FISD Forum UI Refresh

[CableGuy[TK]]

No worries. TK42911 returning to my post. ;-)


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[CableGuy[TK]]

16 minutes ago, Daetrin said:

Actually having been in the military, I still like the new designs.   Once the items are complete, I'll go with it.  

 

Just to clarify, I do like the designs. I got my wires crossed and didn’t realise the design was final. My bad. 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

2 minutes ago, CableGuy said:

 

Just to clarify, I do like the designs. I got my wires crossed and didn’t realise the design was final. My bad. 

No apologies needed.  Nothing is final yet, and everyone should always feel free to share opinions.  Else what's the point of having a discussion board?

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Hey Dan FWIW I was planning on dialing down the cartoonishness a bit anyway (less stroke), thanks for the feedback!

[Harbinger[IPM]]

On 2/22/2018 at 4:18 PM, Harbinger said:

Quick detour to the EIB/Centurion Awards...

 

Expert Infantry Badge

So this one really doesn’t need much, if anything... so what follows is what I’d deem nice-to-haves/suggestions.

 

The changes I'm proposing are:

1.) Lighten the "EXPERT INFANTRY" text so you can read it on the dark gray forum background. At a minimum I would say this is a must.

2.) Tweak the styling to match the new ribbons (shadows, rounded corners by popular demand).

3.) Ditch the cogs on either side of the "EXPERT INFANTRY" text. #1, as part of ongoing FOTK inclusion, and #2 because they are indistinguishable at that size. Also allows more room for text (legibility wins!).

4.) Switch the font to the one used in official FISD merchandise (most notable use is on challenge coins), it's a move towards better brand cohesion AND it's more legible scaled down (the 'R' and 0-9 most notably).

5.) Move the stars inside the EI badge instead of above it. Takes up less space (the current solution leaves a huge gap between awards), and makes it clear the stars are for the EI award and not whatever award sits above it. Also looks cooler (my opinion of course!).

 

Proposed NEW EIB art:

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Centurion would follow suit with similar changes (in progress).

Expert Infantry Badge, Revisited

 

Changes from previous version:

• Stars moved back to above award
• DLT-19 replaced with more accurate version from newest hi-res logo
• Imperial cogs re-added
• EXPERT INFANTRY text style adjusted (more bling)
• Gold border adjusted, no more rounded corners

 

  

  

 

FWIW, I tried a version with split Imperial/FO symbols but the FO symbol looks terrible at lower resolutions... but here it is for reference:

  

 

 

PS: Above-star spacing matches ribbon star spacing, a change from existing art. I think it'll look better:

 

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Drop Shadows

Here's a quick comparison of a toned-down stroke/drop shadow:

 

  

  

 

vs. older version:

 

 

  

  

Edited February 26, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Attaché Achievement Award, Part III

 

Changes from previous version:

• Swapped in higher-res handshake (thanks Glenn!)
• Text color/boldness changes to match EI badge

 

Here is with the darker blue:

  

 

...or with FISD blue:

  

 

Darker blue looks better with the olive green (unofficial, official Attache color) IMO.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Master Armorer Awards

 

I didn't do a lot here as these are fairly new awards, mostly tweaks so they match the new art style:

• Font changed to match other awards
• Stars changed to match new ribbon stars
• Yellow/gold ribbon color tweaked slightly to match gold of new star

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

I can't tell if the old awards were intended to have a white stroke around the laurel leaves, but I put them on because it helps the leaves stand out on the ribbon (especially the darker blue). Here's what it would look like without:

 

  

Edited February 27, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Centurion Award

 

Proposed changes from existing:

• Font switch to match everything else
• Merged laurels and border into single shape/gradient to clean up design (and help with scaling)
• Slightly larger text, to help with smaller sizes

 

Proposed NEW Centurion art:

 

  

Edited February 27, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Okay, now that everything has had at least one pass, here's a quick mockup of how all the new stuff would look. I'll be using Ukswrath as a real-world example since he has most of these awards (hope you don't mind, Tony!):

 

CURRENT:

ukswrath

Deployment Officer

Deployment Officer[Staff]

X,XXX posts

Location:CA

  ------------------------------------------------------- New/Proposed:

CURRENT:

ukswrath

Deployment Officer

Deployment Officer[Staff]

X,XXX posts

Location:CA

  I hope this illustrates one of the goals of this refresh, consistency.   Some additional notes:

• I decided to go with rounded corners for the the user ranks/titles, but am planning to keep everything else square... mostly so the EI/Centurion awards can stay square and it will all match - don't want to change these too much.
• Spacing between images has been tweaked, hopefully evident above.
• All art is vector-based, so in the future it can be scaled up/down to any resolution needed.
• Art is not designed/doesn't currently exist for EIB #10 or above. A solution will be needed when Glen gets there.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Harbinger
Updated Centurion image

[IcyTrooper[TK]]

I like the latest round above (on page 2)!

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Made some tweaks to the armorer awards to closer match the originals:

  

 

Also made some tweaks to the Centurion type so it feels more like the old one:

  

 

One last suggestion I would like to make, would be to change the ordering of awards in the sidebar so that EIB and Centurion awards go last, with all ribbon-style awards before. This basically amounts to making the Armorer awards appear before the EI awards; this way they are split up by art style/award type, with the EIB space where the stars reside acting as a break. Using Tony again to illustrate - compare to the previous post:

 

ukswrath

Deployment Officer

Deployment Officer[Staff]

X,XXX posts

Location:CA

  I could even argue you don't need the text under the Attache Achievement Award, and use some mouseover text to do the same job.   Everyone (staff included) please feel free to leave your feedback/constructive criticism. I don't foresee any more tweaks on my end, so it's up to you guys. Edited February 27, 2018 by Harbinger

[Daetrin[Admin]]

FYI that my goal is to move these new graphics live this weekend, so if there are any feedback, this is the week to do it.

[Pretzel]

Looking mighty fine. Mighty fine indeed. 

[CableGuy[TK]]

I think they look really classy. Great job, Brien. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Looks great however I still want a helmet with the crossed blasters. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

It's Full of Stars

 

Going though some final polish/presentation of various scenarios, I thought I would break down the star system. Paul, myself and others talked about this briefly in the attache section, but here it is for all to see. The current system stops after thirteen years/stars/levels, but taking a page from real-life military service ribbons, I propose doing something akin to what is done in the military and adding additional rows. Quick example...

 

First year, ribbon and no star:

Years 2-5, bronze stars:

Years 6-9, silver stars:

Years 10-13, gold stars:

All of the above already exists in the current art. For years 14-26, I propose adding a second row the same as above. Example, year 14 would look like this:

  

(Top row 13, bottom row 1; 13+1=14)

 

At year 27, you add a third row, etcetera. Although I doubt anyone would serve on staff beyond 26 years, we would have the capacity to do so.

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, EIB awards are a similar system with stars appearing above the logo...

 

The first award has no stars, while #'s two through five have silver stars:

  

 

EIB #'s 6-9 have gold stars:

  

 

I propose that for EIB #10 it switches to a 5-star design (as seen on real-life five star generals), and for EIB #11 a sixth star is added (again, based on real military imagery):

  

 

  

 

For EIB awards #12+, I propose that you do NOT add any additional stars (the image caps out at six stars) and just give them FISD kudos for being an insane person. Alternately, you could either make #11 five gold with a silver star in the middle, moving six gold stars to #12 and the cutoff up one, and/or design something if someone ever gets to EIB #12 (or #13).

Edited February 28, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Suggestions - non-award related.

 

1.) Add some more Star Wars iconography to the forum skin, an easy replacement would be the read/unread icons:

 

...or FOTK inclusive version (design credit for split symbol goes to gmrhodes)?:

 

2.) Consider adding the logo/some color to the header?:

(blurry logo because I can't find the new one)

Edited February 28, 2018 by Harbinger

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Hey Brien - can we break out the skin updates separately?  I think that may be a place where can chat about themes, maybe a "part 2".  I'd like to get the badges done in one thread so after posting it can archive and we can then tackle the other design elements next.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Short: I love the star concept on the EIB

For service ribbons (not sure if you want to update that one too), for the stars I'm not overly keen on the double row. Maybe we just mix/match colors like the guide you posted had.  That would get us to 26 or so, right?

[Locitus[Admin]]

I'm drooling over here.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

3 hours ago, Daetrin said:

Short: I love the star concept on the EIB

For service ribbons (not sure if you want to update that one too), for the stars I'm not overly keen on the double row. Maybe we just mix/match colors like the guide you posted had.  That would get us to 26 or so, right?

You would still need two rows because of the way it "fills" up. If you don't want double rows it limits options to more stars and/or more levels past gold.

 

I could bring over the five/six star design from the EI proposal, which would get us to 19 years:

  

 

 If you want to go that route, I'd suggest making a 20+ award and capping like the EI award images at 11 for the same reasons, don't see a lot of 20+ year service awards being handed out much like I don't see that many people (let's be honest, probably just Glen) getting twelve or more EI awards.

Edited February 28, 2018 by Harbinger
added mockups

[Daetrin[Admin]]

I think capping at 20 is a fair thing to make a limit too.  For the ribbons, we can use a 4th color to get to 20.  Or, how about a different ribbon for 10 years of service? This way we only have to go to 10 on the regular one.  Also, I can't conceive that anyone would get more than 10 AAMs - right now there are only a few people with 2, and none with 3.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Personally, I think going to a different ribbon for years 10+ would be more confusing that sticking to a single level-up system?

 

It may be weird that the ribbons have 5/6 star versions in bronze/silver/gold but EI only goes to 5/6 stars for gold (and not the silver ones), and I wouldn't want to change it since it would move the goalpost for a gold EI award. If you stick to the EI scheme where five and six stars are only for gold, you could still cap it at 15 years if that's a good cutoff for you?

Edited February 28, 2018 by Harbinger

[Harbinger[IPM]]

In short (you get ASCII art, I'm lazy):

1. [No Stars]
2. *
3. **
4. ***
5. ****
6. *
7. **
8. ***
9. ****
10. *
11. **
12. ***
13. ****
14. *****
15. ******

16+: Same as 15, maybe animated with sparkles?