Reference The RPF's Colossal Banner Thread

Very awesome compilation Reynar.

 

Hey guys

I'm attempting to put a banner together for the role playing resource forum, but its still in bits at the moment. Is it ok to post work in progress pics or do I have to wait until its finished?

 

Work in progress images are great, as we can give you suggestions along the way rather than just commenting on the final product.

 

Thanks Heres my bits and bobs

First image

Version 1

Version 2


Second image

Version 1


Both together

1

2

(not sure why these wont zoom in. might be a problem with photobucket)

 

Alright!

And with today, that's a month!

Saint and I will be taking stock of what we have, making decisions, and updating this thread in turn.

The next month period begins now until March 6th. We still have a few boards with no submissions!

Thanks everyone!

-I_H

 

I don't know if there are any submissions for the SWRPF, but I would like to point out that with regards to that forum, you should have the highest of expectations. As far as banners go, the current one is a masterwork. It will be hard to replace it.

 

Here's a somewhat late RPF banner submission.

 

Excellent work, Xan!

 

After the first round of submissions, Saintheart and myself are taking one banner to be filled.

Reynar: We're accepting your banner for the landing. If you could do what you do so that we can upload it, that would be wonderful. Once its uploaded into our system, we'll grant you colors for a month.

---

This means four of the main forum banners are still open for competition:

1.) Awards
2.) SWRPF
3.) NSWRPF
4.) RPR

[hr]

For the banners submitted so far:

1.) Reynar's NSWRPF - It struck us as a little two dark for a PG to PG-13 board. Esp. w/ Tyler Durden smoking a cigarette. We don't want to have that image promoting smoking up for a year or more. I also noted that the TF.N part of your banner is unusually small and hidden, something I don't particularly care for. Both Saint and myself would like to see a bit more variety and some lighter colors/themes to assuage some of our concerns. The banner just seems especially dark.

2.) Tyi-Maet's Awards Banner - We're looking for something with a bit more activity than this. Its nice, but we'd like to see some characters and scenes from franchises in there. Saint particularly recommends stuff like the Awards Scene from "A New Hope" or perhaps Aragorn's crowning from RotK. Or maybe some scenes from the Oscars/Emmys/Golden Globes of shocked expressions or whatever.

3.) Chuckle's RPR Banner - Like Tyi's, more activity here would be nice. Its a bit too stark for us to consider. Maybe think about "The Works" scene from Coruscant, or Tony Stark forging the Iron Man armor, or actual scenes from blast furnaces, or stuff like that. Again, we're looking for actions, scenes, and activities.

4.) Reynar's RPR Banner - Like your NSWRPF banner, this is another one of those conflicting visions points. We like the ideas theme, but its a bit overkill. We'd also like your banner to focus on the archives/library aspect of RPR. Ideas, after all, really are only one part of this forum. Its close, but we'd like to see some different parts of the RPR shown. Perhaps show some writing?

5.) Jedi_Padawan_Leigh's RPR Banner - Like Reynar's, only the exact opposite. We like the library theme, but I for one would like to see a little bit more shots of meetings or people talking or ideas being hatched something. You can even do this in a library sort of setting... or a classroom to fit your theme. Like Reynar's, this banner is close. We'd like to see a little bit of a tweak.

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A reminder to those who've done this excellent work so far. Please don't take this critiques wrongly. They're great banners, but like we said at the beginning, we're not going to approve them just because they're the only ones out there. We want the best banners for our forums, and if that means being finicky and sending them back for changes, that's what we're going to do. If we were just going for good banners, all of these would be chosen, but we're going for the best banners we can get.

If you don't want to tweak your banners as they stand, they carry over into the next rounds. Some of them we also wanted to put aside to see if we can get other submissions. Banners that we don't care for now may look better in later months. But if you want them to look better now, get those tweaks in and resubmit! Better looking banners sooner may win our top spot. Additionally, if you just want to start from scratch and make a new banner, that's fine as well. There is no cap for entries per user.

If you disagree with these assessments, please speak up here. Doesn't mean we'll necessarily listen to your opinions, but we like to have a feel for what the community enjoys, in addition to what we we're looking for. If we get an orchestrated and loud response in favor of a banner we don't have a strong opinion yes or no on, (and good arguments are made as to why we should feel strongly for it), we'll keep them in mind when we re-evaluate on the 6th and in the months ahead.

Thanks again, and keep up the good work!

-I_H and Saintheart

 

For what it's worth, while I concede that I understand your concerns regarding the Tyler Durden image and the small size of "TFN," I don't think Reynar's NSWRPF banner is "Too dark" for the forum. I believe it conveys a sort of seriousness, which is typically prevalent in the games in the NSWRPF as is (Comedy games being, as they tend to be, few and far between), and, with regards to the other forums, Saga's banner is anything but chipper. I feel Reynar's submission is of spectacular quality and shouldn't be drastically altered.

 

Tyler Durden is a schizophrenic illusion, and not a nice guy. Strong, bright colours can prove distracting to the eye. Shades of gray are much easier on the ol' retinas in the long run. Actually, black would be the best...

That's not the most valid reason for having Reynar redo it. It could certainly be more noticeable, true, but the banner works. I don't mean to sound rude, but surely you can find something better to say about it than this?

 

No Peng, the TF.N thing is not the main reason for rejection of that banner. Just something I noticed that I didn't care for. Having TF.N mentioned is apart of the rules for banner submission set by the Administration (IIRC?), and having it hidden like that just seemed like skirting the rules.

Again, the main reason for concern for the banner is its dark tone, including but not limited to its implicit promotion of smoking. Fight Club, btw, is a rated R movie, and wouldn't be allowed in an RPG form without a tremendous degree of sanitizing.

Thank you for your feedback however, and we'll be sure to take your opinions into account when we next review our banner stock.

-I_H

 

I should also add for completeness's sake that the concern about the "darkness" of the NSWRPF banner was mine. ramza, I understand what you're saying that NSWRPF games seem to be more "serious", but if so I personally feel that's a tangential effect of the subject matter of RPGs there, not something that we should be going out of our way to promote. In theory our SWRPF games have a sort of seriousness to them too, and comedy games likewise are few and far between.

Let me be clear, Reynar has a history of turning in exceptional banner after exceptional banner, and this one is no different -- but it's just not for this forum im my view.

Again, muchas graçias for the feedback, though, guys.

 

Sorry, Saint, I didn't realize I was implying the SWRPF wasn't serious, it is. But since I was just arguing about the NSWRPF...

My bad.

 

Incidentally, Xan, that is a nice banner, and we'll put it in the mix too!

 

Boo. Tyler Durden is the reason it should win!

Sorry, I am just a bit biased due to the fact that Fight Club is an awesome movie and Tyler Durden = one of the coolest characters of all time.

 

I appreciate the positive comments and constructive criticisms toward my banners, and shall take them into consideration when making the appropriate revisions.

 

I was not implying it was the main reason; I took offense (and still do) at the "don't care for" bit. Yes, you are a judge, and basically have a set of rules along with personal opinion to guide you, but the way you worded your statement felt like you were allowing personal judgement to interfere with what the board as a whole may have enjoyed. I still disagree completely with your reasons for excluding it, though, but I will try my best to contain these and only let them out in TOS-friendly forms.

 

Role Playing Forum submission

 

Nice one, Reynar. The juxtaposition of Yoda and Padme seems particularly appealing to the eye. It's in the mix.

 

48 hr call!

If you want your banners in for this round, post em up soon!

-I_H

 

After the second round of submissions, Saintheart and myself have decided to fill another banner!

Reynar: We're accepting your banner for the SWRPF. Same as last time. PM me to the code so I can toss it to LAJFETT. Once its uploaded, I'll add a note to extend your colors.

And right on time as well. I think you only have a few more days for the Landing Banner!

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[color=blue][u]This means three of the eligible banners are still open for competition:[/u][/color]

1.) Awards
2.) NSWRPF
3.) RPR

[hr]
For the banners submitted so far:

1.) [b]All the old banners:[/b] As there were no tweaks or revisions on the prior banners for this round, we're sticking with our current opinions on them.

2.) [b]Xan:[/b] A really good SWRPF banner. No real complaints other than you were just plumb out-competed by our resident banner master. The style was great, and we probably would have chosen it if it was just your submission. Keep it bookmarked or saved somewhere for future banner contests. It might prove useful. And why don't you try for three other categories? You definitely got the skillz for it. ;)

[hr]
Alright, and that's it for the February round! March Round / Round 3 ends on April 6th. If you got banners for Awards, NSWRPF, and RPR, that you want to submit, please get them in!

And thanks again for all participants. Your support has been wonderful, and the community benefits greatly from your effort.

-I_H and Saintheart

 

It might be worth it to start a banner rotation. I know C&G has a few (three or four) main banners they rotate in and out. Perhaps I'm just not ready to part with the current banner (at least one of the ones that preceded it would also be worth pulling out occasionally) but I would like to see it around more in the future.

 

^^^^^

I may do that if there is enough demand for it. SWRPF is currently the only board I could really do it for so far. NSWRPF and RPR very literally have only two banners to cycle through. Hence the contest so we can add on to that.

The current banners in all of the forums are good enough that I wouldn't really object to it.

-I_H

 

Oh, well, at least I was outdone by the best.