Thanks for all your input on this matter and putting together some logos :) I decided to move all the posts from the Forum Dev. thread into here so we can keep things a little more organized :)

The feel we're going to be going for as a theme for the forum will be a classic feeling that is something like what Steve_M was describing, the smooth, organic type look, with showing off some of the great looking woods as used in the basses. Of course, later down the line, we'll try and provide as many choices for you guys as possible :)

As far as size restrictions, I have not had time to really play around with it too much, but so far, have not noticed any restrictions at all with it. I've just been using similar dimensions to that of the vBulletin logo in place at the moment.

About what is to be included, we're trying to incorporate the aspects of the bass guitar along with the double bass (and maybe even a bow) into the banner, and include the smith logo in there somewhere :cool:

wow..
 

Can everyone see this new look Mike just put up? I just logged out and in again to see if it had gone public. I guess he only made it for my viewing but it's beautiful with all wood backgrounds. Maybe I can convince him to let it run for a few days and see what others think about it.

Where is it Ken?

Where?
 

Must be on Mike's server. He had it on my screen but when I re-logged in I lost the URL he had me in. I will ask him to load it on the site ans see how it works color and design wise. It was very colorful and Earth at the same time the way he used and mixed the woods and backgrounds.

Yeah, was playing around with the themes last night, sorry, I don't want to make this available to the public just yet ;) Maybe I'll post a screenshot or two, get some feedback on what you guys think...

ok, attachment posted, what do you guys think? Personally, I thought I could maybe make the category strips perhaps slightly darker to make the text stand out better. Do you guys think the wood look is just too busy? I could play around with making them not as vivd, as I did with the maple background.

and yea, logo, we all know, its sketchy atm ;)

Can't determine.....
 

Mike, the attached .jpg file is so compressed (or reduced) that I can't determine how the final image will appear once it is put into production. :( Ahh...:rolleyes: ...I will try and download the file.....stay tuned!

Ahhh....
 

Mike, I was able to download the .jpg file you provided. By doing this, I was able to expand the pic and get much better detail! :D

I agree that the "text" does get lost in the busyness. I do think the "Category Strips" either need to be darkened or maybe choose another darker (less busy) wood grain, such as ebony or gaboon ebony?

In any case, I think you are on the right track and this will look great once finished! ;)

I tend to agree with Tim.

The trick is to show that there's a heirachy of meaning in how the banner is visually interpreted. The most important elements should be more intense (more contrast, stronger, warmer redder, colours etc) and arranged towards the front, while the less important elements have muted colours and are slightly cooler (bluer) and towards the back.

The eye is also drawn to areas of higher contrast which can sometimes be seen in paintings by the Old Masters. This technique is called 'forced contrast'. It helped the painter convey meaning and composition more successfully.

Whatever meaning you wish to be interpreted, you also have to make that meaning very literal and explicit. Too much clutter will make the layout appear confusing. People have a certain visual sensitivity and the most successful graphic design understands this range of sensitivity. BTW composition is also something to consider. The whole impression should be capable of being comprehended in a glance of about 0.5-2 seconds.

Mike, do you know what I was thinking when I read this?

Art Gallery.

Here are some pics I've grabbed off google images.

http://phillips.blogs.com/photos/unc...ery_of_pa2.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/...70_470x313.jpg

http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/future/photo...artgallery.jpg

http://www.soka.edu/uploaded/photos/...xh05Cwebsm.JPG

Do you notice anything common to all the interior designs? They've all used wood and contrasted it with just plain white. There's a visual warmth a lack of clutter and its clean looking without being sterile.

Maybe you could use the same combination of colours and texture? Remove all the keylines/borders from the forum and just use shapes to describe the areas.

The only fly in the ointment depends on how often you plan on updating the forum software? You'll have to create a new skin with each update unless you are sure you'll be able to import it from the old forum.

I never got a moment this weekend to work on a logo.. Just too much crap to do and not enough time to do it.. I'll spit something out at some point this week.

BTW, I really liked the theme Mike posted. I had no issue at all with it. It screamed wood!

Ok, I did this between calls at work today so it's not perfect, but here's my new entry.. It's a PNG file which uses transparency which Internet Explorer 6 and lower won't display right (even through the PNG spec has existed for about a decade, Microsoft just can't seem to implement any standard right)..

The head stocks should be standing against the background of whatever page it's on. The quilt will blend into the background as well.

The quilt is from my bass, the Smith headstock is from my bass, and the double bass headstock is the one in Ken's avatar. The writing is bump mapped cocobolo from this picture on Ken's site:
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/woodpa...o/Dcp00723.jpg

The word "Smith" was taken from Ken's site, and used as a mask for some tiger maple in this picture from Ken's site:
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/models...oltonLEbdy.jpg

Then it was used to bump map the cocobolo.

I still need to smooth the blending a little to get some of the sharp edges out of the blend into the background.

It's a large file due to being lossless. Feel free to convert it to some other format as long as the transparency is preserved.

Anyway, here it is:

http://www.delusionalmind.com/smithforumlogo2.png


I'm also thinking of replacing the faded quilt look with a beveled edge looking plank of quilt. Which do you guys think would look better?

Ok, I modified it a little to give a plank of wood look instead of the cloud of quilted maple thing in the previous.

PNG format
http://www.delusionalmind.com/smithforumlogo3.png

And since this version lends itself to GIF a little better here it is in that format, though the jagged edges turn me off in the GIF version:
http://www.delusionalmind.com/smithforumlogo3.gif

I got 10 minutes of free time at work today so this is what I did..

Let me know if there are more suggestions.

Humm?
 

Looking good. I personally would prefer the Basses on the wood and not on the sides. Other than that, I think it's a good entry for the contest.;)

What Contest? :D

Who said anything about a contest? :rolleyes:

What's the prize for the winner? :confused:

Winner of what? :eek:

Looking good although I think having more than one texture is a little confusing visually.

Are you talking about the texture on the word Smith? I used flamed maple to bump map some cocobolo thereby making a flamed cocobolo texture. The rest of the text is technically cocobolo as well but the lines are thin enough you really can't see the grain. I was going for multiple textures so the image wouldn't be too drab looking. I wanted to stick with wood textures due to the topic at hand, and it seems Mike is planning a wood theme for the forums.

Ken, I left the basses standing to the sides so they would stand against whatever background Mike uses for the forum. If he uses a wood texture for the background image, then the basses will stand against it instead of my quilt. It helps to make them more itegrated with the rest of the forum's look and not necessarily a part of the forum header.

Thats cool, but I just felt that you can still make it look wood themed without having wood used in every element. The textures can make it look a little cluttered visually. As with the gallery photos, sometimes if you have two elements that are contrasting in visual qualities, it can make either much more distinct.

The use of 'positive contrast' is used frequently by modernist architects such as Mies Van Der Rohe in furniture or built forms. Have a look at this piece of furniture as an example:

http://domus-direct.com/catalog/imag...an%20Large.jpg

Can you see how the leather is soft, dark, textured, matt, yielding whereas the chrome tubes are hard, reflective, glossy, smooth and structural? When you put them next to one another either element becomes that much more distinctive because of its contrasting relationship with the other element. Visually it also looks very clear about what the function of each element is, because of the way in which the finishes have been chosen - that is to say its easy to tell instinctively which bit was made for touching without necessarily knowing what the purpose of the object is.

The use of positive contrast was the kind of idea I was using as the basis for my suggestion :)

What do you think of a dark wood with brass lettering?

I think it looks fine ;) its been used a bit in board rooms and banks to great effect.

Perhaps you need other opinions though? :D

Mike, any word on when you plan to change the theme for the board? The default vBulletin just doesn't scream "Ken Smith" or "Bass" to me..

Thanks!

i´m glad that it does not scream;)