New MSC Logo and Header

[chromdome35]

Gang,

We have been working behind the scenes to redo the forum logo and header images. We are not at the job end yet, we still need to tweak things like color and fonts for legibility; however, we're close enough that we wanted to give everyone a look at the future.

This is the new core logo for MSC


For the banner at the top of each page, we wanted something where we could incorporate the Logo along with two "showcase" spots.


One of the showcase spots will be used to display the Model of the Month winner (Coming back in 2024) and the Member Showcase Build which changes weekly.

If you want to see a preview of what this looks like on the forum, change your profile theme (Profile/Edit Profile/Settings/Theme/Save[at the bottom]) to "MSC-scratchmod" and you will see the banner mockup at the top of the screen.

We still have some tweaking to do, but this will give you a good idea of where we're headed.

Along the way, we went through several iterations of possible logos before we settled on Coffee Cup GI.

Rosie - Ultimately we decided it was too feminine.



Rosie Header mockups



Corsair - Our 2nd favorite


Corsair Header mockups



Along the way we went through all kinds of iterations, here are some of the ones we threw out.




We also looked to see what AI could come up with...not bad, but we didn't want a bunch of old white guys as our logo.




One of the secondary goals was to come up with a logo that would look good on T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs, Hats, etc... We are considering making these items available for purchase to the members.

We are looking forward to hearing the communities thoughts.

[Tojo72]

Yes,looking forward to some merch.

[tcoat]

My thoughts are to keep it simple. Your choice is OK for a banner but would not work well for merch as the printing costs go up with complexity. Many of these are also way to busy especially if shrunk down.
A simple line drawing such as this one would make the best logo. Of course gluing his hand to a model doesn't really reflect the Social part.



I am glad to see that AI is no better at doing eyes on it's figures than I am!

[stikpusher]

Too bad this would be copyright protected…

[keavdog]

Great and creative artwork!
That soldier pic is famous for the "How about a nice big cup of STFU"  meme 

[406 Silverado]

Thank for posting these up Brian.

What we've been trying to do for the last few months behind the scenes is to liven' the place up a little with a new look. MSC has been around for a while now and has undergone a few minor changes in the header, but we wanted something with some true spunk to it to celebrate our forums' return from the ashes.

[Medicman71]

I like the new core logo!

[tcoat]

Dec 18, 2023 16:21:05 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

I like the new core logo!

So do I. It is bright and welcoming. Maybe somebody with more skills than I has a way to  make it still look good but simpler for merch.

[TJ]

I like it. In a weird way its very inviting

[jeaton01]

I like the soldier as well, it adds some nice nuances, although it does not bring in the civil side as well.

[deafpanzer]

I am really chuckling here... who wears those fancy sweaters and bow ties/ties while modeling?!?



Maybe this is something we should wear at the next Nats conference.

[tcoat]

Dec 19, 2023 12:50:34 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

I am really chuckling here... who wears those fancy sweaters and bow tie/tie while modeling?!?



Maybe this is something we should wear at the next Nats conference.

You mean you don't put on a suit and tie to sit down and build?

Apparently the AI thinks it is 1955.

Pretty sure that dude 3rd from the right in the rear is counting rivets!

[Tobi]

I must say I like Rosie, because she is an icon and I associate her somewhat with the idea of plane nose art.
The brick look is not so much my taste and with the corsair I see a chance of mistaking MSC for an aircraft forum.

[tcoat]

Dec 19, 2023 13:27:40 GMT -5 Tobi said:

I must say I like Rosie, because she is an icon and I associate her somewhat with the idea of plane nose art.
The brick look is not so much my taste and with the corsair I see a chance of mistaking MSC for an aircraft forum.

And although Rosie may be female she is anything but "feminine"!
She would kick my butt.

[aaronw]

I like the idea behind this. Maybe you could make a rotating banner.  That would also give an opportunity to use more of the images you've created and offer different themes, cars, aircraft, space etc so there is more variety and avoids any risk of giving the impression there is a certain "type" of model being encouraged.

It has been some time since I've dabbled in HTML, but as I recall pulling randomly from a variety of images is a fairly easy thing to do, so long as the occupy the same space.

Dec 18, 2023 14:57:07 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Great and creative artwork!
That soldier pic is famous for the "How about a nice big cup of STFU"  meme 

That other meme just makes this funnier to me. That one having an attitude and this one friendly.   

Dec 19, 2023 14:40:59 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Dec 19, 2023 13:27:40 GMT -5 Tobi said:

I must say I like Rosie, because she is an icon and I associate her somewhat with the idea of plane nose art.
The brick look is not so much my taste and with the corsair I see a chance of mistaking MSC for an aircraft forum.

And although Rosie may be female she is anything but "feminine"!
She would kick my butt.

That kind of has a Rosie meets Vasquez from Aliens vibe to me. 

[tcoat]

Dec 19, 2023 17:10:53 GMT -5 aaronw said:

I like the idea behind this. Maybe you could make a rotating banner.  That would also give an opportunity to use more of the images you've created and offer different themes, cars, aircraft, space etc so there is more variety and avoids any risk of giving the impression there is a certain "type" of model being encouraged.

It has been some time since I've dabbled in HTML, but as I recall pulling randomly from a variety of images is a fairly easy thing to do, so long as the occupy the same space.

Dec 18, 2023 14:57:07 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Great and creative artwork!
That soldier pic is famous for the "How about a nice big cup of STFU"  meme 

That other meme just makes this funnier to me. That one having an attitude and this one friendly.   

Dec 19, 2023 14:40:59 GMT -5 tcoat said:

And although Rosie may be female she is anything but "feminine"!
She would kick my butt.

That kind of has a Rosie meets Vasquez from Aliens vibe to me. 

Who also would kick my butt!

[chromdome35]

Dec 19, 2023 17:10:53 GMT -5 aaronw said:

I like the idea behind this. Maybe you could make a rotating banner.  That would also give an opportunity to use more of the images you've created and offer different themes, cars, aircraft, space etc so there is more variety and avoids any risk of giving the impression there is a certain "type" of model being encouraged.

It has been some time since I've dabbled in HTML, but as I recall pulling randomly from a variety of images is a fairly easy thing to do, so long as they occupy the same space.

You are thinking along the same lines as we have been. This is just the first step, rotating logos following the same general theme is very much a possibility. For now, what I'm showing above is where we'll start.

tcoat your comments on the complexity of the graphic are spot on for apparel and simpler graphics will be developed for screen printing. I envision having several different designs available for members to choose from.

I appreciate everyone's opinions, they all have merit and I am listening intently.

I am not a professional graphics designer or an HTML programmer. I have a close friend who is a retired professional graphics artist, he's been developing the designs for us pro bono in his free time. He built models when he was younger and I've been applying ample peer pressure to get him to start again. He spends the majority of his time restoring vintage British motorcycles for himself and others.

The next problem I have to solve is how to integrate this new banner in the Proboards ecosystem. Ideally, we'd want the Model of the Month and Members Showcase Build images to be clickable where they take you to the relevant forum thread. The stock Proboards configuration system doesn't support this; however, I think there is a way to do it via coding which Proboards does support. Are any of you good with HTML/CSS?

B

[tcoat]

Dec 19, 2023 18:13:41 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Dec 19, 2023 17:10:53 GMT -5 aaronw said:

I like the idea behind this. Maybe you could make a rotating banner.  That would also give an opportunity to use more of the images you've created and offer different themes, cars, aircraft, space etc so there is more variety and avoids any risk of giving the impression there is a certain "type" of model being encouraged.

It has been some time since I've dabbled in HTML, but as I recall pulling randomly from a variety of images is a fairly easy thing to do, so long as they occupy the same space.

You are thinking along the same lines as we have been. This is just the first step, rotating logos following the same general theme is very much a possibility. For now, what I'm showing above is where we'll start.

tcoat your comments on the complexity of the graphic are spot on for apparel and simpler graphics will be developed for screen printing. I envision having several different designs available for members to choose from.

I appreciate everyone's opinions, they all have merit and I am listening intently.

I am not a professional graphics designer or an HTML programmer. I have a close friend who is a retired professional graphics artist, he's been developing the designs for us pro bono in his free time. He built models when he was younger and I've been applying ample peer pressure to get him to start again. He spends the majority of his time restoring vintage British motorcycles for himself and others.

The next problem I have to solve is how to integrate this new banner in the Proboards ecosystem. Ideally, we'd want the Model of the Month and Members Showcase Build images to be clickable where they take you to the relevant forum thread. The stock Proboards configuration system doesn't support this; however, I think there is a way to do it via coding which Proboards does support. Are any of you good with HTML/CSS?

B

Take some tweaking but looks like it is easier to do than I ever would have thought!
www.befunky.com/features/photo-to-sketch/

[armornutii]

Dec 19, 2023 12:50:34 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

I am really chuckling here... who wears those fancy sweaters and bow ties/ties while modeling?!?



Maybe this is something we should wear at the next Nats conference.

  Duh these guys of course.LOL

[armornutii]

  I like the soldier with the coffee cup...reminds me of my misbegotten youth when we had 3 channels on the ol' tube. That Army Recruting commercial.." Be all that you can be...in the AAAARRRRMMMYY. " "We do more before 9am than most people do all day"  " Good mornin' 1st Sgt". Love it.

[TJ]

I like the new header. Has an old school feel to it

[atomicholiday]

Looks great guys! Nice job!

[armornutii]

   Brought up the site this morning....thought I was in the wrong place. That banner looks GREAT.

[Leon]

Great job guys! I'm with Perry and the wrong site.

[Steve Zuleski]

This is a very fine surprise, Gents. Great work Brian and everyone else who's been working this. I like the GI with the cup, too, makes it very inviting, imho.

Ruck On, Bby, I love it!

[406 Silverado]

Jan 23, 2024 8:00:07 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

This is a very fine surprise, Gents. Great work Brian and everyone else who's been working this. I like the GI with the cup, too, makes it very inviting, imho.

Ruck On, Bby, I love it!

  Brian and I started talking about a new header early last year but he took point on this and made it all happen. You're right Steve.....it does look inviting. 

[tcoat]

[chromdome35]

Thanks guys!!! It’s a good starting point and another step in the rebirth of MSC

[tcoat]

Jan 23, 2024 8:21:07 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Thanks guys!!! It’s a good starting point and another step in the rebirth of MSC

[vw8243]

Very Fresh and inviting well done to All