So a clear product shouldn't be an objective? I mean, heaven forbid he has a design that is attractive to gamers specifically, instead of just bland and light on the eyes.
Also j/s all the sites you mentioned are either dark or gaming (Aside from NeoGAF which just looks horrible xD) so don't see what you're getting at there.
And don't understand why having an opinion of what a "gaming theme" is, (And giving countless examples over the past two threads) is lazy at all. :/ Rather, using simplistic design on anything and everything seems more lazy.
(2012-11-05, 04:16 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]I just find this categorization of what is a gaming theme to be very, very lazy and reactionary. Designing around cliches is not a good design ethos.
Agree 100%. We complain when a forum is the same and when Jason tries to move away from that with his design it is a bad thing because it is not the same?
(2012-11-05, 04:27 PM)Eric J. Wrote: [ -> ]So a clear product shouldn't be an objective? I mean, heaven forbid he has a design that is attractive to gamers specifically, instead of just bland and light on the eyes.
You're judging an obviously unfinished design, but from what I can see already there's a giant image of a game and a description of indie gaming, which is what the site is about. What else do you want? Mario hats?
1up looks gaming because there's screenshots everywhere. When you reduce it to its design elements, it's a very simple design. Jason's goal of moving the focus to the content is a good one. It just needs more time to bake.
Eric, I'm curious to see what type of design you would recommend for this project.
(2012-11-05, 04:44 PM)Roach Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-11-05, 04:16 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]I just find this categorization of what is a gaming theme to be very, very lazy and reactionary. Designing around cliches is not a good design ethos.
Agree 100%. We complain when a forum is the same and when Jason tries to move away from that with his design it is a bad thing because it is not the same?
People complain when it's the same topics/free theme on a website, not when someone has a nice theme on a nice site, regardless of the type of design. >.>
(2012-11-05, 04:48 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-11-05, 04:27 PM)Eric J. Wrote: [ -> ]So a clear product shouldn't be an objective? I mean, heaven forbid he has a design that is attractive to gamers specifically, instead of just bland and light on the eyes.
You're judging an obviously unfinished design, but from what I can see already there's a giant image of a game and a description of indie gaming, which is what the site is about. What else do you want? Mario hats?
1up looks gaming because there's screenshots everywhere. When you reduce it to its design elements, it's a very simple design. Jason's goal of moving the focus to the content is a good one. It just needs more time to bake.
Eric, I'm curious to see what type of design you would recommend for this project.
Not Mario hats, just at least some character or something that gives the site more personality.
Yes they do play into it a lot, and if they weren't there I'm sure 1UP would work out another way to bring more life into the design. Maybe Jason should consider adding game screenshots?
The type of design I would recommend would be very close to what he has now (Because like I mentioned a couple times, it's very nice), just with more characters and less scenery ig. Maybe like this:
http://i.minus.com/iPfoEDiL9zANk.png
It's not like I haven't said 1,000 times what I personally think would look nice on it, so I don't understand what more I have to do to show you x.x
(2012-11-05, 04:49 PM)Eric J. Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-11-05, 04:44 PM)Roach Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-11-05, 04:16 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]I just find this categorization of what is a gaming theme to be very, very lazy and reactionary. Designing around cliches is not a good design ethos.
Agree 100%. We complain when a forum is the same and when Jason tries to move away from that with his design it is a bad thing because it is not the same?
People complain when it's the same topics/free theme on a website, not when someone has a nice theme on a nice site, regardless of the type of design. >.>
(2012-11-05, 04:48 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-11-05, 04:27 PM)Eric J. Wrote: [ -> ]So a clear product shouldn't be an objective? I mean, heaven forbid he has a design that is attractive to gamers specifically, instead of just bland and light on the eyes.
You're judging an obviously unfinished design, but from what I can see already there's a giant image of a game and a description of indie gaming, which is what the site is about. What else do you want? Mario hats?
1up looks gaming because there's screenshots everywhere. When you reduce it to its design elements, it's a very simple design. Jason's goal of moving the focus to the content is a good one. It just needs more time to bake.
Eric, I'm curious to see what type of design you would recommend for this project.
Not Mario hats, just at least some character or something that gives the site more personality.
Yes they do play into it a lot, and if they weren't there I'm sure 1UP would work out another way to bring more life into the design. Maybe Jason should consider adding game screenshots?
The type of design I would recommend would be very close to what he has now (Because like I mentioned a couple times, it's very nice), just with more characters and less scenery ig. Maybe like this:
http://i.minus.com/iPfoEDiL9zANk.png
It's not like I haven't said 1,000 times what I personally think would look nice on it, so I don't understand what more I have to do to show you x.x
Thanks for the mockup. I must say, I do like it. Although, Pokemon would not be what I choose
. I will use these suggestions and post back soon.
@Brad, there are simple things that can define a gaming site. It's pretty simple as well, but the thing is if you're trying to appeal to gamers, why not actually try a gaming theme? I mean, you won't ever see a cutsey bubbly theme for a COD gaming site, right? Or a business theme for a WoW site? There are things that are distinguished for each niche. Textures, right use of fonts, graphics, the way you position things are stuff you have to keep in consideration when you make a new website. You can be unique and still fall under trying to make a gaming theme, honestly the only one putting limit to what can be done is yourself, no one else. I can make 3 themes all gaming and all unique but 3 different styles, metro, grunge and even bubbly (the first 3 that came to mind) and I could STILL make it look gaming because of certain details that just complete the theme.
People keep saying "gaming theme" but I have yet to see a concrete example of what that is. If it's just putting some characters around like Eric's example, then I think we were arguing over nothing. The details were obviously not final in the original version.
That's what I was thinking. There's no clear way to define what a gaming theme is. Every game will be different in genre and style in most cases. It just comes down to designing what's most suitable for your forum.
This
(2012-11-05, 08:23 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]People keep saying "gaming theme" but I have yet to see a concrete example of what that is. If it's just putting some characters around like Eric's example, then I think we were arguing over nothing. The details were obviously not final in the original version.
I agree with everyone here so far (in a way) but again Eric is the only one who has provided an example of what they're talking about.
F.Y.I. all we can't see inside your head guys. We don't think the same things as you. Some may say we're not as clever as you...
Also Eric, what font did you use? I like it a lot. Anyone else know?
First post updated with new screenshot.
(2012-11-05, 08:23 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]People keep saying "gaming theme" but I have yet to see a concrete example of what that is. If it's just putting some characters around like Eric's example, then I think we were arguing over nothing. The details were obviously not final in the original version.
There is no such thing as an concrete "example", it is the combination of details that define a theme as a "gaming theme" and it may as well be relative to the one reviewing it.
From the OP screenshot, my first thought is a literature design (no reading a thing/ignoring the text).