Photoshop Contest! Design a TPR Twitter Background

Plugs out of the way, TPR is on Twitter! and we just passed 2000 followers! To commemorate, we're launching our awesomest contest ever: we're giving away a gigantic bag of crap AND a free year of Club TPR membership! We've had a "temporary" background for a while and have been meaning to change it, so we're finally doing it!

What we're looking for is something that incorporates the personality and fun of TPR but also communicates that TPR is a source of legitimate news.

Here's the rules:

1. While we will have a poll and everyone can vote, the ultimate winner will be chosen by Robb & Elissa.

2. Just because you may be the winner of this contest it does not mean we will use your background or design elements in the final product. In fact, it is possible that we may end up choosing multiple ideas to create one background.

3. The final winner, chosen by Robb & Elissa, will receive a free 1 year membership to Club TPR, and of course, a giant bag-o-crap!

4. You will be given critical feedback on submissions prior to the contest closing date, and you can either decide to or not to revise your image based on their feedback. If you are not open to constructive criticism on your artwork, we suggest not participating in this contest. Designing a Twitter background gets a little weird with dimensions, so it's best to be open.

5. Each submission should fit this template. However, if other dimensions work better for your submission, they will be accepted. TwitterTemplate.zip

This thread will be updated daily to preview each submission as it would appear on the actual TPR Twitter page, to enable fair judging.

I've included some examples of good Twitter backgrounds, so you can see what we're going for.

@AndrewWK's

@Shamu's

@Apelad's

@Waffletruck's

@Elephantlarry's

@DisneyParks'

It would be cool if you had a sample, something that could be used as a kind of template. Really I have no idea about twitter, but It will be interesting to see what people come up with.

The original post has been revised to include clearer rules and examples.

I'm definitely going to enter this contest! I'm not the best at designing stuff, but i'll give it a shot and may upload a couple different versions to get some feedback.

I'll get started on mine after school!

After a little fooling around I ran into a small problem. The given size of the background is different than my screen size (16:9). Should I just make the design for my screen size or should I find a more universal size for the background? Also, is there anything that you have in mind for the Twitter background?

EDIT: I just tried adjusting the zoom settings in my web browser and that affects the size of the design. I'm just going to make mine 16:9 and have the colors in my design match those of the background color. Any other thoughts? I'll look into it all more.

I don't do Twitter, but I think I'll give this a go! I've got some ideas flowing already so designs will come up shortly!

Stepping out of the contest, apparently all entries prior to at least page 6 are "terrible".

^I really like design, but the text is too far to the right.

If you zoom out, you should be able to see the entire design. This is what I was talking about before in regards to how big this should be to accommodate multiple computer screen sizes.

Here's a good template for designing a Twitter background from www.fuelyourcreativity.com/free-psd-twitter-background-template/

TwitterTemplate.zip

Here's my 'practice run' I dub "Negative Space." As mentioned, I haven't done Twitter so page setup is kind of new to me. I think I'm on the right track though. So here goes...a collage of coasters and amusement rides! (Afterall, TPR's not about just the coasters)

My biggest challange is getting the whole "Theme Park Review" to fit in that left margin. A simple "TPR" has a better fit and a cleaner appearance. Thoughts? I'll probably ponder this tomorrow during my break between classes...perhaps sketch some stuff up.

^Looks pretty good, I think changing the text under "TPR" to grey and maybe making the size even would look good.

Here's my 'practice run' I dub "Negative Space." As mentioned, I haven't done Twitter so page setup is kind of new to me. I think I'm on the right track though. So here goes...a collage of coasters and amusement rides! (Afterall, TPR's not about just the coasters)

 

My biggest challange is getting the whole "Theme Park Review" to fit in that left margin. A simple "TPR" has a better fit and a cleaner appearance. Thoughts? I'll probably ponder this tomorrow during my break between classes...perhaps sketch some stuff up.

I'll be honest. I've never been a fan of the "ghosted photos of roller coasters" look. I think every other coaster website in the world uses that and therefore TPR never will.

Just look at some of the designs and images TPR uses already. Our trip shirts, Club TPR logo, TPRTM banners, etc.

You don't see anything on TPR that looks like thus because it doesn't stand out.

I hope that helps with the next attempt.

--Robb

I flat out cannot comprehend the proper way to create a twitter background. The odd dimensions just have me perplexed. I cannot make anything look right. So I'll just give you this TPR Celebrity collage for inspiration:

Spirit of TPR

I'd love to do this, but one question: Would you want the layout to be more coaster orientated (Coaster pics) or community orientated (references to all the memes we have around here)?

^

What we're looking for is something that incorporates the personality and fun of TPR but also communicates that TPR is a source of legitimate news.

The rest is up to you! Just put some originality into it and have fun.

^Thanks! I'm going to brain storm some idea and get started

I don't mean to be annoying, but does anyone know what the TPR font is?

ADMIN EDIT: Please do not double post. If you wish to add some thing to a thread in which you were the last poster, please edit your previous post.

The font you're after is Gadzoox

^I think it is Gadzooks, if not hopefully one of the other moderators will chime in.

Working up something, hopefully if it isn't a final design, it can be an important element to it. I've rough sketched out what could be another donkey used for TPR...I call him "Joe." Could be TPR Joe. Vector color version to come soon, this just a rough to get some feedback before I get too far into his creation. Next thing is to decide what kind of coaster he'll be riding...I'm thinking an Intamin as everyone on TPR loves Intamin rides...Thoughts?

Color to come soon.

^Looks great! Just make sure that when it's uploaded as a background on Twitter that it won't be covered up. According to a template posted earlier, you have 200 pixels from the left that are guaranteed not to be covered up, everything else depends on the screen size.

I'm planning on making my entire design 2560x1600, but make sure that all of the important text and stuff is within 1024x768 of that.

Right now, twitter background isn't the main aspect. I'm getting one of the elements together and then will scale it/position it accordingly. It could very well end up being a vertical format to fit on the left or right side, utilizing coaster track to fill the rest of the space. As Joe Donkey will be one of the main elements to the background, I"ll be sure he isn't covered up.

And the red outlines, they will not be red in the final design. I needed a different color so I can see the lines I was placing on my initial sketch. You can say that I'm tracing over my own sketch.

Update: Donkey's getting some color to him. And the Intamin train's starting to take shape. I'm also at the stage of figuring out how vertical I can go without scaling the focal point down too much.

Still working on it, getting Intamin track in place. Do not that I haven't set the wheels up on the other side of the train yet. It's magically levitating on the train's right side.

Hey, I've had a completely different idea which is still in the early stages. Trying to stick the the TPR colours but also trying to make it look like an old fashioned video game in terms of colour. It does look slightly childish but that was sort of the intended effect. Feel free to love or hate.

Finally I managed to install Photoshop so here's what I'm working on:

This really is my first attempt at doing any kind of visual design, so things definitely need to be worked on. I'm kind of going for a design similar to the one on Club TPR cards. Anyways, here's what I have so far. It's not a lot, but it gives you a small idea of what i'm going for.