DV Academy Banners, adverts, icons, badges needed!!!

It's nice but I don't really like the heads. Could one be male and one be female...and could they be younger people? Right now they look like old men. Also could the heads be made smaller, and the DV Academy text be made to be more prominent in the image, since really that is the main focus. Also what about using blue and white to match the rest of the site instead of green and orange. Were those colors arbitrarily chosen?

As for the massive amount of badges under people's avatars...I really do not like how that looks at all. But I don't really have a suggestion just yet for what might look better. I'm very busy right now, but will try to give some feedback if I get a moment.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../Example-1.jpg

Any better? It's a little more condensed.

I like the left one better Shift. But is there a need for the apple and a pencil any more if we can already understand by the icons whether the person is studying or teaching...

But could you explain - what do the colors signify - blue student / yellow professor / half-blue learning in progress ?

Just thinking out loud - I see there would be room for about 8-9 icons in one row.

Yup, you're dead on with your guesses. I tried to get the yellow more of a gold but it just kinda looks bad. I think if the font could be switched to black it would be more legible.

Of course more problems with such a system. The only reason I think having the apple + gold badge is because someone might have been a professor in the past, so they are very knowledgeable, but not really actively teaching or participating in the program. That was kind of my thought. It's another stupid little problem, like not really having overlap for people who passed a class and became a professor.

And yea, I don't think it looks too cluttered anymore.

I think it would be fair if all the professors not so active any more get a regular graduated student sign to the courses they tought and problem solved... (it shows they are knowledgeable.)

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Originally Posted by Aquanina

It's nice but I don't really like the heads. Could one be male and one be female...and could they be younger people? Right now they look like old men. Also could the heads be made smaller, and the DV Academy text be made to be more prominent in the image, since really that is the main focus. Also what about using blue and white to match the rest of the site instead of green and orange. Were those colors arbitrarily chosen?

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Thank you guys for your input and suggestions! The image was something just off the top of my head so nothing is really carved in stone yet. Keep the suggestions coming and I'll try to accommodate all of them so we get the best looking banner possible. I'll work on them a little later today and post a few possibilities. Thanks for the input guys. - Discord:banana:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...os/newdva2.jpg
I think this looks a lot better than the previous ones. I tried to incorporate a few suggestions from other forum members and I think this looks a lot more "realistic" if you will and a little more professional. I decided to throw the heads out all together. They looked pretty tacky. More suggestions or input is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys. - Discord

maybe the text could stand out from the rest a bit more - at the moment all white / light blueish.

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Originally Posted by insight

maybe the text could stand out from the rest a bit more - at the moment all white / light blueish.

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I'm not sure what you're saying. I mean I get you want it to stand out more but what would you like to see changed?

The borders of text / text color maybe? I liked the neon colors before, maybe add them ?

I like it, there are only a few things that I think could be improved when I look at it. I don't think the moon looks good that blurry. Maybe a bit of softening, but not to the degree that it is in that image. Whether or not the moon is changed, I agree the text needs to pop just a bit more. On top of the blur of the moon, it's not so much difficult to read as uncomfortable. My eyes rove over it and can't manage the focus.

The other things are also about the blur- it looks like the top edge of the mountains are blurred. It does give it a sort of dreamy effect, but it's also somehow unsettling to me for everything to be so blurred. On the other hand, the reflection in the water looks blurred perfectly, except that the blur doesn't extend right up to the shoreline. There's that little line of reflection-free water that looks odd.

That makes me sound very picky :oops: Except for those things though, I really like both your banners! This one has lovely colors and the stars are excellent. Not too many, not too few, not too dark, and not too bright. The perfect combo :D

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Originally Posted by Discord

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...os/newdva2.jpg
I think this looks a lot better than the previous ones. I tried to incorporate a few suggestions from other forum members and I think this looks a lot more "realistic" if you will and a little more professional. I decided to throw the heads out all together. They looked pretty tacky. More suggestions or input is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys. - Discord

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This one is nice, I like it.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/shiftld/DVA4.png
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/shiftld/DVA2.png

So much of dreaming is represented by the moon and dark and night. People forget it can happen during the day, too :D

Summary so far for badges:
* We started off mainly with idea-based badges. RC sign was a hand pointing through a hand etc.
* Moved on to usual badge-shaped icons. Mrdeano & Shift/Cloud & CC have made their contribution here.
* We have discusse how to display the icons (under avatar and how?)

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Originally Posted by mrdeano

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8997/badge1.jpg http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7830/badge2.jpg

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Originally Posted by Shift

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...d/62851b09.pnghttp://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...d/010a0591.png

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Originally Posted by mrdeano

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/9021/badge3.jpg http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2987/badge5.jpg http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5903/badge4.jpg

Please forgive the little shadow you can see below the badge. I am yet to make these transparent.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6247/previewqh.jpg

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Originally Posted by mrdeano

Something similar this perhaps? This is for supplements
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1894/badgecap.jpg

I think that they should only receive the badge once they have passed the course.

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Originally Posted by CanceledCzech

http://i.imgur.com/1NA5M.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/8k6J0l.jpg
I gotta say I really like the 'fabric' look to them. I might add some lettering to them myself.

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Originally Posted by Shift

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3656/badges.png I like the ones on the left of the colored and all-blue groups.

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Originally Posted by ClouD

Buttons:
http://www.jakecloud.com/upload/file...emybuttons.png

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Alignment:

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Originally Posted by Shift

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ld/Example.png http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/shiftld/All.png

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Originally Posted by Shift

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../Example-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by ClouD

Here's the lite banner without the cinematic border.

http://www.jakecloud.com/upload/file...bannerlite.png

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hey cloud, can i use this as my signature? i think it looks awesome, and i would like to use it.
edit: and it could help spread publicity about DVA. ill hyperlink the main dva post to it so any curious noob can see it! it'll look something like this

So as far as Icons- I think the only ones created were mine? Does this mean there is unanimous support for them?

1. Should we use icons at all?
2. Should we use mine, or should we wait and see what other people come up with?
3. Which positions should we have icons for?
   • Current Professor
   • Current Student
   • Graduated Student
   • DVA Staff
   • Retired Professor
   • Alumni? (someone who has graduated a whole range)
4. Then, which ones should we use

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As far as Badges- we have a few really nice designs!

1. Whose do you think we should use?
2. Should they be the same in the large and tiny versions, assuming we use differing sizes?
3. Should we provide badges for workshops?

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How should badges be organized?

1. I believe it is possible for an admin to place tiny badges around someone's avatar
2. I am not sure if it is possible to put them into a profile
3. We could have a thread showing each course and its graduates, which would be linked to from a badge
4. Any other suggestions?

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Banners

1. Banners are awesome, but what exactly are we supposed to be doing with them?
2. Where will banners be located?
3. Whose banner should we use?
4. Does it make sense to have multiple banners for different functions?

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...rdBanner-1.jpg

Another one just cause I'm bored :D

i had a thought. is there a way to change the banner at the top of the forum to the one we pick when you click any thread in the dva section? im not good with programming and all that. EX. like if i click the DV academy section in the main forum, it's set to where the banner at the top changes. or have it somewhere else in the section?

edit: i made a few pics with the banners at the top, to show what i meant.

Spoiler for clouds:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...02/saple-1.png

Spoiler for momentomori/slash112:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/saple3-1.png

Spoiler for discords:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/saple2-1.png

Spoiler for shifts cloudy one:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/saple4-1.png

for some reason they are really blurry. i think its because i changed the file type. ill try to fix it. i like discords and clouds the best.
edit again: ok fixed it, it was b/c i conv. them to gifs lol. it looks a lot better.

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Yeah i actually couldn't find that font, i looked hard as hell, i was very disappointed... what was the name of the font?

Also, Shift this was the storyboard layout i had in my head for my idea for the class banners
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q.../goodstuff.jpg

The name of the class on one side and a pic on the other, with pretty's running behind it, or just a gradient behind it, mind this is a "storyboard" pic...

here's the school without the blue masking and the letters if anyone wants to alter from here

Spoiler for "[IMG:

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q...hoolFront2.jpg

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The first one looks like it has the picture from that youtube guy who does the obe videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw5r6gPLOU0

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Originally Posted by James2302

i had a thought. is there a way to change the banner at the top of the forum to the one we pick when you click any thread in the dva section? im not good with programming and all that. EX. like if i click the DV academy section in the main forum, it's set to where the banner at the top changes. or have it somewhere else in the section?

edit: i made a few pics with the banners at the top, to show what i meant.

Spoiler for clouds:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...02/saple-1.png

Spoiler for momentomori/slash112:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/saple3-1.png

Spoiler for discords:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/saple2-1.png

Spoiler for shifts cloudy one:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/saple4-1.png

for some reason they are really blurry. i think its because i changed the file type. ill try to fix it. i like discords and clouds the best.
edit again: ok fixed it, it was b/c i conv. them to gifs lol. it looks a lot better.

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That's a really good idea. Is that possible (not sure who to adress, alex?) ?

i did. he said with the current vb3 forum thing its impossible, but with the new vb4 one coming soon (i think), it could be possible. i dont know when the new one comes out, i hope soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James2302

edit: i made a few pics with the banners at the top, to show what i meant.

Spoiler for clouds:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...02/saple-1.png

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i just had to say this. although clouds banner looks great, i just think it looks too bland and grey. i made it more bold like this:

Spoiler for blue-er one:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...02/saple-2.png

sorry, i just really like darker blues.XD
edit: heres a close-up-
http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...nerlite1-1.png
http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...annerlite1.png
edit: oh, and i made another fake page with shifts blackboard one, i thought it looked cool

Spoiler for shifts bb:

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...02/saple-3.png

Let's add blackboard one to the poll as well... And to that other main banner thread.

ill make a poll on the formatting

Ok so here's my attempt at contributing. :P

I guess one of the reasons I dislike the options so far for the various icon options under the avatar is that they look a bit out of place to me. Like random things just being pasted into a space, and aesthetically...I'm just not a fan. Sticking in a bunch of graphics (especially very difficult to read ones) to the space just doesn't seem like the way to go imho. So I had this idea that the icons need to be designed in their own space. I thought maybe it would be best to simply treat the DVA icons/badges as one graphic. It looks more cohesive to me, and frankly, seeing those little blackboards under people's avatars...I dunno...I think they are cute! I realize some might not like them though.

Since it's a single graphic, I assume the way it would have to work basically...is that every possible graphic would be already created and listed on some page, so as people progress through the DVA, the image would just be swapped out for the next one, rather than adding a new icon/badge each time as per the previous design options. I think this seems doable? There would be a good amount of combinations but these would not take long to make at all.

So here it is, basically to use the concept of a blackboard. (oh, and it should probably have the DVA initials somewhere...maybe gold letters...added somewhere to the design)

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...anina/dva1.jpg

And then the classes get written on the blackboard. This could be adjusted to add/subtract classes as needed, but in general, I don't think much would change other than the colors. Blue for completed courses, yellow for in progress.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...anina/dva2.jpg

I was thinking about how to differentiate a professor. I think a simple apple would do the trick? No need to get gaudy.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...anina/dva3.jpg

And perhaps give DVA staff a gold star? (though I probably should have made that star a bit smaller, you get the idea)

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...anina/dva4.jpg

Or if we want to show recognition for professors, maybe how many classes they teach, or perhaps there will be professor ratings, might be able to do something like this.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...anina/dva5.jpg

Graduates could get the little cap in place of the star. I see no reason to recognize students, as they will be recognized already by having a blackboard in their avatar.

So there you go. If you hate it, feel free to say so lol. ;)