This was originally posted on my now-defunct creative blog.
I run a community website for friends (which is now defunct. There used to be a link here, but now there is not). A previous iteration of the forum featured a series of rotating banners at the top of the page. To keep things fresh I was always creating more. These were all pretty much created using a mouse and Paint – and you can really tell with some of them. The first batch were quite large simply because that was the size of the header image in the default template that they were replacing.
This was the first one, and it was mostly just an experiment with fonts and colours in Paint.
This next one was another generic design, simply because I wanted to convey the name of the forum, and that the forum enjoyed Xbox Live.
By far the most popular subject for a Random Fury banner was Halo. The forum was created for a bunch of friends to talk about Halo, so it seemed fitting that there were so many Halo-themed ones. Even the current banner – as of September 2012 – references Halo in a subtle way.
The gametype “Territories” on the map “Turf” was not one of Random Fury’s favourites, hence this sarcastic statement!
I love the bold red in this one.
Coagulation from Halo 2 – An iconic sight.
This next banner was actually made from a screenshot that I took in-game thanks to the Theatre feature in Halo 3.
I liked hiding or obscuring the “Random Fury!” or “RF!” in a lot of these banners. Did you notice many of them?
This is the current banner. Note that it is slightly wider due to the template being used.
It wasn’t all Halo though, I did create some featuring other games as well. The next two are inspired by Chromehounds.
The next four are based on Phantasy Star Universe – but the next three are very closely linked. Using promotional artwork direct from Sega, I created all three images with the planets in the same position, and I used the fonts belonging to each individual planet, in the colours that embody them.
This is probably my favourite banner of them all, to be honest. I love the visual style of Every Extend Extra. I love the combination of only being able to see the eyes of the rainbow lady and the very bold font choice, but the subtle colour used so the words don’t stand out too much.
And finally, R-Type, one of my favourite games of all time. This was created using an emulator and the print screen function.
Which is your favourite? Which could be better? Please feel free to leave a comment below.
