Posted by jrosenhouse on October 17, 2007 It’s been pointed out to me that the banner residing atop my blog is a bit dull. There’s a very good reason for that. I haven’t the faintest idea how to make a snazzier one.
Apparently other people have had contests to find a banner. That sounds good. Make other people do the work. I like that.
So how about it? Anyone have any ideas? Got a good image to use for a banner? Er, when people have had these contests in the past, have they also offered prizes?
Traditionally, the winners get buckets of cash, shiny new cars, and a nice stinky cheese.
My daughter has a degree in graphic design. Going to see if she’d help out.
Actually, I rather like the header. It looks stark and minimalist and it stands out against the complicated JPEGs that the other sciencebloggers are using. It communicates that this is a no-nonsense kind of blog.
I’m not sure if I should be trusted on aesthetic judgments, though. For example I’m a big autechre fan…
It’s all about framing. You just need to figure out how to market your current banner appropriately. The background consists of two blank rectangles, one within the other. The smaller one, on the inside, represents the vacuity of creationist arguments, while the larger one represents the vacuity of religion in general. The bold black lettering against that background speaks to the stark contrast between science and these other “ways of knowing”. 
Perhaps a scale of the geologic eras progressing left to right employing images of the life process. Difficult, but appropriate.
I second the ‘minimalist’ compliment. But maybe something like HomerSapien?
I’ve done a couple and the only prize I got was the knowledge that I had finally left a mark on Sb more than just a few inane comments. So people are willing to do them for a No-Prize.
A relative of mine asked me to make a few banners for his blog back in the day…I’d love to try and enter a contest to make one for your blog as well!
Let me tell you, I like the simple layout you have now as your banner. If you change it, I’ll stop reading your blog.
Well, not really. But you definitely don’t need to change it.
It would be easy enough to make a banner that’s just as simple as the one you have now. New banner! Same as the old banner, just in image format rather than text!
October 17, 2007
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