We’re getting ready to roll out the new design for the network and the color scheme is a really bad match for my banner. I’ll post the picture below of what it looks like. As I have no talent at all for such things, I’m asking for help in making a banner that suits the new layout. It needs to be 728×120. The current banner would probably be fine if the background color were made a light shade of grey instead of the tan it has now, or feel free to come up with your own design. Whoever makes the best banner wins a prize: A t-shirt with the new logo on it (or, if you prefer, one of the other shirts I have made). Please email your entries. And thanks!
Nov 26 2012
Ed Needs a New Banner
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
About the Author
21 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
Trebuchet
November 26, 2012 at 2:05 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In all honesty, I think I like the old page design better than the new one!
jnorris
November 26, 2012 at 2:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I like the new FTB logo. Put a red border on your banner and it will be fine.
flatlander100
November 26, 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Like the old one.
New one squishes blog banners under a lot if wasted grey space. Why?
And I don’t see the “F”. Looks like the logo for a tuberculosis site.
Old adage comes to mind: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Reginald Selkirk
November 26, 2012 at 2:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Did you know that the pansy is the long-established and enduring symbol of freethought? Neither did I.
jnorris
November 26, 2012 at 2:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Snicker: Reginald said pansy.
eric
November 26, 2012 at 2:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How about using one of the Supreme Court Friezes? Might be too busy, but it seems very in keeping with the legal focus of many of your posts. Also, next time some troll comes around blathering about this being a christian nation, you can just post: “look up.”
peterh
November 26, 2012 at 2:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I see no compelling reason to change wither the banner or the pansies.
Ed Brayton
November 26, 2012 at 2:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The space above the banner won’t be wasted. That’s where the network-wide and blogger-created pages will go (privacy policy, advertising page, etc). They just aren’t there yet. I think the new design is a huge improvement over the old one. I suspect the vast majority of our readers will too.
d.c.wilson
November 26, 2012 at 2:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
For the number of times the banner ad for the ironically named Liberty University pops up on this blog, it’d be a hoot if you just stole their design.
Raging Bee
November 26, 2012 at 3:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Keep the Bruno statue, but put a more metallic-looking background behind it. IMHO, it’s the beige stone wall background that clashes most with the more modernistic scheme. You need something more shiny-looking, like maybe a nondescript row of servers (reminiscent of the AI in “Person of Interest”), or something with bolder colors, like one of the more awesome photos from the Hubble telescope.
Another possibility is to juxtapose Bruno against that famous “Screaming Pope” painting.
Raging Bee
November 26, 2012 at 3:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Can anyone here write Arabic well enough to provide a really cool-looking graphic that says “Freethought Blogs” in Arabic? That on one side, with one of the Supreme Court friezes (per eric) in the background, might look pretty cool.
Gretchen
November 26, 2012 at 3:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Fond of: The new FtB logo. Looks sharp.
Not fond of: How tiny your banner is comparatively. There’s a lot of white (okay, light grey) space around it that could be filled with banner, while leaving the menu bar as is.
StevoR
November 26, 2012 at 5:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@3.flatlander100 says:
Seconded. Especially about the ‘F’ disappearing in the logo, just looks like a ‘T’ inside a ‘B’ and can imagine our critics making lost of cheap shots about the “free” part apparently being dropped. Think you have to make the ‘F’ clearer!
Agree also on the old adage too. Current one is fine – why change?
StevoR
November 26, 2012 at 5:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@11. & #10 Raging Bee :
Why would we want to use Arabic? Why not Hebrew or Sanskrit or Chinese or, I know, how about just English sinc ethat’s the main language used here? I don’t see what the point of that would be.
Seconded on keeping the Giordano Bruno statute however you end up doing it!
Rip Steakface
November 26, 2012 at 5:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How hard would it be to switch the font to a serif font? Sans serif works fine on some sites, but I like the serif style (specifically Georgia) here.
abb3w
November 26, 2012 at 5:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The source for the Giordano Bruno statue picture seems to be here.
davem
November 26, 2012 at 7:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just remove the beige/tan colour background, and replace with transparent, so it merges. That’ll do nicely.
F
November 26, 2012 at 9:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Reginald Selkirk
Pensée.
Avicenna
November 26, 2012 at 10:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raging bee. Why Arabic? I can write Arabic like that.
pHred
November 28, 2012 at 8:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well I have tried to submit a nicer version of a banner with a gray background but the email bounces with an undeliverable error message. Any hints on what I need to do to be able to email in a banner ?
John Phillips, FCD
December 1, 2012 at 3:27 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What’s FT3 stand for, or is it R around T? However I squint, I can’t see FTB in the new logo.