Banner Challenge

**remi** · 30 March 2007, 05:01 AM

Hello and welcome to the first community challenge in our new Challenges forum.

This challenge is about a part of Webdesign: Banners.
The goal of this challenge is to create a banner which shows our community TalkGraphics from the best side.

This is more a "social" challenge for showing your ideas for a theme, not a real commercial contest. So, you'll find no prizes or something like that, but a lot of fun. The great thing with this banner challenge is, that there is no customer and no big boss who says to you, how to create it - instead, you're free to design whatever kind of banner you like.

Did we really say, there is no boss? Er... OK, but there are some rules:

You can use any Graphics program you like for this challenge, but we all are interested in details, so please drop a note about the used software tool(s).
The size of banners are limited, therefore the size requirements for this banner is:
- 468 px x 60 px or
- 560 px x 80 px (see attached .XAR/PDF files)
Please post your result as a PNG, GIF or SWF file, not a JPG file (because of the strong red in the talkgraphics.com logo).
The copyright of each image remains with you. It depends also on yourself, if you publish the sourcefile (for example a .XAR file) or not.
There is no defined end, but we're already waiting impatiently for your results...

So let's start to think about our great community here. How do you see TalkGraphics? What should be highlighted? How could it be visualized?

If you're finished, show us your thoughts and ideas and post your TalkGraphics banner here.

You have nothing to loose, only to win

Mike & Remi

**remi** · 30 March 2007, 05:04 AM

A little stimulation:

Click image for larger version.

Name: remi_tg_banner_contest_560_80.png
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Remi

PS: Thanks goes to cajul, the photographer of the original cow photo from pixelquelle.de and to Risto for the fast setup of this new Challenges forum.

**masque** · 30 March 2007, 03:30 PM

A challenge forum, great idea. Nothing better to get the creative juices flowing occasionally.
Derek

**Grafixman** · 30 March 2007, 05:00 PM

I think TG is pretty dynamic. So how about an animated banner? Playing with pixels on PhotoImpact and Ulead Gif Animator for about an hour or so. Still pretty rough, and not very colorful, but perhaps it would spark some better ideas.

Just noticed that my first frame does not show the forum name. Not good if the viewer's browser has animation option turned off.

Sorry about the dimensions, though. I should have read the rules more thoroughly. But the gif animation has the same dimensions as the actual TG banner used in the forum...
Uploaded a resized version. Anybody ever tried resizing an animated pixel style gif file? It's not as easy as it seems. The pixels gets messed up really bad and becomes really blurred. Had to use the Gimp for a script called Blocky Resize. It managed to resize the file (.psd exported from Ulead Gif Animator) with minimal mess up. Not perfect and still had to repaint some parts manually, but definitely a time saver.