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The Show ‘n Tell Thursdays logo under the knife
UPDATE: I adjusted the new image a little, so that it looks better in smaller sizes. I also added some new sizes in the download pack.
“What’s wrong with the logo, Martin?”
I took a risk. Perhaps I’m touching something sacred today… Don’t get me wrong: I think Show ‘n Tell Thursdays is an excellent initiative. It’s a good starting place for sharing tips and tricks in Dominoland. But the one thing that bothers me is the logo:
Not because of the suggestion of nudity, who am I kidding? 
It just looks so old skool to me: the typeface, the image,… But I don’t want to offend the person who created it, because I have to admit, it’s very original nevertheless.
“So what do you suggest, smart ass?”
Because criticising is easy, I thought I had to come up with something that is better than the previous one (so I hope). So, this is my suggestion:
“What does it mean?”
The image has some sort of superlative, almost over-the-top form of shouting from the roofs and demanding attention. Who could achieve this better than good old King Kong? I suppose, if he really climbed the Empire State Building, everybody would have known ;-). So, it’s like the blogger climbs the Empire State Building to draw attention to the fact that he posted a tip.
I started with a basic stock image, adjusted the blogger guy’s colors to the Notes 8 scheme, added some elements like in the original King Kong movie poster (screaming 3D letters! Airplane! Sky!) and this came out.
Below the influincing elements:
No women were harmed during the creation of the new logo. In fact, I didn’t want the blogger to carry a woman and fight, because that’s another kind of message. We, bloggers, come in peace :-).
Oh, and I also distilled smaller versions like the one below (width 200px), perhaps better formats for daily use:
“Where can I get it? Can I use it?”
I created a Show ‘n Tell Image Pack that you can download.
Featured sizes:
- 450 x 650px
- 225 x 325px
- 200 x 289px
- 150 x 217px
- 120 x 173px
- 100 x 144px
… after that, I believe everything just gets too tiny and unreadable. If you need another size, resize the 450px to the desired dimensions.
The pack contains png, gif and jpg version for all sizes, but I advise using the png version, because it features some nice out-of-the border transparency on a background other than white. Here is an example how the png would look on a green background
I don’t know yet if the image will be accepted by the initiators, and maybe the logo is protected somehow. They may not like it, I don’t know. I post this on SnTT to get the initiators’ feedback, we’ll see. But, as far as I’m concerned, you have my permission to use the image, you don’t need to pay any copyrights to me :-).
Please do feedback (especially the initiators), and give me your opinion on this! What logo do you like most?
(4 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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January 5th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
While I agree that the current logo could be better, I’ve used a SnTT button instead lately. I first noticed Julian using it, so I thought I’d use it as well. http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-12-2007.htm#12-20-07
January 5th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Sacred ? nothing is sacred? And the new logo looks *cool…
—* Bill
January 5th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Martin, Indeed, the ‘old’ logo wasn’t cute. I do like your suggestion a lot, but even the smaller version takes up way to much space. If it’s OK by you, I’ll make it smaller and start using it. You could make 2 versions: one with a tie, and one with a necklace
January 5th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
@Peter: could be useful for those who want a minimalistic approach, thankx!
@Bill: yippie, glad you like it!
@Theo: what size do you suggest? Making it too small isn’t a good idea either, because you loose too much detail then. What about 150*217? Would that be ok? If so, I can add it to the download pack.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:05 am
A little smaller would be good. 120px width?
stw
Until then I’ll use your current one.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Stephan, I added different sizes in an attempt to satisfy everybody :-). See updated zipfile and article for details.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Tx Martin,
I changed my recent SnTT entries, so they now show your new (100px wide) logo.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Martin, what did you do this in? The one thing that I suspect would make a difference would be to put the right hand of the stick figure BEHIND the tower. Then it would look like he was reaching behind and holding on to the tower, like King Kong did.
But I love the line art, man.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Thanks, Nathan! Illustrator was the tool, and I used a stock image as starting point. And you’re right, I did notice that there was something unnatural about the image, but I couldn’t put my finger on it :-S. So, I adjusted it and went to the process of rescaling and conversion all over again.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Love it. Great job.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
In case you’re curious, here is the original writeup by Rocky Oliver announcing SnTT: http://www.lotusgeek.com/SapphireOak/LotusGeekBlog.nsf/d6plinks/ROLR-6LYJEG . Scott Good did the original logo for his own blog, and other people started using it. There was never anything official about it, like SnTT itself isn’t “official”.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Personally, I won’t need this, but your logo is waaaaaaaay coooooooool, so I’m going to download the pack anyway.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Cool, thanks!
January 9th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Thanks Charles for letting me know! So, if anybody is willing to adopt it, please do so!