Spring Banner Contest! (2023)

[TerryRitchie]

Ok, one like it gloomy. 

Typical Ohio scene (except for lady) this time of year

Yep, walk along the bank of any river or creek feeding into the Sandusky Bay just before sunrise and this is what you'll see this time of year. Great bass fishing though

[Kernelpanic]

@Terry - Yep, walk along the bank of any river or creek feeding into the Sandusky Bay just before sunrise and this is what you'll see this time of year. Great bass fishing though

Hey, that looks really good! But perchs? Everything under an Orca goes back again into the water! 

[TerryRitchie]

@Terry - Yep, walk along the bank of any river or creek feeding into the Sandusky Bay just before sunrise and this is what you'll see this time of year. Great bass fishing though

Hey, that looks really good! But perchs? Everything under an Orca goes back again into the water! 

Yes, Perch are awesome too but you need to go out into the lake for them. They prefer the deeper water, especially around the Islands and a few miles off the coast from Davis Besse. It's been a while since I've been out though. When I was a kid it was nothing to go out in the morning and come back around noon with over 150 of them. Those days are long gone though.

[dbox]

   

[bplus]

dbox must be having fun with this!   I like!

[The Joyful Programmer]

Well... I'm not going to post a bajillion banner headers, but here is my second attempt:

   

It's a lot livelier than my first post and more open.

[TerryRitchie]

Well... I'm not going to post a bajillion banner headers, but here is my second attempt:



It's a lot livelier than my first post and more open.

Whoa, nice.

[mnrvovrfc]

TJP you're a pretty good artist. Either this latest one or dbox's with the Firebird. That's what I vote for and I'm not going to change it. Actually what I said first, with the car having a phoenix on the hood.

[Sprezzo]

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[The Joyful Programmer]

TJP you're a pretty good artist. Either this latest one or dbox's with the Firebird. That's what I vote for and I'm not going to change it. Actually what I said first, with the car having a phoenix on the hood.

I did not draw any of the elements. I have a collection of clipart I obtain from various sites I am registered at, plus I download more as I need them. Every element in my image was stripped from larger images and scenes. All I did was think about what I wanted to create and looked for those things I needed to do the job.

Since I am not getting paid to create professional work, and I am doing this for fun, I am creating these banners at a much faster pace than I would for a client. I was a graphic artist and typesetter for over 20 years professionally and was in printing as such for over 18 years, so I believe I have a good understanding of marketing, layout, and design. I will admit I put a little more effort into the second banner than I did the first because after looking at the last several banners Steve used, I simply was trying to be slightly better, not infinitely so.

My primary focus for both images was brand recognition, which I did by having the fiery phoenix and the product name boldly in the center. That's the first thing the eye will see. The rest of the banner is simply eye candy which also promotes the feeling of Spring (without using words). The background is not as bold and loud as the brand recognition and will be the second thing the eyes will see.

Psychology tells us that people today have an extremely short attention span, but the subconscious picks up on subtle things. As such, people in general will only look at the banner for less than a second. While the conscious picks up the branding, the subconscious picks up the Spring vibe, the peacefulness of the scene, and the happiness of the animals. This subconsciously promotes the happiness of using the product. As such, there is no need to promote what the product is used for in the banner. The rest of the web page and site is supposed to do that.

These are some of the tactics that professional marketers use to promote products and brands.

   

While DBox's recent banner is nice, there are some issues with it.

1. The eye does not have a path to follow, so it doesn't know what to look at first. It has to take time to analyze the scene to decipher it. As I mentioned already, today's people have extremely short attention spans.
   
2. The background image is of Fall, not Spring. The colors of leaves do not start turning yellow until Fall.
   
3. The QB64 branding (logo) is the last thing the eye sees. It should be the first thing they see.
   

   

I don't care who wins this competition, but... Nevermind... Just look at the two images above and see which one screams QB64 - Phoenix Edition the loudest, which is softer on the eyes but bolder, and which one brings more happiness to you. Then let me know your thoughts. I don't mind creating a third version of the banner.