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Banner Graphic Request

By stcynic on April 4, 2006.

Okay, we now have the ability to replace the banner on top of this page (the part that has the title and subtitle of the blog) with something specific to our blog. The problem is that I'm completely clueless when it comes to the use of photoshop or similar programs, so I'm soliciting help from my readers. In fact, let's make it a contest to see who can come up with the coolest banner for the blog. The winner will get my undying gratitude and the applause of Edheads everywhere. The correct size, I'm told, is 756 x 70 pixels. And the color scheme needs to fit in with the rest of the page's drab black and white. So if any of you are skilled with photoshop and want to give it a try, email your best try to me and we'll see if we can't spruce the place up a bit.

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Seriously, the "Get an Ed in your Head" graphic matches the color scheme (maybe the black will have to be changed to a dark shade of grey) and is beyond great. I don't have Photoshop, but if I did, Jeff Hebert's graphic would be on the left hand side of the banner and a stylized "Dispatches from the Culture Wars" would take up the rest.

By FishyFred (not verified) on 04 Apr 2006 #permalink

Why not make this a somethingawful photoshop friday? :)

FishyFred, you don't need Photoshop to let your creative juices flow. The Gimp is free, multiplatform, and just as capable as Photoshop.

Evolgen and Gene Expression used 756x118 (or 117) for their banners. How come you only get 70 pixels high?

My first attempt can be seen here as just the banner:

http://www.heromachine.com/dispatches-banner.jpg

And here integrated into a screen capture of the site:

http://www.heromachine.com/dispatches-pagemockup.gif

I chose Raphael's "The School of Athens" as the background image for several reasons. First, I think the earthy Renaissance color scheme complements ScienceBlogs' overall look while bringing something besides brown and black to the table.

Second, I think of this as being very much a Renaissance site, combining the very best of natural philosophy, legal scholarship, scientific inquiry, and an interest in culture, much like the premier thinkers of that age did.

Third, the original painting itself resides in the Vatican, bringing in the element of religion which also consumes a large part of this blog's purview.

And finally, I like the concept of gathering the greatest minds of antiquity into one place. When I look at the painting I feel a thrill (hey I'm an art geek, my thrills are cheap thrills!) imagining what it would be like if it could really happen that way, if brilliant people from all disciplines could truly gather together and engage in intellectual discourse. In my more philosophical moments that is what I imagine the Internet in general and blogs like this one in particular do. It allows people from all over to share their thoughts who might otherwise never know of each other.

And what do we do with that opportunity? Talk basketball and barbeque, baby! I guarantee you, Socrates would have been a brisket man. I can feel it.

Ahem. I chose the "Dauphin" font for the text of the site because I think it has a certain elegance, with undertones of a formal handwritten message. A dispatch, if you will.

Anyway, there you have it. If I get some more time in the next few days I'll try out some other treatments, and I very much look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.

Using Jeff's pic, I came up with this

756x102, 20KB

I'm trying to find your email address, but so far I'm unsuccessful... is it somewhere obvious and I'm missing it?

Nice work Jeff!

My advice is don't pick the graphic first.

Here's something from a brand strategist/advertising strategist that dropped by The Loom awhile back. Read it as generalized media communication advice --

How are we branding evolution? I would ask every scientist whose work intersects evolutionary theory the following:

--Why do you love what you do so much?
--How are you changing the world?
--What do you hope will result from your work in 10, 20, 50 years?
--What's the most fascinating thing you've encountered in your research?
--What leaves you in awe?
--Now, how would you explain all of these things to your grandparents/on a first date/to your kids/to your neighbors?

Really, it's less about thinking like a marketer and dumbing-down or tarting-up the science than it is about acknowledging and harnessing the emotional drivers that have drawn us all to be fascinated by evolution.

My italics. As a writer, artist, and general pain in the butt seems like a decent idea.

Do that, then relax, the graphic will take care of itself. You'll know the right one when you see it.

By SkookumPlanet (not verified) on 04 Apr 2006 #permalink

I kind of like the existing head for the blog.
Simple. Direct. Clear. No BS about it. Not in the least cutsey. All of which seems to fit the blog's contents and producer.
It ain't broke. Don't fix it.

By flatlander100 (not verified) on 04 Apr 2006 #permalink

I tried one which I think works out okay here, but it's not exactly what I was going for. Playing on the war theme, I was hoping to find a guy in a WWii helmet yelling into a radio, with the title in a military-esque font.

By Michael LoPrete (not verified) on 05 Apr 2006 #permalink

Thanks to everyone who has sent in banners so far (and I can't believe how fast you guys work). They all look great. I'll leave this contest open for all of today and then post them all and see what everyone thinks of them. By the way, it looks to me like the banners can be a little taller, as pough suggested, so rather than 756 x 70 let's try for 756 x 117.

There is a disturbing amount of talented people reading this blog. I feel some advertising/web design/graphic arts company somewhere is sitting around asking themselves, "If only we had someone who could design a cool banner for us in less than an hour."

this is what I came up with...