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^^The New Banner^^


Michael Traynor
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Michael Traynor

Just wanted to say, really like the new banner, gives the site a nice up to date feel and it is nicely put togeter, good job to those responsible :)

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George Launchbury

Thanks guys,

Glad you like it. My main focus at work has shifted from solely doing web design (back in 1998!) into prototyping/development (HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash/Flex ...yawn) over the years, so its always fun to spend half an hour making something pretty in PhotoShop!

@ts00nami - alas it it rather more zen-like... the new banner signifies that we have a new banner. :)

Cheers,

George.

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Re: Liquid Steel™

by Coach Sommer on Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:09 pm

There is not yet an official release date for this title. The principal photography for the book is still being shot.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Re: When does the next book come out?

by Coach Sommer on Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:46 am

Principle photography is currently ongoing for both Liquid Steel™ and The Handstand Chronicles.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Re: Book Release Dates?

by Coach Sommer on Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:59 pm

Temptation on a Sunday morning?

Principal photography is currently ongoing for both "Liquid Steel™" and "The Handstand Chronicles". In addition, next weekend I will begin shooting the photography for "All Muscle, No Iron".

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Re: Book Release Dates?

by Coach Sommer on Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:41 pm

Gentlemen,

There is no need to make guesses as to availability dates; as soon as they are available I will let everyone know. I will say however that I am currently working on principal photography for the next three volumes; Liquid Steel™, The Handstand Chronicles and All Muscle, No Iron.

Now, if all of you will leave me in peace on this, I can get back to work on these next volumes !

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

coach, we're all silently and devotionally waiting.

good stuff george, I like it as well, visual appealing is very important indeed.

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I'd like to play devil's advocate here and explain why I do not like the banner. My observation comes from my 2-3 years of being an amateur gfx designer and "critiquer".

There is essentially only 1 thing wrong with the banner. While I enjoy the higher resolution, the crisper image and the drop shadow added for the font, what is bad, from the perspective of style-trend analysis is the blending. In layman's terms, the way the brown foreground of the gymnast blends (or hard-smudges) with the black background.

In the world of graphics design, this style is called grunge, especially with the colour scheme used with the brown background. Traditionally, very beginners use this style because it's so easy to make. However, as a business and community, GB forums has a public image.

Perhaps, this only applies to me, someone who has experience in this field of work, however, the grunge style gives the feeling of childish, amateurish, and very beginner-content. However, GB is far from that. It has what I believe to be one of the largest recreational and passionate community of fitness enthusiasts. Notice I didn't say gymnasts. We've gone beyond that. While gymnastics is the focus, we've learned far more in the general field of how a healthy human body should be. This information is valuable, the community's involvement: priceless!

As GB continues to grow, -and don't forget, it also grows as a business- brand, and reputation becomes increasingly important. I would be deeply saddened if new users perceive GB to anything less than a goldmine, especially only due to a grunge-style banner.

My 2 cents.

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George Launchbury
I'd like to play devil's advocate here and explain why I do not like the banner. My observation comes from my 2-3 years of being an amateur gfx designer and "critiquer".

There is essentially only 1 thing wrong with the banner. While I enjoy the higher resolution, the crisper image and the drop shadow added for the font, what is bad, from the perspective of style-trend analysis is the blending. In layman's terms, the way the brown foreground of the gymnast blends (or hard-smudges) with the black background.

In the world of graphics design, this style is called grunge, especially with the colour scheme used with the brown background. Traditionally, very beginners use this style because it's so easy to make. However, as a business and community, GB forums has a public image.

Perhaps, this only applies to me, someone who has experience in this field of work, however, the grunge style gives the feeling of childish, amateurish, and very beginner-content. However, GB is far from that. It has what I believe to be one of the largest recreational and passionate community of fitness enthusiasts. Notice I didn't say gymnasts. We've gone beyond that. While gymnastics is the focus, we've learned far more in the general field of how a healthy human body should be. This information is valuable, the community's involvement: priceless!

As GB continues to grow, -and don't forget, it also grows as a business- brand, and reputation becomes increasingly important. I would be deeply saddened if new users perceive GB to anything less than a goldmine, especially only due to a grunge-style banner.

My 2 cents.

Hmmm. I guess everyone is entitled to an opinion, but as a self-acclaimed amateur graphic designer I think you are getting pretty carried away with yourself, and overestimating your "expertise".

1. That would be a "header graphic". A "banner" is something specifically for advertisement purposes.

2. You really don't know the community if you think the header graphic will have any effect whatsoever on people visiting, enjoying and staying with the site. Information and people are key here. Always have been, always will be. This is not somewhere like T-Nation, where the main focus is selling product and making money, and there are more advertisements than you can shake a stick at. Coach, myself and many others (who thought to kindly mention that they liked it) feel it looks good, and is appropriate to the site.

3. When you are only spending a short time creating a graphic (and you will have read it was less than 30 mins), it makes sense to go with a style that will look good within available timescales. Yes, grunge is easy to put together. No, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Would I have done something different with more time available? Maybe we'll find out one day.

4. [Removed by request]

"I don't like it. In my opinion the style doesn't fit with the site's image" would have sufficed. I am happy to discuss my counter-critique further via PM.

Regards,

George.

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Woah, brother. Some kind of agenda? I feel like I'm part of some sort of conspiracy now! :lol:

I've learned so much from this community from experienced and new fitness enthusiasts alike. I feel like it's like my moral obligation to contribute back when I feel like there is something bring to the table. I mean, heck, if I should only respond to posts if I have substantial amount of experience (very rarely), if someone solicits my knowledge (why would anyone ask me when there is Coach?), or only in 1 mini-sentences, then I wouldn't be interacting very much with the community.

I'm not over-estimating my expertise, I've started it: "2-3 years of being an amateur gfx designer and "critiquer"." Nothing more, nothing less. I also made sure to mention that perhaps only I see this as a issue. And that it may or may not be an issue for other new potential members to this forum. Hell, if nobody else sees a problem besides me, then it's clearly not an issue! But shame on me if I saw a bump further down the road and decided not to say anything about it (Even if I saw something that wasn't there)!

While it may seem that all I talked about in my previous post was about gfx, the fact is I have significantly more experience in the realm of business and that was what my post was essentially about. Brand and reputation. I wasn't talking about members already a part of this forum, I was talking about how new, potential members may perceive this forum. And it would be unfair to compare GB to T-Nation. You assume GB has to be a profit maximizing company to care about public perception. That couldn't be further from reality. For all I know, Coach may have a not for profit, "share the joys and benefits of gymnastics" concept. Brand and reputation still aplies.

Maybe one day in the near or distant future, GB will be very profit oriented --with lines of apparel and more demand for seminars than can be handled. Whether or not it is the case, the foundations of the GB brand should not be weak. And if in case having a grunge banner could weaken public perception (which doesn't appear to be a problem based on you and the other folks who have posted in this thread), I thought maybe I should explain why I don't think it's not a good idea. It seems my cautionary "unsolicited" posts were not as welcome as the ones "who thought to kindly mention that they liked it" "unsolicited" ones! I was kindly sharing knowledge, and interacting with forum members, when I simply could not have.

I would never even think about challenging who knows the community better between the two of us. But what I have noticed is the level of open communication between everyone here. I've seen really heated conversations between individuals (Slizzardman and Idoportal come to mind), and their different views were respected by each other, but no one ever took a comment personally and to heart. One of the two parties had to be incorrect and end up learning something (and us members learned a ton along the way).

I've never PMed any one in the past (to my knowledge), and likely won't in the future. I feel like that violates the atmosphere of openness that the community is proud of representing (my personal opinion that you need not share). If you're going to delete these posts, I feel that really sucks. Most of the things I've learned from here came from "unsolicited" posts. It's how I've learned the most quite frankly. You even taught me the term "header graphic". I'm almost in disbelief that I'm getting such heat simply because I don't agree with something and shared my "unsolicited" views.

If you still feel the same way, then that's a shame.

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I love the banner also! Yes the t-shirt Idea sounds like a killer idea - and if they have a good fit, what better way of showing off our 'gymnastic bodies' to the rest of the world? hehe. :D

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