so a brief, design brief: the overall look and feel I'm going after is a warm and welcoming look. It should have some vintage visual elements, but mixed in with a clean look. I'm not going for the script old paper 'n ink look. The pattern i'm using is more floral 'n tree branch, as I've seen in a lot of Jewish arts.
for the homepage mockup, I'm using the English text logo I showed before. On the question view, I'm using the Hebrew version.
I'd like to get your feedback on which version of the logo you think works better. IMHO, the Hebrew version looks more Jewish to me.
@Jin It does, and I love having the Rashi script up there like that, but I also miss the URL text and the full '?' effect. Is there no way to incorporate both?
What about actually using the English on the front page and the Hebrew on the question pages?
@Jin Yes! I might have missed that on this review if you hadn't mentioned it. Awesome, as well. Both of these elements will be subtle signifiers to insiders that they're in the right place.
@Jin Worth asking on meta. It sounds like you're asking for a creatively-chosen quotation. Would be nice, but OTOH, there's already a lot of text in that box.
BTW, is there any way you could emphasize the "like Wikipedia ..." disclaimer?
@Jin There's a lot of either Hebrew words or Jewish jargon in the question titles. I think that goes a long way, along with your visual elements. Plus, if you can get the Hebrew "mi yodeya" into the title bar, I think that'd be a slam dunk for "you're on a bona fide Jewish site"
@Jin Cool. If you want to use one of your leaf colors instead of bright red, that might look better.
@Jin Pretty much. Where did you get those crown glyphs?
@ShmuelBrin, please feel free to throw in your opinions!
@Jin That could work. Of course, people with no Hebrew reading won't know what it is, but OTOH, they won't be missing that much.
I just noticed that you do have the Hebrew "hanging fruits" in the English tree. Nice! I still think the big background letters would be nice, and wouldn't be overkill.
@IsaacMoses I think so too. For logo use in other mediums, e.g. tshirts, stickers, promo materials etc, since the logo will be bigger, I can just keep the hanging fruits, along with the English text if it's more aesthetically pleasing.
For Apple touch icon, twitter icon, favicon etc, it'd be just the Tree, since it fits the square dimension better.
@IsaacMoses oh.. good question, I'd like to know that myself..
I work from home, and I tend to do more creative type of work late at night. during the day, I do the lesser exciting stuff, like css, or replying to emails and reading metas
I normally go to bed around 4/5am
and wake up around 10:30ish. I can't sleep for too long, or I'll get a headache.
@Jin We'll plan the party not around that, and see if we can get that as a bonus element. If the launch happens in the afternoon and the party in the evening, that's not so bad.
@IsaacMoses yes if no major design changes, may 8th is very doable.
That's why I wanted to show you the design here first, just to make sure the overall design is sound. I expect to tweak some minor details per Meta feedback.
@IsaacMoses and if you need press promo materials, e.g. blog banners, posters etc. please let me know. I'll provide them for you.
@Jin Thanks! I think I'll call a community chat meeting for tomorrow night to plan and nail down whatever details we can, then get back to you as soon after as we can with any graphics requests
@IsaacMoses sure. and if you want to have an online "party" I recommend Google hangout for voice, or video. otherwise, maybe a chatroom party would do just fine.
we use Google Hangout at work for those of us who work remotely. It works really well.
@Jin, I'm catching up, but the design looks great! nice propellers, and I like how the points on the favorite star are slightly rounded, kind of removes the cliched feeling that might have resulted in a plain star of david.
@Jin Why can't the hebrew logo's "?" lead into the "yud" of the second word?
@Jin ...and one last kvetch ;): Are you planning on doing anything with the tags?
@Jin also, I notice that the "Shalom!" box has some nice borders and scrollwork, but the chat box seems to be the standard. Will that change? What about the other boxes? Community bulletin, newsletter, site stats etc.
Do you we even have a site stats box after graduation? I guess not. And probably no "help us grow this site" either
@Jin Good stuff! I like the propellers. I prefer the Hebrew letters as fruit not as a watermark. I must say I'm not too much of a fan of the crowns, but I don't think I liked the idea from the outset much. The roots at the bottom are definitely a nice touch. I echo Isaac's sentiment about mixing the tree more with the logo. I think the tags would look more scroll like if the polls were emphasized more. I think Shalom! in Hebrew next to the English would be best.
Finally, what does the bounty bubble look like? Is that customizable?
I'm under the impression that religious Judaism believes in absolute truths. That being the case, how does the concept of "eilu v'eilu divrei elokim chaim" (Eruvin 13b) work out? When two scholars argue, how can they both be right?
Many times rabbis disagree on things in both hashkafa and Halacha. Usually, even when disagreeing, they will view the others' opinion as valid, even if they themselves would not rely on it. This is based on the principle of "eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim chayim" (both of these are the words of the li...
@HodofHod chatroom box, community bulletin and newsletter will have the similar decorative style
but those boxes are a bit info dense, so they won't be as fancy as the welcome box.
Normally I make ad hoc design decisions as I convert the design to CSS at the last minute. In my experience, photoshop mockups don't always represent a real site well.
(although they're excellent at presenting the overall look and feel)
I'm under the impression that religious Judaism believes in absolute truths. That being the case, how does the concept of "eilu v'eilu divrei elokim chaim" (Eruvin 13b) work out? When two scholars argue, how can they both be right?
