Design feedback request for my custom Marquee

[tjansx]

I am almost finished with my first cabinet. All I have left is the marquee, coin door, and to eventually replace my x-arcade with a custom job, but for now, priority 1 is my marquee.

I wanted a custom job, so I photoshopped out a marquee. You can see this in the attached file, but basically, the cabinet is black. I was debating between ice blue trim and red. My wife suggested red, and who am I to go against a wife's wishes, right? So, I'm stuck deciding on a background color for my marquee. The wife says the blue is cool, but I am not sure, and I want some subsequent opinions. The attached file has a photoshopped mockup of how my marquee will look in the cab. I'd like to keep the 4 characters (mario, excitebike, pac-man, ryu) and the text with drop shadow (so black is likely out).

Should I change the background color? Should I add anything to it? I appreciate your construction criticism.

Hmmm, apparently the image I posted isn't working. Here's the direct link:
http://minus.com/mIbLJsn4X/

P.S. I'm not married to the 4 characters staying there, so I guess if someone has a better idea, I'm open to it.  I do like the font/drop-shadow effect, but any opinions an expert can give a graphics newb like myself is appreciated.

[MaxVolume]

Looks pretty good to me... nice balance, colors, etc.

[tjansx]

Thanks...I'm just not sold on the blue.  My wife and you are the only two so far who vote to keep it. Everyone else says the blue has to go

[MaxVolume]

Well, you certainly wouldn't want more red there... what were you thinking of changing it to?

[tjansx]

I wasn't sure...hence the reason for my post...to get some feedback from people who aren't me or my wife.  More just for opinions...I might play with the design more tonight, perhaps scrap it and start from scratch, or beg a designer from work to look at it/design something better.

[wol-nz]

Now i'm assuming you are going to take the marquee colours down to some artwork on your custome control panel?

You can pretty much choose any colour that will complement red.

My personal preference is yellows and oranges.
I would also change the small characters - to me they look like additional stickers placed as an after thought.
I'm inclined to make them bigger - say from Ryu's waste line, and maybe a couple of head shots from Mario and pacman

[MaxVolume]

I wasn't sure...hence the reason for my post...to get some feedback from people who aren't me or my wife.  More just for opinions...I might play with the design more tonight, perhaps scrap it and start from scratch, or beg a designer from work to look at it/design something better.

Oops... sorry honey, I thought you wanted my opinion since I picked out the red trim.

Seriously, it looks fine to me, so that's all the feedback I can give you.  If you went with red because the wife wanted it, why go with what someone else likes that might clash with the red?  As far as having a designer do it, sure it might look more "professional", but for a n00b, I think what you've done is great.

[tjansx]

I think the blue clashes with the red...

As for the 4 characters, it's funny. They WERE an afterthought because I felt like it needed more than just text...I like the suggestion to make them more part of the marquee instead of just dropped on there.  I have some work to do, methinks

And yes, I will be likely bringing the marquee colors into the CP at some point, if not on a custom one, at least making a custom overlay for the tankstick.

[tjansx]

I also think I'll make the gradient vertical instead of horizontal...

[tjansx]

Some slight modifications...

[yotsuya]

I'd make the text bigger, do something with the background, and I'd lose the characters.

[tjansx]

I'm working on losing the characters as we speak...good call.

[drventure]

I'm working on losing the characters as we speak...good call.

+1 and the black gradient background looks much better!

[tjansx]

Not sure what to do with the bg, but here's bigger text and no characters:



I like it.

[dmarcum99]

WINNER!!!

You don't have to do anything with the background if you're unsure.  Even like this, it looks "finished".

[tjansx]

Only thing I want to play around with yet is font...I like the cartoony font, but I would like to try some other stuff.  I'll have to see what fonts are good...my designer at work knew right away what font I was using, but he didn't have any suggestions for me on what to use, he just said he thought it was too cartoony.  I'm not sold on that notion yet, but I'm open to trying different stuff...