every shape has not its effects by itself but by what is around it. so givin it space is nessacary
to certain shapes get theri full effect. youre talkin about too much black there. i have seen
that mentality before. weisraum it is in german if u wanna know more look it up ...
basicly this is just an example idea.. really focuss on branding the greeny. focuss on its
decency understating by leavin out the words there too. i was trying around with the original polycount type too
didnt find a nice way with that yet tho
bitmap.
youre giong for the volume thing? yea that was a trend. alot of brands touched up logos to
be more 3d... to be modern maybe. all sorts of effects dont make things better. shadow glow
fillinng whatever is disturbing the main shape sometimes. not to say it makes things harder to read.
plus the width of words and width of image isnt quiet good i believe. basicly what satan said there.
so vassago versus rollin on the contrast issue.
i dont see an end comming pals ! :P
we have alot of points to "discuss" that wont be solvable for everyone
second outline thats like 1+1+1=6 dudes :P
i highly recommend not to have a second outline let alone one outline. just distorts things to
being less readable. but i think thats a very nice approach there. nice to see somebody post
more than one way.
i did something tonight that might be interesting. i said earlier the word and sign together are
basicly the clue but it felt difficult for me to let it come together cuz the type was somewhat
not exactly the same language as the smiley itself. atleast to me. so i thought i give the letters a touch up. see if u like any it was really quick so letterspacing isnt perfect for all weights.
did not decide on how and where to put smiley and claim so maybe later more or somebody else messes with it .. please go ahead
If you guys want it I can convert it to .ico, or perform whatever changes are necessary for it to be used. Absolute pain in the ass working at 16x16 px though...:poly105:
...I think I'll work on it more though, since I've read it can use 32x32 -> 64x64 in some instances, plus I would want to make the black background transparent.
qube, those are really sleek man. I like the top 2 of those. I don't know if we'll change the style of the forums as much as you have in your example there, but it can always be done as a secondary theme or something.
Everyone: The logo/header malarkey won't be decided until after Dominance War.
Heh, I was just throwing ideas around, they weren't meant to be serious sugestions as to where to go - just me having fun with the logo. If I had a bit more time I might be a bit more neat about the presentation Glad folks seem to like them though.
And, since I found a little more time:
(I like the ring around Mr Polysmiley personally, I realise I may be alone in that)
Its pretty typical that everybody here starts making a shitload of logo's because they think their idea 'looks cool', but nobody actually stops and think for a second about what the logo should be representing. This might be a bit too much for a 'free' community, but if you want to grow you should definately think about letting go of the old logo(wich doesnt stand for anything or communicates anything in my opinion) and think about making a new one.
Its pretty typical that everybody here starts making a shitload of logo's because they think their idea 'looks cool', but nobody actually stops and think for a second about what the logo should be representing. This might be a bit too much for a 'free' community, but if you want to grow you should definately think about letting go of the old logo
I've stopped, and I've thought. If we want a logo that represents the game industry, then we need a logo that's just as uninspired and generic. Add boobs.
Yeah but the problem is that polycount doesnt represent the game industry. In my opinion it represents:
-a place to check out kickass gameart from other artist
-a place to (show your work and)get help and usefull tips to improve your art skills
-a place where people with common interests can discuss stuff with people all over the world
-a place to find out more about things going on in the gaming industry
What most logo's I have seen in this thread represent:
-a green smiley
I know im being a (little too serious) whining bitch right now but it's just an idea to help you guys come up with a kickass logo/identity
Kwakkie, I did stop and think about it, and I figured representative logos are not actually that common in classic logos, and where they are used the thing they represent is often not all that clear from the logo. Here's some examples - Canon, Coke, Lego, BMW, Timex, Dodge, General Electric, General Motors, Google, Du Pont, Michelin, Pepsi, Duracel, ipod, Xerox, Fedex etc. Of course there are some logos that are representative, but Apple's logo looks like an apple, not a omputer, and Peguin's logo doesn't look like a book.
But, in each of those cases, when you see the logo you know what that logo represents, because the companies have had the common sense not to dick to much with their old logo that people all ready know, irrelivant of what the original meaning of that logo may have been.
Therefore I tried to stay true to at least the feel of the logo the site has already had for 10 years. More people than just hang out and talk on these boards are quite familliar with that old logo - it's more distinctive than you may think, and 10 years is a fair amount of time to build up recognition.
As for outlines or no outlines, or itallics of no itallics... These things, from the responses so far, is something some people like, and some people hate. They are also things it takes about 6 seconds to change. If a lot of people like a log, except for it's outline, it's no huge deal at all to remove the outline and give them what they want. Not that I will be, since I was just having fun with my old chum the polycount logo, and wasn't making any serious attempt at a submission. You can still have any logos you like that I do, but that's not really why I'm doing these logos since I can't promise any commitment to making it the best logo possible for the site.
And I like when the simley looks like a badge/button
In the middle of writing about how much of a dickhead you are kwakkie, you gave me some inspiration, and I realized your right. And also wrong. Hopefully I can get some time to get something on paper
I think polycount does represent the gaming industry. How many pcounters are employed at game studios? A fairly large number. With all of that experience and know how, I think it's silly to say that we can't speak in the name of the industry.
Between all of us, our opinions round out to a very well balanced informational site. A place where a n00bie can come to learn, ask questions and improve. The resources we have here are hands down better than 90% of the "game" colleges out there.
Good point there qubism. Yours & harles would look ace up in that bunch. I like them both quite a bit. Harles has the flavour of yesterday, and yours has the one of today.
I do wonder though how yours would work on a non-black themed style.
well what i find really important is that the green goes on the smiley and white on the type. a bit
seperation is better there. makes things more interesting. i think thats what harls lacks. and still
im highly suggesting to go with a touched up version of the type. not sayin mine is final or
anything. just should be considered what u say there yourself adam. were tryin to bring it up to date atlast arent we?
Definitely! And I agree on your points. I do, however, think the same way as Rhino. That in the end, whatever is chosen, after a week or two people will come to like it. I can see Harle's working well with your suggestions as well (white type, green logo). So many things to try and play with... :poly105:
Another note I hadn't touched on yet: I tried out the O as a 'quad' for the reasons Kwakkie brings up. While the smiley is significant to the communities individuality, it doesn't represent what we do. So, I tried - and failed! - a quad. The smiley does make for a great logo and I'm glad everyone spoke up as loudly as they did.
Qubie wins. Also I think it's quite important to really use *black* as a background instead of some inbetweenesque shade of dark grey. I just checked the new boards on a CRT and the white text over greyish background is indeed much harder to read than the oldschool page Erik linked to. Atm the pages appear quite washed out and lost in confusing shades of gray...
That's too high contrast though, I think. Even the old boards burned my eyes some. After reading some pages I'd go look on a white cnn news page or something, and I'd still see the polycount article. That's not good! :P
Also, I'm with Adam in concern of the readability of qube's white logo text on any given background. Remember that this will be overlayed on top of renders of artwork. If it's a bright render, you might not be able to see it really well. If that's acceptable, then fine.
Adam, you may as well just straight out just pick one and go with it. We can just suffer if we don't like it. We're getting that 'too many chefs' syndrome about this, and it's just dragging things out.
Oh i was not referring to the text background, mostly to the main page background. White text over pure black would be a mistake I think. But, no need for some other greyish stuff around the text area (see my mockups to see what i mean)
As for the logo, it is just a matter of making the letters white, but giving them a slight dark outline for the case of bright art images.
[edit]Snap, I just understood why I am having difficulties with the new text colors ... the type is not white atm, its gray - over a gray background :P
There won't be a solid colour for the background. Again: We're going to wait for Dominance War to be over and get our community to submit artwork. NOT ALL PIECES OF ART will be chosen as some level of quality control will be needed. Then, whichever logo we go with, will be used on top of that.
i definately love qubism logo. the type on the logo is spot on. since what we are doing here is a rebranding that logo is very adequate. awesome rebrand. its modern yet it has a little flavour of the old logo
Cube & others - if you notice images being resized it won't last for long. We're trying to sort out some issues with it before we run with it fully. Unless you see me announce something, it'll only be running while I am on my lunch.
Adam, congrats for taking all that input and still keeping such a calm attitude!
I just noticed something about the catch line, especially after seeing it so clearly on Qubes design. I don't understand the '&'... I obviously know it's a condensed version of 'and', but I think it mostly (and only) works well for symmetrical associations like 'Father & Sons', 'H&M' 'Cube & others' (hehe couldn't resist), all that jazz. So if you put 'videogame art ressource & community' it sounds like there is a 'videogame art resource' on one side, and a 'community' (of ... something?) on the other side.
Hence If we have to keep a catch line of that sort I would suggest
'Game art resource and community'
Also ... we don't need a '.' dot after 'polycount', and not after the catch phrase either. If there are dots, then there should be uppercases aswell and I don't think we want that!
I agree totally in doing art up top like my first mockup I did with Tully's banner. How it will work with the wide skin and the normal 4:3 skin? It would suck to have the banner making the window wider. Maybe they all would have to be the size I did it in my Tully mockup?
Replies
here's a new one.
also made an icon for windows vista and im using it for the wip folder lol
whitespaces
every shape has not its effects by itself but by what is around it. so givin it space is nessacary
to certain shapes get theri full effect. youre talkin about too much black there. i have seen
that mentality before. weisraum it is in german if u wanna know more look it up ...
basicly this is just an example idea.. really focuss on branding the greeny. focuss on its
decency understating by leavin out the words there too. i was trying around with the original polycount type too
didnt find a nice way with that yet tho
bitmap.
youre giong for the volume thing? yea that was a trend. alot of brands touched up logos to
be more 3d... to be modern maybe. all sorts of effects dont make things better. shadow glow
fillinng whatever is disturbing the main shape sometimes. not to say it makes things harder to read.
plus the width of words and width of image isnt quiet good i believe. basicly what satan said there.
so vassago versus rollin on the contrast issue.
i dont see an end comming pals ! :P
we have alot of points to "discuss" that wont be solvable for everyone
and i don´t talk about wießraum.. i talk about a big black box at the top of the page..
BLACKBOX = BAD
(only exception: your an airplaine)
and your avatar is still annoying
btw.. cool avatar
I think the personalized banners are a little too gameartisans.
Actually did these at twice this size, Just scaled them down to see how they'd hold up.
i highly recommend not to have a second outline let alone one outline. just distorts things to
being less readable. but i think thats a very nice approach there. nice to see somebody post
more than one way.
i did something tonight that might be interesting. i said earlier the word and sign together are
basicly the clue but it felt difficult for me to let it come together cuz the type was somewhat
not exactly the same language as the smiley itself. atleast to me. so i thought i give the letters a touch up. see if u like any it was really quick so letterspacing isnt perfect for all weights.
did not decide on how and where to put smiley and claim so maybe later more or somebody else messes with it .. please go ahead
ive put it into my earlier example together with the claim ...
to harl one thing tho. for better judgement i suggest leavin a tad more room between each idea...
If you guys want it I can convert it to .ico, or perform whatever changes are necessary for it to be used. Absolute pain in the ass working at 16x16 px though...:poly105:
...I think I'll work on it more though, since I've read it can use 32x32 -> 64x64 in some instances, plus I would want to make the black background transparent.
Everyone: The logo/header malarkey won't be decided until after Dominance War.
And, since I found a little more time:
(I like the ring around Mr Polysmiley personally, I realise I may be alone in that)
Qubism, I liked your 1st and 2nd.
Second from the bottom is my favorite. For me, the logo looks best outlined.
and against italic
and against the polycountsmilie too close to the logo-text
and against too much black
peppis and qubisms are till now the best versions.. and the last from adambrome
I've stopped, and I've thought. If we want a logo that represents the game industry, then we need a logo that's just as uninspired and generic. Add boobs.
I'm just busting your balls. :poly106:
I second that, looks really cool !
-a place to check out kickass gameart from other artist
-a place to (show your work and)get help and usefull tips to improve your art skills
-a place where people with common interests can discuss stuff with people all over the world
-a place to find out more about things going on in the gaming industry
What most logo's I have seen in this thread represent:
-a green smiley
I know im being a (little too serious) whining bitch right now but it's just an idea to help you guys come up with a kickass logo/identity
But, in each of those cases, when you see the logo you know what that logo represents, because the companies have had the common sense not to dick to much with their old logo that people all ready know, irrelivant of what the original meaning of that logo may have been.
Therefore I tried to stay true to at least the feel of the logo the site has already had for 10 years. More people than just hang out and talk on these boards are quite familliar with that old logo - it's more distinctive than you may think, and 10 years is a fair amount of time to build up recognition.
As for outlines or no outlines, or itallics of no itallics... These things, from the responses so far, is something some people like, and some people hate. They are also things it takes about 6 seconds to change. If a lot of people like a log, except for it's outline, it's no huge deal at all to remove the outline and give them what they want. Not that I will be, since I was just having fun with my old chum the polycount logo, and wasn't making any serious attempt at a submission. You can still have any logos you like that I do, but that's not really why I'm doing these logos since I can't promise any commitment to making it the best logo possible for the site.
And I like when the simley looks like a badge/button
i would say.. use the logo-logo: the smilie and use the type just as type..
just the way peppi and qubism made it
we don´t need some: "hey look how superfancy my logo is"
and about the representation.. i can´t imagine something, that represents polycount any better than a green smilie with teeth 8)
Between all of us, our opinions round out to a very well balanced informational site. A place where a n00bie can come to learn, ask questions and improve. The resources we have here are hands down better than 90% of the "game" colleges out there.
i thought i put a couple logos of similar places together so we have visually an idea who they are and how and how different they look
I do wonder though how yours would work on a non-black themed style.
seperation is better there. makes things more interesting. i think thats what harls lacks. and still
im highly suggesting to go with a touched up version of the type. not sayin mine is final or
anything. just should be considered what u say there yourself adam. were tryin to bring it up to date atlast arent we?
Another note I hadn't touched on yet: I tried out the O as a 'quad' for the reasons Kwakkie brings up. While the smiley is significant to the communities individuality, it doesn't represent what we do. So, I tried - and failed! - a quad. The smiley does make for a great logo and I'm glad everyone spoke up as loudly as they did.
Also, I'm with Adam in concern of the readability of qube's white logo text on any given background. Remember that this will be overlayed on top of renders of artwork. If it's a bright render, you might not be able to see it really well. If that's acceptable, then fine.
Adam, you may as well just straight out just pick one and go with it. We can just suffer if we don't like it. We're getting that 'too many chefs' syndrome about this, and it's just dragging things out.
Like here:
http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/files/polycount_2002_messageboard.html
No fussing around : a plain color for the text bg, and then just black around that. I think that's very powerful.
As for the logo, it is just a matter of making the letters white, but giving them a slight dark outline for the case of bright art images.
[edit]Snap, I just understood why I am having difficulties with the new text colors ... the type is not white atm, its gray - over a gray background :P
we'll sort it all out, no worries :P
http://edgesize.com/pics/icon.ico
i optimized the letterspacing a bit also made an example of a negative/light version.
i like it more and more ...
at this point changes can be very minor.
I just noticed something about the catch line, especially after seeing it so clearly on Qubes design. I don't understand the '&'... I obviously know it's a condensed version of 'and', but I think it mostly (and only) works well for symmetrical associations like 'Father & Sons', 'H&M' 'Cube & others' (hehe couldn't resist), all that jazz. So if you put 'videogame art ressource & community' it sounds like there is a 'videogame art resource' on one side, and a 'community' (of ... something?) on the other side.
Hence If we have to keep a catch line of that sort I would suggest
'Game art resource and community'
Also ... we don't need a '.' dot after 'polycount', and not after the catch phrase either. If there are dots, then there should be uppercases aswell and I don't think we want that!
anyhoo, i agree. "Game Art Resource and Community" looks best.
I agree totally in doing art up top like my first mockup I did with Tully's banner. How it will work with the wide skin and the normal 4:3 skin? It would suck to have the banner making the window wider. Maybe they all would have to be the size I did it in my Tully mockup?