[Redcap]

OK, here's the basics: I run a UK based website called Practical Airsoft, which you can find at [url]http://www.practicalairsoft.co.uk/.[/url]

Even though I gave the site a facelift over Christmas, I'm looking to completely update the site in the next few months, as I'm still not happy with the look and feel; To this end, I need to come up with a brand new logo, from which the rest of the look and feel will develop. Problem is, I'm not so hot on the ideas front - probably from trying too damn hard to come up with something.

Limitations:

• It should at least convey the idea of Airsoft gaming (see the site for more info).
• It's got to load quickly for people on dial-up connections.
• Colours have to be web-safe (visibone 256 colour pallette comes to mind).
• I'd like to keep with a similar colour scheme to the current one, if possible.
• It mustn't be a PNG - not enough browsers out there support the format.
• The page width is flexible (based on percentages in the table layouts), but I wish to work with the lowest common denominator, and that means a maximum image width of 800 pixels.

FYI, I've been using both Fireworks3 and Paint Shop Pro to develop my graphics until now, as I use a damned old machine - a P166!

Any ideas out there?

[animgirl]

I have an idea. I'll try to post it later today.

[Redcap]

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing your idea(s) - all help will be very gratefully received, as I'm completely stumped on the ideas front!

[animgirl]

Here it is; it's 12 kb.

[Redcap]

Originally posted by animgirl
Here it is; it's 12 kb.

Interesting; The file size is right, and the background colour is good to go, that's for sure; the upper font is OCR-A right? The lower one I don't know. I'm not too sure of the bb doing a return loop mind you - the eternal Airsofting quote comes immediately to mind:
"DUCK!"
"Where? AGH! HIT!"



But, interesting, none the less; I'd be interested in hearing the thinking behind it, if you'd like?

[animgirl]

The thinking behind it? (he he)
I know, I know, that's what I thought too; a curving hit?
But, a straight line just didn't look right. Too plain or something.
I dunno.

Yeah, the top one is OCRA- anything else just looked too gaudy. The bottom is Borg9, I used it because it had a slit made right into the font.

Interesting, yes.

[Redcap]

Originally posted by animgirl
The thinking behind it? (he he)
I know, I know, that's what I thought too; a curving hit?
But, a straight line just didn't look right. Too plain or something.
I dunno.

Heh. Now you can see the problems that I've been having

Yeah, the top one is OCRA- anything else just looked too gaudy. The bottom is Borg9, I used it because it had a slit made right into the font.

D'oh. Shoulda realised that - I used that in the first draft of the current logo, switching to Runner instead. FYI, the upper font in the current logo is 'VAGRounded Lt', made italic, of course.

Interesting, yes.

Yeah. OK, let's see if you (or anyone else) can follow this:

If a worded logo, then the logo should emphasis a practical nature: Common sense applied to the game of Airsoft skirmishing; the second word should be anything you think makes the logo 'complete'; any decorations/embellishments should be in keeping with the logo and site. The entire logo will be used to develop the rest of the new look to the website.

If a design, then all of the above should be borne in mind; the logo should be memorable, but tasteful (yeah, right!), and restrained in the use of colours - there may or may not be a 'military' feel to the logo (given the nature of the web site, that's hardly going to be a surprise ), but again, the deveopment of the new look of the web site will be based in large part on the logo.

How's that? Any ideas?

[DCElliott]

What about an aiming reticule somewhere in the logo - that would give a curved element that could be repeated elsewhere - for example in a favicon, list-images, and other graphical elements.

Reticule images:[url]http://images.google.ca/images?num=50&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=reticule&sa=N&tab=wi[/url]

Looks like an interesting combat game.

DE

[Redcap]

Originally posted by DCElliott
What about an aiming reticule somewhere in the logo - that would give a curved element that could be repeated elsewhere - for example in a favicon, list-images, and other graphical elements.

Hmm.The current favicon is a simple 'PA' in stencil format, and will also change, so this is nice thinking - thanks!

As to the reticule in the logo, interesting. The idea's growing on my by the minute, lol

Reticule images:[url]http://images.google.ca/images?num=50&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=reticule&sa=N&tab=wi[/url]

I quite like one on the [url=http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=homepage.mac.com/pquade/.cv/pquade/Public/reticule.jpg-link.jpg&imgrefurl=http://homepage.mac.com/pquade/FileSharing.html&h=480&w=640&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dreticule%26svnum%3D50%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN]first page of results, second line, second from left[/url], but obviously, I'd need any reticule in a resulting logo/design to be changed or different enough to avoid copyright problems .

EDIT: Dammit, I *knew* this was going too well. [url=http://www.airsoft-guide.com/default.asp]Check this out.[/url] Another site (in the USA) had the same idea. Still, the idea's still a goer, if we can figure out a way to avoid the 'copy cat' syndrome.

Looks like an interesting combat game.

DE

Well, it's growing world-wide: If you read the "History of Airsoft" section, you'll see that it's gaining popularity. It's certainly growing here, and there are many of us in the UK 'doing our bit' to help it get even more popular!

The word 'interesting', when describing it, doesn't really do it justice, though! If you've played paintball, you'll know that it's getting ever increasingly commercial, with professional teams, and so on: In many of our minds (in the Airsoft community), therefore, the enjoyment is seeping out, as if you play to win prizes, you lose the fun.

Airsoft, OTOH, is an amateur game in the main, although playing sites and businesses to sell the models (guns, I suppose some call them!), equipment, and so on, can make a reasonable income from it: Until recently, I actually wrote a column in a UK gun magazine called Gun Mart, but that column has ended (from the March 2003 edition), which is a shame. Insead, I'll be writing in a new magazine, to come out from, it is planned, June.

Players come from all walks of life, and most age groups from the mid/late teens and up, and, because it's an amateur game, I like to think that we all enjoy it so much better for that fact!

I'd better stop here on the actual hobby, as my soap box is about to break (and I've wandered waaaaay off topic, lol), besides, you can read all about it on Practical Airsoft .

Oh, yeah - it's also a GREAT stress reduction aid!

[DCElliott]

I quite like one on the first page of results, second line, second from left

The position of forum wiseass is already taken, thank you very much. Although, when you say you "bagged" someone it would be accurate, wouldn't it?


Regarding AIMING reticules, however, this one looks particularly sinister, especially if it were in red.


If you get up on that soapbox any higher, you'll have to go on oxygen.

DE

[Redcap]

Originally posted by DCElliott
The position of forum wiseass is already taken, thank you very much.

Aw, nuts. Another career path overtaken by events

Out of interest, who *is* the current post holder (grinning, ducking, and running) ?

Although, when you say you "bagged" someone it would be accurate, wouldn't it?

Er... qué? Nó compréndé sénor!

Regarding AIMING reticules, however, this one looks particularly sinister, especially if it were in red.

Probably - illuminated reticules are becoming popular over here, as well, so it's a topical idea; the problem in that respect is that it wouldn't do at all as a favicon, and that's one of the things that I have to consider. Now, going back to the cross hairs that I quite liked, the one below is the one I liked, LOL -

[url]http://homepage.mac.com/pquade/.cv/pquade/Public/reticule.jpg-link.jpg[/url]

I think it can easily be reduced in size to favicon proportions, even if some modification needs to be performed to do it, and the recognition factor will still be present. It would also be equally good in red, come to think of it. Thoughts?

If you get up on that soapbox any higher, you'll have to go on oxygen.

DE

Good point, well made, taken on board (oops).

[DCElliott]

Er... qué? Nó compréndé sénor!

Well, when I did my search, this is what was on the second line, second from the left:

[animgirl]

So what do you want?

[Redcap]

Originally posted by DCElliott

Well, when I did my search, this is what was on the second line, second from the left:

ROFLMFAO - I can see the confusion!

[Redcap]

Originally posted by animgirl
So what do you want?

Honestly? I dunno: A logo that grabs my eyes, and says "This is the one" or something, I guess. I've been wracking my head/brains/etc for so long on this damn thing that there's grey stuff just ready to ooze out of my ears.

Looking over my previous posts on this topic, I think I've been fairly clear in my thinking. Problem is, the comms don't seem to be making the trip to you, which is quite probably my fault, darn it (SysAd note - the : o u c h : smiley doesn't work. You get this instead. uch.).

Awright, let's see if I can make some sense of the mess inside my head, so that you can see where I'm coming from, and where I want to go...

First off, While I've currently got a worded logo, I really and truley like the idea of a design for a logo, but I'm not a graphic artist. I've played around with myriad ideas, but none of them really flew (and are, frankly, best left unsaid, they're so appalling).

As I said earlier, whatever logo or design I like will be used as the basis for the rest of the new-look redesign; pages will remain as-is, i.e., no frames.

I'm looking for, at the very least I guess, a leg up on generating a logo or design that assists me in making the site look bang up to date, forward-looking, practical, and, above all, helpful to the intended visitors, and so that they'll keep coming back.

This means that colours have to be, while subdued to a certain extent, in keeping with the subject as well, which, frankly, has a military feel, so we're probably looking as camouflage colours, i.e. greens, browns, tans, and black. Not an easy thing to balance, I'll freely admit. An original logo I had for the site used British DPM camouflage masked over the text you currently see in mid-tan on the site; I dropped that, as it made reading the text nigh-on impossible for visitors with 256-bit colour depth (we ARE talking a while back, of course). Still, to cater to the lowest common denominator, I feel it's best to stick to the web-safe pallette, for that very reason (and is, of course, good practice).

Techy-style designs might be a nice way to go; [url=http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/beta/html/]Arnie's Airsoft[/url] (a very good mate of mine owns the site) has something along those lines, by the way. While I obviously don't want to go with a take-off of his logo, the thinking behind it is rather apparent.

Given, then, that the game is a combat simulation in the most part, I think a better look would be a sort of military theme, but, even though I spent several years in the Reserves, there isn't really a 'Military' theme that exists - it's mostly Hollywood that does that (and good font designers, lol).

I guess the best way of describing it, is a brainstorming session, to get me going, as it were - and if someone comes up with THE design/logo that grabs my eyes and holds them there, so much the better (and believe me, proper credit WILL be given on the site if this happens, as it's only fair to do so!).

I dunno. Maybe I'm wishing for pie in the sky, but it's where I'm at, at the moment. Any ideas?

[animgirl]

The bottom line.

Any ideas?

I already kinda knew 99% of what you said; I was just looking for something from you like, yeah; I think a reticule thing might be something to try, or whatever.

[Zero Angel]

Here is something simple I made that uses a reticle. Feel free to use any ideas from there. I can even upload the .psd file if you want to modify it yourself.

[animgirl]

oooh, me likey.
Iz cool

[DCElliott]

What if the center circle were red?

D

[animgirl]

Then it would be the Christmas version