Graphic design

Craig, do you have any spare time for the graphic design?

I’ve got a rough simple idea for the layout. If I give you this, could you just do a Photoshop image of the new homepage? I can cut up the image and create the HTML. Could you do a simple graphic design in the next few days? Bear in mind this isn’t the final design, it can be very simple.

If you’re not able then let me know now, and I can have a crack at graphic design based on the existing look of the “under construction” homepage.

Yeah, I’m fine to do that, and I can do the cutting, too, I’m pretty good at it. I usually make an empty template and then make pages by just putting content in the “content space”. Here’s the one I’m working on for Nightmare Circle:
nzlarps.org/nightmarecircle/template.htm
But that’s not finished.

What’s your idea for the design? I don’t like the under-construction one much at all.

I don’t have any concepts around the graphical look, just around layout.

I was thinking having the title and menu across the top (menu running horizontally) on all pages.

Then below that two columns.

On the home page, the left column (probably wider) is What is NZLARPS and How To. The right column is Current Projects and Current Associates.

On the Membership page, left is the Benefits of Membership stuff and right is how to become a member.

On Projects and Associates, left is a definition of what the thing is and right is list + longer description of current projects / associates.

Actually, it would make sense if the “How To” part was always in the same place across the pages.

We could make the right-hand column be the “How To” area on every page, make it visually distinct from the left column, and make it slightly narrower (so that the pages don’t look too boringly symettrical).

When there are differences in the column lengths we can use images to pad out the length of the shorter column.

Man, it’s hard to make something both neutral and exciting.

I’ve gone for just neutral in the text content so far.

I’m hoping you will edit it to add the exciting. :wink:

OOH - YELLOW!

Noone will expect yellow.

CAN YOU DIG IT?

I think I’m going to do a completely unoffensive web-portal style clean n’ fresh thing with the “get off our page and onto one that matters” feel. Watch this space.

Clean & fresh sounds good. NZLARPS needs credibility, it needs to look official and professional.

Hey, you know how some colours are supposed to make you hungry? We need a colour/feel that makes you want to become a member. It’s not all about being a portal, it’s also about getting that “I want to be part of this” feel.

In terms of imagery, how about something that hints at roleplay/theatre in general.

I know the drama/tragedy masks are a cliche, but what about something more photographic this this:

coloryourworld.com/shades/masquerade.html

We could take a photo or two. There’ll be someone out there with appropriate props - I think Chantelle might have some Venetian masks.

I’ve tried a variation at nzlarps.org/ryan/1/nzLARPS.htm

The yellow didn’t work for me, I think. And I feel like the title/nav box needed to be more different from the content boxes. It makes the white whiter.

I’ve added a photo to see if it adds enough visual interest without the need for more graphic elements on the page. Still not sure.

My HTML is just a hack to get the look.

Looks great to me. All the design apart from the layout lives in a CSS file, so I could easily change mine to reflect yours, or move it in that direction. I think the white-ness helps, and the border is good. Maybe yellow just NEVER works.

I agree with the need for a background repeating GIF texture thingy, but I couldn’t find anything I liked.

My critique of yours is that it’s very brown, and I think we should have a whole bunch of colours to make neutral interesting and visually show that there’s a lot of variation.

I’ll try another style sheet in the next few days, or failing that, after May Day…

I’m not totally happy with the simple pattern behind the top box. It does the job of adding slightly more interest (specifically it makes the logo more interesting) and contrast, but it makes the nav hard to read and it’s still dull. I think we could add the extra colour there, while making the nav more readable.

Perhaps a horizonally tileing pattern that’s the right height for the top box?

I think the photo element will need to be shorter, it uses too much vertical space. And possibly narrower, it seems to be increasing the width of the right box.

The bottom box will need changing too. Could take it back to your transparent approach or try something else.

I’ve mostly used CSS, but skipped it in a couple of places like the background tile for the top box. But it can all be cleaned up once we get a final look.

I’ve made some changes to my attempt:

nzlarps.org/ryan/2/nzLARPS.htm

Added another colour and changed the background texture subtly. Made the photo smaller.

nzlarps.org/ryan/3/nzLARPS.htm?

I like this. Want me to re-do with external stylesheet and start adding content? Or, could you briefly explain how the server-side content includes will work?

Your yellow has found a use after all. :wink:

Should we run the design past the committee for feedback, before we commit to it by loading content? Maybe you could post them a link in the committee forum?

To do the SSI you put code like this in the main pages:

<? include(''); ?>

With the path to the include file in the ‘’.

Here’s a demo: tizag.com/phpT/include.php

Then the include files you reference can just have snippets of HTML in them. You could have “header.php” and a “footer.php” SSIs, and a separator file to split the left and right boxes. The includes can have everything other than the content, including the

and tags. That way the main pages just have pure content.

You could also have files for each of the types of list. An SSI for current projects, one for upcoming projects, one for old projects, one for associates, etc. That’s how I’d do it, with just the content of the lists in the SSIs. But that’s not a priority.

I think in the top box it should say “New Zealand Live Action Role Playing Society”.

It’s a bit cryptic right now.

Have the committee seen any of the designs? If so, any feedback.

We should set a deadline to get the site up before the next committee meeting.