

Hive's slogan suggestions:
http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_2.jpg

http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_3.jpg

http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_4.jpg

http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_5.jpg

http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_6.jpg

I decided to add this one!:
http://desertqueens.com/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_tempbanner_7.jpg

Have fun debating this one.. >.>

[Hive]

haha
Those slogans just came off the top of my head.. If you really want to get serious about it, I can suggest plenty more.

[Prax]

Go ahead! It's easy enough for me to change something simple as text! XD

EDIT:

Wait.. no it isn't.. I forgot to save the original file.. whoops! Uhh.. *tries to remake what I did*
ANYWAY, you go ahead and do you thing. I'm sure I can cheat my way out of this!

[Jiggy]

I couldn't decide between "Gaming's lighter side," "The players' choice," and "It's all fun and games. Period.", so I'm going to set all three into rotation for now. Toss out some more slogans and we can always run a poll or something. :D

[Hive]

really?
"Do NOT feed the Octo-kitty!" was my favorite. haha

More:

"For the Love of Games."

"The Game is Never Over."

[Jiggy]

I do love your Octokitty one (though it's "Octokitty" without the hyphen), but I wanted a slogan with gaming in it. Maybe I can set up a rotating quote system like RPGamer or GoNintendo for the funnier and quirkier slogans.

[crowphoenix]

Man, do I have a lot to catch up on. If you want my two cents on the slogans, I agree with Jigs that those three are the best.

"Gaming's lighter side" does a good job of emphasizing the style of the site. It's almost the core philosophy.

"The players' choice," while a bit standard, is an unassuming statement that will carry that extra bit of weight with the long time players.

"It's all fun and games. Period." I love the oxymoronic nature here. The light-hearted rule set in stone, creates an interesting dichotomy. I could prattle on about that one for awhile.

On the topic of the banner and border, I like the banner. It's a unique color scheme and the simple color schemes give it a dash of character.

Right now, though, the green seems a bit too bright, at least to my tired eyes. I'm curious as to what darkening it a hair would do.

[Jiggy]

Right now, though, the green seems a bit too bright, at least to my tired eyes. I'm curious as to what darkening it a hair would do.Current:

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/gfcurrent.png

Three shades darker:

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/gf3shadesdarker.png



[Consider this a preview of what's going up tomorrow, by the way. :P 5/6ths of Prax's article remains undisplayed here!]

[Hive]

O_O;

wow, whatever it is, looks good~ Can't wait to read when I return from class! :p

[Jiggy]

I darkened the main page background by exactly one round of 16 in hex as a meeting point between Prax's original choice, the feedback of crowphoenix and Iam Canadian, and my own preference. Let me know what you think. :)

[Rotanibor]

Site is looking great. Though I'm a bit curious what a tinge of green or purple added to the main logo would look like. At the moment its very blue compared to everything else and I can't decide if I think that works or not. Also curious what a midpoint between those two greens would look like.

[crowphoenix]

Looking good, guys. Color scheme doesn't hurt the eyes at all.

[Hive]

Looking good, guys. Color scheme doesn't hurt the eyes at all.

speak for yourself. lol

[Jiggy]

You really don't like it?

If by chance there's a WordPress plugin out there that creates an option allowing each member or visitor to select a different color scheme (like what we have going with the forums), I'll track it down and turn it on when I find time--I've thought for a while now that it would be nice to have more options.

[Hive]

You really don't like it?

If by chance there's a WordPress plugin out there that creates an option allowing each member or visitor to select a different color scheme (like what we have going with the forums), I'll track it down and turn it on when I find time--I've thought for a while now that it would be nice to have more options.

It's fine. I nearly always go directly to the forums anyways.

The banner and main page are not attractive to me, at all.
Doesn't look like interesting or fun, like how a site about games should be

[Jiggy]

Can you link any examples of other sites with designs you like? (Even if they're not game sites.)

[Hive]

Can you link any examples of other sites with designs you like? (Even if they're not game sites.)

Absolutely ^^

Each banner is accompanied by a link to the site:

http://i25.tinypic.com/mwp40i.jpg (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/)

http://i28.tinypic.com/335427t.jpg (http://gonintendo.com/index.php)

http://i31.tinypic.com/jl3yn9.jpg (http://www.siliconera.com/)

[Hive]

Here's another design that is attractive to look (even stare) at:

http://i26.tinypic.com/2yn012v.jpg

[Jiggy]

Okay, I'm trying to see what your examples have in common here and came up with this:

All four have solid or mostly solid background colors: black, red, and white. Of those four, the banners of at least GameLife and Siliconera have a background identical to the rest of the page; I'm guessing the Japanese banner does too. I didn't think of this until you brought it up, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense; backgrounds are, you know, meant to be in back and not up front, so maybe they shouldn't call very much attention to themselves.
All three of the banners with English writing use all capital letters (outside the Nintendo logo, which obviously wouldn't be changed) or letters of the same size.
Only one of the banners has a slogan.
Three of the banners have either game characters or a joystick.
Except for Siliconera, which stretches the entire length, each of these banners have their name set to the left or right--not centered.

So with all this in mind, let me mention some hypothetical ideas and we'll see what everyone thinks. And, oh yes, this will be long. ;)



Point 1

Instead of a light green background and a light blue banner with a complex pattern, how about everything being light blue without a complex pattern?

Yes/no? Vote. :P


Point 2

The font we used, Quadrangle, is pretty horizontal; even though the G and F are capitalized, there's not much size difference between them and the lower-case letters anyway. However, maybe you'd like all-caps better? This is what the letters would look like:

http://www.gf-park.com/images/misc/allcaps.gif

I think it's too heavy this way, but let me know. Vote two!


Point 3

We used to have a Mr. Saturn in the logo and we were planning to slowly add multiple game characters that would rotate as banner buddies (Prax's term), kind of like what Overclocked Remix (http://www.ocremix.org/) does except without using official art. We got rid of the rotating characters because back then we only had one character shown at a time and we wanted Octokitty--not just as per Rotanibor's point that it carries more weight by being an original creation, but because we all love it.

However, today we have Octokitty, a joystick, and what I think are some old-school-style computer windows, so there's nothing holding back rotating game characters--except that now we have multiple slogans, so we'd end up with loads of banners to rotate between if we wanted each character match-up to potentially be paired with each slogan... In a banner.

Again, though, three of the banners you like don't have slogans directly on them. So let's say we did something like the current GoNintendo (http://www.gonintendo.com/) where we rotate through quotes in a smaller bar. That would free us up to use rotating characters and slogans alike.

What do you think?

This one's not just a vote; you can also make suggestions for characters who could be used. I think we should stick mostly to very simplistic, small characters--Kirby, Dragon Quest slimes, Metools, Castlevania bats, the Rhythm Heaven choir singers, Shyguys, Mr. Saturns--so we can show the entire design even in 90 pixels of height, but chibi versions of full-sized characters could work out too.


Point 4

Here's an alternative to the above: maybe representing scenes instead of individual characters could pan out and bring a sense of action to the banner.

For example, suppose we have Octokitty and GamingFringe on the left, with "GamingFringe" being slightly smaller than it is now, so that underneath it we can fit a scene that looks like a horizontal shooter, and over to the right we could have a turn-based-RPG-looking scene, a strategy RPG map, and a 2D platformer. (Still surrounded by a uniform color for simplicity's sake.)

Or if that would be too busy and confusing, we could just keep a single scene on the right and rotate between those four genres.

Or just use one scene from one genre and that's it!

So what does everyone think? There are three possibilities to choose from under this scenario.

[Hive]

Point 1
A softer, light blue (no neon).

Point 2
More of a contrast needs to be made to separate "GAMING" and "FRINGE." For example:
http://i30.tinypic.com/2zrdcsh.jpg

Point 3
I think Kirby (plus Octokitty, of course!) is the character that most represents the site.
1. Kirby
2. Shyguy

Point 4
Let's just take it one point at a time, then see if we need to clutter the banner with more characters! ^^

[Truendo]

I haven't been keeping up with this thread, but why did you change the banner? I liked the old one. D:

Change it back pl0x! D:

[Prax]

Yah, sorry about the banner change! I thought the old one was okay too, but apparently, it's too busy or something. XD

I thought something like this might be fun too though:

http://strawberryink.ca/prax_temp/gamingfringe_main_prax4.jpg
Those are "8-bit" Dysta (http://www.gf-park.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1342&postcount=5) sprites running around the name as if it were a platformer. The one with the pink cape is like a "powered up/ate the super mushroom" sprite, but it probably breaks the colour limit as it uses 5 instead of 3.

There would be opportunities for using different game sprites or something.

[Hive]

XD

omg, I LOVE it Prax! Now that's what I'm talkin about!

[Rotanibor]

Yah, sorry about the banner change! I thought the old one was okay too, but apparently, it's too busy or something. XD

I thought something like this might be fun too though:

http://strawberryink.ca/prax_temp/gamingfringe_main_prax4.jpg
Those are "8-bit" Dysta (http://www.gf-park.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1342&postcount=5) sprites running around the name as if it were a platformer. The one with the pink cape is like a "powered up/ate the super mushroom" sprite, but it probably breaks the colour limit as it uses 5 instead of 3.

There would be opportunities for using different game sprites or something.



Yeah we're on the right track now. I like where you went with the banner area a lot. I ended up getting rid of the sidebars being a different color and came up with this.

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4821/gamingfringemainasfdgag.jpg

I think its looking pretty slick.

[Hive]

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4821/gamingfringemainasfdgag.jpg

I think its looking pretty slick.

yep yep! ^^

I think it just needs to copy the color-scheme of Prax Forum (Straight-forward) Style, since most people use that as a standard on popular message boards~

[Jiggy]

I thought something like this might be fun too though:

http://strawberryink.ca/prax_temp/gamingfringe_main_prax4.jpg
Those are "8-bit" Dysta (http://www.gf-park.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1342&postcount=5) sprites running around the name as if it were a platformer. The one with the pink cape is like a "powered up/ate the super mushroom" sprite, but it probably breaks the colour limit as it uses 5 instead of 3.

There would be opportunities for using different game sprites or something.Okay, I'm going to have break this one down...

1 - I love seeing the Dystas running around. Maybe make one more of them face right, but otherwise, they're so cool and unique.

2 - There's no hard limit to colors; use five if you like. :D

3 - Many elements I can't decide on here... Whether I love Octokitty being where it is in your new mock-up or prefer its old position, whether I like seeing the name stretch all the way across the navigation bar or not, whether I prefer the idea of video game sprites or original creations or a mix of both; this is giving me a lot to think about and I'll be sure to come back after I've turned it all over in my head. It's a good thing, though!

[Hive]

could we change back to the other Dysta/Octokitty banner, please?
This one is getting old, and it looks like Dysta is floating in some instances.. lol

I think the other one was PERFECT!

[Jiggy]

The main page header is a rotating script and should be switching between banners constantly. If you've only been seeing the same one all the time, it's either coincidence or the page is stuck as-is in your cache.

[Hive]

The main page header is a rotating script and should be switching between banners constantly. If you've only been seeing the same one all the time, it's either coincidence or the page is stuck as-is in your cache.

yea, it must be that..

Now I'm seeing the banner i like, all the time~ ^^

[Hive]

hmm.. I know Prax is a busy guy/lady(??????), but I have to protest the rotating banner thing.

First of all, I DO WANT a rotating banner. I think it would be a nice touch, and something that gets people to stop by the main page once in awhile.

I would just like to see the same resolution of sprites used for each banner. And I would like to see at least 3 variants.
(It's not much of a 'rotating' banner, if you're rotating only 2 variations.)

So how about using the same sprites (from the original banner),
so that it's consistent and the same size/resolution?
And have Dysta and Octokitty in different positions around the banner each time we refresh, so it's like a game~

If you need me to clarify further, i can ^^

[Jiggy]

No, I totally agree with you about putting Dysta and Octokitty in all kinds of different places around the banner and rotating multiple images... Just haven't talked to Prax much lately, but it'll happen when we can.

[Hive]

putting Dysta and Octokitty in all kinds of different places around the banner and rotating multiple images.

yes! ^^

we really really need to flaunt those characters, because they are not only fantastic, but they're unique to us!

[Prax]

Yah.. I actually thought I would be least busy in August.. but I was wrong! :|

Maybe September will be a good month, despite going back to school!

[Hive]

Yah.. I actually thought I would be least busy in August.. but I was wrong! :|

Maybe September will be a good month, despite going back to school!

welcome back! ^o^
Sorry you're so busy, but we are in need of some banner changes soon~

Nothing major; just swapping the characters around for some banner variations ^^

[Prax]

Here are a few as requested. XD

The last one has some variation of sprites too!

http://strawberryink.ca/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_banner_platformer4.gif

http://strawberryink.ca/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_banner_platformer5.gif

http://strawberryink.ca/prax_temp/gamingfringe/gamingfringe_banner_platformer6.gif

[Hive]

perfect!!! almost.. kkk

In the 2nd banner, it almost looks like Dysta is floating.

In the 3rd banner, the kneeling Dysta isn't necessary, imo. (looks like she's sinking, a bit)

Perhaps just use the standing Dysta sprite, because as long as she's positioned in various places, it's okay to use the same sprites.

Anyways, i love it Prax, and REALLY glad you're back!!

[Prax]

It's because she's jumping down! lol
And the kneeling is required for beckoning Octokitty! XD

[Hive]

It's because she's jumping down! lol
And the kneeling is required for beckoning Octokitty! XD

oh, i understood what you were going for.
But I don't think it's apparent enough to others, and looks (just a tad!) awkward.