The Workshop of Cedric37

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Looking good! You might want to change the text on the Librarian badge (恭喜發財), since that means 'Happy New Year' Maybe something like 格物緻知 ('pursuing knowledge to the end') might be better.

I don't read seal script all too well, so I'm not sure what the Content Director badge says. Looks a little like 安東尼, which means Anthony Where did you source the image?

[cedric37]

@Pike: Thanks at your wife then and the new try of badges... that indeed looks more chinese I agree, the only issue being the badge is now bigger than current Rome badges. I'm currently checking with Augustus Lucifer what is the max allowed. Depending on his answer I'll pursue or not with this look, otherwise I'll have to imagine something else
For the modding badges, I'll make them later.
And thanks for the advices, I'll see what I can do about gaming badges & Hex dragon.


@Hitai: Thanks! The seal script is normally someone's family name but I don't think that's an issue
For the Librarian sentence, it also does not really matter, since this is supposed to be a text written by the Librarian himself, and he could well wish us an happy new year
But I'll see if I can change it and if it still looks good

[PikeStance]

@Pike: Thanks at your wife then and the new try of badges... that indeed looks more chinese I agree, the only issue being the badge is now bigger than current Rome badges. I'm currently checking with Augustus Lucifer what is the max allowed. Depending on his answer I'll pursue or not with this look, otherwise I'll have to imagine something else
For the modding badges, I'll make them later.
And thanks for the advices, I'll see what I can do about gaming badges & Hex dragon.

According to my wife, the issue is only if you get a tattoo, so you are good with the dragon.

@Hitai: Thanks! The seal script is normally someone's family name but I don't think that's an issue
For the Librarian sentence, it also does not really matter, since this is supposed to be a text written by the Librarian himself, and he could well wish us an happy new year
But I'll see if I can change it and if it still looks good

According to my wife, she said it means "hope you (or a group, e.g. family) get more money. This is why it is said during Chinese New Year.
"We" are not sure about the seal. I have to wait to see what my mother in law thinks.

[cedric37]

Okay, thanks for your feedback again, I tried to take all your advices (when they are good ) into account and here is what I achieved:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I tried to classify the position with 4 backgrounds: jade (the most eminent positions), gold, silver and bronze (for the 'common' citizens).
I don't know if it's a good idea, and I also don't know if my classification is correct, but I think it adds some in-depth in the ranking and make it more easy for the newcomers to measure the status (lol) of whom they are reading / replying to.


(+ it looks damn good )

[Aexodus]

Wow that looks great! +rep

[Veteraan]

I like it, a refreshing look for the forum, should we adopt them.

Some (letters) are a bit hard to read on my laptop, which has a mediocre, but quite common screen. I'm now looking at them on a calibrated IPS monitor and on that everything is easily readable, although you can clearly see the difference between them.
The last two "F" characters in "TECHNICAL STAFF" for instance, are bit harder to read.

Perhaps we should have China based rep icons too.

[cedric37]

Thanks and thanks for signaling I will adjust it!

EDIT: adjusted

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Veteraan]

Should I have a look at them on my laptop to to see which ones are a bit "problematic", or do you already have a good idea about that yourself?

I also had a look at your colour scheme. No doubt there will be different views on them. For me there was one thing that struck me as a bit illogical. The Magistrate is gold, where the Tribune is silver...

[cedric37]

Should I have a look at them on my laptop to to see which ones are a bit "problematic", or do you already have a good idea about that yourself?

Yes If you don't mind that can prove very useful and... appreciated

I also had a look at your colour scheme. No doubt there will be different views on them. For me there was one thing that struck me as a bit illogical. The Magistrate is gold, where the Tribune is silver...

I'm sorry for that, I was never very comfortable with the ranks in our Justice System, so if you could also help there, and tell me what you think should be the colours for those positions, it will also be very helpful

EDIT:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Quintus Hortensius Hortalus]

Great job, this would be a new nice look around TWC.

[Veteraan]

I'm not a specialist on the badges, there are some members that know much better than I, even if I happen to wear a Censor badge presently. But the Tribunes and the Magistrate basically do the same job, although Tribune is a (semi) permanent position, so it would make sense to have them at least on the same level as a Magistrate.

I will go and fetch my laptop and have a good look at this. To give you an impression of the quality (or lack of it), its a full HD 15,6 screen with Intel onboard graphics. The screen technology is TN, which is very common in the "less expensive" laptop category.

Looking
Looking
Looking........

Generally all the "F" characters are a bit hard to read.
The middle "-" in the E characters is less visible than the rest and not because it is shorter. Well, that's what I see anyway, but I'm quite old.
There is a problem with some of the "R" characters. For instance in "CURATOR" where it looks a bit like a "P"
The "G" in Hexagon council in only recognizable because you already know it should be a "G" (and not a "C").
The "MAGISTRATE" text as a whole seems less pronounced than the other texts.

I have been looking at a 1920x1200P 24 inch monitor (my game monitor) and a 1920x1080P 15,6 inch laptop monitor. Not unsurprisingly, I can read everything quite comfortably on the game monitor, whereas it is less easy on the laptop monitor. This because of quality, but certainly also size.

Hope this helps!

Edit: "TECHNICAL STAFF" is much improved after you edited the "FF".

[cedric37]

This is all due to the specific font used, so I tried with another one

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Veteraan]

This is better overall, but (there is always a but) some things are now not as good as before.

The "G" is is not always totally visible, like in GAMING STAFF and GAMING DIRECTOR.

To me at least, the green texts are a bit difficult to read on all badges.

You made a little typo in the CREATIVE ASSEMBLY text.

LIBRARIAN is not as clear as the other blue texts. Especially the "B".

I'm not a content artist, but I do wonder if the balance between readability and looks is not a bit off because of this type of fonts.

[cedric37]

@Vet: Thanks, but personally I think globally it was better before, unless maybe on a small laptop screen
I could sacrify look for easiness of reading with a dull arial-like police, but this would be a pity so no thanks

[Veteraan]

In the end, it's your show of course. My talents lie definitely not in graphics, whereas yours obviously do.

Every time I start a MOS campaign, or a DCI:LA test campaign (I'm a member of both teams), on startup I see a spectacular screen with the signature "gfx by Cedric37" on it.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

If you want a more calligraphic style for the text on the Librarian badge, here are some font websites that might be useful (Chinese and Japanese) They include a lot of Asian style Latin fonts too, if you want to play around with the English text as well. I think the Senty Tang font in particular is lovely for Asian-style English text.

Oh, and on a personal note, the red text and green background on the Hex badge seems like a bit of a colour clash to me.

[PikeStance]

I am not a big fan of colorizing badges themselves. I felt like they had a cleaner look as a neutral color. However, if you going to break them down.
Some of the color backgrounds seem to have no discernable reason for being different or similar.

Administration: Admin
Site Staff: Moderation | Technical | Content | Librarian || Vault/Modding || Gaming
Semi-Independent Position: Tribune
Curial Elected Officers: Curator | Censor || Magistrates
Citizenship: Citizen | Civitates | Artifex || Patrician
Honorary: Stalker | God of Colchester
Developers: Creative Assembly | Slytherine | Feral

It probably makes more sense to have Librarians a building and Modding Staff the greeting of good wealth. Modding staff members will be like stewards (or account person in the ad business).

You could probably add citizenship and Curial elected official under one badge. You can also have Magistrate have the same color as Tribune despite the difference in which they come to serve.

[cedric37]

Ok thanks everyone for your comments.
I've shown the badges to my wife and she too find the titles hard to read so I'll probably switch back to grey background (again). So no coloured backgrounds (and no nightmare to give ranks in the citizenship ).

For the modding staff pictures, I don't agree, modders are the people that actually build something IMHO. So that seems logical to get a building for them.

[PikeStance]

Modding staff members are not modders. It is a PR position.

[cedric37]

Modding staff members are not modders. It is a PR position.

I should probaly have read your proposal ...sorry...
OK I'll check for chinese similar stuff that I've did for roman style badge, this way, it won't be a fail

EDIT: Ok I've found a font that is also chinese style yet is very easy to read... will try it


EDIT2:
@Vet: thanks for your words mate, really and also you were right, the font and background did not offer sufficient contrast, and if you get nice titles and nobody can read those, what's the point ?

@Hitai: thanks, downloading some nice fonts now