Banner request for our Role-Playing forum

[Ghiby]

Hi all,

thank you all in advance for reading my request and thank you to the volunteers that may offer to help us

here is our request for a banner

Aesthetics

How do we want your banner to look?
- a slideshow of pictures to be displayed on top of our forum
- I'm sure we can make the slideshow with some basic scripting, the key is to find and choose the right pictures

Are there any images we want to be included?
yes, 
- anything suggesting wealth and a lot of money, like the dollar sign, or money bills, bank-notes, or maybe gold ingots in a safe-vault open, or similar symbols
- one or few luxury and/or sports exotic cars, if possible racing
- an opulent oceanfront mansion with a large luxury yacht waiting
- one or few speed-power boats, if possible racing
- few (2-3) heavily armed robbers with ski-masks and assault weapons during a heist on a federal/central bank
- a warlike map in a war room, with strategists moving pieces around or studying, reflecting on the map

so total in the range of 6 pictures, banner like

Links to the pictures, size, color scheme, shades, pixels
- all at the discretion of the artist-creator,
- we have no pictures, no color restrictions, no limitations, it's all up to the artist-creator

No text, no fonts to worry about

our forum is private by default, but we will open it with no problems whatsoever once we have someone willing to take up on this project

we will appreciate any and all help we can get in creating a custom banner to represent us, our group
- the author, the artist-creator will receive credit public inside our own forum for all our members to see - it's not much, I know, but it's guaranteed on our end

should any volunteers and/or artists-creators-illustrators considering to take up this task for us, have any questions for us, about this project, this banner request, or would like more details, feel free to contact me at your convenience

Thank you

[Tumbleweed]

Wow, If you were going by theme requests, I think you might have gone into the territory of too much detail. lol But you are requesting a banner here and had you read the graphics request rules you'd know that we can't do this without a link to your ProBoards forum and it must be open to guests. (I don't think it is anywhere in there.)

Actually, looking closer, the first half of your post was unnecessary or should have been much more brief about what kind of a forum you are running. Such a long post might make the few graphic designers around here, run for the hills. My suggestion, aside from providing that link to your forum, is to provide just the pertinent information regarding the banner.

[Ghiby]

Sept 4, 2017 21:40:19 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

Wow, If you were going by theme requests, I think you might have gone into the territory of too much detail. lol But you are requesting a banner here and had you read the graphics request rules you'd know that we can't do this without a link to your ProBoards forum and it must be open to guests. (I don't think it is anywhere in there.)

Actually, looking closer, the first half of your post was unnecessary or should have been much more brief about what kind of a forum you are running. Such a long post might make the few graphic designers around here, run for the hills. My suggestion, aside from providing that link to your forum, is to provide just the pertinent information regarding the banner.

good point, thank you for pointing this out... 

I've edited it and shortened to the minimum version I could, without same time leaving out key features for the artist to consider

is it still too long..??.. if it is please let me know... 

it still looks long in my opinion, but I'm not sure how much more I could cut out... 

it's force of habit as we are after all RP players, thus writing (a lot) is part of what we do...
not to mention in real-life I also write a lot at the professional level, tech articles and white papers, but still involves a lot of writing... hehe... 

hence the force of habit, on my end is easy as pie to write a lot, without even planning to do it in particular...

thank you

[Kami]

As a preface, I cannot fill this request (sadly work has not given me that much free time!). However, as a graphic designer I would recommend you trim this down further. There's too much "it should feel" and "something like"and "maybe this OR maybe that" and not enough specific information. No one can work off a feeling, because they are subjective.

If you don't have specific information, then that may present an issue for a request board of this nature, as all users are volunteers and may not have time or the inclination to make multiple attempts to capture the "feel" that you are attempting to capture.

I would suggest filling this out as short and sweet as you can and editing your first post to include it:

Forum URL: (link to your forum)
Image Colour: (what is the colour scheme you'd like? provide specific hex values if possible)
Size in pixels: (how big should this be?)
The banner text should say: (is there text on the banner? if so, what does it say?)
Text colour: (if there is text, what colour should it be?)
Links to images to be used: (provide images. don't waste the artist's time by making them find images that you may or may not like)
Please pick one of these fonts: (if the banner has text, link to some fonts you that would be OK to use as the text -- google font API and dafont have great selections, for free)


Remember: We don't know anything about your forum, and are not invested in it. Requests like you've penned at the moment generally wind up taking a lot of time and resources -- you haven't provided anything specific, so the designer will spend several hours trying to find the things you've requested, putting them together in what they think is aesthetically pleasing, adding in the colours, checking in with you to see if you need changes.... and on and on and on until you're satisfied.

[Ghiby]

Sept 5, 2017 16:17:45 GMT -8 Kami said:

As a preface, I cannot fill this request (sadly work has not given me that much free time!). However, as a graphic designer I would recommend you trim this down further. There's too much "it should feel" and "something like"and "maybe this OR maybe that" and not enough specific information. No one can work off a feeling, because they are subjective.

If you don't have specific information, then that may present an issue for a request board of this nature, as all users are volunteers and may not have time or the inclination to make multiple attempts to capture the "feel" that you are attempting to capture.

I would suggest filling this out as short and sweet as you can and editing your first post to include it:

Forum URL: (link to your forum)
Image Colour: (what is the colour scheme you'd like? provide specific hex values if possible)
Size in pixels: (how big should this be?)
The banner text should say: (is there text on the banner? if so, what does it say?)
Text colour: (if there is text, what colour should it be?)
Links to images to be used: (provide images. don't waste the artist's time by making them find images that you may or may not like)
Please pick one of these fonts: (if the banner has text, link to some fonts you that would be OK to use as the text -- google font API and dafont have great selections, for free)


Remember: We don't know anything about your forum, and are not invested in it. Requests like you've penned at the moment generally wind up taking a lot of time and resources -- you haven't provided anything specific, so the designer will spend several hours trying to find the things you've requested, putting them together in what they think is aesthetically pleasing, adding in the colours, checking in with you to see if you need changes.... and on and on and on until you're satisfied.

OK, 
once again you guys have good and valid points...

I'll try to work with that template, but I still have few problems, in the sense, there are no picks already chosen, so I can't provide any, especially considering the artist would have better artistic sense, inspiration than myself

there is no text, so no fonts to worry about it, but as far as what pictures to use and how to better integrate them with a color scheme if any, I was thinking to leave this to the artist imagination, after all this is the main reason we need help from an artist, to create something we can't...

I'll try to edit it, as you suggest, but there are no links to point to a picture and no color scheme, as I assume is based on the pictures the artist will use in the end, anyway he/she thinks will fit better... me, and anyone else in my team, we lack artistic sense or skills, we just have a general idea, but we don't know how to put it in an illustration that is catchy and appealing to the eye...  

so, I am not sure how can I help more, even if I'd like to help more...

the link is simple, but I'm not sure if that helps much, it's a fully private forum, not open to visitors unless they register...

here is our link

ameristar.boards.net

[Kami]

You want this illustrated? That is a different request all together. I don't know anyone other than me that is active here that does illustration.

Also I advise reading the request rules for this board. Requesting forums must have their forums open to guests.

[Ghiby]

Sept 5, 2017 19:10:03 GMT -8 Kami said:

You want this illustrated? That is a different request all together. I don't know anyone other than me that is active here that does illustration.

Also I advise reading the request rules for this board. Requesting forums must have their forums open to guests.

well,

we don't want this illustrated, I was using the term illustrator thinking as it is the artist creating, working on a graphic design side...

we, in fact, want, 3-4 banners, catchy and pleasant to the eye, to place them in a slideshow mode,

no text... no particular color scheme, no major guidelines, just some catchy banners to be put in a slideshow...

opening our forum is not a problem at all, that's not an issue...

once we find someone willing to commit, we'll open the forum for that person to visit and/or join us as need it... 

if you are interested, we will gladly open our forum for you... or anyone who will post here an interest to get involved... 

so far, no one but you showed any interest... I think I'm in the waiting phase, to see how may want to try to help us... 

[Kami]

Ghiby - the reason I am asking is because illustration and graphic design are not synonymous. People do try to ask for illustrations here, which is why it needs to be clear.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of request I can fulfill. I do not have time to try and figure out what combinations of things will appeal to you, or the time to find assets that reflect the images you want to be included. I was just trying to help you format your request that would be most attractive to others who may be interested in completing the request.

[Ghiby]

Sept 6, 2017 15:18:33 GMT -8 Kami said:

Ghiby - the reason I am asking is because illustration and graphic design are not synonymous. People do try to ask for illustrations here, which is why it needs to be clear.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of request I can fulfill. I do not have time to try and figure out what combinations of things will appeal to you, or the time to find assets that reflect the images you want to be included. I was just trying to help you format your request that would be most attractive to others who may be interested in completing the request.

sure, thank you for your help, I will try to edit my request to make it more attractive to others who may consider it...

[Tanya]

I read through all this and I'm in agreement with Kami in the sense you're not really telling anyone what you want. It's too generalized. Since I'm one of the few who help with the most basic and simple style banners, words and colors mostly, this is certainly not something I'd do. With that said, unless you want this to go unanswered and undone, you do need to do a little ground work of your own. You mentioned colors so you do have an idea of what you want and you described images in a broad sense as well. You have the standard theme so working off that and just what you wrote would make too much work for anyone taking this on. Simplify it. Also... are you wanting an actual banner for your forum or slides because it sounds to me like you're wanting slides and not an actual banner and that is something completely different even if you're placing them where the banner goes. Slides tend to be centered and in a banner format, somewhat small. It would be so much easier if you had a theme.
let's see if I can get you motivated so you can get what you want actually done..... and using standard forms goes a long way to getting that.

Editing your first post...
1. Forum link:
2. Image Colour: You mentioned shades of blue but there are tons of shades of blue out there so knowing an exact color or set of colors would be very handy. required even. Using a color wheel to find the exact colors you want would be wise and helpful as well. You need to know what colors you want per banner. exact colors.
3. Size in pixels: width and height. second guessing this makes it difficult to make it fit so this is needed to make both your job and the one doing the work job easier. If its too small, everything gets messed up and the work is wasted. If its too big, it might be workable but still the work isn't as it was set to be.
--You said no text so that part isn't necessary in this case.
4. Images... too many people refused to offer images and many of them are still waiting on banners. This part is just as important as anything else and wouldn't make or break your own time if you knew what you wanted. Providing images isn't you doing the work. It is you helping the one who will do the work, do it the way you want it. This is what I mean by simplifying. You have several ideas so provide those ideas in the form of images for the artist to work from and on. A good example from what you wrote:

"- maybe anything suggesting deep analytical thinking and advanced strategy skills, like a multi-level game of chess with multiple players engaged or a warlike map in a war room, or similar"

Find the chessboard and pick a set of colors to go with that chessboard. Adding people into it will just clutter it but perhaps your choice of blues would create the perfect backdrop for the chessboard and would leave an open mind for strategy.  Or the whole war room idea... the game 'battlefield' provides plenty of images that would suite your want of analytical thinking. Get the idea? Not everyone is going to be able to read what you wrote and know what you want. Realistically, only you can provide that. 
--fonts.. in your case, also unnessary

Doing 1-4 into your first post which to be honest is the post anyone who considers doing this will read, is the best way to get your banners made. Be sure to do steps 2 and 4 per banner that you want. Remember, no-one has to do this for you. People are volunteering to help you so please make their job easier and take the time to make it easier so they will help you. That is all Kami was saying too. It is a bit overwhelming to read all the 'maybe' and seeing nothing clearly being requested. Most volunteers are here to help, none want to waste their time with guesswork. They want to give you exactly what you request to the best of their ability. I've seen the work of a few here... It's excellent. 

[Ghiby]

Sept 6, 2017 22:41:34 GMT -8 Tanya said:

I read through all this and I'm in agreement with Kami in the sense you're not really telling anyone what you want. It's too generalized. Since I'm one of the few who help with the most basic and simple style banners, words and colors mostly, this is certainly not something I'd do. With that said, unless you want this to go unanswered and undone, you do need to do a little ground work of your own. You mentioned colors so you do have an idea of what you want and you described images in a broad sense as well. You have the standard theme so working off that and just what you wrote would make too much work for anyone taking this on. Simplify it. Also... are you wanting an actual banner for your forum or slides because it sounds to me like you're wanting slides and not an actual banner and that is something completely different even if you're placing them where the banner goes. Slides tend to be centered and in a banner format, somewhat small. It would be so much easier if you had a theme.
let's see if I can get you motivated so you can get what you want actually done..... and using standard forms goes a long way to getting that.

Editing your first post...
1. Forum link:
2. Image Colour: You mentioned shades of blue but there are tons of shades of blue out there so knowing an exact color or set of colors would be very handy. required even. Using a color wheel to find the exact colors you want would be wise and helpful as well. You need to know what colors you want per banner. exact colors.
3. Size in pixels: width and height. second guessing this makes it difficult to make it fit so this is needed to make both your job and the one doing the work job easier. If its too small, everything gets messed up and the work is wasted. If its too big, it might be workable but still the work isn't as it was set to be.
--You said no text so that part isn't necessary in this case.
4. Images... too many people refused to offer images and many of them are still waiting on banners. This part is just as important as anything else and wouldn't make or break your own time if you knew what you wanted. Providing images isn't you doing the work. It is you helping the one who will do the work, do it the way you want it. This is what I mean by simplifying. You have several ideas so provide those ideas in the form of images for the artist to work from and on. A good example from what you wrote:

"- maybe anything suggesting deep analytical thinking and advanced strategy skills, like a multi-level game of chess with multiple players engaged or a warlike map in a war room, or similar"

Find the chessboard and pick a set of colors to go with that chessboard. Adding people into it will just clutter it but perhaps your choice of blues would create the perfect backdrop for the chessboard and would leave an open mind for strategy.  Or the whole war room idea... the game 'battlefield' provides plenty of images that would suite your want of analytical thinking. Get the idea? Not everyone is going to be able to read what you wrote and know what you want. Realistically, only you can provide that. 
--fonts.. in your case, also unnessary

Doing 1-4 into your first post which to be honest is the post anyone who considers doing this will read, is the best way to get your banners made. Be sure to do steps 2 and 4 per banner that you want. Remember, no-one has to do this for you. People are volunteering to help you so please make their job easier and take the time to make it easier so they will help you. That is all Kami was saying too. It is a bit overwhelming to read all the 'maybe' and seeing nothing clearly being requested. Most volunteers are here to help, none want to waste their time with guesswork. They want to give you exactly what you request to the best of their ability. I've seen the work of a few here... It's excellent. 

thank you for willing to help in any way you can...

I admit I don't exactly know how to request it, because I never did such a request before, so any help is appreciated...I didn't have the chance to in fact edit again my main request as Kami suggested, due to time limitations and because I also don't know what in fact to fill in...

following your suggestions, I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities...

yes, we want a slideshow banner, as just one single picture banner, I don't think will do it....
colors, themes, shades - at the creator discretion, if the creator likes it, then more than likely we will too

picture selection
- I don't have any pictures, I only have ideas, a basic vision
- but, again, I am not an artist, not a graphic designer, not even close, so I can't find pictures pctures, because I have no artistic sense...

I am part of the audience, of the consumer segment, if I see a picture, a painting, a scuplute that I like, I know I like it, becase I am just part of the audience because it's pleasing to the eye, according with my rudimental artistic standards as a vewer, as a consumer, not as a creator
- I don't know how to come up with a good picture, or a set of pictures that may fit well in a slideshow, because I have no artistic sense

I do know however what kind of pictures, what kind of content should be in those pictures, as follows:
- money signs, symbols, a vault-safe with money and/or gold bulions in it
- a beautiful oppulent oceanfront estate with a nice luxury yacht
- two or more speed-power boats possibile racing on the water
- two or more exotic luxuy cars, possibile racing
- few, some, heavily armed and masked robbers, in the process of robbing a high security bank, like a central bank or a federal bank of a country
- a warlike map, with few strategists moving pieces or studying that map - since there is no multi-level chess game with multiple players that I am aware of it, then we can give up on that

I don't know how to find this type of pictures, I don't know how to pick the best ones, even if I find them somehow, that's why we need the help from someone else, because we, or me, are unable to do that...

size, in pixels - I don't know, once again, I assume the artist, the graphic designer knows that better than me, how it will fit better, I am no artist, I don't know what size to chose - however will fit best with the banner as a whole

how to make it fit in the forum - again, is at the artist discretion, our forum will be open for the artist to see it and to make it fit the best way, we don't know

the bottom line is that in theory, anyting that an artist-graphic designer can come up with, will be much better than what we can come up with, so more than likel we will agree with it and use it... 

we count on the artist sense of creation, of their sense of pride to come up with something they can be proud to dusplay in their showcase, to say something like "I did that and I'm proud of it"
- we don't want to limit the artist creation process, on the contrary, we want to encourage the artist to come up with something unique, without limiting the artist

we trust by default, that the artist-creator is better than any of us at this, by default... 

thus, the general terms of my request, because I don't know how much more specific I could be, I don't know what colot scheme would fit best, I don't know what picture size will fit best, I don't know what those pictures would or could be... because I have no artistic sense...

I trust the artist will be much better than me, or anyone in my team using our forum... hence my general terms in requesting this... 

I understand everyone is on a voluntary basis, if they have the time, if they have the will and the skills, maybe they will take up on this task... I appreciate the time of everyone who would take this task, but I don't want to limit their creativity with clear instructions, on the contrary, I encourage them - any one who would be willing to take this task - to be creative...

I don't see it as a chore for the artist, or any artist should not see it as a chore... on the contrary, as a personal artistic challenge, something like "OK, maybe I can do this, maybe i can come up with something remarkable"...

there is no deadline, there is no time pressure, there is no clear set of instructions... it would be unfair for us to impose that on the artist, and once again, why limit the artist creativity and inspiration... 

I just have a vision, and a general one at best... the rest is up to the artist-creator... 

that's why I am having hard time to request somethig specific, because I only have a general vision and I'm counting the artist would find the inspiration to transfer a general vision in a remarkable diplay of digital visual art, in the form of a slideshow banner...

I am no artist nor graphic designer, I don't know how to transer an idea in a nice looking banner, that's why I need help...

I know how to use the forum, I know how to write, I know even a bit of coding and scripting, and I think I may have some other skills here and there, but I am no artist, I am no creator, I don't know how to create a visually appealing, pleasing and catchy to the eye banner... 

hence, I need help... I would like to help the artist-creator as much as I can, but I don't know how to help...

I don't want the artist to do my work for me, but on my end, I can't create like an artist, I can't choose the right picture, the right size, the right color scheme, theme, I can't do all that, I have no artistic sense... 

similar with playing the piano or violin, how could I do that if I don't know how... how could I compose a song, if I have no musical artistic sense... 

how can I help the artist, even if I want to help... how can I give some pictures, when I don't know how to find, filter, select, choose the right pctures...
I know my own limitations, hence I'm asking for help... I have however some basic expectations from the artist-creator that is better than me when it comes to artistic sense... and that's easy, because I have none... hehe...

whomever thinks about themselves as artists and/or graphic designers it must be based on something, on a set of native skills, some talent in doing that...  I know about myself, clearly I am not in this category, but whomever thnks is in this catheorgy it must be based on some kind of skills and talent...

I am adressing my request to those who challenge themselves to be and create like an artist... if anyone likes a challenge, if they may like this particular challenge, this project, if they have the time, and will and the skills to do it, then they are maybe the right person to embark on this project... 

if no one is out there able and willing to take up on this project, then we are out of luck...
but I can't give more sepcific details, because my request is addressed to an artist able and willing to take up such a project...

I know and I am well aware on a voluntary basis it's hard to find someone willng to spend the time on a project like this, especially with no monetary reward... 

but, this is the right section, the right board to post such a request, to ask for help, so I am asking for help, maybe someone can embark on this project...

if no one will, then we are out of luck and in this case, this board is not very efficient, in the sense that what's the point to post a request if no one is ultimately willing to take up on it, even if they are able to... 

on our end, me and my fellow teammates, our forum users and members, we are not able to... hence we're asking for help, requesting a banner here, in this section, in this board, I guess I'm in the right section... I'm hoping someone may eventually be willing to try our project, otherwise, why post a request here... 

I want to help, but how else can I help... to give the artist the right pictures... I am unable to help with that, if we would have already the right pictures, we would have done already our banner... 

thank you all for reading...