ballp.it
Snakes In The Ball Pit => Announcements => Topic started by: Lemon on February 10, 2013, 05:06:29 pm
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Okay, so ballp.it is over a week old now, and for the last couple of weeks I've been slowly going through the site making things look better. We're now at the point where ballp.it needs a logo. I know I could hack something together, but the end result will end up only slightly less shitty than what I made last time, so it seems like a good thing to turn over to you folks.
DRAW ME A LOGO!
This will be specific to ballp.it. I am still happy with The F Plus logo being used both for the podcast and as the brand of "the F Plus Network" (such as it is), but from the start, it was the goal to make ballp.it own its own identity (which is why the domain is what it is instead of being thefpl.us/forums or somesuch). If there's a relation that can be addressed visually, cool, but it's not necessary. The important thing right away is that if I have ballp.it open in one tab and thefpl.us open in another, I don't want there to be any confusion as to which is which. In short, that Red F circle has to go, and I'll probably be sticking it in the footer or somesuch.
RESTRICTIONS? DIMENSIONS? GIMMIE SOME RULES PLEASE
- DIMENSIONS: The current masthead logo (http://ballp.it/Themes/Giggle/images/ballpit_logo4.png) is 657x83, which includes the tagline. That's already too wide. Without the tagline, I'd like the masthead icon to be somewhere around 280x85, which'll afford it the most use (this site is semi-responsive: it's not really gonna look good on phones, but it scales well to tablets). However, whatever masthead you go with, please keep in mind that it also needs to work in a very small square. (as small as 16x16 for the favico), so please please please conceptulize a design that scales well.
- COLORS: Globally, ballpit uses the following color pallette...
(http://i.imgur.com/d77M8wM.png)
You do not have to use this color pallette in your logo, but it's something to bear in mind. If you make something monochromatic, I'd prefer you use #333 for your black. - EXAMPLES AND INSPIRATION: Thematically, you can elect to use the concepts of "balls" or "pits" only if that leads you to an interesting design. You're also more than welcome to use a theme element of a previous subject, so long as it's kinda subtle and doesn't just end up being the Malatoran flag with "WELL KNOWN POSTING PLACE" written on it. Broadly, our concept is "The internet is a strange place", but you are free to demonstrate that concept however you think looks best. As far as logos I like, I really like the github logo (http://gregrickaby.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/github-logo.png). I have no idea what an octocat has to do with Ruby development, but they made a strong image and now it's instantly recognizable. And it scales down really, really well (http://icons8.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/github.png). Mint (http://kosheronabudget.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/mintcom1.jpg) has a terrific logo as well.
And I also likeMaple Studios (http://www.maplestudios.co.uk/img/logo.png), MatchBox (http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/138662), OctoPin (http://www.octopin.com/img/logo.png). Note the lack of gradients, bevels and soft lines. Solid, well defined shapes are where it's at. - FILE TYPE: EPS is strongly preferred. I'm gonna be playing with this logo a lot and I'd prefer a file type I can make adjustments to. If you don't like leaving Photoshop, I can work with a PSD, just please make sure it looks good at varying sizes. If it's a jpeg, you didn't make a logo. I don't know what you just made, but it certainly isn't a logo.
- SO HOW DO YOU WANT IT? Email your file to [email protected] If you want to use this thread for discussions and WIP screenshots, that's cool, but please don't put your final design in this thread. Email it to me.
- HOW ARE YOU JUDGING THIS/HOW SOON DO YOU WANT IT? I've got some UX work planned for next week that requires having a logo I don't hate, so it would be great if there was a pretty new logo ready by February 16th. If there's nothing by then, we can revisit this. Obviously, logos are going to be judged on the basis of "Does Lemon think this is a good logo?", and that's pretty much it.
So, I know this might be a big thing to ask, but I know there's a number of F+ listeners with an unmistakable visual talent, and drawing things is very much not my strong suit. So, let's see what you can do, okay?
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Bumped, in case anyone needs a reminder.
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I have a rough design for one sketched out. I'm going to try to get it finished over the weekend.
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UPDATE: Logo received.
Working on getting it ready for production, but KingKalamari sent me a design which I'm liking very much, so that should hopefully be on the site within the week.