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Grah · Post by **Grah** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:04 pm

It would be nice to have a major heading of 'Trombone Chat' and some kind of an illustration of a trombone at the top of the forum. Instead of the silly cup and phpBB thing.

Post by **BGuttman** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:10 pm

I think we'd all like that, Grah. You have a nice trombone graphic?

Brian is looking for something.

Note that the coffee cup is one "skin" that you can select. It's called Latte (or Latte Red; don't remember which they chose). In your profile you can select a couple of other skins. I use the one we used to have called prosilver. Apparently it doesn't do as well on small screens like phones so it was not made the default.

Post by **Matt K** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:20 pm

Yep! Brian actually has one but the color is a little bit different than the background color of the site. I've looked a little into having one made but a halfway decent one costs at least $500. We could start a kick starter!

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:24 pm

I will work on this tonight and tomorrow.

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 10:29 am

Hey, my wife does a lot of graphic arts stuff, and volunteered to help. If you send the image you want to match and whatever editing requirements, she can turn it around this weekend.

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 10:55 am

hyperbolica wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 10:29 am Hey, my wife does a lot of graphic arts stuff, and volunteered to help. If you send the image you want to match and whatever editing requirements, she can turn it around this weekend.

That's awesome! We're trying a preliminary one I made and we'll go from there. It was very last minute, so she'd probably be much better than me. I suck at Photoshop.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:03 am

Awesome! Brian finished one and its technically the official logo, but it isn't populating to everyone immediately because of caching. You can see it here:

https://trombonechat.com/styles/latte/t ... s/logo.png

Brian, any thoughts on using a logo + text instead of text with a logo behind it perhaps?

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:09 am

Matt K wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:03 am Awesome! Brian finished one and its technically the official logo, but it isn't populating to everyone immediately because of caching. You can see it here:

https://trombonechat.com/styles/latte/t ... s/logo.png

Brian, any thoughts on using a logo + text instead of text with a logo behind it perhaps?

Give me an example. Like this?

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:09 am

Perhaps something like this:

But not the image itself obviously with the slide extended so as to underline the words 'Trombone Chat'.

(Hard to get more iconic than a closed wrap 42 or 88!)

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:17 am

I can work on this now.

Thoughts, Hyperbolica?

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:25 am

I'm thinking something like this:

Except better than my horrible stencil of the 42...

And maybe with the font similar to the original logo:

But perhaps with only the darker color for font (as Brian has done here).

Then making the background transparent so we could use it for all of the themes.

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:25 am

Neo Bri wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:17 am I can work on this now.

Thoughts, Hyperbolica?

Yeah, we can use that image to get the outline, extend the slide, and place some text over the extended slide. Change the colors to match the theme(s?) Are there multiple themes, or should we just plan a single header color to match any possible theme?

We also need to know the sizes for the header - I'm assuming a desktop and a mobile header?

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:27 am

Matt K wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:25 am I'm thinking something like this:

Except better than my horrible stencil of the 42...

And maybe with the font similar to the original logo:

But perhaps with only the darker color for font (as Brian has done here).

Then making the background transparent so we could use it for all of the themes.

Yeah, ok, we're on the same page. I'll put it together and post back here.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:29 am

The size of the header doesn't matter to a large extent. However, there should be two... one "HD" theme and one "SD" theme. The HD theme should be twice as large as the SD theme so something around 800x200 for the HD and 400x100 for the SD theme.

Let me look at the other themes real quick to see if we should have others made with multiple fonts.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:32 am

Okay, I think if we use this brownish hue (the darker of the browns from the original header), one with the text as white, and one where the text is a lighter shade of blue that should cover all the use cases we'd have.

Maybe make the trombone bell the goldish/light brown of the original logo and the darker brown for the linkages or something like that?

RichC · Post by **RichC** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:59 am

Matt K wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:29 am The size of the header doesn't matter to a large extent. However, there should be two... one "HD" theme and one "SD" theme. The HD theme should be twice as large as the SD theme so something around 800x200 for the HD and 400x100 for the SD theme.

Let me look at the other themes real quick to see if we should have others made with multiple fonts.

You should be able to use the largest (& best resolution) graphic for either as this is probably a responsive design? Set the image to 100% and it should adjust automatically within the div to what the browser requires. might depend on the coding, though. Just my (not solicited 2) 2 cents.

Post by **mrpillow** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:17 pm

Unless you want people on 4K monitors to have a horrible pixelated experience, 800x200 for the "HD" theme is far too small.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:26 pm

mrpillow wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:17 pm Unless you want people on 4K monitors to have a horrible pixelated experience, 800x200 for the "HD" theme is far too small.

The original HD image is actually smaller than that. It basically scales to fit the entirety of the upper margins unless it's smaller, in which case it doesn't downscale but takes up less space. (I don't know if yours has updated yet to see the current image, but the 'Search' bar is actually on top of chat on browsers so we're trying to avoid that.)

I do have a 4k monitor, though I hate using it in that mode because I have to blow up all of the text to make it readable by a human (and I have pretty good vision at least nearsighted). So I can test on it. Though maybe make it much bigger and then downsize it sine that's a lot easier to go that direction than otherwise? Maybe 2000 wide?

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:27 pm

If we use compressed vector art we should be able to make it whatever size without being too large, file-size-wise.

Post by **mrpillow** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:47 pm

Image resolution is like proper gain staging in audio recording. Start with the most signal possible, and downsize from there as needed. Better to have to shrink a large image than blow up a small one.

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:12 pm

Vector art is a different beast. Here is my wife's first take on it. She added an outline to the trombone, which was modeled from a 36b on the CS site. Let's see if this works for the HD

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:34 pm

Looks good on a light background, not so good on a dark background. Other feedback?

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:47 pm

hyperbolica wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:34 pm Looks good on a light background, not so good on a dark background. Other feedback?

Good first take. Can she "unpixelate" the edges? In other words, remove the jaggies and smooth the whole thing?

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:49 pm

Neo Bri wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:47 pm
hyperbolica wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:34 pm Looks good on a light background, not so good on a dark background. Other feedback?
Good first take. Can she "unpixelate" the edges? In other words, remove the jaggies and smooth the whole thing?

That's antialias, I've already asked her for that. I'll check on progress.

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:49 pm

Thinking about it more, I like the simplicity of a straight trombone more, perhaps. And the florid font isn't my taste, either. I think in this case cleaner will be better. Too much detail.

I'll wait for others to chime in, though.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:57 pm

It looks awesome good with the caveats mentioned by others. I was doing some minor touch ups to see if possible.

I agree with Brian about the font. Maybe a touch less ornate but I do like the flavor it brings. I do like the closed wrap personally. I do wish we could find a picture that was more of a 90 degree angle of the bell section but I do still like this angle.

What do we think about the font relative to the bell/ Maybe making the bell roughly the same size as the text would be good too?

ronnies · Post by **ronnies** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:01 pm

Not so sure I like the flatness of the image of the trombone esepecially since it's a real trombone it just looks odd to me. Would perhaps work if it wasn't a real image,or if it was a straight trombone as the vavle rap looks really odd. Have to agree it doesn't work on the dark background.

Ronnie

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:24 pm

Ok, most of that is easy to change. Putting a solid background behind it eliminates some of the jaggies. Maybe we can let it sink in for a while, and give everyone a chance to catch up. Does anyone want to suggest a font or capture an example of one you like?

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:47 pm

Yes, let's wait for a bit and sink in.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:55 pm

I went through WOrd looking at a variety of options on trombone chat and chose 4 that I like, which I've attached the image of at the bottom.

Inkpen 2 would be cool as it's a relevant font for music. I don't know if it would look good on the site at the top, but definitely an option. I've always been parital to Lucida Calligraphy, so not cursive but I think looks cool too.

If she can't get the jagged edges off of the trombone itself, I can touch that part up in gimp. I can smooth out some of the edges. It's a little time consuming but once we settle on something worth it since we can use that part of the graphic for the others.

Post by **BGuttman** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 3:07 pm

I think the Monotype Corsiva will be easier to read on a small screen although it's really close to the Lucida.

I know Brian had talked about a "scriptish" font, but the other skins use a font like Bauhaus (a bold sans-serif with rounded ends) or Trebuchet.

I'm really open to any suggestions. If we go with the Bach 36B, is it possible to "trim" the width of the tubing to make it cleaner looking? You might get a nicer background from a Holton 185 or Conn 88H (smaller wide loop and longer narrow loop).

I wish I could find the drawing I made for my business card. It's a stylized Holton/Conn loop and can accept text really well. Maybe I'll post a scan when I get a chance.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 3:52 pm

A Conn 36H might be even better yet. A shot of the horn with a 90 degree angle (perpendicular to the ground) would be good at creating some level of definition between the lower tubes as well.

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 3:53 pm

Maybe like this?

Post by **Matt K** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 3:55 pm

And I don't know how difficult this would be... but instead of making it one single color... making it two colors or perhaps some kind of reduced color palette that distinguished the nickel trim from the yellow brass??? Just thinking aloud, visual stuff is not my strong point by any sense of the word...

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 4:02 pm

Yeah, all that is doable. We just need a consensus.

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 5:26 pm

Bruce, I'm more in favor of very basic fonts, no serifs, etc. I want clean and easy.

Reduced color palette goes along with that philosophy.

Fewer loops in the trombone also go along with this philosophy.

And this philosophy will work even better on smaller screens.

Post by **BGuttman** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 5:49 pm

Here's what I have on my business card. Note that I drew this using AutoCAD Release Candidate on a Wang PC (equivalent to a PC-XT). Original had to be plotted on a flatbed.

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:57 pm

I like the simple fonts and the simple design. Let's keep it simple, please. I really also feel that we should use vector graphics to simply draw a simple trombone-shaped object (TSO) and use vector fonts - and call it good. It'll look really solid on any screen then.

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:04 pm

Ok, how about this- 6h profile, side view of slide. A nice block font. I'll do it all in SolidWorks and we can vector and antialias all day long.

Colors?

Post by **Neo Bri** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:06 pm

Also, one more thing - TromboneChat is one word.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Grah · Post by **Grah** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:38 pm

I like it!

jack · Post by **jack** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:08 am

mrpillow wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:17 pm Unless you want people on 4K monitors to have a horrible pixelated experience, 800x200 for the "HD" theme is far too small.

It's been mentioned, but I really think designing the logo as a vector graphic (specifically SVG) is the solution here - that way it will scale for any screen resolution. Obviously it also has the benefit of being a tiny file size too.

LowrBrass · Post by **LowrBrass** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:06 am

Speaking as someone whose day job is in an artsy-fartsy field... I like the existing header (which Matt K linked towards the beginning of this discussion, and is the current header on the website), and I don't see a compelling reason to change it right now.

tbathras · Post by **tbathras** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:47 am

LowrBrass wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:06 am Speaking as someone whose day job is in an artsy-fartsy field... I like the existing header (which Matt K linked towards the beginning of this discussion, and is the current header on the website), and I don't see a compelling reason to change it right now.

I agree - it's simple and clean looking to me, and I'm looking at it in 4k resolution.

mwpfoot · Post by **mwpfoot** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:01 pm

Looks nice, POW!

A request for when you want to add another theme, which I totally understand may not be today or tomorrow or even next week, is to provide us working stiffs with discreet option: white background, black text, minimal header, ya know something that looks like a work document on a work computer. No reason, really.

Post by **Matt K** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:05 pm

You might want to try the flat themes we have installed. They're quite discreet

mwpfoot · Post by **mwpfoot** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:08 pm

Oh hey, look at that! Thanks!

PhilipEdCarlson · Post by **PhilipEdCarlson** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:37 pm

mwpfoot wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:01 pm something that looks like a work document on a work computer.

IMHO, this is the MOST practical suggestion yet!

This suggestion actually helped me feel better about reading board comments in the first place. There are so many comments now that I'm not really going to even try to keep up with them all. But, I had felt guilty about reading what I have so far because I figured that time spent reading this board was time that I could have been playing my horn. But, now I realize that most of the time I spend reading these posts is time that I couldn't spend practicing anyway because...
Well, let's just say this was THE best suggestion!

(I think this was my 3rd post!)

hyperbolica · Post by **hyperbolica** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:19 pm

Ok, comments?

Post by **BGuttman** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:28 pm

Personally I'd prefer a Caps/Lower case name. But that's just me.

Incidentally, if you want to appropriate my diagram of a trombone, feel free. Wish I had the original AutoCAD file at hand. It's on a floppy disk somewhere ...