Comments on text size placement for marquee

[zybeon]

I attached a pic of my bartop and the three selections.

The size of the marquee is 24"x4". I think I am leaning towards the first one but to make it only say Arcade on the right side.

Wanted to get some other impressions on the size and placement from people that have done this far more than me.

Thanks

[yotsuya]

Gun to my head, the first one.

[zybeon]

Gun to my head, the first one.

I'm not sure if you are trying to convey they all look bad and you're picking the least offensive or it's just that the differences are so subtle it is actually hard to choose.

[yotsuya]

Of the 3, the first is the best.

[JDFan]

Of the 3, the first is the best.

Agree -- But personally I'd use just the text and get rid of the characters !   

[yotsuya]

Of the 3, the first is the best.

Agree -- But personally I'd use just the text and get rid of the characters !   

I agree with what you wrote.

[harveybirdman]

In all my years at BYOAC,  I've seen exactly one character collage that looked good to me.  In this case the same artist drew every character in her unique style.

Perhaps you should just go for something simple as the others have suggested.

[Ramakers]

I only can agree with the posts above, keep things simple. Take a look at other, non universal marquee's, they don't show all characters appearing in the game. 
But finally you decide.

[Malenko]

Not to dogpile and be called a meanie, but they are all equally terrible.


Im not going to get into the semantics of calling a single bartop on top of a fridge and arcade, and I wont get into tacking arcade, cade, or kade onto the name either. However, clip art character overload is still a ---smurfy--- way to do things.

[zybeon]

While I expected half of the comments to be negative due to the apparent hate of collages elsewhere in the forum. I didn't expect my ability to call my bartop an arcade to come into question. Please correct me if I read that wrong. If so, that was a lightly veiled insult.

Just so you know, I'm not taking your comment seriously. I even remade it for you.

[yotsuya]

Character collages aside, the reason I like the first one is that it's the biggest instance of the name. The role of a marquee should be to announce the name or theme of your cabinet. So really the text should be prominent.

[vwalbridge]

Rule #1: Less is more.

Character collages never have and never will get any love around here.

Have a look here for some inspiration.

EDIT: And just like Yots said above: You will notice that the name of the machine usually takes up the most space and foreground.

[Vigo]

While I expected half of the comments to be negative due to the apparent hate of collages elsewhere in the forum. I didn't expect my ability to call my bartop an arcade to come into question. Please correct me if I read that wrong. If so, that was a lightly veiled insult.

Just so you know, I'm not taking your comment seriously. I even remade it for you.

Yep, that's my favorite marquee so far. And I am being serious, and honest. It's not because the marquee looks bad, visually. If I had no idea who any of the characters were, I would say it looks fine.

The issue is that the content makes no sense. You got the movie poster from the ninja turtles movie front and center, which was never an arcade game. You have snake, who isn't part of a game you couldn't even play on an arcade machine, you have a graphic from mario party, and besides 2 of the 4 characters never appearing an any arcade form, they are part of a bigger problem that you have 3d renderings mixed with 2d art. Just honest feedback.

So here is my suggestion, you have some wood grain for a control panel going on, how about you run with that for the marquee?

Here is a quick example of what I mean

[yotsuya]

While I expected half of the comments to be negative due to the apparent hate of collages elsewhere in the forum. I didn't expect my ability to call my bartop an arcade to come into question. Please correct me if I read that wrong. If so, that was a lightly veiled insult.

Just so you know, I'm not taking your comment seriously. I even remade it for you.

Yep, that's my favorite marquee so far. And I am being serious, and honest. It's not because the marquee looks bad, visually. If I had no idea who any of the characters were, I would say it looks fine.

The issue is that the content makes no sense. You got the movie poster from the ninja turtles movie front and center, which was never an arcade game. You have snake, who isn't part of a game you couldn't even play on an arcade machine, you have a graphic from mario party, and besides 2 of the 4 characters never appearing an any arcade form, they are part of a bigger problem that you have 3d renderings mixed with 2d art. Just honest feedback.

So here is my suggestion, you have some wood grain for a control panel going on, how about you run with that for the marquee?

Here is a quick example of what I mean

Exactly. Hell, "Bartop on a Fridge" is an actual theme. That's the right path.

But again, whatever you choose, make sure the text is the focal point of the marquee. See for yourself...

[Vigo]

That galaga marquee would look great with the cab. Not to mention that one of our members here made a sweet tutorial on how to make a customized Galaga style marquee.   

[Malenko]

While I expected half of the comments to be negative due to the apparent hate of collages elsewhere in the forum. I didn't expect my ability to call my bartop an arcade to come into question. Please correct me if I read that wrong. If so, that was a lightly veiled insult.

Just so you know, I'm not taking your comment seriously. I even remade it for you.

Personally, I dont give a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- what you call it. Some on this forum think a single machine is not an arcade, again, I dont give a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, just trying to give you a heads up. Odd you know about the collage hate but not the single game called an arcade hate.

Nothing was lightly veiled nor an insult. If I wanted to insult you, I would and it'd be blatant. Thanks for not taking me seriously though 

That galaga marquee would look great with the cab. Not to mention that one of our members here made a sweet tutorial on how to make a customized Galaga style marquee.   

Ugh, why even mention that guy? He's an unhelpful know it all ---uvula--- narcissist, never seen that guy make anything good or helpful.

[opt2not]

Bah, couldn't stop myself from jumping in here.

As stated above, the Marquee should have the title be the most prominent. That's print media 101, what's meant to be read should be clearly visible to read.

Now as for character collages, the only way it works is if you re-drew all the characters in a similar style. Just cutting and pasting different art-styles together screams tackiness, and overall looks ugly.
But unless you can draw it yourself, getting an artist to do it for you will be really hard to find. It's a LOT of work, and believe me when I say it could be quite expensive unless you know of an artist that doesn't mind being exploited. We do this stuff for fun right?    

Real-talk: To answer your question, yes bigger more readable title is better.  But out of your 3, I'm having a hard time even choosing one that I like. I mean, the first one has the most readable title...but honestly the whole photoChopping of characters just doesn't make aesthetic sense to me. I mean, you've got a front row of mix-matched characters standing in front of a hazy/foggy background of characters. Top that off with your hard to read title, I don't even know what the hell I'm looking at. It's just noise.

To Malenko's point, I'm not sure where this trend of calling people meanies for giving a straight answer came from, but whoever started it here needs to give their head a shake.  The reason why people give straight critical feedback here is for others to learn, and for the hobby to improve.
Lately cabinet projects have been snorefest lackluster on BYOAC...quality has decreased significantly and we tend to get either A. Builds with themes that don't make any sense/not picking a cohesive theme, or B. People giving praise for the quality of builds that we used to see 10 years ago.

AND I don't except "Character Collage" as a theme...that's just lazy. Do people not care about themes anymore?

If you are butt-hurt by this post, just remember, it's Build YOUR OWN Arcade Controls forum...do what you want to do, but if you're asking for opinions on a public forum, be sure to take 'em with many grains of salt.