AVS Avatar Contest! Submit your own custom avatar for the redesigned site - Page 3

If accurate, that leads where I thought it would... 55% >35... and probably a good chunk of that "25-34" group is in the over 30 crowd... so easily 65% or so >30 years old.

My guess would be forums that focus more on the entertainment side and less on the technical side might have a more even distribution of younger to older regular members... and entertainment exclusive sites probably skew younger rather than older.

So, concern over losing the "under 30" crowd here over an icon is probably not an issue... plus I can't think of a site that I stopped visiting because I didn't like the default avatar. You can always sign up and then change to whatever you like.

Simple HDTV with color bar test pattern. The color of the TV itself would have to be tweaked because it doesn't show well on the black background schemes... so would need to know more about the themes to adjust to something that would show in all modes.

You need to attract the age groups targeted by the advertisers.

As for the quality of the avatar, it reflects the quality of the site. The forum owners are trusting that their efforts to make a professional design aren't detracted by a poorly designed avatar.

BTW, I'm not in those stats (I hope). I'm posting from my Android, which would not align with an assumed age group.

There are lots of qualifications to that statement, though.

Is this a for-profit Web site? OR do they just have paid advertisers to pay the cost of running a forum like this? IF for-profit, then yes you want to attract advertisers that pay the most and then make those advertisers happy. IF just to pay the bills, then you want to attract advertisers that fit the demographic that you already have.

Different advertisers target different demographics. It's not all about the "youth vote" so to speak

A site like this isn't your average chat site... and while there are certainly a lot of intelligent and skilled young people into the technical side of things... a site like this tends to skew older (at least it always has whenever I look around).

That's neither good nor bad... it just "is"..


Funny you should mention that aspect... I was reading something recently about the cost of good logo design. The consensus was essentially "you get what you pay for"... by which I mean, there are people who will do cheap logo-design and people who want more money.

As you say, a good logo (avatar in this case) can become a symbol for your product or company (or forum) and might serve to make you money many-fold over the years... so paying more for a quality design has a lot of merit.

So... with no intention to slight our forum here... instead of hiring out for logo design (either for the forum or for the avatar) they chose to have a contest and let its members submit designs and then vote on them. One could conclude from that choice that they aren't looking for the caliber of work that you are alluding to.

Now, for my part... I agree with the other poster who said he was submitting not so much to win a prize... but because I like the forum and contributing possible avatar selections not only gives me things for my portfolio, but if one of mine gets chosen it is a good thing for me.

So... I'm willing to do "free" work on the chance that it might be selected, and then the free avatar work is something I can point to and say "I did that"... so down the road it pays off for me elsewhere AND in the meantime AVSForum gets quality work without hiring someone to do costly logo design.

Win-win basically.

But.. as you say... if quality is important AND if they want to impress advertisers... then the best way to go is to hire professionals and pay them to create designs... not run a contest and let the forum members vote... right?

You might be since they measure mobile web also:

Android 22%
iOS 75%
Other 3%

That's basically why I'm doing this. It's primarily for fun and a sense of accomplishment - I helped with the forum.

Figures. I use my Android one time...

(That's probably enough discussion before the thread goes OT.)

Is there a way to slant the background colors like the logo? Not sure if that would add anything besides being consistent.

No not official at all I'm just a frequent poster, just a suggestion.

That one also matches my earlier thoughts.

My only fear on this is the default logo shown many many many times on each page would be distracting to the conversation or even so annoying that it would discourage activity on the site.

A logo may look pretty good as a one of a kind graphic in isolation, but its its 30 or more times in a row on the left hand side it could be the dominant graphical impression of the entire site.

Hence, my thoughts of either having it subdued or matching other stylistic theme elements of the site. Its almost a brand element if its going to be that pervasive on every page of the forum.

I just noticed something... related to the above question...

In the threads I read/post in most often on AVSForum, I can't find anybody except AVSForum Moderators who actually have Avatars.

I wanted to look at some threads and see what they look like with a lot of Avatars to see if I thought any of my designs would look odd next to them... but I can't find any members with Avatars posting.

edit: FYI I've tried Safari and Firefox on my iMac with the same results. I am, however, seeing more avatars using the iPad app... so not sure what the problem is.

Not sure if the full effect works at this size... but here's a projector w/ pull-down screen and a grainy version of the color bar test pattern:

Randy Walters
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...33&postcount=1

DaGamepimp
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...0&postcount=13

ChadB
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...37&postcount=2

yeah, its difficult to create something subdued, while still giving it enough detail to be AVS-related. honestly, if it were up to me, i'd just go with a generic silhouette avatar and not worry about giving it an AVS twist.

for example:

it's boring, but it does the job.

or here's an attempt at subdued, with minimal impact:

Fellow Avatar Enthusiast,

In my admittedly sensitive oulook, it seems the most widely accepted default color scheme and to a lesser extend the default design genre may been unintentionally established. The continuous and seemingly predominate talk based on and or closely coordinated with the official AVS avatar may be over powering some independent creativity. In the spirit of helping everyone I draw your attention to a comment by Mike Lang, AVS Administor.


My intention is to take the road less traveled.

Good luck to all.

I absolutely agree. In fact, that's the effect I was trying to create. Remove the AVS theme and it just works. Simple, boring, is good. It's a placeholder until you decide to draw attention to yourself.

I like all of those as options for people to choose from.

Sure, but like you, I'm not sure it adds anything.

Combining my earlier retro idea with something else...

edit: For fun, also added the "opposite" design.

Hi...

Yes, we will be taking a lot of these and allowing them to be able to be used. Their can be only one "default"...but you will be able to select and/or add your own. (Non-animated as that gets annoying IMHO)

You all have done a wonderful job and I personally thank you for the help and the support as we look to the future of AVSF.

Thanks all.

Thank you.

I like it but, I would like to see it slanted to the right like the logo is.

I was told today that even though the contest notice is no longer on the AVS header we can continue to submit entries. No it's time for me to get serious about the default member icons.

I really like the style of these especially the background.

If there will be a selection of alternate avatars a lot of those seem to be appropriate and in style even if they are not chosen as the default avatar.


IMHO of course.

Thank you.

How about a test pattern on a home theater screen from a front projector with a center channel below the screen with left and right speakers for those that have front projector setups like you did for those with flat panel setups?






Like something like these pictures?

Cool. I added another couple sample pictures.

Optional Avatars For Use By Members (Page 1)

Optional Avatars For Use By Members (Page 2)

Optional Avatars For Use By Members (Page 3)