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Ganesha · Mar 2, 2005, 11:54 PM

This is going to be the top banner for my blog. I want to know of anyone thinks the chinese text in the background makes it too busy. Any other suggestions are also welcome.

Since MacNN gets more artists then my blog does, I though I ask here.

budster101 · 02:46 PM

[good luck]

Randman · Mar 3, 2005, 01:08 PM

Why use Chinese characters if you don't know what they mean?

Personally, the font that Extreme is bothers me, especially the x. It competes too hard with the Chinese character.

Don't like the faded out text behind The Blog either, it's still dark and competes with The Blog as well.

It looks better with the black background but the Chinese character looks very jagged. Also, the Extreme font doesn't look EXTREME to me, unless it's extremely fey.

Work on simplifying it, too many competing elements make it look quite jumbled.

Ganesha · Mar 3, 2005, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by Randman:
Why use Chinese characters if you don't know what they mean?

Well I know what the chinese means

. Thanks for the comments.

budster101 · Mar 3, 2005, 02:48 PM

Originally posted by Randman:
Why use Chinese characters if you don't know what they mean?

Personally, the font that Extreme is bothers me, especially the x. It competes too hard with the Chinese character.

Don't like the faded out text behind The Blog either, it's still dark and competes with The Blog as well.

It looks better with the black background but the Chinese character looks very jagged. Also, the Extreme font doesn't look EXTREME to me, unless it's extremely fey.

Work on simplifying it, too many competing elements make it look quite jumbled.

I am the one who didn't know what they mean... and asked with no reply.
I designed a sample to show how it could improve on the original poster's version...

Got it?

Sheesh.

Ganesha · 03:45 PM

Originally posted by budster101:
I am the one who didn't know what they mean... and asked with no reply.

It's a 7th century poem, "A Song of Unending Sorrow" [Tangshi III. 1. (71)]

KeriVit · Mar 5, 2005, 04:24 PM

Originally posted by Ganesha:

This is going to be the top banner for my blog. I want to know of anyone thinks the chinese text in the background makes it too busy. Any other suggestions are also welcome.

Since MacNN gets more artists then my blog does, I though I ask here.

I'm not crazy about the font used for Extreme. It doesn't portray "extrem"e to me, plus it's just too familiar to me. I've probably just seen it somewhere at work- but it just bothers me. Papyrus right? Anyway, I would try something different there to contrast from "The Blog" font.

andi*pandi · Mar 6, 2005, 12:55 AM

papyrus can go and die a painful death.

I like the layout of the banner, but agree a more solid face for Extreme is in order, something that would contrast better with the calligraphic face used for The Blog.

Balneum · Mar 14, 2005, 04:24 AM

Word extreme is in my opinion just too light. It should be more on the heavy side. Alltogether it�s OK. Few drafts and your set to go.

birdman · Mar 14, 2005, 12:29 PM

I understand why you used Papyrus as the font, to give it that "over in Asia" look to match the Chinese characters, but like others have said, it just doesn't seem "extreme" to me. I also tend to think of Papyrus as being more Egyptian than Chinese anyhow, so maybe a more Chinese-esque font would work better, and provide more of a contrast with the Zapf Chancery of "The Blog".

But in response to your initial question, no I don't think the characters are distracting; I like how they fade into the text.

eggman · Mar 15, 2005, 12:29 PM

I don't want to go off on a rant, but personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a ten year ban on the use of Papyrus. Make that twenty.

You think that maybe you've seen it before?

I'm sure you have. Like everywhere. Signage. Newspaper ads. Television commercials. The web, the web, the web and the web. Magazine ads. Junk mail. Billboards. Restaurant menus. I've even seen it on those brass men's & women's room signs.

Why is it so ubiquitous? Because Microsoft installs it with Office, meaning that even the most casual weekend designer has it on their system. And even the most professional designer with Adobe Font Folio has dozens of clients who want them to use Papyrus, which they're familiar with, instead of one the 8,000 other fonts the designer spent a fortune licensing.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

strictlyplaid · Mar 15, 2005, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by eggman:
I don't want to go off on a rant, but personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a ten year ban on the use of Papyrus. Make that twenty.

You think that maybe you've seen it before?

So... if something is popular, that makes it bad?

I take it you'll be sending your iPod to me right away, as I can't walk down the street without seeing 20 people with white earbuds on.

Just giving you a bit of a hard time.

But I do find that kind of reasoning a little bit frustrating, even though I understand the motivation.

andi*pandi · Mar 15, 2005, 03:12 PM

popularity does not equal distinctive--and ta mark of good design is to be distinctive, yes?

(speaking of fonts, mine are acting up in Firefox. I seem to be typing over myself.)

birdman · Mar 15, 2005, 04:22 PM

Well, "distinctive" may not necessarily be "good"... but you're right that it will probably attract attention, if that's the aim.

As for fonts, I tend not to create blacklists of fonts, as I think just about *any* font can work in the appropriate context; a good designer should be able to tell when the context is right.

Even Comic Sans!

{runs & hides}

-birdman

eggman · Mar 15, 2005, 07:25 PM

Originally posted by strictlyplaid:
So... if something is popular, that makes it bad?

I take it you'll be sending your iPod to me right away, as I can't walk down the street without seeing 20 people with white earbuds on.

Just giving you a bit of a hard time. But I do find that kind of reasoning a little bit frustrating, even though I understand the motivation.

So, how much do red herrings go for around your neck of the woods? I'm just giving you a hard time!

Being popular isn't a bad thing. One of my favorite bands in the world was very, very, very popular: the Beatles. (You might have figured that out from my signature...)

And yet AM radio played "The Long and Winding Road" so frequently in the summer of 1970 (and fall... and winter...) that I'm still sick of it. And it's not a bad song. Not at all. It just suffered from massive overexposure.

I'm sure you can think of examples of things you've seen or heard so much of that they've lost their charm. Ever hear of the phrase "too much of a good thing". Idioms like that are born because there's a commonly understood truth that they reference. So our language is replete with phrases like: Overexposed. Played out. Done to death. Lost its luster.

So, no, my hypothetical iPod (I wish!) is safe from your grasping hands.

iREZ · Mar 15, 2005, 08:40 PM

[rant]I'd give up my white iPod if I could get an all brushed aluminum or all black (and by all I mean headphones too) iPod. I hate how everybody and their mothers love to show off their white headphones at college just to show that they could afford an iPod when the headphones that come with the iPod are soo crappy. I'll stick with popping my shuffle in my pocket and using my black in ear headphones and try to not stick with the ever growing white headphone ocean.[/rant]

himself · Mar 18, 2005, 12:34 AM

Originally posted by strictlyplaid:
So... if something is popular, that makes it bad?

I take it you'll be sending your iPod to me right away, as I can't walk down the street without seeing 20 people with white earbuds on.

Just giving you a bit of a hard time. But I do find that kind of reasoning a little bit frustrating, even though I understand the motivation.

popularity alone doesn't make a font bad ... Papyrus was a bad typeface before it became popular, so Papyrus would be bad+popular(or played out, et. al).