# Banner contest!



## Andy R

Discuss Cooking Needs YOU!

I want to start rotating some ads on other forum sites to let them know about DC.  We need some banners for our site to show on other sites.  I know we must have some members that are really good at graphics design...  so, submit your art today and help us spread the word about DC.

What we need a few of the following:

728x90 banners
468x60 banners
120x60 buttons
160x240 buttons
Please try and keep the file size as small as possible.

Thanks in advance to all that post entries.  Your help with this is very much appreciated!


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## Darkstream

What does the winner get?













.


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## Raine

Can we add banners to this site, sell them for ad space?

Don't know how many members may want to buy some.


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## thier1754

Rainee:  Good idea.  We'd buy one!!


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## -DEADLY SUSHI-

Andy, I WAS a graphic designer. I have Corel Draw 9. I have never made a banner before BUT Im good at designing brochures and the like. Im wondering, is there a special file format? (ie gif tiff bmp) If its something other than standard graphic file extensions then I shall assume that I would require software other than Corel Draw. Also, do you want a banner that flashes or changes? OR do you want a static banner?


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## Andy R

a static gif would be great (728x90 pixels in size).  Then I can run that banner on other sites to help raise awareness for our site.

I will offer some of our ad space for sale when the time is right...


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## -DEADLY SUSHI-

ARRRRGHHHHHHH! I just wrote a big paragraph and press send and it said page cant be displayed and I lost everything.  


Well..... in short what "personality" would you like the banner to have? Also, do you want a picture in it? Would you rather it be more eyecatching(bold colors) than soft and warm (soft colors and girly font)? 
Im thinking Bold font with a semi-soft feel and no picture.


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## thier1754

Hi, Sushi:

I'm eager to see what you come up with, too! My question would be: Do you want to emphasize the social/friendship aspect of the site, or the technical/cooking advice/information aspect of the site?  That would also affect what elements you choose for the banner.


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## Michael in FtW

Just an idea here .... but it would make sense to get our ducks in a row. If, we're going to have a new logo, do that first. Then, get the new tagline defined. After that, then we can worry about designing a new banner that would include both.


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## Ruth

I don't know what's happened to this banner and/or logo contest... did it move to another thread?  Was it dropped?

Anyway... here's a simple little revision to the existing logo that people might like.  It's not a big change so it's not too jarring, but it gets rid of the piggy that people have been complaining about.






If I have time I'll try to come up with something more elaborate... but I might not have time until June.


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## Andy R

That's great, thanks for bringing this thread/idea back to life.  It will be great to get some banners and buttons to help us spread the word!


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## texasgirl

*RE: banner contest*

I need constructive criticism!
Tell what you think, or what I should remove or add.

Thanks


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## choclatechef

I would take off the cutesy smiley face and some of the food.

I would add a photo of a Hobart N-50, a big knife, and a Robot Coupe....but that is just me.


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## texasgirl

The "cutesy" face that is on the first one, came from the original thread for the banner. I changed it to look more like the original dc chef that is on the website.





			
				choclatechef said:
			
		

> I would take off the cutesy smiley face and some of the food.
> 
> I would add a photo of a Hobart N-50, a big knife, and a Robot Coupe....but that is just me.


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## pdswife

It's great!
But, I'd like to see something with more color.
I like the pink guy much much better than the yellow.
Thanks for your hard work on this!!  I wouldn't even
know where or how to start.

smiles, pds


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## texasgirl

What colors? Reds, Yellows???
It does look a little dull, huh?
It doesn't look that dull in my program.
The blue is actually a royal blue and the colors of 
the foods, are brighter than they look here.


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## pdswife

Yep.. better blues or reds and purples would be neat.
I wonder why it's so different on your program than it is here?


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## texasgirl

Not sure. Anytime I export from my sign program to be able to convert to a jpeg, corel changes the colors to match it's palette. Unfortunately, my program doesn't export jpeg files. The colors are actually as bright as the colors on my eeyore avatar.


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## Spice1133

I think it's very nice and tasteful. I like the little pink guy better than the yellow.


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## norgeskog

nice idea but too wordy, come home to DISCUSS COOKING.com would be enough. But I think we should wait until we see what logo wins the contest, and get the input of the winner.


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## abjcooking

Would this seem a little less wordy?  It still has all of the info just in a different order.

Come home to discusscooking.com.
Enjoy friendly people, tasty recipes,
knowledgeable cooks and a family 
friendly environment.

I also like the pink face better.


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## texasgirl

abjcooking said:
			
		

> Would this seem a little less wordy? It still has all of the info just in a different order.
> 
> Come home to discusscooking.com.
> Enjoy friendly people, tasty recipes,
> knowledgeable cooks and a family
> friendly environment.
> 
> I also like the pink face better.


 
I will revise when I get into work tomorrow. Thanks for the advise.


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## kitchenelf

I don't know about the family friendly environment.  You have to be 13 supposedly to become a member - and 13-year olds are pretty knowledgeable about a LOT of things that aren't necessarily considered "family friendly".  When I think of family friendly I think of G stuff, or stuff that isn't even rated it's so tame.


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## Russell

Here's mine...I postd it a while back


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## Russell

here's mine.


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## choclatechef

Whatever we choose, can't we have something snazzier than a happy face or a pig in a chef's hat?

Please..............


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## Russell

I think mine is pretty hip/snazzy..I guess I could replace the little chef guy with a pixelized mixer or something


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## texasgirl

Keep going, Russell. 
I like that. I was staying more with the traditional way of the website. 
Since they want far out, your doing a good job.
Hopefully, not too many more will criticize. And,of course, I know it's not a pig, it's an Italian man.
There really hasn't been too many attempting to design there own. It's not easy to create something to make a lot of people happy with. Being in sign graphics, I know.
Good luck, can't wait to see what you come up with.


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## choclatechef

Russell said:
			
		

> I think mine is pretty hip/snazzy..I guess I could replace the little chef guy with a pixelized mixer or something


 
 That would be cool Russell!!!!!!!


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## Russell

Ok, I made a rough copy...it is really ugly, but it's just the rough idea. I still need to add the shading and stuff


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## texasgirl

Well??
Let's see it, your playing with us, aren't you


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## kitchenelf

I merged both of these posts together so there would only be 1 banner thread.


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## pdswife

Thanks kitchenelf.  You take good care of us.


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## texasgirl

I have to say something here, I reread my post to Russell and realized that it sounded like I was critisizing others for not trying to make their own drawing. That was most definately not my intentions. I was only trying to boost Russell with his drawing. It's hard to draw something from nothing that everyone will like. If I offended anyone, please accept my apologies. I have taken things the wrong way and I don't want others to feel that way because of something I wrote.


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## pdswife

No problem here texasgirl.  
: )


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## kitchenelf

texasgirl said:
			
		

> I have to say something here, I reread my post to Russell and realized that it sounded like I was critisizing others for not trying to make their own drawing. That was most definately not my intentions. I was only trying to boost Russell with his drawing. It's hard to draw something from nothing that everyone will like. If I offended anyone, please accept my apologies. I have taken things the wrong way and I don't want others to feel that way because of something I wrote.



Dang texasgirl - I hadn't had my coffee when I read your post in question - so I  didn't even know I should be upset   I'll go have another cup - see if that helps.


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## texasgirl

I'm glad that you didn't take it the wrong way, thanks
Go get your coffee, elf


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## Russell

Once i finished it, I realized i had the angle wrong...so I gave up. The only thing I have saved on my computers is the rough outline.


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## college_cook

I don't know exactly what DC is looking for... my design style isn't really like what we have now, and I think it would be out of place.. but then again... we don't advertise ourselves on our own website right?  maybe this meets someone else's design specs...  

If you have an idea of the type of banner you want i could try to Photoshop something up for you.  I'm looking for some Photoshop experience anyways, so I could use a summer project.

EDIT^^  I didn't know if we had an 'official' tagline yet... so I just picked the one from the poll that I though would fit the scene well.


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## choclatechef

college_cook said:
			
		

> I don't know exactly what DC is looking for... my design style isn't really like what we have now, and I think it would be out of place.. but then again... we don't advertise ourselves on our own website right? maybe this meets someone else's design specs...
> 
> If you have an idea of the type of banner you want i could try to Photoshop something up for you. I'm looking for some Photoshop experience anyways, so I could use a summer project.
> 
> EDIT^^ I didn't know if we had an 'official' tagline yet... so I just picked the one from the poll that I though would fit the scene well.


 
I like it, I like it!


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## Spice1133

college_cook said:
			
		

> I don't know exactly what DC is looking for... my design style isn't really like what we have now, and I think it would be out of place.. but then again... we don't advertise ourselves on our own website right? maybe this meets someone else's design specs...
> 
> If you have an idea of the type of banner you want i could try to Photoshop something up for you. I'm looking for some Photoshop experience anyways, so I could use a summer project.
> 
> EDIT^^ I didn't know if we had an 'official' tagline yet... so I just picked the one from the poll that I though would fit the scene well.


 
I like this a lot.  It's elegant.


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## thier1754

It is very elegant.  I suggest it pick up some of the format colors already here unless Andy is going to gear the format colors to the new logo...It's also quite delicate in the lettering and harder to read for some people, so that might be enlarged a bit.


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## -DEADLY SUSHI-

How do I upload mine so folks could see it?


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## college_cook

do an advanced post, and below the text field is a section titled Additional Options.  In that subsection there is an option to attach files.  Click it, choose your picture file, and upload.


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