graphics help

[firemon22]

how do u get better at making graphics and text for simifiles or graphics in general? can someone give me some tips or a guide or cheat sheet lol maybe .

[blindreper1179]

I would talk to mollo or gundam dude, they seem the biggest here. There are quite a few more people, but these two stick out in my head right now.

Here's a thread from mollo where you can download his work and see how he does his. Hope it helps.

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=137669

[Gundam-Dude]

Limit your typeface choices to no more than 2 combinations but at the same time, don't just randomly choose 2 different ones to slap together—each and every typeface resonates better with certain ones. The general rule of thumb is try to choose two typefaces that are designed around the same time period and even by the same typeface designers. Learning different typeface combinations is already delving into complex typography as you need knowledge of graphic design history and typeface anatomy, so don't think too long or hard about this unless you're me, rofl. If the typefaces look okay to you, they should be fine for everyone else pretty much.

Avoid Dafont and look into some sites that offer some 100% royalty free typefaces—many of them are great to use for STePMaNia. Don't use any typefaces designed by this guy because they are ugly rip-offs of classic typefaces and make absolutely no sense whatsoever from a type design perspective: http://www.dafont.com/gyom-seguin.d1198

Look into typography rules and conventions to learn how to treat type better in general. Learn to kern. If you're bad at perceiving negative space, you can practice and train your eye with this: http://type.method.ac/

For type placement, don't place letterforms too close to any edge because it creates a sense of claustrophobia—give type room to breathe. Avoid placing type dead center because that is arguably the most boring spot you can put it—the human eye is attracted more to objects that are placed slightly off-center and leaning towards one side.

You should always be aware of StepMania's gameplay screen elements that obscure parts of your background, such as the health bar, score meter, and more. It's hard to settle on a set standard due to the several versions and themes the game has, but the general rule of thumb is don't place type too high or too low (again referring to the aforementioned where you try avoiding placing too close to any edge). Somewhere off-center leaning towards one side is essentially the sweet spot for SM backgrounds.

For backgrounds, you just need a wide variety/assortment of images you can find. Experiment with Photoshop's blending modes and capabilities (refer to tutorials online if you have trouble with this). Generally, you don't want an image that's overexposed/bright or high contrasting because people without a low background value set will have trouble reading the notechart. But this is a rather minor issue for this community since the majority of people play with a background value set to 0%—this is something to consider for casuals that aren't from FFR that play the game.

Refer to any of Mollo's publically posted .PSD documents if you want to take a look at how he blends various images together seemlessly. It'd be a good reference, although it shouldn't be an exact guideline to follow when you're making your own stuff—everyone should have their own workflow and design process anyways because no two people design the same way or style.

As an example, Mollo's graphics are typically heavy with blending stock images together and going crazy with the font effects. Meanwhile, I have a much more minimalistic approach to design with a strong focus on proper typography and typesetting, font effects varying from very minimal to absolutely none used at all.

Mollo's threads:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=133688
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=137669

This link I'll provide below has a massive list of resources for designers in general, with sites that offer royalty-free typefaces, photography, and much more:
https://medium.com/@de/resources-799d16952a56

Hope any of this post helps you out.

[Mollocephalus]

gundam-duder makes really valid points, and yes, you can use some of my .psds as reference but don't take them as the pinnacle of stepmania graphic production, haha.

abut the fonts, i just found a pretty nice reference i'm sure it will be helpful to you (and others, for that matter).

http://www.awwwards.com/the-100-grea...-for-2014.html

you'll have to get them one at a time, but you can see the previews, how they are used in design contexts and so on, which is a big plus.

[Spenner]

I will try to keep this short; Look at a lot of really good design and art, a lot of it, and have the concept of a "good" piece of design in the back of your head. Limiting chaos, or at least, control of it, and heirarchy of forms, is the biggest thing, and you will see that quality in a lot of the good designs.

It's a frame of mind that you need to adapt more than anything. There aren't any actual rules (other than basic design principles, which you should take a look at), besides "making things work". Once you develop an OCD for the things which add unneccessary chaos to works, and can recognize when something is not right in a design piece, you are ready to start trying things yourself. You should try picking apart design peices in terms of their design elements; look at the textural quality of a grungey piece of artwork, the heirarchy in an eccelent typographic poster (or one that LOOKS good at first but really has some issues that you can see when inspecting closer), etc.

Never remind yourself that this is your work. Always look at your work as if it was someone else's which you've been asked to critique.

Get really anal about alignment, proportion, and hierarchy.

Fantasize about good design.

"Less is more" is a good phrase to hold in the back of your mind.

Never accept that you have made a "perfect" design, always look for a different formulation of the elements on a page, and think of the "bigger" concepts that could be represented with them.

Start off by making something you think is good, and let people critique it, if you really want to start off strong. But you must accept that people who want to help you are actually going to pick apart things beyond your comfort level. You have to accept, and embrace this. And you have to do this to your own work too. Looking at photoshop files of Mollos and whatnot is excellent for technical skill training and finding out ways to utilize your tools. But unless you are actually dissecting the decision making processes made in the first place, you aren't learning all that you could be from picking apart a photoshop doc.

[Spenner]

Originally Posted by Gundam-Dude

If the typefaces look okay to you, they should be fine for everyone else pretty much.

My only critique with your advice is this. Always question the context that your typeface implies. It is a major issue in design, when someone wants to make a "graffiti" or handscripted looking font, and it makes the context of the whole piece seem childish, gimmicky, and not genuine.

As a rule of thumb I always try to show a friend what I'm working on with an example of one typeface, and an example of another, and just ask him "what does this remind you of, just based off the type? Can you tell what it's all about?"

IMO a typeface should set the mood, and ideology of the piece. It is an important part of giving off the right impression.

[Gundam-Dude]

Absolutely an important point I completely forgot to mention about choosing typefaces, so cheers on bringing that up

When I said that line in particular, I was thinking exclusively of the SM player demographic and not really the general populous as I should've—most players, be it serious or casual, aren't particularly nitpicky about typefaces in backgrounds and banners for the longest time I've been speculating.

Frankly, that line I wrote should be disregarded because typeface choice should always fulfill its purpose of conveying and communicating the message and expression of the design itself.