What makes a banner worthy... A few suggestions

shiraijunichi · Post by **shiraijunichi** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:07 pm

Sepuki wrote:My opinion is that a banner shouldn't be designed "to win." When you start designing to get Worthied, you start losing the integrity of the piece. Focus on making a banner that you like, something you can be proud of.

You have a very valid point. It makes me think of this banner:

It shows how people have been searching for a formula of a banner, so it would be accepted as worthy. When the truth of it is, there isn't a formula. Or at least, those banners that do follow a standart, intrinsically have a lower quality.

But there's a difference between using a formula, and using good artistic technique. I suppose I started this thread with the intention of learning the former, but as discussion has gone on, and I've worked with my image, I believe I've been learning more about the latter.

The reason I continued with this idea was because I thought it was a genuinely good concept- and I knew there was room for improvement. I know for a fact the the quality has improved since my very first attempt. And so I am very proud of that. I like this banner very much the way it is, though I may still make a few minor changes ~_^, thanks to some more suggestions. And if it doesn't get accepted after that, that's fine with me. It's a work I can be perfectly proud of. If others don't like it, that's just the way it is, but I won't let it change the fact that I really like it, and am very proud of it.

Sepuki · Post by **Sepuki** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:10 pm

You learn well, young grasshopper.

Malificus · Post by **Malificus** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:00 pm

to shiraijunichi:

Let me see that with the pink background, right now, it seems empty and loveless. But mainly, the outline seems wrong to me, and I want to see of the pink background would help. Use the one from the old image

To whoever cares:
[semi-offtopic]
All these banners make me wish I had more than just paint to mess with. The best I've done is

with 90 votes. mind you, I am very good with paint, but I need something better still.

But my favorite one I've done is still either

or

Any ideas on how to improve?[/self fulfilling rant]

shiraijunichi · Post by **shiraijunichi** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:56 pm

Ummm... the first one having no color is a bold move. It's not as pretty as a color image, but then again, it also gives it a certain appeal. Also, you can easily tell that the image was cut and pasted inside the banner- it's got a nice vertical line completely separating it from the banner. I guess you could try blurring it or something, but I don't know how well it would work. The logo also appears to be off center- looks like the right side even got cut off a bit.

The second one is very much an inside joke, I think. It also has little to with anime, let alone AMVs. I don't imagine it's even remotely possible to make an AMV from that video game... Also, the text contains a lot of black, which blends in with the background a bit. I personally would move the logo to the right- there seems to be a convention of placing the logo all the way to one side, and not in the middle.

The third one I think is a bit negative. She's plugging her ears, but why? Because she can't stand listening to AMVs? You might be able to put in a funny line or something to counteract this negativism. Another thing I would change is add some color to the logo. The first two have black and white logos that fit the image, but this one uses color, so I think the logo should have color as well

All three suffer from compression- you can see artifacts all over- that's very bad. The thing is, you're using less than half of the maximum file size with these pictures. You don't need to compress them as much as you are at all. But maybe it's a setting that's not available in paint...

Given the tool you're using, I think they are pretty good. But unfortunately, you will really need better tools to compete with all the other banner makers on a level playing field.

Malificus · Post by **Malificus** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:03 pm

Any sugestions on what editing programs to use?

shiraijunichi · Post by **shiraijunichi** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:12 pm

I use Photoshop Elements 2.0. They have a newer version out now, I think. Any Photoshop, or Paint Shop Pro application will be good. The newer it is, the more special features it will offer, such as styles and filters. But it has been my experience that the basic tools don't change program to program.

I gave a pink background to my image and here it is:

Do you think that's an improvement? I'm not sure... Maybe a gradient...

DTJB · Post by **DTJB** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:03 pm

I just think there are too many banners right now. Every five seconds, ten new banners are ready to be voted on. Some of them are actually pretty good, but it's getting to be a bit out of hand. As for banners I like, I like the banners that have something to say, whether it's witty or not, just as long as it presents a message. Banners with just some random character on them with no text don't stand out to me. I'm also getting tired of the, "WHOA! THIS CHICK HAS BIG BOOBS!" banners. Glad to see those are rarely made, if ever. But the ones I hate are the banner banners, like, "you all hated the other 500 banners I made, so here's another," or "I'll stab my eyes out if you don't like this banner." Maybe we should limit ourselves to 20 banners a month on which to vote on. Otherwise I think I'm going to drown in them.

Poetic_Kaos · Post by **Poetic_Kaos** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:49 pm

The more time I spend on a banner, the less likely it will win. I literally threw together a banner in like 3min just to see if it would win, and guess what it did. All the banners the required time to make with the exception of one failed. People don’t want originality they want normality.

My advice would be to pour as many big eyed 10 year olds with some generic text like: Imagine, Cuteness, or Visualize.

shiraijunichi · Post by **shiraijunichi** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:02 pm

DTJB wrote:I just think there are too many banners right now. Every five seconds, ten new banners are ready to be voted on. Some of them are actually pretty good, but it's getting to be a bit out of hand... Maybe we should limit ourselves to 20 banners a month on which to vote on. Otherwise I think I'm going to drown in them.

I'm not sure if I agree... Sure, there are a lot of banners, but there are also a lot of members... If each member submitted only a single banner every week, we'd still be flooded with them. But, I think this isn't the case. I think the main problem might be the same people submitting three more banners just as soon as their three previous ones were voted on. I think a better solution would be to limit each person to upload only a single banner at a time- or maybe even in a given time period, like a week. I think this would put more emphasis on quality, instead of quantity.

Poetic_Kaos wrote:My advice would be to pour as many big eyed 10 year olds with some generic text like: Imagine, Cuteness, or Visualize.

Please allow me to politely and strongly disagree ^_^. After all, this is the reason why we're always flooded with banners that aren't any good, or original. Templates for banners are dumb... We don't need fifty banners that all look virtually the same. In my opinion, unless you have an original idea, don't even start making a banner. And as far as you having better luck with banners you didn't spend much time on- I don't think that's something you should try and hone in on. It's another reason why there are so many horrible banners- people don't spend the time they should. You might say, "But they got worthied", and I reply, "So what?" It appears you think the opinions of others are more important than your own. What's the point of having your banner appear on the website randomly, if it's not something that you can be completely proud about? I've come to learn that sometimes crap banners get accepted, and sometimes good banners don't- it seems like it's almost all about luck. So being happy that a banner got accepted, or disappointed because it didn't, really isn't justifiable. You can only be happy about banners that you know for yourself, are good, and well planned, and well made. And you can be happy about it, whether or not it get's voted in. But I don't see how you can have that kind of pride in something you spent three minutes creating

Beowulf · Post by **Beowulf** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:26 pm

My advice to the original poster is to stop asking for advice. Asking people how you want your art done is stupid and accomplishes nothing. You won't understand any of the advice people give untill you do it yourself and in the meantime your not being genuine. Instead you are trying to win and there is no "winning" in art.

Say your an artist. Your artistic skill is at X. Its up to you the artist to evolve past X on your own and see where you arrive. Anything that will interfer with that is to be avoided at all costs as it is insincere. Theres enough insincerity in the media without trying to create the winning banner formula.

But if you want my opinion, banners that bitch about opinions should be banned from the site and slogans need to be done away with altogether. I present to you the perfect banner:

Powerful. Memorable. Intriguing.