Graphic Submissions Requirements & Moderators Guide for Submitting Graphics/Layouts Options

[Gypsy Eyes]

This is not deviantART; this is not a place for you to establish a portfolio. This is a resource and we reserve the right to reject your submissions.

Many people ask us what we are looking for in graphics, and what they should submit. Here's a loose set or rules/requirements that we have put together:

General
-Crips, smooth lines (as in not pixelated).
-No copyright images.
-Good quality.
-Good color scheme.
-Correct spelling.

Photos
-Any submitted photos must be taken by you! Do NOT submit any images under photos that you did not personally take.
-The image has to be in focus.
-If the image is grainy/blurry, it will be rejected.
-No personal pictures. Keep in mind these pictures are to be used for graphics. No one is going to want a silly picture of you and your friend. If you want us to see what you look like, you should post the pictures in the Members' Photos threads in the Pictures forum.
-If there are already too many that are similar, it won't be accepted. (ie: no more heart hands, hands spelling out love, eyes, stop/danger/road signs, etc). Check around before you submit.
-No time stamps; they're highly unprofessional.
-No more hand/shoe/feet pictures.
-Decent size. Not too big (over 1024x768) and not too small (under 350x350).

NOTE: Any pictures featuring the Eiffel tower at night will not be accepted. This violates copyright laws and a fee must be paid in order to publish it anywhere. (see Reference)

Avatars/Icons
-No bigger than 100x100px.
-Not an exact copy of a tutorial (as in using the exact same effects and images)
-More than just a cropped image (unless it suits the icon)

Backgrounds
-It must be made by you. This does not mean slapping some text onto an image. It includes altering it.
-Good, crisp quality.
-Repeated backgrounds: try not to make is to simple (ie: just dots/lines) There will be exceptions to this of course, if it is unique.
-Wallpapers: -At least 800 by 600px (unless it's a repeated pattern)

This post has been edited by alovesopure: Sep 7 2007, 02:13 PM

[*digitalfragrance*]

Ever wondered why your layout wasn't accepted... even though the moderator gave you reasons? The Design Staff team has put this thread together to help you with your layout submitting process for all layouts supported on createBlog.

Moderators-Guide-to-Critiquing-Layouts!

[under construction]

I. Generated Coding

You ask, "Generated Coding? What's that?" It's anything that involves coding a myspace layout that you didn't code, by hand, on your own. You know, those places like Mygen, BBZ, nuclearcentury, and soooo on. We'd love to see you guys code your layouts yourself, and we don't want completing sites advertised in the layout coding that we put on display! Doesn't matter how beautiful or complex it is... it's gonna get rejected.

Oh, and we do know what generated coding looks like. So don't try erasing things and renaming taglines. We're smarter than that. We know that format.

II. Jocked Coding

We have a zero tolerance policy for jocked layout coding. Code it YOURSELF. It is stealing, and any layout that is found out to have coding jocked without the other designer's permission will be rejected. End of story.

III. Image Quality

Image quality... Hmmm... An image is an image right? It doesn't matter what it looks like as long as it's the right size, correct? WRONG. At CreateBlog, we like to see images that aren't pixelly*, blurry**, or too crisp***

* That's when you see the little squares of color
EXAMPLES:
** This is when your point of focus in the design is out-of-focus or smudged
EXAMPLES:
*** There is too much contrast or too bright - image coloring has harsh or bleached edges.
EXAMPLES:

How do you correct this? Well, when you "Save As" your image file, there should be some options on the menu where you can click to adjust the compression rate (how small a file size the image will be). Small compression rates = larger file sizes = better image quality Sometimes it takes quite a bit of clicking to get there, or you might have to search your help topics.

If this does not work, it means you need to stop using so many effects and filters. If that's not the case, you just need to find a higher quality image to start with (a base image).

IV. Default Layouts

1. No personalized layouts - see Article X in the Graphics Guidelines above this post.

V. Blinkies/Color Co-ordination

Alright, let's get to the point. Blinkies are distracting, busy and hurt people's eyes. PLEASE don't submit layouts with the entire background being a repeated blinkie! IT WILL BE REJECTED. The whole point is to create a layout that is beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and not distracting. Even blinkie banners in layouts will be rejected, unless done to where it doesn't cause a ceizure... even then... I think you get my point.

Color clashing is a sense that a designer, most of the time, has to acquire with practice most of the times. Sometimes it's natural (rarely), but if you're looking at this thread for help, it probably isn't. Generally, pink doesn't go with puke green, or royal blue doesn't go with pale brown. Usually, bright neon colors don't go with other bright neon colors. There are exceptions. Again, let me emphasize the whole point is to create a layout that is beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and not distracting.

This article might help you to match colors:
http://colortheory.liquisoft.com/

Clashing Colors
are colors of very similar but not quite identical hue. On the poster, only color chips with the exact same hue are touching. Colors like that do not clash. There are 61 groups of them. So if you're trying to use shades of the same hue together, you may want to make sure they're in the same group.

Every layout involves figure-ground relationships When we create layouts that are intended to be read, offering the viewer enough contrast between the background and the text is important.

Yellow text on a white background or blue text on a black background, are difficult to read due to the low level of contrast between figure and ground.
EXAMPLES:



Some color combinations, such as red text on a blue background, cause illusions when positioned together.
EXAMPLE:


If you still have problems with this, ask some friends opinions, or post a topic in the Showcase Booth so we can give you our advice.

VI. DIV Overlay Guidelines

There's a couple simple rules for DIVs.
1. Don't make it too "bordered." In other words, we want to see more than thick borders and bright colors. We want to see DESIGN (photos, creative fonts, etc.) Creativity people!

2. Make sure that you fill out your DIV areas with content... default friend's pictures for friends areas... Name, Age, and Info in the About Me areas and so on. People will be more apt to use your layout if you have stuff in the DIV areas already.

3. As some of you may have noticed, Myspace now has "msplinks" in place of all other links on layouts, to combat spammers and hackers. This has affected our layouts because when people submit, they have the msplinks in place of all the navigation links and links to friends' profiles.

There's not really a way to fix this, but in order to keep our layouts user-friendly, we are asking all those who submit to please, instead of putting the links in the layout, put "NAVIGATIONHERE" or "FRIENDSHERE" and so on wherever they would otherwise be. Put the actual links in the comments section and instruct the user to put their friendid where needed and to copy/paste the links into the right place (NAVIGATIONHERE, FRIENDSHERE, etc.) when they put the layout in their profile.

Here's some of the commonly used links in Myspace layouts:

CODE

<a href="http://messaging.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=mail.message&friendID=FRIENDID">Message</a>
<a href=http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=invite.addfriend_verify&friendID=FRIENDID">Add</a>
<a href="http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=block.blockUser&userID=FRIENDID">Block</a>
<a href="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=FRIENDID">Pictures</a>
<a href="http://comment.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile_commentForm&friendID=FRIENDID">Comment</a>
<a href="http://comment.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendID=FRIENDID">View All Comments</a>
<a href="http://friends.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewfriends&friendID=FRIENDID">View All Friends</a>
<a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=FRIENDID">My Friend's Profile</a>

This would help us out so, so much when going through all the submitted layouts so if you guys could do this, that would be great! Thanks!

• Edit your coding in notepad with the correct links where users can input their User IDs.
• Copy and Paste the code from notepad into your edit Profile to test the preview
• Submit the notepad code, and not the code in the myspace preview to createblog

5. Credit Lines: We understand that you work hard on your design, however, some credit lines can take away from the overall design and look tacky. Please, don't put your credit line over the entire image, over the focal point of the image, or a large banner in the corner. We trust your judgement as a designer to know how to include a decent looking credit line. Links and credit lines in the corner of images are fine.

6.No personalized layouts - see Article X in the Graphics Guidelines above this post.

This post has been edited by libertie: Feb 21 2008, 06:54 PM