The Graphic Design Thread - Drop It Like a Hotkey

[Meller Yeller]

Doing some UI design on a game that my team and I are hoping to have ready for early access soon. Not much experience doing UI stuff so I'm still getting used to it. Fonts are probably going to change.

[thumb]http://i.imgur.com/XY9RGwz.jpg[/thumb]

This is just a mockup. Just wanted to revive the thread with something.

[Smeetin]

I like it, nice and simple. The only thing I could really recommend, and it probably isn't important at all, is that the icons on the menu tabs are all a little too similar, but it wouldn't really cause too much of a problem.

[Wowza!]

[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6909475/ShareX/2016/05/Photoshop_2016-05-14_19-01-03.png[/IMG]

I've been working on the design for a school website that allows students to view information and leave reviews for various majors. I made a mockup for the review section for individual majors, but I'm not completely satisfied with the design. Any feedback/suggestions?

[Smeetin]

I like it, it is simple and informative. The only thing I would say is maybe make the Overall rating like a long bar at the top that spans across all of the columns below? Right now it feels a little "floaty" and too similar to the other ratings. It made the initial reading / understanding of what I was looking at a little hard. It would read better as "main rating" and "sub-ratings" that way.

[Whomobile]

Oh Hi GD thread!

[IMG]http://puu.sh/oSHns/9355d32077.png[/IMG]

Something I'm making for a uni project, we have to sell something unsellable. For this we have to pitch mandatory gobal microchipping for everyone. My groups decided the best way to pitch it is to appeal to upper/upper middle class late teens to early 20's so everyone wants to be as cool as them and want microchips (In theory :v:). We all have to make our own versions of things but we also have to make a piece of media based on one group member's style guide. I'l post that when I finish it.

Here's the cover for the style guide I'm working on:

[t]http://puu.sh/oSHAf/de567ecd77.png[/t]

[Smeetin]

The logo is ok, has kind of a 90s tech vibe to it, it is quite bottom left heavy though, not much balance. The colour difference doesn't really emphasize anything specific either. I would suggest adding some kind of "touch" effect at the end of the extended finger that is blue. This will help balance the logo probably and will actually deserve an accent colour.

In terms of the style guide cover, I would say that it would be better if the design was less arbitrary. Like if the background / pattern was more related to the logo design or project concept than simply in colour.

Good start, look forward to seeing future iterations / projects!

[Blind weasel]

[QUOTE=Smeetin;50335202]it is quite bottom left heavy though, not much balance. The colour difference doesn't really emphasize anything specific either. I would suggest adding some kind of "touch" effect at the end of the extended finger that is blue.
[/QUOTE]

Moving the text to the top of the logo would probably do the trick imo.

[Whomobile]

Thanks for the advice! I did try putting the text up top like Blind Weasel said but unfortunately it looked off balance no matter where I put it, I might change where is sits below (or even putting it [B]in[/B] the logo could work now that I think about it...). I'm going to see my lecturer about it tonight so hopefully I'll come back with some improvements.

[NO ONE]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/wtmjAuF.jpg[/img]

Friend wants a [I]simple[/I] logo for his slogan. So far, he says he likes this. Obviously, since I kinda free handed the letter placement, the tracking is off. But I feel it could still be refined. I can't try adding too many more details though. I also didn't get an answer back yet as to which layout he prefers. Although I'm guessing he'll go with the left layout.

I think I'd like to do something more with the right line, since I just used the default profile option on it. Color would be nice too.

[PieClock]

Sorry for the rambling here but I was sort of digesting what you've done while throwing advice out:

Going to be completely honest - it doesn't look good at all. I get that you're trying to "free hand" the text but there still needs to be some reasoning behind the placement. It's very chaotic right now and the lack of reasoning behind where letters are placed just makes me think that you accepted whatever way you could fit them into the triangle, if you get what I mean?

For example, look in the left image. You have 2 words, both with M's and E's and they're mashed together. It's very confusing. There's to much going on even for the chaotic nature of it. You have a better idea on the right.

I think what you need to focus on is making stuff a bit more uniform, to make some order in the chaos. Maybe try making the size of the font for the whole slogan the same size. And keep an eye on keeping the words more separated so you don't run into issues like I explained on the left.

[Smeetin]

Thanks PieClock, I was trying to figure out what to say also. I agree with everything.

--

Feels like its been a year since I posted anything, probably has been a year. Couple competition logos I whipped up this week in my off time for this competition:

[url]https://raic.org/raicep/en/initiatives/logo-competition[/url]

Normally wouldn't do a competition, but I haven't done any graphic design work in a long time, and I may be a member of the RAIC at some point so it would be cool to potentially win.

Unfortunately I don't know if my shot is any good, I didn't realize until page layout that I had to make my logos bilingual and so where as all of my sketches were monogramic focusing on 'E' and 'P', the french title was 'RP'. So i had to try to jam an R into my second logo somehow. Turned out ok, but was much better on paper.

The competition was for RAIC Emerging Practitioners. The RAIC logo that is currently used is essentially just their name typed out, so I wanted to play with the 'emerging' idea in a VERY simple typographic way.

First idea I just have E and P emerging from a plane which kind of creates a hyphen between the letters.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/fEJME34.jpg?1[/t]

Second idea, I bent the 'E' to make a cube from which the P is emerging, and then I had to try to get an R in there somewhere and this was the best I could come up with within the time frame.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/NGf0TSC.jpg?1[/t]

[wauterboi]

Hey guys, I've got a question for ya. It's a web design question, but something I think fits here.

I'm working on a website for a friend's business, and I need to fit some text on this high-contrast background.

[t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/965202/ShareX/2016/05/2016-05-27_17-04-37.png[/t]

She thinks that the black background is the best, but something about this still bothers me. I want people to get the impression of Vegas (where she operates and where we live) while also being able to retain the ability to read text - shoving the black background behind it seems like an ugly workaround. Black surrounding drop shadows also look bad. What's the best way to approach this?

[Laughing Stock]

maybe see if you can shorten the text beneath the title to something much simpler or move it to the bottom, and you can just put the 'Together every step of the way' in bigger text on the bottom right corner or something.

the little paragraph just seems excessively long to me.

[gerbe1]

Did there used to be a design request thread or something in the old sub forum?

[Smeetin]

I think that there was. People often asked in this thread too, so feel free to give it a go.

[Miljaker]

Anyone here willing to do a simple T-Shirt design for a cheapo price? I'm paying a total of €150 for the shirts so don't expect to get something you probably deserve :pudge:.

Some background:
Getting some sport shirts for myself and a few friends to wear during training and sport events. No sport in particular we just go with the flow. Beach volleyball, soccer, obstacle runes, etc, etc. You have pretty much complete freedom to come up with a generic design. Only the shirt color is fixed. An illustrator image on the front and the back is needed for transparency and I have no illustrator skills myself.

[Smeetin]

Here is the background for a poster I'm working on for a local zombie LARP event that happens annually. They give me some pictures from their past years event and I work something out of it.

Here is the image I chose to work with this year (they barely gave me anything this year):
[img]http://i.imgur.com/qxDez9z.jpg?1[/img]

Here is the poster background before I have to throw logo and info onto it. The bottom is super empty because that is where most of the info will be. (Parasol is essentially Umbrella Corp, which they defeated in last years game:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/6ppU1LQ.jpg?1[/t]

Just photoshop for this. Not sure how great it is as a poster, but I'm pretty pleased with it otherwise. I enjoy matte painting.

[H11]

[QUOTE=danjee;50245937]seed packet mockups for class:

[t]http://i.imgur.com/FssEVHn.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/I3dg674.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/e80Ueg5.jpg[/t]

and a back:

[t]http://i.imgur.com/ItTkp53.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]

reminds me a lot of Impossible Project's film packaging, I dig.

[NoNotTheMemes]

Been working on some promotional material for a production of Grease that I'm working on this summer, wanted some crits.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/RFgFKwo.jpg[/t]

[gerbe1]

-snip-

[Laughing Stock]

[QUOTE=Smeetin;50455678]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/6ppU1LQ.jpg?1[/t]

Just photoshop for this. Not sure how great it is as a poster, but I'm pretty pleased with it otherwise. I enjoy matte painting.[/QUOTE]

it seems like it would look nice once you place some text over it. looks great for what you started with.

[QUOTE=SpecialEffect;50457778]Been working on some promotional material for a production of Grease that I'm working on this summer, wanted some crits.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/RFgFKwo.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]

not a fan of the shadow, but i think you might want to add a shadow coming off of that lady too.
other than that i would clean up the detail on their hair

[Rusty100]

[QUOTE=SpecialEffect;50457778]Been working on some promotional material for a production of Grease that I'm working on this summer, wanted some crits.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/RFgFKwo.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]

don't do that shadow. it's prime stock image stuff

[wauterboi]

[QUOTE=Rusty100;50458965]don't do that shadow. it's prime stock image stuff[/QUOTE]
I was thinking "deviantArt Social Icon pack" myself.

I also think it doesn't really add anything to the graphic itself, which is the most important reason why you shouldn't do it. It just looks awkward and doesn't really evoke "shadow" to me, and it doesn't add anything to the concept of what it's displaying. For the sake of contrasting and not so much a suggestion, incorporating effects with the headlights as a subject would make more sense because it's a car. A shadow isn't unique or symbolic to any of the ideas portrayed in Grease or that image.

[Rusty100]

that's where deviantart gets it from. set the search to vector on shutterstock and behold
it's just a really cheap effect that adds nothing to the meaning of a design

[laserpanda]

I've found it. The embodiment of 90's packaging design.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/qtnSpIV.jpg[/t]

All it needs is some 0s and 1s and a "Turbo" sticker and it will have all the 90's graphic design cliches.

[GamerChick]

Anyone have any suggestions for a cheap drawing tablet that I can use with Illustrator and Photoshop (and probably Corel draw since I want to teach myself over the summer)? I think getting one would help get me motivated to make design stuff again and help with my drawing skills, but I'm extremely strapped for cash. My budget would be under 50 bucks. But even cheaper would be better for now until I get a new job.

[PieClock]

[QUOTE=GamerChick;50461773]Anyone have any suggestions for a cheap drawing tablet that I can use with Illustrator and Photoshop (and probably Corel draw since I want to teach myself over the summer)? I think getting one would help get me motivated to make design stuff again and help with my drawing skills, but I'm extremely strapped for cash. My budget would be under 50 bucks. But even cheaper would be better for now until I get a new job.[/QUOTE]

I have [url=http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTL490DW-Digital-Drawing-Graphics/dp/B010LHRFM2/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1465170372&sr=1-4&keywords=wacom+bamboo]this[/url] but it slightly goes over your budget. Just giving it a mention because I'd recommend it and I'm not sure if you could get much cheaper without sacrificing quality.

[Instant Mix]

[QUOTE=SpecialEffect;50457778]Been working on some promotional material for a production of Grease that I'm working on this summer, wanted some crits.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/RFgFKwo.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]

I'm not really sure what you're meant to be getting across with this. Where in the promotional material will it be used?

My issue is that's it's far too simple. It feels more like a "Grease:The Musical App" rather than official material. Musicals always seem to just fit with being flashy and over the top; minimalism doesn't really work in my opinion unless it's something that really calls for it. Grease is 50's as hell - I like the fact you're using grease lightning itself as part of the image ( unsure about the two leads in it though ); but right now I'm not really sure what's meant to be taking centre stage. The two characters? The car? Right now the smallest thing is "The Musical", with "Grease" being the second. The last thing you want is the title of the show being one of the smallest things!

I'm not remotely going to suggest that I'm an oracle of Musical graphic design - [B]I'm definitely not[/B] - but the flashier you can make it, the more professional it looks. It's the polar opposite of most modern media. I made the below poster for my society's production of Guys & Dolls, and half of the people who saw it thought I'd stolen it from a west end production.
[t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/888382/almostfinalplsplspls.jpg[/t]

What I would do is drop the modern aspect entirely ( unless it's being used as favicon style thing ), and one idea could be to have a closeup of the grille of Grease Lightning itself and use the numberplate as a place to shove the name. The show is named after the car anyway (well, greasers, but shh) , surely that should be one of the most major parts of the material!

Again, these are just my own two cents, I'm sure there are other, better ideas!

[NoNotTheMemes]

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;50474518]I'm not really sure what you're meant to be getting across with this. Where in the promotional material will it be used?

My issue is that's it's far too simple. It feels more like a "Grease:The Musical App" rather than official material. Musicals always seem to just fit with being flashy and over the top; minimalism doesn't really work in my opinion unless it's something that really calls for it. Grease is 50's as hell - I like the fact you're using grease lightning itself as part of the image ( unsure about the two leads in it though ); but right now I'm not really sure what's meant to be taking centre stage. The two characters? The car? Right now the smallest thing is "The Musical", with "Grease" being the second. The last thing you want is the title of the show being one of the smallest things!

I'm not remotely going to suggest that I'm an oracle of Musical graphic design - [B]I'm definitely not[/B] - but the flashier you can make it, the more professional it looks. It's the polar opposite of most modern media. I made the below poster for my society's production of Guys & Dolls, and half of the people who saw it thought I'd stolen it from a west end production.
[t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/888382/almostfinalplsplspls.jpg[/t]

What I would do is drop the modern aspect entirely ( unless it's being used as favicon style thing ), and one idea could be to have a closeup of the grille of Grease Lightning itself and use the numberplate as a place to shove the name. The show is named after the car anyway (well, greasers, but shh) , surely that should be one of the most major parts of the material!

Again, these are just my own two cents, I'm sure there are other, better ideas![/QUOTE]

That was being used as an icon for the Twitter page promoting the show. Thank you for all of the constructive criticism, I'll make sure I keep that in mind when I'm putting together my second draft.

[Smeetin]

Just an idea I have had kicking around in my brain for far too long as an alternate to the horribly boring LOOTCRATE logo. I don't subscribe to lootcrate or anything, this idea just came to me one day and I had to get it out. I sent it to them just for fun, I wish a company like them would just update to mine :P

[img]http://i.imgur.com/JOWpM7A.jpg?1[/img]

For those of you that aren't tuned to deciphering negative space, an 'L' and a 'T' bound a volume within which the sides of a cube make the two 'O's to complete the word LOOT and form a visual cube / crate.