First, thank you so much for taking the time to look at these and the feedback is wonderful! I agree with most of what you said and my feeling that something was wrong/off is why I put this topic here. [quote=1434neopets]For #1: Does the water look like water? Yes. Is the background too strong? Yes. I get kind of dizzy looking at the tiled backgrounds. Maybe if it wasn't so repeated, it would look better. Is the Gallery too dark or is it sophisticated? The background makes it look dark. But I like the banner on top. Overall, it looks great but I personally wouldn't use the background that you have used. And I liked how the usuki has a reflection. Cool idea.[/quote] For #1: I am not a big fan of tiled backgrounds either even though I made that one. If I used lighter colors would it help? If I made the tiles larger there wouldn't be so many repeats or I could even make a full page background If I knew the dimensions to cover my bases for all monitor sizes. I don't know how that works so any advice on a fixed full page background would be most appreciated!! Thanks for the compliments on the reflection. I was having a time and a half making the image longer and didn't want to draw any more on it! It just sort of happened and I am glad it looks like water :) [quote=1434neopets]For #3: I think you should stick to one idea. For instance, the fuzzles at the bottom looks nice. It gets my attention. But then when I look at the style and color of the font, I kind of get mixed messages of what the banner is trying to portray (plushies vs colors?) Although the title says "The Color Mall", it still confuses me because there's a lot of things going on. The font doesn't really stand out as much. Despite of its size, I just don't think it captured my attention as much as the title. I can't seem to stop looking at the title because of its color and size and I think this could present a problem to those that may want to shop. Instead of shopping, they might feel what I'm feeling right now and just look at the title without actually looking for the category names. With that said, I would remove the "rainbow" background and have a plain one instead. Maybe this way, the button will stand out more. [/quote] For #3: I have been pulling my hair out over that rainbow banner! It is like the mall has a split personality: colors & items. Trying to come up with a cohesive banner is so hard! I almost want to just update/modify the banner they are currently using because it is a good layout overall. I tried two other ideas where I could have the colors together and the item categories together (neither of which got very far and the owner wasn't crazy about them. I may include the Fuzzles in the banner (use them as "items" to display the colors so that there will be a cohesive design of words and images. Would that be confusing? I think it might make the, "...what the banner is trying to portray (plushies vs colors?)" problem worse. Honestly, that was just a bunch of ideas thrown on one banner to see what the owner liked :( I love the title too, lol -- and just wish I could carry that good design throughout the banner. I am confused about what you meant here: [quote=1434neopets]I can't seem to stop looking at the title because of its color and size and I think this could present a problem to those that may want to shop. Instead of shopping, they might feel what I'm feeling right now and just look at the title without actually looking for the category names. With that said, I would remove the "rainbow" background and have a plain one instead. Maybe this way, the button will stand out more. [/quote] Do you mean the title needs to be one color or take away the rainbow affect from the bottom of the banner? If it was a solid color on the bottom I could use various images that are all the same color to represent the color so that could solve the cohesiveness problem. Try to explain what you mean a little better if you can. I know something is off and just don't know how to fix it :) If it helps, here are my other two ideas: (I didn't get very far with them and there are some nonsense words...these are just a bunch of ideas that I put down to get my creativity flowing but then I got stuck :( ) http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1795/slide2y.gif http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6462/slide3u.gif (the green is just so I could tell where the banner stopped / stated -- it is a guide square to keep things even...gosh, these look like my sketch book, lol! I can't believe I put them here really. *unsure* ~Mimi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement

[quote=1434neopets]#1: Yes, I think you should try lighter colors for the gallery background if you still want it to be tiled. If you do not want it to be tiled, a darker background would suffice. And sorry, I don't know how to make full size backgrounds. I've been trying to do that too but I just have no idea how. #3 For the title, I think I meant to say was... The title is great (don't change it) but change the background (colored buttons). One suggestion that popped in my head this second is this: http://i48.tinypic.com/25ujuwy.jpg Just have a shape in the button area and that shape should be the same color as the font. [/quote] That is a brilliantly simple idea! LOL! I have made guild backgrounds that are supposed to be full screen but because I have a 17 inch monitor (or 20?) I don't know what it looks like on other people's screens. On a different note, how is HPD going for you? I have managed to spend the whole day not restocking. This morning I was completely thrown off by Neopets being down...got started on my banners and just spent waaaay too much time on them! My daughter has won a state competition for one thing and possibly the National competition for something else. We spent this evening shopping for something nice to wear that was age appropriate. I am RS'ing now and have only gotten a handful of expensive ETS items. I saw something in Uni's that I had never seen before and missed it due to shock, lol! Turns out it was 70K item (Cybunny Miner's outfit, I think). I just like trying to get out of category items every now and then, ya know? Okay, back to the F5 button! ~ Mimi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement

It really is time consuming!! I can't complain though because I get 50% of my stock on this day (if I am lucky) which makes restocking the rest of the month easy. I just have to remember that! At the end of the month I am regretting not buying more when I start having to Wiz search items because I have no more in my SDB! ~ Mimi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement

I just missed my second Shell Beach Background! I have only seen them on HPD in the Background shop and I get to bid on them and then it's sold out....grrrr! If anyone has one, please let me see it on your pet. I think it's pretty from the tiny picture but who knows what it looks like on a pet?! ~ Mimi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement

The gallery owner loves the gallery I made...she likes the daffodils, go figure! :) The other banner is just on hold so... Still need feedback on THE COLOR MALL banner (#3) ~ Mimi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement

[size=20] Here's what I've completed in the past few days (mostly finished)[/size] ..... ..... ..... ..... [size=20]Owner loves the layout & images:[/size] http://www.neopets.com/gallery/index.phtml?gu=squeak13 ..... ..... ..... ..... [size=20]something is wrong with the red button :([/size] [img]http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/1589/tvtcmban.jpg[/img] ..... ..... ..... ..... [img]http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2892/lmmgaragesale.jpg[/img] ..... ..... ..... ..... [img]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1281/ovmwinterc.jpg[/img] ~ Mimi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement