PEEL Aesthetic Renewal

[on:]

I've talked with mArc and few other various PEELers, including Gopher, about some neat changes I think would better PEEL.... we now have our new fresh PEEL 2, so what better time than now to suggest and create these things?

The main purpose of this thread is to determine how well received such changes would be to the community, as well as, suggest and refine new ideas.

First up, new rank icons.  It seems best that our rank icons changed from our old blinky stars to a new standard, but personally, I would rather go with a more beautiful and varied assortment of rank icons.  Gopher spent a lot of work on some, and I think they're pretty top notch.  He might need to spruce them a bit more before they were gold worthy, but I could see them as a great addition to our forum.  They can be found on the Rank page of wikipeelia.

Last up, new smileys.  I really enjoy the emoticons we have at PEEL.  They're self-contained, clean, and pretty unique compared to the riff raff I've seen at other message boards.  mArc has specifically said he wouldn't mind having new ones as long as they were clean, uniform with the other icons, and had a specific and useful purpose for their use.

I've tried my hand at a few ideas...  The best ones in my opinion are placed at the top left.

A eyes smiley:


A :blink: smiley:



Comments and suggestions are what we're going for here people.

[Reply #1 on:]

Happy to go with any of the smilies, and the Gopher-Ranks look fantastic.  No sprucing necessary IMO.

[Reply #2 on:]

I like the animated shiftys, and the gopher-ranks are far superior to their old-PEEL counterparts. I'd like a drooling smiley as well.

I'd like to see the animation speeded up on the blinkys though. They look too lethargic. They shoudl really be spazzing out with their eyelids. I mean, going abso-fucking-lutely mental-ballistic with them. Eyes popping a glooping and fizzing and rolling in their sockets. It should be a smiley that says "I am so very frightened by what I am seeing".

I am thoroughly in favour of this move towards a smileir, ranki-tastic-er PEEL.

[Reply #3 on:]

Well the big thing on the smileys, as marc told me, was they have to have a specific purpose.  He didn't like my blinkeys because he couldn't figure out why you would blink in a social context.  My personal though was that you do that when someone says something that's so unfathomable (Gopher said stupid) that you just stand there and start blinking.  I was going for two quick blinks and one long blink.... also we can only go with one.  I'll play with the timing, and look into a drolling smiley though.

[Reply #4 on:]

I think the long blinks work better.  Too fast and it makes it seem like

Also, I like Gophers ranks except for urban legend

[Reply #5 on:]

Is there a "clapping hands and squealing with barely contained excitement" emoticon planned? Because there's a precedent for it right now! :O

Suggestion: Walking like an Egyptian smiley! It has many uses... but that's between me and the Ptolemies.

[Reply #6 on:]

If this is really PEEL 2.0, then that masthead needs some sort of gaudy reflection and a bunch of random shiny gradients...

[Reply #7 on:]

I'd like to see more useful smileys that fit in with our current set. However, if a smiley needs explanation, it failed.

With the rank symbols, I'm still opposed. The reason is, that it gives more undue emphasize to the post-count and rank system.  I was debating whether to remove the stars and rank from the post pages while doing the transition to new PEEL. I left them standing (but less flashy). So I don't think I'd like to go for more gaudy again.

No comment on the P2.0 logo!

[Reply #8 on:]

Needs more lens flare

[Reply #9 on:]

If all the rank icons look cool though mArc, maybe people will be less inclined to spam because they'll lose their cool icon.  Even the low count ones look pretty cool... I'm just saying.

[Reply #10 on:]

   Is there a "clapping hands and squealing with barely contained excitement" emoticon planned? Because there's a precedent for it right now! :O

  ?

[Reply #11 on:]

I think we need some PEEL hidden easter eggs for a week. A little odd, but make this place like a DVD.

And  [-mArc-], how about something special for The Super Cool League of Awesome Heroes That Remove Bad Anomaly's of PEEL?

[Reply #12 on:]

I could easily play with the timing on any of the smileys I created... it would help if someone could suggest which one is actually better though.... differences being color and how the eyes are shaped.

hobbitboy, one of the good things about PEEL emoticons is that they're relatively small and self contained within their little 15x15 pixel box.  I believe this is for the best, as I am in agreement with mArc in not wanting to see garrish looking things.  As such, I believe it is unlikely we will have a smiley that has a sign and an overabundance of animation like the one you posted.  I could be wrong on any or all of the things I just stated though.

dr.bender nye, there's plenty of hidden information and neat things for you to find, peruse, and gawk at if you're willing to search.  I see no huge reason for PEEL to get more self-absorbed in that respect.  Also, I think it's a little bit presumptuous of you to believe that the The Super Cool League of Awesome Heroes That Remove Bad Anomalies of PEEL deserves anymore special recognition on PEEL than the good feeling of having a job well done.  Besides, you're more than welcome to create special stuff about them on PEEL or in any of the myriad sattelite places that contain PEEL related meta-information.

[Reply #13 on:]

I vote for the shifty eyes smilie!!!!!

I like the blue one better than the yellow because of the purced mouth. heh

@Ben: I kinda like it in a gay way. Doubt it'd ever get used but we probably could've used some more shiny. Everyone likes shiny.

[Reply #14 on:]

[-mArc-] : On the issue of :blink:'s usefulnes, I have many old posts which would retroactively use a :blink: emoticon, though since it is not a real emoticon I alternate between :blink: and :blinks:, so if it coule be mapped to both that would be great.

[Reply #15 on:]

Is there an emoticon of O_o

[Reply #16 on:]

I considered making one and it wouldn't be too difficult.  I also considered eyebrow raising.

Other than that a drooley smiley (tnuk) and a I guess foaming at the mouth smiley (tnuk).  And I think mArc suggested a scared smiley.... but other than a screaming mouth... I'm not sure how that would work.

[Reply #17 on:]

trembling in fear combined with shifty eyes and a wibbly wobbly mouth ought to suggest fear pretty well.

[Reply #18 on:]

Quick stab at frames for a blinky:

Scared:

Ouch:

[Reply #19 on:]

Quick stab at frames for a blinky:

Scared:

Ouch:

Quotes so I can see 'em on a white background

[Reply #20 on:]

I don't know how one would go about doing the trembling... I'll animate your blinky though.  Also, interesting concept with the Ouch.

[Reply #21 on:]

If all the rank icons look cool though mArc, maybe people will be less inclined to spam because they'll lose their cool icon.  Even the low count ones look pretty cool... I'm just saying.

I'd actually go along with this.  Even the lesser poster icons are great.

[Reply #22 on:]

interesting concept with the Ouch.

Dunno quite what Ouch would be used for, but I made it and thought it looked peel-y.

[Reply #23 on:]

I don't know how one would go about doing the trembling...

Like this?



Or this?



Not getting what you're saying:

Compare the old angry:  with the new angry:

[Reply #24 on:]

tnuk: bah. you call that an angry? That makes me angry!

Also,





plus,


I really should update the {{peel}} template on wikipeelia one of these days..

:edit: not transparent.. oops. Ah well, I'll fix it later.

[Reply #25 on:]

I made some stuff too.... maybe I didn't quite get the simplicity.  Anyways, my general favor is going from left to right.  Spacing so it's easier to judge.

• The blink smiley.
• I mostly like the timing now for these.  Color might be a consideration, but tnuk's version turned out pretty cool.
• Suggestions for tags are :blink: or :blinks:
  
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
• The next one is what I'll call the ouch smiley.
• These are versions of tnuk's suggestion.  I edited them a little and played with color.
• Possible tag is :ouch:
  
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
• This is what I tried with the scared smiley.
• Built mostly off of tnuk's design, I tried several different ideas.  A little frustrating, and maybe mix and match some of the differences for one that would be perfect.
• Tag could be :scared:, :frightened:, or maybe :freaking:
  
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
• This is the shifty smiley.
• Same as the ones above... I'm liking the blue one more... changed the timing.  Timing is the same on both... two eyeshifts, one slow, then one fast, then wait.
• Tag could be , possibly :shiftyeyes:
  
  • 
  • :::
  • 
• I'm thinking this batch is a WTF smiley.
• It's basically chay's suggestion for o_O, but I had some trouble getting that just right.  A couple different ideas of how to represent the eyes.
• Since I doubt we can have a tag, I suggest :wtf:
  
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 
  • :::
  • 

Welp, that's what I got done today.... I've got a few more ideas to try out.... Comments and criticism would be appreciated.  I would only be happy if new smileys adopted by PEEL were just right.

[Reply #26 on:]

As far as Gophers go, I prefer the peel versions.

[Reply #27 on:]

I second that. I'd rather add a few to the pool then replace the current ones.

[Reply #28 on:]

Third.

I like these:

• 
• :::
• 

and this

• 

the best; and think that they fit in the best with the ones we already have.

Also, I would fully agree with this -

I really enjoy the emoticons we have at PEEL.  They're self-contained, clean, and pretty unique compared to the riff raff I've seen at other message boards.  mArc has specifically said he wouldn't mind having new ones as long as they were clean, uniform with the other icons, and had a specific and useful purpose for their use.

[Reply #29 on:]

I love this one.

[Reply #30 on:]

slackit/chay: yeah, I expect much of PEEL will agree with you... personally while I really like PEEL's selection of emoticons, I've never been a fan of the style they are drawn in, so I'm making a complete PEEL redux set for my own purposes. When tnuk posted a new version of angry I implusively felt like sharing.

[Reply #31 on:]

Let me guess... your own purposes include a skin for PEEL Client 2.0 ?

[Reply #32 on:]

er, no. peel client 2 is abandoned, as peel 2 provides most of the improvements I wanted. And if you remember the screenshots, aesthetics were not principle among my design goals for the project.

[Reply #33 on:]

I actually kind of liked the aesthetics present in your client.  Plus, the new thread view was interesting.  Not sure if it was my cup of tea, but it was a pretty cool idea.

[Reply #34 on:]

I think the shifty-eyes are a must for a site like this. What "this" is im not quite sure, but the shifty eyes= yes

[Reply #35 on:]

as far as tagging goes, the shorter the word the better...

ie. is much better than :shiftyeyes:

Keep it brief and easy to remember. Without plurals otherwise I'll be forever typing the wrong one.

The o.O smilies need work. The eyes themselves shouldn't be larger/smaller.. but should instead have a raised eyebrow feel to it.

[Reply #36 on:]

I was planning on doing an eyebrow raise one.... but it's not the same as o_O.

I've been making a bunch of them, and they can't obviously all be used, so I'm just throwing out options.

I'll probably cook up another batch later.

[Reply #37 on:]

One raised eyebrow.

[Reply #38 on:]

I think this one probably has the most potential out of all the O_o smileys. I like the glint in the eye.

[Reply #39 on:]

One eyebrow raised, blinking.

And static.