How to rate a signature / Things to consider when creating a signature or other artwork.
This thread is a guide on elements to consider when creating or critiquing signatures and other artwork.
Below are a list of things that should be always taken into account if you are going to judge someone's work as well as a useful resource to browse when considering elements to include in your designs. If you follow the guide below you should be able to give fair and good feedback to someones signature whether or not you are experienced at making signatures yourself.
- Their current level of experience as a signature maker. (IMPORTANT)
When you look at their signature, try to tell from it what level the person might be at in their GFX journey and then try to rate the signature to those standards. If someone is obviously new, don't start flaming them at their lack of depth and lighting. Let them get the feel of what they are doing before you move onto subjects such as that.
On the other hand. If they are an experienced signature maker then feel free to go into the finer details of their signature and do a thorough research into the sig because they will understand and be more receptive to your pointers.
- Overall look of the signature.
Take a step back from your screen and try to take in the signature as one entire piece of work. Don't worry about the finer details at the moment, just lean back and view the signature as a whole. Does it look good all together or does it have some flaws that particularly stick out to the eye. Before you go into your full opinion, make a statement about the overall look of the signature.
- Flow
Flow is an important part of any signature. For those new to signature making who don't really understand what flow is, it is basically the subtle direction the signature BG, render and effects move towards.
Look at the signature render and effects and see where the general flow of the signature is heading. If there are any bits that are directly contradicting this flow then point them out. Try to look at the render, the use of c4d's and brushes as well as smudging and distortion effects when judging the flow of a signature.
- Effects
Look for the use of c4d's, pen-tool effects, brushes, smudging and distorting in the signature. Take a deeper look at these and see whether they look convincing or if they look like they may just have been pasted on top as a shoddy addition. Try to take in the opacity of the effects, the flow, the lighting and the placement when looking and judging the effects in a signature.
- Blending
Blending is an important part of any signature. Look at the render and see whether it looks like its part of the scene or if it has just been pasted on top. Have a look at the smudging effects around the render and c4d's to see if they contribute to how the signature blends. Check the use of c4d's because many people use these to add the the blending of their renders and see whether overall, the signature has decent blending or if it just looks like the artist has pasted a bunch of renders together with some brushes and a BG.
- Depth
Depth has a large part to play in blending also. Each signature has 3 dimensions, height, width and depth. Depth is the dimension that gives you signature more of a 3D-like effect. try to have a good look at the render, effects and background to see if the artist has used the blur and sharpen tool, as well as the burn and dodge tool to create depth in their signature. When judging the depth, try to take in the whole signature and see if the blurring effects and consistent, convincing and appropriate.
- Lighting
Try to have a look at the lighting on the render and on the BG, see if the lighting is coming from the same place on both of them. Have a close look to see whether the artist has used basic lighting with a general light source, also check if they have used more advanced lighting on the BG and render like colored or directional lighting, as well as the light reflected onto the render or BG from various effects the artist has used.
- Text
Text should be nice looking and stand out from the signature but also it should blend enough that it doesn't look like a scar on the signature. Font and color choice are an important part of text for a signature. Take a look at their text placement, font, color and effects. Do these contribute to the look of the signature or hinder it?
- Border
A good border should be the finishing touch to a great signature. It should make the signature blend into the background of the forum nicely and not make it stand out like an eyesore. On the other hand it should also not blend in so much that it disrupts the look of the signature. The border should not be super complicated and should keep a fairly constant color and consistency. Improvised borders can be a great addition to a signature but it can also make the signature look shabby as a whole. Take a look at the border and try to follow the points above while rating it.
- Composition
Composition in laymans terms is essentialy how the elements of your signature or any other artwork come together to create your image. Gostalt's theory states that humans think something "looks good" when it is something they can easily recognise or something organised. A jumbled mess of elements in your design will distract the audiences eye and cause discontent when looking at your work. Many professional graphic artists make use of composition techniques to create amazing displays of "controlled chaos".
- Harmony
As stated before Gostalt's theory states that humans look at something and it "looks good" to them if they see organization or things they can easily recognise, for example geometric shapes are often used to great effect in design because they can add organization to an artwork and are visually satisfying.
- Color
This is a very important one. Color is a huge part of making a visually appealing signature. Many people will grab colors randomly and try to incorporate them into their signatures but take it from a graphic design student who does a lot of graphic design work, having a pre-defined color scheme is almost priceless while making a signature. Color is not given the attention it should and using a color scheme WILL improve your work. One of the best sites for creating amazing color schemes in seconds is Kuler which is run by adobe and i vouch for it 100%. Not only can you make your own but you can also browse and download color schemes made my thousands of professional designers.
http://kuler.adobe.com
Another tool that works great after you have chosen your color scheme from Kuler is a tool called Snook's Colour Contrast Check. This tool allows the user to pick the background and foreground colours and put their RGB values into the tool to recieve a compatability test. This is specially useful for web design.
http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html
- Dominance
Dominance is essentially adding emphasis and drawing the eye to a particular part of your artwork. This helps create unity in your artwork and can be used in conjunction with pictorial elements to move the audiences eyes around your work in a way that increases visual satisfaction.
- Balance
Balance is the distribution of elements throughout your artwork. If you have all your elements in your design unevenly distributed it will lead to uncontrolled chaos and will look bad to the audience. If used properly, balance can be the icing on a truly excellent piece of artwork. When looking at your artwork for balance try walking away and make a cup of tea, then come back and survey the signature as a whole and see if it feels balanced.
If you are putting a signature up for a rating, try to put down how experianced you are at making signatures and whether you would like peoples opinion and a rating out of ten or whether you would like a proper professional critique of your signature.
Take into account the following things and you should end up with nice and fair feedback for someones signature. The most important thing is to remember that everyone looks at a signature subjectively and differently so try to take other perspectives into account when looking at someones time and effort before making your final judgment. Remember these and the fact that you cannot rate a beginners signature the same way as you can rate a pro's signature and you should be able to properly rate a signature no matter how good you are at creating signatures yourself. I spose this could also be used as a guide for some things to include in your own signatures also. ^^
Thank you for your time taken to read this and I hope it was enlightening for some if you.
Kind Thanks to Tasemu
