My new blog banner / layout ... Opinions?

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
Basically I'm planning on creating a new layout for my blog and I've been working hard on this banner since last night, a good 4 to 6 hours spent in Photoshop cutting out shapes, testing out new brushes and so on... I must admit I'm quite chuffed with how it's turning out, there is a lot going on in the image, and I'm just looking to hear what other people think :) Good or bad, it all helps me! There is no theme to it, just a lot of "that looks cool, let's use this"...
 
Thumbs up from me Paul - it certainly looks the part so far. But, of course, without seeing the layout, I can't sya how it'd fit.

Either way, looks good!
 
I like the 'grungey' effect of the text, which is a bit easier to read than your current one (a little decorative for my tastes in comparison). Will you be planning on having sharply defined, dark borders to the rest of the page?
 
adamcube said:
Thumbs up from me Paul - it certainly looks the part so far. But, of course, without seeing the layout, I can't sya how it'd fit.

Either way, looks good!
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Thanks... I've actually designed this banner before even touching the layout. This way the colour scheme is defined by the art rather than the other way around. I usually design the layout first and then just pop in a banner at the end, so I figured it would be interesting to do it the other way this time :)

McIcy said:
Looks good, but when I first looked at I thought you'd spilled coffee on it, cause of the background and Gai-sensais face
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Ha! "Messy, stainy grunge art" seems to be my style at the moment. I think I just love the diversity of shades and texture. I guess you could say that these days I don't design things, I stain them ;)

Martin said:
I like the 'grungey' effect of the text, which is a bit easier to read than your current one (a little decorative for my tastes in comparison). Will you be planning on having sharply defined, dark borders to the rest of the page?
Click to expand...

With the borders I'm planning on using a dark overall background and then implementing a drop shadow effect to give more of a 3D appearance. I'll post updates on here as and when the layout develops further.

As for the current design, I still really like it and I plan on adding a template feature to the blog so people can choose themselves which stylesheet and layout to load :) I've had several complaints about the pink!
 
Paul said:
I've had several complaints about the pink!
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Lol, true, pink isn't very masculine.
I like the banner, and a theme to go with it would look very good. I think i would just like Gai's face to look a little cleaner, but otherwise very nice :)
 
Ever tweaking and perfecting, the layout is now gradually coming together. I've attached what I've done so far... Any opinions?
 
WTFDaveMustaine said:
Looks great and it'll look even better when you can't see the JPEG pixelization.
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Thanks, I'm probably going to finish it off at some point this week(end) so a proper version should be online shortly.

random_pie said:
I think the white text might be better in black though, just a suggestion.
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I tried black text but I thought it looked a bit odd, the white is certainly very bright but I'm trying to maximize readability.

Charter_Mage said:
Paul said:
I've had several complaints about the pink!
Click to expand...
Lol, true, pink isn't very masculine.
I like the banner, and a theme to go with it would look very good. I think i would just like Gai's face to look a little cleaner, but otherwise very nice :)
Click to expand...

I think the current layout is alright, it was supposed to be red but ended up pink :( I like it since it's unconventional (especially for a fan of macho shonen anime like me :) ) but I know people who are naturally petrified of the colour!

Anyway, I've attached another new version of the layout... This time containing content. It's gradually getting there, and as ever, let me know if you like it or not...
 
Keep the white, Paul. To me black on that green would just look rather tacky more than anything else. Maybe a lighter shade of that green perhaps... but honestly I like how the white looks.
 
Two votes for the white background - as much as I like darker colours on a web page it's a difficult look to pull off without giving your readers eye strain! The colour scheme you've chosen there doesn't give many preconceptions about he content though, which is a good way to go.
 
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