What banners do you click?

[anonymph]

I've always wondered what type of banners people click the most because it varies between person to person. And maybe any future banner makers will know what type of banner to make and what to avoid.

So, what kind of banners do you click? I tend to click on banners with less words and a nice font.

 

[Asuras]

Ones that look like people actually cared about making, and put time, consideration, and effort into.

 

[Mite]

Generally, exactly what @Asuras said: things that look like people took more than just ten or twenty minutes on are always pluses.

Specifically, a legible font and clear image that relates to the genre or roleplay is great. It's nice to know a bit of what is being advertised before I click on it.

 

[Jorick]

It varies a lot for me. Sometimes I'll click one just because they used an interesting background image and whatever text is on it doesn't immediately make me decide I wouldn't be interested in the roleplay. Sometimes I'll click one that looks very well made (basically what Asuras said), just because it implies that they might have taken the same level of consideration for the roleplay itself; I've found this to be misleading, but I still click them anyway, heh. Sometimes I'll click one that seems to be a strange premise and I want to see how the hell they plan to make it work. Sometimes I'll click really awful looking ones because checking out train wrecks can be amusing.

I'm kind of the perfect target for banner ads. If it catches my eye for any reason, screw it, I'll click it and check it out.

 

[Diana]

*Points at Jorick!* WHAT HE SAID.


I would prefer if everyone had beautiful graphics with great image quality and a good eye for text placement and stuff like that. Cause I am a graphics snob and looking at badly done banners makes me cringe a little bit...


....But sometimes the not so great banners end up catching my attention more. XD They'll be very silly and then I get interested and have to go look over the roleplay.


I think my FAVORITES are the ones there people hook you with a short, but very alluring sentence. >> You get the title of the roleplay, and then that flavor text that makes you want to know more. Those are really good.

 

[Holmishire]

I typically only click banners of two categories:

1. Absolutely horrible banners that lack images, are horribly designed, mostly blank, and use weird fonts. They need to tell me next to nothing about the roleplay. After a while, I just get so annoyed and curious that I have to know what it is talking about.
2. One very good piece of digital art, with a title but very small. Very well designed, but again, nothing that really tells me about the roleplay beyond the image and whatever I can gather from the title.

I have an example in mind for each that I could perhaps pull up, but I wouldn't want to draw negative attention to them. (Specifically for the first.)

 

[Brovo]

Whatever looks like it'll be the most gut wrenching, laughter-inducing hilarious for roasts.

Otherwise I look for banners that understand what hooks do. Tells me a lot about the GM from the get go.

 

[Sav]

If it looks like you put forth an effort, I'll click your banner. Some people (like myself) just suck at making banners, but have put together RPs that are simply poorly represented by their banner. :P

 

[lostfaith]

I look for three things:

1) Does it catch my eye? This can be anything from bright colors to an animation, to just plain looking cool in general. I don't pay attention if nothing is interesting enough to draw my gaze in the first place. The best way to do this is catchy text--instead of just the RP title, a witty or interesting catchphrase is good.

2) Is it well made? If it looks like someone put effort and thought into the banner, they probably put effort and thought into the RP itself.

3) Does it look like something I'd be interested in? If it's obviously a furry RP, for example, I won't click it no matter how well made it is. But if it's Fantasy or Scifi I'm likely to.

I tried to take these into consideration in the creation of the banner for CYHM. While a friend volunteered to actually make it because I have no art skills, I selected the background and text. The catchphrase is vague enough to make you want to know more, the background makes it clear it's some kind of Scifi, and it has a lot of details like the binary and "echoing" text. While I don't claim to have actual advertising experience or anything, my family runs a small business and has designed plenty of logos, so I've picked up bits of knowledge here and there.