LONGECITY

Can we try to develop the presentation of our LongeCity a bit, conceptually and graphically?

Can we identify 'city' features and assign to them certain themes and/or forum sections?

Can people in the Art team supply us with sprites for building like these or can people suggest where we could obtain such a set?

Could someone help us develop a clickable 'map' of LongeCity, maybe even with moving features like here

brainstorming:

announcements: town crier
introduce yourself: town gate
events: travel agent
multi-media: cinema
bookclub: library
careers: carreers centre

regional forums: regional quarters

For the rest of the forums, keep the names, but use some thematic picture?

I'll paste the reply I made in the other CityScape thread. Feel free to delete one or both. Think I should have put it here first time round. Sorry!

I was thinking maybe you should have a city but futuristic/modern looking. However not in a dystopian way (it's not Milton Keynes* - LOL!)but in a way that looks clean and modern and perhaps with plants and greenery involved somewhere in the picture so we don't give the impression of technology/progress killing nature. I do like the idea of individual buildings being individual parts of the site. A similar concept is used in the online game Dead Frontier...though we don't want anything looking like that zombie-plagued wasteland.




*I apologise for this heartless joke to anyone who inhabits this land of concrete, roundabouts and cow statues.

from brainstorming in skype:

forums == downtown
store == shopping mall
action == fancy building/ rollercoaster/ picketing protesters/ building site,
support us == community centre
science section == university
science== university
(book, arictles), == library
(media, film, podcast) == cinema
about == 'tourist info'

There are so many more. Somebody would have to go through all the tabs and make one long list it seems. There is:

fundraisers == a bell ringer with a kettle? What kind of building might represent it?
recent topics ==
constitution == a monument with it inscribed on a plaque?
stewards == maintenance building?
newsletter == newspaper building?

If each sub forum was a separate building I suppose that would get too crowded.

Recent Topics, or Currently Active Topics= Coffee House or Java Jo's: Hot Coffee (something like that)

Thinking about this again, it occurs to me that we might want to ask for 5 to 10 buildings we could add in, that look different, to be made with blank titles on the front of them so that we can put a title on them for this or that forum if we need it while we are adjusting it over time.

http://www.freelance...t-map-town.html

Could the team look at portfolios and advise?
Also if you find other freelancers, please encourage them to apply.

Recent Topics, or Currently Active Topics= Coffee House or Java Jo's: Hot Coffee (something like that)

No city is complete without a coffee outlet.

Could the team (anybody) look at portfolios and advise?
Also if you find other freelancers, (on that site, whose work you like) please encourage them to apply.

I asked around for a hand with this evaluation, and for any other insight, and a website designer in the life extension communities, Michael Shumlich, posted this:

Janith: This fellow doesn't have a portfolio of any kind, so there's nothing to evaluate.

mlehman ("Great Media Inspiration"): These guys can put together relatively clean and simple "Web2.0"-style sites. I didn't see anything for an illustration portfolio, so it's hard to tell if they could pull it off. The icons on their page don't fit very well into the same style, but it's hard to tell if that's because they have a few designers working in-house or because they are using icons from different stock collections.

lusso: His transfire application looks pretty poor; not nauseatingly bad, but it definitely looks like he's still learning the trade and not someone whom I'd select for the job. His video game conveys the same impression.

yognel: Looking over his branding work and 3-D modelling, he appears to be quite talented and probably the only one of the bunch whom I'd consider for the job.
Have you considered looking up illustrators who work in that style, whose art you like, and approaching them for a quote?

I don't really know the field and haven't looked around, but someone like Bug Pixel strikes me as good material for a pixel art town illustrator, if that's the look you're going for:http://bugpixel.com/wordpress/gallery1
Or Army of Trolls: http://www.armyoftro.../portfolio.html

As an update, the above advice was very valuable (thanks Michael Shumlich!). I tried contacting bugpixel and AoT, but neither has responded and we needed to make a decision.
YogNel are the winning bidders (correspondence below). To be honest, I'm still a bit worried if they have the full spectrum of expertise. Fingers crossed, but if someone gets hold of a friendly, gifted and available pixel artist, we'd certainly look at a joint commission,

Ok, we have deposited the money and will release it as milestone on completion.
Now, the map of the town is entirely up to you, but we do have certain features that we need incorporated, listed below. The words in brackets are suggestions, you can use any town feature that you think fits as long s its easily recognisable.
The town should have a friendly, cosy feel, not too anonymous and big, but also not a village.
Basically, any items you can see in the left sidebar at
http://www.longecity.org/forum/
need to be incorporated into the town.
The pic itself should fit right next to the main LongeCity logo.

The task is a bit special, so we are keen that you are fully informed and comfortable before starting work. Please ask as many questions as you like to make sure we have communicated the instructions properly.

Features
forums (downtown? A park where people come to talk?)
store (shop or mall)
research (any fancy/futuristic building/ university)
action (picketing protesters, launch pad...)
support us (community centre)
book, articles (library / newspaper)
media (cinema)
about (tourist bureau)
constitution (a monument/statute/court house)
stewards (lighthouse, courthouse?)
podcasts (radio building/ radio mast)
recent topics (coffee shop)

the cityscape could contain a few 'normal' buildings, streets etc.
If that works, please keep hold of the individual sprites. They will be used in the sections and allow you to work more efficiently when we need the map to evolve in the context of further work.

YogNEl has pulled out without ever producing any drafts. The search continues...

And it is a worthwhile search. The cityscape graphic is a good idea, IMO. It is something that could greatly enhance Longecity's online presence.

Play a sim city game between a few members like yourselves and open it up to other members too. Then take the results (and problems) this modeling approach creates to a graphic arts student to convert into web maps and pages for the site. Use gaming to put together an idealized map of Long-City. You already have most of the targeted parameters outlined in this thread. Gaming the resulting interaction could be rewarding AND fun for the members. Try to build metaphorically, ie library = books and articles, stores = stores, government = leadership etc.

http://forum.deviant...offers/1768777/

also responded:
http://www.bitcubemedia.com
http://djg5286.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://blkxblu.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://hangedmanstudio.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.artist-po....net/winzawchit

Win Zaw's castles are closer to what you are asking for than the other's portraits. I lean toward voting for Bitcube myself though I like Hangedman's stuff personally.

I still say game it out in Sim City. Create a visual representation and then have them enhance and embed the material along the lines of the map you already created.

Good luck with this. I think it is a worthwhile endeavor for enhancing the site.

Introducing Immon, the immortal monster! How about Immon, a funny mascot for Longecity that should look like a blend of a sea turtle and Millie, the platypus from the 2000 Summer Olympics?





Immon would be happy to greet us at the entrance of some Longecity forum sections, like cinema (multi-media), library (bookclub), and coffee house (currently active topics). That would be charming. Immon lives longer than humans did so far, just because of its sea turtle genes and its happy and warm character, not so different from the long-living naked mole rats who I suspect are naked because they feel warm too. I made a draft of Immon, see the embedded image above. In blue instead of green. because it's just a funny monster to fit nicely into some of Longecity's pages.

References

From http://www.sbnation....ts-summer-games The Olympics' 15 Most Terrifying Mascots Ever Created. Text under the subtitle: Olly, Syd & Millie - 2000 Summer Olympics - Sydney. Publ. by SBNation.com: "G'DAY! Pleased to meet you, Bruce! We're a kookaburra, a platypus and an unnecessarily sexualized, anthropomorphic echidna!"

From http://www.articlesp...-Turtles/198467 publ. by ArticleSphere.com: "Sea turtles appeared on earth as early as more than 200 million years ago, they are known as the living fossil. The sea turtles have the longest lifespan of up to 152 years, it is the old god of longevity in all the wild animals. The coastal people regarded turtles as the longevity mascot precisely because of the turtles longevity."

http://www.bitcubemedia.com
http://hangedmanstudio.blogspot.co.uk/

My impression is that those two could be the best fit. Ive never thought of a mascot before but maybe hangedmanstudio there can make a blue tortoise. Or can you make a really good one robomoon? Im pretty lukewarm on it right now but you never know how it might catch on and come to be seen as a useful concept to put into the mix.

A mascot seems a cute idea, as long as they don't end up as creepy as the ones in that link. Thanks for the creepy Olympics Mascot link.
Edited by Droplet, 12 September 2012 - 05:15 PM.

I like the concept of blue turtle mascot. We can't look strange with such a symbol.

Instead of a talking paperclip I'd think a infinity symbol mascot would be cute. It would be less "little kiddish" than a turtle mascot--but it also conveys a longer lifespan than a turtle.

Cute mascot Robomoon, but I would not be in favor of mascot for Longecity at this time.

I posted on my facebook page about our need for a Cityscape designer and mentioned that Longecity would pay a graphic artist "good money". No reply yet. Maybe the rest of us should post on our facebook pages as well.

I shared it to my page and added it to our LongeCity FB page.

Sorry, this is just my two cents so feel free to take it or leave it, but I think the city building idea is a mistake. To me it gives off an amateur, unpolished feel reminiscent of the early '90s. You are not going to garner support for an important and serious cause like this by having a clever webpage and amusing graphics. A professional website should be well-organized, minimalistic, and should above all provide easy access to information. (I've seen plenty of companies with sites that look very flashy but offer little to no substance).

For a good example of a well-structured site I recommend checking out the SENS Foundation (http://www.sens.org). It's easy to read, makes good use of color without going too far, and makes it simple to find the information you are looking for.

Like I said, just personal opinion. I've certainly been wrong about things before.

Thanks for the input biomata. My feeling is that styles go in cycles. The minimalist look is nice. I generally like it, but it has been in "vogue" for a few years now, and many sites are starting to look the same IMO. The cityscape is not only meant to be something eye-catching, but something functional as well. If it is done right, I think it can add value. My feeling is that it could strike the right balance between community and science. And the name is LongeCity, so the city theme kind-of fits.

The look of this site is seriously at odds with its topic & import, it conveys an amateurish feel.
And it's not that there were plenty of opportunities and gifted artists willing to contribute. They probably quickly realized it's moot to get to an agreement with the board here and moved on.
This endless discussion is ridiculous and reflects our inability to even make simple design decisions.
I'm astonished that none of the mods has spoken more clearly as of now - niner? maxwatt?
Please don't take it personal, but someone had to say it.

Just passing by, I thought using excel graph features could help you see what kind of outlook you prefer.
Here is a graph and the excel file that did it (extremely simple as you can see; the trouble is that it doesn't extend to great graphics)
 cityscape.png   94.47KB   3 downloads  citiscape.xls   42KB   0 downloads
Edited by AgeVivo, 15 September 2012 - 03:29 PM.

http://www.bitcubemedia.com
http://hangedmanstudio.blogspot.co.uk/

My impression is that those two could be the best fit. Ive never thought of a mascot before but maybe hangedmanstudio there can make a blue tortoise. Or can you make a really good one robomoon? Im pretty lukewarm on it right now but you never know how it might catch on and come to be seen as a useful concept to put into the mix.

OK, Immon would not suit as Longecity's mascot. My over-painted draft still looks as childish as the 1st, thus, not so good (image below):



So Immon should rather get into the illustrations from a children's book about immortality. I previously planned to author the book The Dumbest Book http://www.longecity...-people-duller/ but I failed since I'm preventing its transmutation into a children's book. Poor kids, they shall rather be given the smartest book!

As Shannon Vyff has suggested, an infinity symbol mascot should be better. Sorry, so far I have not figured out how to draw this.
Edited by robomoon, 16 September 2012 - 11:29 AM.

Immon would be cute as a children's book host--one that educates kids too-I'd love it!

I actually tried to make an education book for kids, with kid drawings once-it was cute, but I lost it in a move and never re-did it later, I'd certainly be willing to coordinate on a kids' book -especially with suggestions of how to word things and what to include for the younger set age level.