Banners

[KingVance]

Hi guys. I am the by-default art director at a small software company, so a great deal of my work cant be shown....but recently I did a few vertical banners that are going to exist on both a word doc and powerpoint slide for presentations.

My boss trumped my better ideas and made me go in a direction i wasnt particularly thrilled with, but I think I found a way to make it all work.

Our particular software company is poised for growth by offering more streamlined products and integrating our existing products together...were currnetly about to put together a comprehensive business system over the course of the next year.

The purpose of these banners is to give graphical representation of each phase of our companies growth...both where we have been...and where we are going...we recently completed phase 3 and are getting ready to move on to phase 4 and 5.

My stock art choices were limited to what I could find on images.google as my boss is pretty cheap. He tried to give me specific images he wanted but searching google images is tough...I actually wound up only having to lift phase 3 and 4.

I wanted to get some critiques on the overall banner and design and the direction of keeping it all together...keep in mind I dont think theyre tied together in the way I wanted...as the boss trumped some decisions but I kept it all as close to the same look and feel as I could considering his intervention.

[KingVance]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase2.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase3.jpg

[KingVance]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase4_1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase5.jpg

[PrintDriver]

You do know that taking images from Google images without permission of the owner of the website they came from is copyright infringement, right?

They aren't considered "Stock Art".

Go the Ultimate Resource thread and look for low cost ($5 per image or less) or free Stock site listings.

Also you may be violating trademark rights if you don't have permission from Wendy's, Subway, etc. to be using their storefronts and logos to promote YOUR company. It looks like an endorsement from them and the corporate bigwigs tend to frown on that kind of thing.

[CamarotaDesign]

Yeah, unfortunately PD is right.

On top of that, most the stuff on Google is low quality and will print out like junk. Thats what I love about stock images comapanies, they always make sure you're images will print great.

[KingVance]

well since were partnering with those companies...the permissions are there

that said...

do you guys actually want to critique the work or try to give me a legal lesson that im a) already fully aware of and b) know for a fact that it doesnt matter?

also i only used stock art on phase 3 and phase 4...the rest i created myself...and the stockart on 4 we can use their likeness

i used to work in an ad mill at a larger newspaper and I can assure you, most all the images are stolen and put in front of 200k people...nothing happens

the scope of this is so small im not terribly concerned about the usage rights of that one image

now can i get a critique on the work or shall we move this thread to legal discussion?

[CamarotaDesign]

Well, you did call google images "stock" so what are we supposed to think?

These are in a series of phases in a single project? Shouldn't there be some consitancy throughout? I think only the Ones in orange look like the belong together. You might want to Either make each phase a different color of a color scheme, or all orange. I like the 5th one the most, but if you are going to go with a web 2.0 style of illustration, you should make all the banners follow that theme.

[Jackimalyn]

woah, were all lookin out for eachother here. PD was trying to help so you dont get you a** sued. You implied you thought you could use these images without getting copyrights.

[KingVance]

well each color scheme goes along with each product that is being discussed...the first being emweb, the second warranty central...and the final 3 is SMGnet based stuff.


i inherited these logos when i started this job 3 months ago and such and im stuck with them for at least another year before i can redesign the logos for all the products

...the art style as a whole here seems to be an amalgamation of the 2 guys that had this job before me...over the course of the next year im going to put it all together

and if you think the images dont seem to all match up now? you should see what all he asked me for to begin with...those images and such are a compromise of what i started with and what he wanted...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase1_opt3.jpg

that was my initial direction and
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/KingVance/Phase1_opt2.jpg
was a secondary idea...all of the images i got together ( i didnt put them into the project..they were just sitting around wanting to be dropped ) were of a similar vein

[resdog]

You implied you thought you could use these images without getting copyrights.

He didn't imply it. He said it straight out:

i used to work in an ad mill at a larger newspaper and I can assure you, most all the images are stolen and put in front of 200k people...nothing happens

the scope of this is so small im not terribly concerned about the usage rights of that one image

All the banners look clean except phase.4. That collage just doesn't seem to fit wtih the rest of the banners. it seems cluttered. In this case, it looks like less is more. One part, one building, one guy, TIMES SQUARE BUSINESSES! Maybe just using their logos would help.

And I don't think the web 2.0 balls at the end work for me. They come out of nowhere. You had a schematic type illustration, three images and a web2.0 graphic. Maybe if you incorporate the 2.0 graphic into the others as well, it might work.

The first two work well, then third one I start to question as to what is the purpose of the guy in the picture, and the fourth reminds me of a traffic jam.

I really like the "secondary idea" in the above post. Very simplistic, yet the picture adds that little bit to make it interesting.

[resdog]

I just realized you had the web 2.0 logos in the top left corners! Maybe use those (the blue and red with the orange one) in the final, instead of all orange.

[AbiJ]

sorry but the idea of just taking images from google still grates on me somewhat. My main concern isn't that you get sued, its more that the images are created by people as part of their job - be it designer, photographer, etc and form part of their livelyhood. It's like someone just pulling one of your design from the web and using that for their own means - surely professional curtesy should stop us doing this? Many small companies and designers don't have the resources, or the inclination to sue. I wouldn't feel comfortable working for a company that did this as a matter of course, there are plenty of options for all budgets i.e. free stock photo sites, building up your own library, low price royaly free photos etc. Sorry for the rant!

[Jackimalyn]

Well put AbiJ.

[PrintDriver]

You used the word 'lift' (stolen) and Stock when describing the Google images.
Just because you are using them for limited audience Power Point presentations doesn't make it legal.
It will matter. Eventually.

[JPnyc]

well since were partnering with those companies...the permissions are there

that said...

do you guys actually want to critique the work or try to give me a legal lesson that im a) already fully aware of and b) know for a fact that it doesnt matter?


now can i get a critique on the work or shall we move this thread to legal discussion?
That attitude won't get you many helpful responses here.