Feedback on my pretendo marquee

[Daniel B.]

This is what I'm working with so far. Any suggestions? Please note the seal says "pretendo" and I changed the dynamo logo to "daniel" (This is going on a dynamo cab!)



Obviously the board scales the image, if you want to see it full size(downsampled to 72dpi)....
http://www.danielbabcock.com/arcade/marqueedemo.jpg

[waveryder]

Daniel B. You need to do something about that Playchoice font, could be my eyes i suppose, but it looks a bit wobbly. I dont think that linear gradient works very well you need to use something a bit more rounded. I'd shrink the pretendo logo down a bit so it is less promenant. Remember the backlight for your marguee will expose everything that isnt black, I think that gradient will make it look a bit odd. Still pretty good though. My £0.02

[Daniel B.]

Thanks for the feedback wave,

I'm trying to recreate that awesome 80's feel of the original playchoice marquee, and thats why I chose that font. I guess I don't quite know what you mean when you say "wobbly". When you mean something more rounded... do you mean on the font itself, or the gradient?

Thanks again!

[waveryder]

I was talking about the font itself. Did you produce the text freehand or use a specific font. I'm familiar with the playchoice marquee and its lettering and its quite smooth and fluid. It could just be the stroke around the text but it doesnt seem to flow fluidly. (like Handwriting) Do you see what I mean.

[Daniel B.]

I do understand what you are saying now. The font is minstral (mistral?).

I know it's a lot to ask, but do you have any suggestions off the top of your head for an alternative font?

[waveryder]

I've got the Playchoice font as well as some suitable alternatives in a collection of 5000 fonts! If you can hold out for a while, I'll have a look tomorrow for you.

[Daniel B.]

Thanks Wave!

I'm in no rush whatsoever, It will probably be another couple pay periods before I'm able to order my prints.

[rotheblog]

I echo Waveryder's statement's a little bit.  The font choice doesn't bother me, I think that the forums do make the edges rougher at the smaller size, but it is in a similar vein to the original Playchoice font, whether exact or not.  But I do not think the gradient works as is just in the respect that it looks like you dragged the gradient tool straight up and down, when the text is on an angle, hence getting the black only in the lower left of the text.

But all that is null and void with the main issue I see here, too many things competing for attention.  The Pretendo logo is too big, and I think the Daniel logo is too.  The marquee will be huge, so remember, a small Daniel logo on screen here will still be big in the print.  In this instance, it will be huge.

Why not more closely replicate the original marquee, and this is where I would open to your argument.  The why's.  I love the idea....6000 choices, very original actually instead of these marquees you see all the time with either fire or lightning in them. Yeah, we get it, your mame machine is the baddest and most original of them all.  But why not make the marquee look exactly like the PC10 marquee, same red line placement, you can apparently get the same font from Waveryder, and keep the text italicized but on the horizontal axis.  I think the seal is cute, but I would drop it...doesn't add anything...and maybe you're concerned with the 6000 fitting in the place of the orignal "10", but I bet if you scale it down just a touch it would fit in one line.  If not, you could still use your original idea of having it underneath on the right.

Either way, most of the people playing your system wont' know PC10, but true collectors who know it will probably appreciate your work more if you make it look really close to the original, but take your own personal idea and modify it.

[Daniel B.]

I echo Waveryder's statement's a little bit.  The font choice doesn't bother me, I think that the forums do make the edges rougher at the smaller size, but it is in a similar vein to the original Playchoice font, whether exact or not.  But I do not think the gradient works as is just in the respect that it looks like you dragged the gradient tool straight up and down, when the text is on an angle, hence getting the black only in the lower left of the text.

But all that is null and void with the main issue I see here, too many things competing for attention.  The Pretendo logo is too big, and I think the Daniel logo is too.  The marquee will be huge, so remember, a small Daniel logo on screen here will still be big in the print.  In this instance, it will be huge.

Why not more closely replicate the original marquee, and this is where I would open to your argument.  The why's.  I love the idea....6000 choices, very original actually instead of these marquees you see all the time with either fire or lightning in them. Yeah, we get it, your mame machine is the baddest and most original of them all.  But why not make the marquee look exactly like the PC10 marquee, same red line placement, you can apparently get the same font from Waveryder, and keep the text italicized but on the horizontal axis.  I think the seal is cute, but I would drop it...doesn't add anything...and maybe you're concerned with the 6000 fitting in the place of the orignal "10", but I bet if you scale it down just a touch it would fit in one line.  If not, you could still use your original idea of having it underneath on the right.

Either way, most of the people playing your system wont' know PC10, but true collectors who know it will probably appreciate your work more if you make it look really close to the original, but take your own personal idea and modify it.

WOW, thank you for the change in perspective! I am definitely open to redesigning more in lines with the original pc10 marquee. How do you feel about "Playchoice 6K" instead of 6000? I may cook up 2 more and you guys can tell me what looks better.

Wave - If you are still offering the assistance, I would still LOVE the font help.

Thanks again guys!

[waveryder]

Daniel B, haven't forgot about you got so many fonts to look through and i know that the **** thing is in there! Personally I like the fact that this marquee isnt trying to "emulate" a PC10 its more of a homage.

Either way, most of the people playing your system wont' know PC10, but true collectors who know it will probably appreciate your work more if you make it look really close to the original, but take your own personal idea and modify it.

Always go with what you think looks great. Lesson learnt from my first cab "You always notice first the artwork you took someone elses advice on" make sure you love it!

[rotheblog]

Regardless if it is an homage or not, it isn't a close one based on the initial design above.  Do go with what you like, and pay an homage, I can respect that.  But understand the concepts of design, why the original worked and why this one doesn't, and then make good choices about composition from there to make your homage.

[cyberphox]

love the name! pretendo...lol

[ChadTower]

I suggest removing the trademark registration from Pretendo.  It's not a registered trademark - I know it's there for feel but it's just not adding much for me.  Oversized registrations are annoying.  There isn't much point to reproducing the bad points too.