MattW
Administrator
In the coming months I'm planning on rolling out a new design for the PlanetCricket forums - you can see some of the design elements on our home page and the recently launched mobile skin.
It's not done yet, so I've highly obscured parts of the preview I'm about to give everyone - but it should give you an idea of the structure
Specifically there's a 960x100 background inside a repeating block header of 155px tall - with navigation above and below. Both the top and bottom sections have to have text readable on them, though it's a bit more flexible at the top.
Where you all can come in is transferring this over to the country skins that PlanetCricket has - basically giving each country skin a national flavour in the top banner section.
Because we'd be using this on the site you need to ensure that you have the rights to anything you use in making the design. Just finding some images on Google won't do - make sure you're using either things in the public domain (like national symbols) and stuff you've made yourself from scratch.
Obviously using national colours (and/or cricket team colours where they differ), etc would be expected. They don't necessarily have to be matching the colours in the existing skin for that country - but make sure you mention what those colours should be on the other parts of the site if you'd expect them to change from how things currently look.
The edges of the banner need to end with a repeatable block - with both sides the same. Though I can always tweak things at the end when implementing it on the site - so don't be too worried at this stage. You aren't designing a PlanetCricket logo - but you can put a logo in to demonstrate the colour variation you would use.
There'll be one chosen for each country with a skin - with a vCash prize for the winners for each country, as well as the pride of having your design at the top of the site for anyone using that country's skin.
You can enter multiple times, you can collaborate, you can enter for any country, not just your own (though I'm sure there will be huge competition on the Indian banner), and there's no strict time limit.
Post your entries in the thread (you may subtly watermark previews if you wish) as jpegs/pngs - but keep a psd of it safe, as that will need to be provided for the winning entries.
While there's no hard limit on file size, keep that in mind - nothing too elaborate and certainly nothing animated.
Let me know about any questions you may have - and remember that you can always just put something rough up to put an idea across.
Have fun!
It's not done yet, so I've highly obscured parts of the preview I'm about to give everyone - but it should give you an idea of the structure
Specifically there's a 960x100 background inside a repeating block header of 155px tall - with navigation above and below. Both the top and bottom sections have to have text readable on them, though it's a bit more flexible at the top.
Where you all can come in is transferring this over to the country skins that PlanetCricket has - basically giving each country skin a national flavour in the top banner section.
Because we'd be using this on the site you need to ensure that you have the rights to anything you use in making the design. Just finding some images on Google won't do - make sure you're using either things in the public domain (like national symbols) and stuff you've made yourself from scratch.
Obviously using national colours (and/or cricket team colours where they differ), etc would be expected. They don't necessarily have to be matching the colours in the existing skin for that country - but make sure you mention what those colours should be on the other parts of the site if you'd expect them to change from how things currently look.
The edges of the banner need to end with a repeatable block - with both sides the same. Though I can always tweak things at the end when implementing it on the site - so don't be too worried at this stage. You aren't designing a PlanetCricket logo - but you can put a logo in to demonstrate the colour variation you would use.
There'll be one chosen for each country with a skin - with a vCash prize for the winners for each country, as well as the pride of having your design at the top of the site for anyone using that country's skin.
You can enter multiple times, you can collaborate, you can enter for any country, not just your own (though I'm sure there will be huge competition on the Indian banner), and there's no strict time limit.
Post your entries in the thread (you may subtly watermark previews if you wish) as jpegs/pngs - but keep a psd of it safe, as that will need to be provided for the winning entries.
While there's no hard limit on file size, keep that in mind - nothing too elaborate and certainly nothing animated.
Let me know about any questions you may have - and remember that you can always just put something rough up to put an idea across.
Have fun!
