Harbinger HC Promotional Ideas

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:32 am

Much easier to read now.

whovianone · Post by **whovianone** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:11 am

I really dig the design. I'd like one of both. A tee for everyday, and a polo for cons.

Maybe someone going to the con could collect them and ship them out to those of us who can't go because of fund shortages, or family needs. Any volunteers?

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:11 pm

Dr. Solar wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:My problem with x-o's version is the black border and black background for the text. That's too much black ink on a white shirt.

The reason it's hard to read is due to the size of the image as it appears on the screen here. The one I have is much bigger and much clearer to make out.

I've made the correction to the credits.
I think your updated version is even harder to read. When I look at the text that says "with a new story by Jim Shooter", it makes my eyes hurt, and I don't want to look at it.

Think clarity.

In terms of raising general awareness, you need something that gets the idea across FAST, because people aren't gonna spend tons of time trying to figure out what it says. I would suggest something like:

HARBINGER: THE BEGINNING
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
VALIANT
AUGUST 2007

featuring a new story
"The Origin Of Harada"
by Jim Shooter & Bob Hall

all with BIG easy to read letters. What you did looks cool, but this is really a marketing project, not a "cool" project. The best thing in terms of promoting the return of VALIANT will be something that gets the idea across quickly. "Harbinger, looks cool, August". That's what you want people to see, so that it raises general awareness. There should be more information who want to get more, but the easier it is to get the info from what is printed the better.

The font you have now with the shadow effects make it extra hard to get that information from the design.

Also keep in mind that screen printed t-shirts have much lower resolution than a computer monitor.

Hope this helps, I think it is great that you are doing this work to get this done, and this criticism is meant only to make this project even more effective at promoting the new VALIANT.

How's this?

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:16 pm

Psychedelic man.

evil greg · Post by **evil greg** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:38 pm

ManofTheAtom wrote:How's this?

Enough with the text having shadows... you'd think this was a flyer for some kind of "Shadow" man.

Wait...

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:56 pm

Still too busy, MotA.

We have a saying. Keep it simple. I think that is the best advice here.

evil greg · Post by **evil greg** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:58 pm

Chiclo wrote:Still too busy, MotA.

We have a saying. Keep it simple. I think that is the best advice here.

You just want "Harbinger graphic Lite".

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:59 pm

evil greg wrote:
Chiclo wrote:Still too busy, MotA.

We have a saying. Keep it simple. I think that is the best advice here.
You just want "Harbinger graphic Lite".

Yes, I think that might be the right direction.

evil greg · Post by **evil greg** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:01 pm

Chiclo wrote:
evil greg wrote:
Chiclo wrote:Still too busy, MotA.

We have a saying. Keep it simple. I think that is the best advice here.
You just want "Harbinger graphic Lite".
Yes, I think that might be the right direction.

You got some kind of a problem with a flyer that says:

"FEABURING"
"AN ALL-MEW"
"ORIQIN OF HARADA"

???

Zero · Post by **Zero** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:43 pm

x-omatic wrote:How about this then?

This, I believe, is the best choice thus far.

whovianone · Post by **whovianone** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:00 pm

evil greg wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:How's this?

Enough with the text having shadows... you'd think this was a flyer for some kind of "Shadow" man.

Wait...

Dare we take this as foreshadowing? Greg wouldn't do that, but EVIL GREG might!

whovianone · Post by **whovianone** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:00 pm

Zero wrote:
x-omatic wrote:How about this then?

This, I believe, is the best choice thus far.

Seconded

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:31 pm

Chiclo wrote:Still too busy, MotA.

We have a saying. Keep it simple. I think that is the best advice here.

Simple = Bland.

The promo should capture people's attention.

BrianT · Post by **BrianT** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:48 pm

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Chiclo wrote:Still too busy, MotA.

We have a saying. Keep it simple. I think that is the best advice here.
Simple = Bland.

The promo should capture people's attention.

The big *SQUEE* picture will do that, not some hard to read type. If the pic doesn't then "Valiant", "Harbinger", "Jim Shooter" or "David Lapham" will. The rest is excess clutter and distracting. And this'll be on a t-shirt, the person needs to be able to glean the whole message of the shirt in the 3 seconds it takes to walk past you before the awkward point where they feel like a stranger thinks they're staring at them.

If you want to make a lasting impression, print out a few hundred of Greg's flyer and hand those out while wearing the t-shirt. (Anyone know if you need a permit/clearance to hand out flyers at cons?)

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:57 pm

That's the thing.

You say it's hard to read, but it's not.

I'm looking at it and in the big size it's going to be it's really clear. You're looking at a distorted image that's a result of photobucket making it smaller than it really is. That distortion is causing the text to be unreadable.

This is somewhat closer to the actual image size.

This image is 665 by 500 pixels, while the actual image is 994 by 747 pixels, which makes the text even easier to read.

evil greg · Post by **evil greg** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:59 pm

ManofTheAtom wrote:That's the thing.

You say it's hard to read, but it's not.

I'm looking at it and in the big size it's going to be it's really clear. You're looking at a distorted image that's a result of photobucket making it smaller than it really is. That distortion is causing the text to be unreadable.

This is somewhat closer to the actual image size.

This image is 665 by 500 pixels, while the actual image is 994 by 747 pixels, which makes the text even easier to read.

Sorry, but that image is larger and clearer than any t-shirt would be, and it's still hard to read.

With all due respect, it looks like something a 12 year old would make
after spending about 3 minutes playing with a graphics program...

"Shadows - cool!"
"Text on top of text - awesome!"
"Block letters and shadows, I think I need to change my pants!"

To put it bluntly, it sucks. Hard.

I'm embarrassed for you.

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:59 pm

Think about billboards. That's what we want here, billboards.

Billboards have a simple message and an eye-catching image. They don't involve a paragraph, and the text is made as cleanly and easy to read as possible.

Simple = bland = effective. If it is too cluttered and especially with a font that is that difficult to read, then we basically are just advertising to each other. You don't have to convince me to buy a Harbinger HC - I've already got one on order with my LCS.

greg · Post by **greg** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:04 pm

evil greg wrote:With all due respect, it looks like something a 12 year old would make
after spending about 3 minutes playing with a graphics program...

"Shadows - cool!"
"Text on top of text - awesome!"
"Block letters and shadows, I think I need to change my pants!"

To put it bluntly, it sucks. Hard.

I'm embarrassed for you.

That's enough! I think you need a time out.

You are not allowed to post for 12 hours.

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:06 pm

I don't really think surface area will be much of an issue. Kind of like getting these t-shirts in size small, not much to worry about there.

Evil Greg raises a good point, though. T-Shirt printing does not produce nearly so sharp an image as making a jpeg. So, you'll have a sharp drop in clarity to begin with.

leonmallett · Post by **leonmallett** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:56 am

greg wrote:
evil greg wrote:With all due respect, it looks like something a 12 year old would make
after spending about 3 minutes playing with a graphics program...

"Shadows - cool!"
"Text on top of text - awesome!"
"Block letters and shadows, I think I need to change my pants!"

To put it bluntly, it sucks. Hard.

I'm embarrassed for you.
That's enough! I think you need a time out.

You are not allowed to post for 12 hours.

Evil Greg is like a blunt instrument isn't he?

whovianone · Post by **whovianone** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:41 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:That's the thing.

You say it's hard to read, but it's not.

I'm looking at it and in the big size it's going to be it's really clear. You're looking at a distorted image that's a result of photobucket making it smaller than it really is. That distortion is causing the text to be unreadable.

This is somewhat closer to the actual image size.

This image is 665 by 500 pixels, while the actual image is 994 by 747 pixels, which makes the text even easier to read.

I think it's not a matter of if it's easy to read. it's a matter of getting it all in within a couple seconds. It needs to stand out, yes, but people ignore busy things. Even if it looks cool. The average person doesn't want to work to find something new out. That's why most logos for national companies are not busy.

PS - Just out of curiosity, do you have to sharpen Evil Greg, or is he always that dangerous?

leonmallett · Post by **leonmallett** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:34 am

whovianone wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:That's the thing.

You say it's hard to read, but it's not.

I'm looking at it and in the big size it's going to be it's really clear. You're looking at a distorted image that's a result of photobucket making it smaller than it really is. That distortion is causing the text to be unreadable.

This is somewhat closer to the actual image size.

This image is 665 by 500 pixels, while the actual image is 994 by 747 pixels, which makes the text even easier to read.
I think it's not a matter of if it's easy to read. it's a matter of getting it all in within a couple seconds. It needs to stand out, yes, but people ignore busy things. Even if it looks cool. The average person doesn't want to work to find something new out. That's why most logos for national companies are not busy.

PS - Just out of curiosity, do you have to sharpen Evil Greg, or is he always that dangerous?

I think Evil Greg stays forever sharp, a blade keenly maintained on the rocks of life's miseries and on those stones thrown in his vicinity.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:17 am

greg wrote:
evil greg wrote:With all due respect, it looks like something a 12 year old would make
after spending about 3 minutes playing with a graphics program...

"Shadows - cool!"
"Text on top of text - awesome!"
"Block letters and shadows, I think I need to change my pants!"

To put it bluntly, it sucks. Hard.

I'm embarrassed for you.
That's enough! I think you need a time out.

You are not allowed to post for 12 hours.

He's harmless, heh.

I took no offense, I took what he said in jest.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:20 am

Chiclo wrote:I don't really think surface area will be much of an issue. Kind of like getting these t-shirts in size small, not much to worry about there.

Evil Greg raises a good point, though. T-Shirt printing does not produce nearly so sharp an image as making a jpeg. So, you'll have a sharp drop in clarity to begin with.

I'm not using a JPEG/JPG for the shirt, I'm using a higher resolution BMP in which the text doesn't look as blurry.

If the problem is the font then tell me which font you'd like me to use. I have almost a 1,000.

Zero · Post by **Zero** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:53 am

Zero wrote:
x-omatic wrote:How about this then?

This, I believe, is the best choice thus far.

Please save yourself some time & use this one.