In case you were wondering, this was the thought process behind JF's design... 1. The vast majority of private and business jets are painted white, with polished aluminum leading edges on the wings, tail feathers and engine nacelles. When we created the fonts for the name JetForums, I tried to emulate this. Note the white letters have a polished edge, extruded to maintain the mechanical effect I was trying to achieve. It's subtle, but for the aviation-minded, hopefully it makes them feel at home. 2. The header was patterned after YachtForums. Call it corporate continuity! 3. The brushed metal NavBar was chosen to maintain a mechanical, alloy element. Same with the 'support bridge' to port & starboard of the NavBar. The holes in these bridges were designed to simulate the cut-outs in the ribs of aircraft wings, which helps reduce weight. 4. For the horizontal banner beneath header, we used 'pipes' that we hoped would be mistaken for landing gear struts. Not sure if we nailed that landing. 5. The international flags on the header bar will hopefully set a tone, attracting an international contingent. 6. The frames around the banners are brushed aluminum, a common aircraft element. 7. The main forum headers (in blue with wings) were designed to bring a mechanical aviation element to the forums. I like 'em. Hope you do too. 8. The thread header features a red-hot turbine spinning off (shooting?) a profile of a jet across the top of a thread. The jet started as a Lear rendering, but I needed something generic, so it got a re-fit with Photoshop. 9. The post bit buttons, such as New Thread, New Post, Quote, etc were patterned after airman's wings, but updated for a more mechanical look. 10. If you have registered, you will see a graphic on top of each page with the slogan "In Thrust We Trust". I'm not sure who coined the term, but I used it often in my former life. Funny how life has a way of coming full circle. 11. Also notice the camera angle of the jet inside the "In Thrust We Trust" graphic. This isn't a Go-Pro camera mounted outside a fuselage. It's a 3-D render that allowed us to put the camera anywhere outside the jet. Pretty cool, huh? 12. For recent forum/thread activity, notice the spinning turbine? It was tough to create this effect, but it finally spooled-up. (forgive the pun)
Carl, good luck with jetforums. I know that you have invested many hours of your personal time bringing it to fruition. Also, a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Happy flying.
Thank you! Few people understand the work involved, either digitally or creatively to bring sites like JF & YF to life. I don't expect anyone to appreciate the work, but it's nice when it's recognized. The real work is still ahead... content! Might have to brush up on my PHAK.
I'll echo the last post. Great site! I spend most of my time staring at a G-1000, but I'll try to add JetForums to my flight plan.
