MacRumors Folding Banner Design

[Mr. Anderson]

So Arn has graciously given us the go ahead on making a banner to advertise/recruit for the team.

Anyone with any thoughts on this should post them here.

D

[bertinman]

cool.

sounds like fun.

my 1st idea:

how about something similar to the main page's banner but with the word 'folding' in it. Then it animates to fold-up into a origami ball (or circle) that morphs into a rendered sphere of a molecule chain (like the opengl views of the graphical version).

then, as a transition section, it pans the molecule and zooms in on a white connecting bar between spheres where it has a decal of the original frame.

repeat

[bousozoku]

I was thinking more of the MacRumors logo in pieces and colours as if the logo was a protein being formed.

[Tiauguinho]

Does arn accept .swf? If so, we could make it in Flash. I can make the banner if we can make it in flash, but i would prefer that we all participate in this. :) Lets organize a Flash Macrumors Team :D

[bertinman]

btw, how big is this banner going to be?

[Mr. Anderson]

I can help with the flash as well - and yes, flash is acceptable.

I can also do 3D flash, so if we wanted to show a protein folding it might work out nicely.

We'll need to know the size limitations though....

D

[Rower_CPU]

468x60 is the standard horizontal banner size.

As far as file size goes, arn would have to say.

[arn]

<20k is typical. Smaller is better :)

arn

[Plutronics]

I'm at the far end from a Graphic Designer ( an Electron Grease Monkey ), but I'd like to see at least one Mad Cow, and if you want to include Alzheimer's AND Senile Dementia , I'll sent you my picture!... ( Oooo , I almost typed "picture of my wife and I" ) :D :D

[edesignuk]

Originally posted by arn
<20k is typical. Smaller is better :)

arn
That'll be hard, it's difficult enough to get a decent 50x50px animated 'tar under 20k! :eek:

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by edesignuk
That'll be hard, it's difficult enough to get a decent 50x50px animated 'tar under 20k! :eek:

ah, but you're talking gif images - I did this for B2TM and his GeneralCybernetics banners quite a lot packed into 20k. If we go flash we can actually make it interactive....;) Lots of potential

D

[Mr. Anderson]

Ok, I'll start and lets get some feedback

www.gone3d.com/mr/

nothing fancy, just a start, but it does have a button and a link to the FAQ page. So we'll need to update the FAQ so that the first entry is about joining the team.

And, btw, its only 4k - plenty of room for lots more too....

D

[Tiauguinho]

Good Start Mr. Anderson,


We now have to continue on making sugestions and try to come to a consensus on this. Ill try to think of something too, based on a simple molecule structure :)

[Mr. Anderson]

I like the MadCow as a mascot -

"Don't let this happen to your cow, Fold!"

D

[Moxiemike]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
Ok, I'll start and lets get some feedback

www.gone3d.com/mr/

nothing fancy, just a start, but it does have a button and a link to the FAQ page. So we'll need to update the FAQ so that the first entry is about joining the team.

And, btw, its only 4k - plenty of room for lots more too....

D

First couple of things. Y ou're right. It's VERy rudimentary. The moving arrows are a bit cheesy and cliché Flash.

The bright yellow and bright blue are too "computer-ish". They remind me of Deskmate's interface from my old Tandy 1000.

If you're going to use that as text, i'd probably switch the headlines— i.e., make the "help make a difference" job the focal point. Lure people in with something they can understand.

Your font for both is also a bit light. In the quick flash world of web animation, I think you need something a bit bolder. Trade Gothic Condensed Italic would work wonders.

I'd also ditch the graduated tone. That stuff always tends to look very 1st year design school.... especially with those colors.

Think a little outside of the box—maybe get some inspiration from medical/pharmaceutical sites. They use some awesome color schemes and modern, fresh fonts.

I also think that it need some sort of logo to brand it. Maybe the MR logo? I'm not sure. But it DEFINITELY needs a graphic of some sort.

www.istockpro.com or www.istockphoto.com might be a nice source of imagery at reasonable costs.

www.zoloft.com has a nice color scheme and some elegant flash animation

www.paxil.com and http://us.gsk.com/ also have nice schemes.

I think you'll want something softer and inviting overall. Whereas right now, you're kinda hard edged and cold.

[Powerbook G5]

How about a slowly rotating double helix with "MacRumors Team Folding--We want you to make a difference"

Or just say "Fold or be banned" :D

[Mr. Anderson]

thanks for the critique - but it was a test, especially showing interactivity and file size.

We'll try and stay away from imagery and keep with vector graphics since they tend to take up less space.

And the logo is a must - along with a lot more graphics and the ability to change the background or view different proteins.

D

[howard]

while i can't add much to the design of the add i would say that you need lots of info...its something thats so important yet missing from so many adds...and you especially need it in folding, i know when i first heard of the concept i had no idea what it was

[Moxiemike]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
thanks for the critique - but it was a test, especially showing interactivity and file size.

We'll try and stay away from imagery and keep with vector graphics since they tend to take up less space.

And the logo is a must - along with a lot more graphics and the ability to change the background or view different proteins.

D

Right on. But definitely play with the color schemes. You don't want it to look like "just another banner ad" and you need a very interesting color scheme to make it work.

I'm thinking a bright light blue mixed with a pastel-ish yellow, or pale orange would be really eye catching

Maybe make use of the silhouettes...what's good for the apple.... ;)

Vector art can be cheesy, so you'll REALLY have to pay attention to the detail to make it good. A silhouette, or something you'd see at House Industries... that's the level you guys should be playing at.

Hope you can achieve it!

[Powerbook G5]

I also agree that finding a way to deliver more info is needed. I had no clue what folding was for a good long while and I had a hard time explaining it to my parents when I went to install it onto their PC at home. Either way, adding a banner and possibly another front page topic on it could go a long way with gaining some ground. As was mentioned earlier, when there was a front page topic on it over the summer, a lot of people ended up starting to fold.

[edesignuk]

Maybe arn could make a sub-domain, folding.macrumors.com where a full FAQ can be found in a more presentable manor than a post in the forums?

[MacBandit]

Hey we could use my photo and with it don't let this happen to you. Fold!:D

[dstorey]

How about something to make us look like a team... Maybe have a Panther and Jaguar mascot with Team Folding t-shirts, and some cheerleaders saying 'go team folding' I'm sure the mac rumors girls will model for it ;) then the ad can pan to the field where it shows an iMac bounce across like lux and turn to face the screen and on the screen it can zoom and show a protien and a simple message about what it is and how to join.... ok maybe too complicated...but pather and Jag mascots for the team would be cool.....

[Mr. Anderson]

Actually, if we get a logo for MacRumors Team Folding - we should have arn submit the artwork to cafepress so we can have mugs made....

D

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Moxiemike
I dunno if there's much of a market there. Wouldn't hurt, but the point of folding is for charitable causes, not to raise money for macrumors. So i think that's not such a good idea.

are you familiar with cafepress? You submit the artwork and they make the items per order. You order 1 cup/mug/frisbee/shirt you get only one - no need to have them make 100 and hope you sell them.

And its not to make money - there is no minimum order, its would just be fun. And it would have nothing to do with support macrumors.

D

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by MacBandit
I like the DNA double helix logo idea maybe we could use little MacRumors Apple logos for the chain connectors all they way up the double helix.

mmm, that sounds interesting - that could look quite cool...

do that in 3d and have it spin in the banner, looping through a rotation.....

D

[Moxiemike]

Originally posted by arn
yeah... some people might want mugs/tshirts just for the heck of it.

If so, they can be priced at the cost, so the only one making money off of it is CafePress. :)

arn

That would be a better idea. maybe they'd even donate 50 or so mugs (arn, i'm sure you've been a nice financial boon to them) and then you could give them to the top 50 folks in the MR team.

Especially since it benefits a good cause.

And a nice reward to the people who leave their machines on relgiously to support folding

[Falleron]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
Ok, I'll start and lets get some feedback

www.gone3d.com/mr/

nothing fancy, just a start, but it does have a button and a link to the FAQ page. So we'll need to update the FAQ so that the first entry is about joining the team.

And, btw, its only 4k - plenty of room for lots more too....

D
Another suggestion. If everyone does what they think is a good idea + then email it to you. Then, you can put them on that web site (all in one place). After a number of weeks we can have a vote to see which is best. We would then be able to combine the best aspect of each to make a really good banner.

What does everyone think?

[Megaquad]

I made some examples too.
http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr (http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr/)
See if you like it, I can modify them more then.

[Mr. Anderson]

Nice megaquad! How'd you get the helix in 3D?

I'll be updating another later this morning - email them all to me and I'll put up a single page so we can compare (thanks falleron).

D

[edesignuk]

Originally posted by Megaquad
I made some examples too.
http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr (http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr/)
See if you like it, I can modify them more then.
That looks really cool! Nice job! :D

[Powerbook G5]

I agree, those banners do look pretty sharp.

[Mr. Anderson]

updated - background by tiauguinho, helix by me.

Pain in the ass to get that at 20k - but there's room for improvement.

www.gone3d.com/mr/

t: I left those files you sent me last night at home, sorry. could you send me them again?

Thanks,

D

[Moxiemike]

Originally posted by Megaquad
I made some examples too.
http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr (http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr/)
See if you like it, I can modify them more then.

Awesome. I'd probably make the text onthe green one a dark grey... legibility.

What if you put the MR logo kinda smallish above the text justified right?

[Mr. Anderson]

another update - same page

www.gone3d.com/mr/

D

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
another update - same page

www.gone3d.com/mr/

D

That's really nice, I like it a lot. I'd personally go for blue, though, but that's just me. It definitely looks like a good candidate for the final design.

[Mr. Anderson]

we have another with backgrounds that change, and I'll add that in later. I also need to figure out how to reduce the size a bit - it seems overly large right now, although its at 20k.

And I've got another one planned ;)

D

[mc68k]

looks great! good work

[Megaquad]

Excellent 3D helix!
I also played with colors on my experiment Banners (http://www.lcarsplanet.com/mr/).
You can download fla source so maybe someone can improve.

[Falleron]

Great work everyone. The 3D models are great. I like the blue ones.

[Mr. Anderson]

New banner!!!!!

Long live the Cow! The Mad Cow is dead!

www.gone3d.com/mr/

a little more animation, chewing cudd and such could make this better. I'll tweak it as needed...

D :D

[Rower_CPU]

Nice work, D!

One thing, the cow reference could cause confusion because that's the mascot for the RC5 project (mc68k told me).

Also, it'd be great to have the team number in there somewhere as well. :)

[mc68k]

it's the mascot for all of distributed.net

http://n0cgi.distributed.net/faq/cache/80.html

[Mr. Anderson]

What's the RC5 project?

We'll need to have a link to the FAQ and putting the team number isn't a problem but it might be a little confusing.

That could be handled in the FAQ.

D

[Rower_CPU]

See mc68k's post for RC5 info.

Good call on linking it to the FAQ, no worries about the team number, then.

[Mr. Anderson]

That sucks, but is there anything really wrong with the cow? Its a little different than the other one.

Also if we have a bunch of ones we like, we could have a banner that changes over time to do more than one graphic.

The cow is 8k, the others are even less....combine them all and still have a lot less than 20k.

D

[Rower_CPU]

Just pointing out that it might confuse some people.

Do you plan on doing ones for the other diseases too?

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU

Do you plan on doing ones for the other diseases too?

making fun of a mad cow is a lot easier and acceptable than making fun a person with one of those diseases. I don't think so, it would be in extremely poor taste.

And how much confusion will there be - we could mention mad cow disease so people get it...

D :D

[mc68k]

just don't make it look like these:

1 (http://www.distributed.net/logos/cowhead-big.png)
2 (http://www.distributed.net/logos/cowbody-big.png)
3 (http://www.distributed.net/logos/zany3.png)
4 (http://www.distributed.net/rc5/images/holycow.gif)

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
making fun of a mad cow is a lot easier and acceptable than making fun a person with one of those diseases. I don't think so, it would be in extremely poor taste.

And how much confusion will there be - we could mention mad cow disease so people get it...

D :D

Well, duh. :p

I was thinking more along the lines of informational/emotional content than making fun...

[Vlade]

Lots of nice banners, are we getting free adds on the front page or what?

[Tiauguinho]

Our cow is much nicer! Very good job Mr.Anderson! :)

[MrMacMan]

Yeah I am very much impressed by these so far.

But maybe they should have more info on them?

'Team #3446' ?

[Mr. Anderson]

as cows go, this one doesn't have horns and its brown and white not black and white. So it should do for now. I'll add some more animated sequences and see how it goes.

Also a link to the FAQ an Extreme Overclocking stats ;)

D

[WinterMute]

I love the cow D, plenty of character, I don't think it matters that others use a cow motif.

Could we perhaps have a mad dogcow, being as we're a Mac team?

Clarus always looked a bit deranged to me:D

[Mr. Anderson]

Moof!

There any good pics? I could come up with something ;)

I also need to add some small animated effects, its pretty rough right now. Tail, ears, legs and head moving with the jumping. I'd also like to see it run and roll in the background, trees, clouds and maybe a herd of dottles in the background.

I'll add it as I go....

D

[bertinman]

Originally posted by mc68k
just don't make it look like these:

1 (http://www.distributed.net/logos/cowhead-big.png)
2 (http://www.distributed.net/logos/cowbody-big.png)
3 (http://www.distributed.net/logos/zany3.png)
4 (http://www.distributed.net/rc5/images/holycow.gif)

I like the 4th one...

But, I like the idea of using a protein as an eye catching image. I'm sick of cows, really--I go to UC Davis and one of the mascots is a cow.

[mc68k]

just to be technical (http://old.jccc.net/~pdecell/biochemistry/protstruc.html#tertiary)...what we have looks more like a DNA strand than a proetin alpha helix. protein structures include:

primary - individual amino acids

secondary - combination of amino acids. can be an alpha helix or a beta pleated sheet

tertiary - combination of alpha and beta sturctures to form a twisted mess

quaternary - duplicates of tertiary (usually in very large proteins)

here are pictures (http://folding.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/allprojects#180) of what we've been folding. i guess it doesn't look as glamourous, but it's more accurate.

[bertinman]

Originally posted by mc68k
just to be technical (http://old.jccc.net/~pdecell/biochemistry/protstruc.html#tertiary)...what we have looks more like a DNA strand than a proetin alpha helix. protein structures include:

primary - individual amino acids

secondary - combination of amino acids. can be an alpha helix or a beta pleated sheet

tertiary - combination of alpha and beta sturctures to form a twisted mess

quaternary - duplicates of tertiary (usually in very large proteins)

here are pictures (http://folding.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/allprojects#180) of what we've been folding. i guess it doesn't look as glamourous, but it's more accurate.

I was thinking the same thing, but I complain about moot points all the time, I wasn't sure if I should bother pointing anything out :p.

I like the look of the 722-724 project. It is somewhat symetric (loosely) and could possibly replace a helix without loosing too much "glamour"

[Mr. Anderson]

Although its more accurate, it doesn't have the instant recognition of the DNA helix. Sure we could put that in there (it would be a little more difficult to create in 3D from scratch) but aren't we using the banner to advertise for more members?

We need to have an icon or something easily understood.

D

[MrMacMan]

:digs up thread:

Any work being done?

We getting anywhere or are we just saying thats the best we can do?

:o

[Tiauguinho]

Originally posted by MrMacman
:digs up thread:

Any work being done?

We getting anywhere or are we just saying thats the best we can do?

:o

Work has been done, now its a matter of choosing which one do we get, the cow or the other one. I myself vote for the Cow. Mr.Anderson went on vacation and we are waiting for his return to finish the banner. :)

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by Tiauguinho
Work has been done, now its a matter of choosing which one do we get, the cow or the other one. I myself vote for the Cow. Mr.Anderson went on vacation and we are waiting for his return to finish the banner. :)

Damn, the choices were very few in numbers but great design...

hmmm

[MrMacMan]

[MrMacMan Uses CPR to breath life into this thread]
'MacMan, we have a pulse'
'Ah, great'

So now this is basically over are we gonna be seeing a banner happen or is this gonna fade away?

:(

Some of those were killer designs!

:D

[MrMacMan]

Don't you love when a person has to have a tripple back to back to back post just for people to remember there was a thread on banners?


Hi Recruits and new people, welcome.

This Topic has been dissused... and somehow forgotten.

I wish all of these banners God Speed in being posted somewhere on MacRumors Site...


:ThisIsMrMacMan'sFirstTrippleB2BPost:

--Peace, MrMacMan

P.S this was a good idea, don't kill it!

[twiztidn8v]

I like the banners too. But I wonder, what exactly were they gonna be used for? For just anyone of us to use on our websites? MacRumors.com web pages?

Just a question. I like them very much, and agree with MrMacMan, [not that I was a part of it to begin with, but...] let's not let this die. :-)

[shemp9999]

go mrmacman (anything with more 'pop' than fah's own logo).

[Mr. Anderson]

Good idea to get this thing up and going again - I'll discuss this with Rower and Arn and get something put together.

D

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
Good idea to get this thing up and going again - I'll discuss this with Rower and Arn and get something put together.

D

Thanks.

I really thought it was a great idea so if some of these banners could rotate with other banners or some idea it was be killer!

:D

twiztidn8v -- We could use the banners anywhere really, other forums which allow banner code (image or something)... and we could possible have a banner somewhere on the site so people might know constantly... not like every time we get an article posted on the Front page and we get 10000 new users...

:D


Keep Foldin' !

:D

[Tiauguinho]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
Good idea to get this thing up and going again - I'll discuss this with Rower and Arn and get something put together.

D

Dont forget me!!! :D ;)

What do you think Mr.Anderson, we continue developing the cow idea or the helix?

[maineroad]

I like the cow banner a great deal. However, I'm not sure if it is an intuitive symbol for people surfing these forums or other webpages who aren't familiar with folding. They might just pass it off as an advertisement or a silly banner.

I think the green helix banner catches the eye and has a certain "wow" factor in it. Even though its not a direct representation of a protein, it seems to say to me "Wow, I can work with those on my computer?! Cool".

[twiztidn8v]

I too like the cow one, but agree with maineroad. I also think it might look like a silly banner ad.

I also agree with the comment about the helix.

[Mr. Anderson]

We just need to add elements of the helix to the cow banner and it would work nicely.

Didn't forget about you Tiauguinho :D

I'll send you the file after I've smoothed out the cow animation and we can add a transition - Macrumors Team Folding, Team 3446, link to the FAQ page - which we'll need to update with a "So you want to join the #1 Mac Folding Team" section at the top, and a rotating helix. The ad will cycle between the two - That's the great thing about flash, you can do so much in 20k that you couldn't do in an animated gif....:D

D

[virividox]

is there a link to the current ones? like where the banner is at right now?

[maineroad]

Here is the link for the old banners based on the cow and helix. I think new ones are being made.

http://www.gone3d.com/mr/

[MrMacMan]

Some proper modifications need to be made.

More info needs to be there... but the designs are quite cool.


Keep updating.

[MrMacMan]

*cough*

This delay and lack of movement to get this going done the pipe is slowing our progress.


Banner == New Recruits.
Banner == Greater Awareness.
Ignored Thread == Great Idea going to POT!

:mad:

--MrMacMan

[twiztidn8v]

I most certainly agree with MrMacMan here. I wish I had the knowledge to do the work to it, I would find the time to do it. But alas, I do not. :mad:

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by twiztidn8v
I most certainly agree with MrMacMan here. I wish I had the knowledge to do the work to it, I would find the time to do it. But alas, I do not. :mad:
:knocks on door:
Who's there?
'Folding Thread'
Folding Thread who?
Folding Thread is gonna get you!

:alfred hitchcock knife music: ;)

--MrMacMan

[where are the mods... and arn... heellllooo]

[Mr. Anderson]

Relax - when I get the time, there will be an update. It still not decided what we're doing exactly- I've been a little busy with much more important things.

D

[wdlove]

Thank you Mr. Anderson, I'm sure that we understand that everyone has a life. I'm sure that our patience will be greatly rewarded. ;)

[MrMacMan]

Lets hope it amounts to something.



I mean people designed those wonderful banners... and we can't even put images in our signature... so...

:o

--MrMacMan