Hi all,

The first impression I had of the clan was the ugly banner and overall graphics of the site.
I'm sorry to whoever made it, I'm not trying to be mean but this is the way I see it.
Could we maybe get a friendly competition for a new banner, I see we have a few designers here, I myself am one. Anybody down for it?

I am not a huge of a designer but if you would like to use the same logo in a different creative manner that would be nice. but you would still have to talk with bronxbomber to know if he allows stuff like that.

I like how it looks, but I did modify it along time ago w/ camo backgrounds. Looked pretty interesting, lmao.

I don't see what the problem with it is,Looks fine to me

It's too big. I would be fine if it was only on the home screen. But its on every page. If anything the new banner should be only 200px 100px in height.

Had to double post to get it on a post that had the same color as the background of the current banner.

Made this in 5 minutes and is no means a finished product. Emphasis on simplicity.
And edges on the patches are rough. If I could I'd go through them individually but yea. 5 minutes :p

My signature ftw!

Hmm. I like it. I'd like to see it with a width of 800+ px too though.

The patch, where ever did you find it! Cause google images only come up with low resolution ones.
However perhaps a brighter earth so we can trim the black edges off so it'll be transparent when it goes up against the background.

To me it seems a bit imbalanced to the right side though. Patch makes it a bit too heavy.
Oh and just a tiny little thing... and I don't mean to be nit picky but Expeditionary.


Edit:

Also perhaps we could just use the existing banner but shrink it height wise.
Remove global community and fighting for your future... a bit cliche.
Perhaps change the font and styling of the 13th meu. It looks like somebody just ticked all the options in the photoshop layer editing tool.
But keep the soldiers, the earth map and the patch.
And try to keep its size under 200 or so.

WE COULD TRY and do an "intro" page. Link to that instead of the forums. The intro page will contain all of the information about the clan in an easy and presentable manner. Easy links to application and boot camp. The intro page isn't going to be the first thing memers like us see though. More or less we'll use the link on forums to when people first look to the clan.

so its address would be like www.13thmeu.net/intropage

We can put a few videos on what we're about. Our mission statement. Nice graphics. and easy to find links to application.

Damonavril wrote:

Hmm. I like it. I'd like to see it with a width of 800+ px too though.

The patch, where ever did you find it! Cause google images only come up with low resolution ones.
However perhaps a brighter earth so we can trim the black edges off so it'll be transparent when it goes up against the background.

To me it seems a bit imbalanced to the right side though. Patch makes it a bit too heavy.
Oh and just a tiny little thing... and I don't mean to be nit picky but Expeditionary.

am... patch? what is dat?

patch
n. A small cloth badge affixed to a garment as a decoration or an insignia, as of a military unit.

Also, you misspelled Expeditionary.

The thing is that the banner has been there for ages before I joined and to me taking that banner away is taking part of the 13th with it

The banner IMO is good it says who we are and what we do

The banners you made IMO are ok but not as good as are curent one

totalwarrior6780 wrote:

The thing is that the banner has been there for ages before I joined and to me taking that banner away is taking part of the 13th with it

The banner IMO is good it says who we are and what we do

The banners you made IMO are ok but not as good as are curent one

I agree with this

If I had to critique it professionally, I'd give it a 4-5 out of 10.

It's much too big for a header (banners are mostly used for advertisements) and more suited for an intro page. I have to scroll down just to begin to see the content. An example or a few billion of them, check other websites out or even other gaming or other bigger/popular clan sites. Normally it's just a logo that is placed in the upper-left and one reason is to gain maximum website real estate to be seen without doing anything. Most headers are from 50-100px in height, very rarely will you see anything higher.

It kind of "says" who we are and what we do. Actually, the only thing it "says" that is true, is that we're global and that something about us is military related. Otherwise looking at this with no knowledge, tells me this might be a 13th MEU fan site or some unofficial 13th MEU community site. Nowhere do I get that we are a gaming clan playing FPS games.

There's no clear indication of our logo. Is it the patch or is it the "13th Marine Expeditionary Unit" ? If anything, I would say it's the latter, as it is the most simplest thing there. Everything else there is too complex to be considered a logo.

Then there's the "feathers" on the patch with jagged lines and doesn't look like it belongs there.

I'm not saying I can do better or am artist by any means, as you've seen my quick-made images on the front page. But that's what I see.

Not to mention, typically but not all, websites are refreshed every year or two changing everything but the logo. Not saying that we need to, but new imagery wouldn't be bad, wouldn't make things worse. If anything, it would attract more people.

I understand that you have some attachments with the current banner. And yes it has served its purpose. But you cannot deny the fact that it is old, outdated, without a centre, cluttered, and unpractically large.

Like Trister said, What is the 13th Logo?

We need to create something that is simple, timeless, and practical. Something that you could put on your shirt without looking overly distracting, but looking cool and chic.

I don't mean to sound coy but... "Fighting for your future" - Are we really? Really? OOookay.

"The Global Community" vs the map. Either or is symbolic of the idea that we entertain all sorts of nationalities. If anything choose between the map or the text. But not both. It is a bit redundant.

The Soldier silhouettes... Are we really soldiers? I thought we were gamers. Maybe some of us are soldiers but we joined because we're gamers, not soldiers. And the idea of a military like cohesive community is inherent in the name. "Marine Expeditionary Unit"

As for the size. Okay I know I'm part of the 13th. Sort of what I signed up for. Perhaps it was good for the first few times, but after a while it has started to become a pain to not see what I really need to see. Content. Personally i wish that scrolly thing on the side would be on the top. The one that has all of the new posts and such. NOW THAT WOULD BE COOL! and practical.

TL;DRNeed more Simplicity, Up the chic factor, and more practicality please.

ps. Oh and my banner, please don't use it. I understand now that squads come and go so. (Please make competition though? )

http://13th-meu.freeforums.eu/

I was bored a few nights ago and I decided to create a dummy forums to test things on.

If you want any of the codes just ask.

This is what I'm talking about the way. Look at all of that website real estate with the clumsy big banner out of the way.

Damonavril wrote:

http://13th-meu.freeforums.eu/

I was bored a few nights ago and I decided to create a dummy forums to test things on.

If you want any of the codes just ask.

This is what I'm talking about the way. Look at all of that website real estate with the clumsy big banner out of the way.

Cool!

That site IMO is ok but it's a bit to bland, Yes it's ok buy like it looks like someone copied this site changed the banner and turned the background to a light grey.

Also the scroll of recent activities starts from the top?

If the banner is going to change at least keep the main outline of it as in that way we are keeping a part of the banner that defines this clan.

Global Community with the background works,You know why? because we are a global community.We don't need to include the entire globe because we would have to spread it our lol.

The soilders are there bs use 1 they look cool. 2 We are based on a MILITARY unit not the 13th Gamer Force

I'm all for a change in banner look but at least keep the base of it

That's because I did copy the site. I did that so I could see how different things would work and if it would flow well with the rest of the site.

Yes

The only thing in that banner that defines the clan is the name.

Symbol redundancy. We don't really need two symbols leading to the same point.

The idea of us being based on a MILITARY unit is already apparent in the name of our clan.

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

i think what the forum looks like should be the last thing that everyone is worried about

Surely that isn't the case if a new member has a very bad impression of the clan. Our appearance should be a priority.

sPoetic wrote:

Hi all,

The first impression I had of the clan was the ugly banner and overall graphics of the site.
I'm sorry to whoever made it, I'm not trying to be mean but this is the way I see it.

what the forum looks like should mean nothing to what impression you get of the clan maybe new members should get to know people and not judge the clan on what a forum looks like

It should mean nothing, but we're human. We eat with our eyes. And we might be denying some very valuable members, especially ones with a taste in that sort of area.

It hasn't stopped us getting members in the past

We should be focusing on recurring as lots of people don't bump

No offence but that's the first ever complaint I've heard with our site

Well you can say that for the members that you see now. Maybe in the past somebody visited the site and got the impression that it wasn't worth the trouble. Maybe that individual was extremely talented and interesting (and maybe sexy ). But we don't know that now and we won't ever know. But we could possibly recruit more talented, interesting, and sexy people if their first impression was a bit better.

I've had my own personal reservations with it, I just haven't fully expressed it until sPoetic pointed it out.

And site really should look good. It is what really binds this clan together, especially across platforms. If it wasn't for this forum I wouldn't be talking to you. And of course if you're an avid forum user you'll be looking at that picture a lot. I think I'd like it to look better.