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Seattle launch: DC skyline will it be replaced? #1617

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manaswisaha opened this issue Apr 5, 2019 · 35 comments
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Seattle launch: DC skyline will it be replaced? #1617

manaswisaha opened this issue Apr 5, 2019 · 35 comments
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@misaugstad @bridgetsheff
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@manaswisaha
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The UW Press person is asking if we will change the DC skyline to Seattle?

image
@manaswisaha
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Ideally, we should. Seattle has a beautiful skyline. Can we contract Rachael temporarily for this? :D

@misaugstad
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We had discussed this a bit during Sidewalk meetings when talking about making a central landing page. I think we had discussed adding a skyline for any city where we can find one, and having a generic city skyline to use for all other cities.

I think Proshonjit may have found a good Seattle skyline to use. I'll shoot him an email.

@manaswisaha
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Wonderful! Do you think this will happen by the time of the public deployment?

@misaugstad
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Depends, when is "public deployment"? 😁 the seattle server is up and running!

@ptmitra could you attach or post a link to where you found a good Seattle skyline?

@manaswisaha
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the seattle server is up and running!

I meant when we announce it to the world! :)

@ptmitra
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ptmitra commented Apr 5, 2019

I’m out of pocket rn, but I’ll get it done tonight

@manaswisaha
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On a back channel conversation with @misaugstad, he mentioned about the sustainability of this section of the page.

How about we create a skyline graphic with a mix of some important landmarks from multiple cities (Seattle, DC, NY etc) -- emphasizing that our tool is universal and not limited to one city?

@ptmitra
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ptmitra commented Apr 7, 2019

I agree that we perhaps need to create a new vector graphic with important landmarks from around the world perhaps (or at least the United States). I am not a graphic designer, so I do not guarantee I will be able to make an awesome graphic, but I can try. I can also try to find one (a vector skyline graphic) that is more global in nature.

Also, I do not understand how that will play at the moment. But for now, our best bet is to use a simple graphic for each of the three options.

This is the one for Seattle:
https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/seattle-usa-city-skyline-silhouette-vector-1479038

Here is one we can purchase and use for $1 if we provide credits in some form (maybe alt text).

I have a few options for Newberg too, which I will post in a bit.

As to the bigger question of using just one skyline vector graphic for all, this I feel warrants for a change in the proposed layout altogether - right now we have three different webpages running for each city, is that sustainable for the future? I don't know. Let's discuss.

@manaswisaha
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I like the Seattle skyline! However, we'd have to see how it looks with all the other elements on the landing page since its all black. The current skyline's color matches with the overall color scheme.

@misaugstad
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Exactly, agreed 100% w/ @Manaswis

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 8, 2019 via email

@ptmitra
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ptmitra commented Apr 8, 2019

That Seattle skyline link that I posted - color is arbitrary. I can change the color to whichever we like.

@misaugstad
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Sweet! @ptmitra then could you modify it to something that looks good with our current landing page and post a mockup of what it would look like?

@ptmitra
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ptmitra commented Apr 8, 2019 •
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I'll post a mockup for sure. But to actually use the image, we will have to purchase it and give credits to the original artist if required.

@misaugstad
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Yep I'm assuming we will just purchase for $15

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 8, 2019 via email

@ptmitra
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ptmitra commented Apr 9, 2019

Here are a few options for Seattle that capture the essence of the city better than the previous one:

https://www.123rf.com/photo_71436816_stock-vector-seattle-skyline.html

https://stock.adobe.com/ca/images/seattle-skyline-monochrome-silhouette-vector-illustration/170933278

https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-seattle-v-skyline-watercolor-background-image78013536

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-seattle-city-skyline-silhouette-background-vector-illustration-173498604.html

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-seattle-city-skyline-silhouette-background-81414753.html

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-seattle-washington-downtown-city-skyline-and-text-in-colors-isolated-148240371.html

Let me know if you like one of these or if you want me to hunt for some more.

@manaswisaha
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manaswisaha commented Apr 9, 2019 via email

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 9, 2019 •
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I don't think it's possible to get done today. It's not as simple as purchasing an image and dropping it into the webpage. The picture will have to be modified a bit (to reduce visual clutter and match the more simplified visual style that we had in DC).

My two favorites are:

image
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-seattle-city-skyline-silhouette-background-81414753.html

And:
image
https://www.123rf.com/photo_71436816_stock-vector-seattle-skyline.html

But I would have to see them adapted to a simplified style reminiscent of the DC skyline:
image
https://sidewalk.cs.washington.edu/assets/assets/dc_graphic.png

And also integrated into the landing page to know for sure.

@manaswisaha
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manaswisaha commented Apr 9, 2019 via email

@misaugstad
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@Manaswis I won't be able to write code for this while on vacay, but if someone else writes the code (once the image is ready) I should have time to walk you through the deploy process over Slack while I'm away.

@manaswisaha
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manaswisaha commented Apr 9, 2019 via email

@manaswisaha
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The actual image skyline (from AARP WA Twitter account) :D
(adding it just for fun - not for the landing page)
image

@misaugstad
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In case others are writing the code for this while I'm on vacation: I think what you'll want to do is create subdirectories for city-specific assets, then put the name of the subdirectory in the conf/cityparams.conf file to know where to get your assets from.

Alternatively you could just put the name of the skyline as a param in the cityparams.conf file, but I feel like a separate directory is they way we will end up going as we add more city-specific assets.

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 12, 2019 •
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Perhaps @bridgetsheff can weigh in on this. Either she could design something from the ground-up or utilize one of the previous found images as inspiration. I want the skyline to capture the key essence of Seattle (e.g., space needle, rainier, and possibly water/ferries, etc.)

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 16, 2019 •
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@bridgetsheff sent me a draft today and it is AWESOME!

image

I had two small pieces of feedback:

  • Is the aspect ratio right? I think we want something that is wider, right? We should look at the DC asset: https://sidewalk.cs.washington.edu/assets/assets/dc_graphic.png. Looks like this is 1400x596
  • Can we imbue the image with pedestrian paths somehow? Perhaps going into the city? How best to do that? I know Rachel tried to do that (to varying success) with the DC image.

@jonfroehlich
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Here's another version, which incorporates the pedestrian paths a bit--but I think they could be perceived as rivers:

image

The goal is just to get an MVP done (and I think we are very close because both designs are awesome--we just need to fix the aspect ratio so we can more easily incorporate it into our existing layout).

@misaugstad
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Yeah seems more like rivers, I don't see pedestrian paths when I look at that image.

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 17, 2019 •
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Here's the newest design with the right 1400x596 dimensions:

image

This is not a final version (for example, we want to make the mountain smaller) but certainly MVP worthy and is ready to be integrated into the Seattle website. As Bridget noted over Slack, this kind of design work is very time consuming so we should all appreciate the wonderful work that she's doing on this. It's far beyond our own talents. :)

@misaugstad, can you integrate? We may also want to tweak things depending on how well this looks with the text on the foreground, etc.

@misaugstad
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Yes this looks beautiful, thanks so much for the hard work @bridgetsheff!!! The talent and skill required to do this is so far beyond what I can do, this is truly truly appreciated from my end.

Once fires are out and computer vision ground truth tool is merged, I will get this on the Seattle site ASAP!

@tongning
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As someone with little artistic ability I am always in awe of design work like this. Looks amazing!

@manaswisaha
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Love it @bridgetsheff!

@misaugstad
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So here is a comparison of the current graphic to the new one. What do y'all think is the best way to get the Seattle graphic to fit our aesthetic?
current-landing-graphic
new-landing-graphic

@jonfroehlich
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jonfroehlich commented Apr 18, 2019 via email

@ghost ghost assigned misaugstad Apr 22, 2019
@ghost ghost added the in progress label Apr 22, 2019
@misaugstad misaugstad mentioned this issue Apr 23, 2019
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@misaugstad
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closing via #1678 thanks for the amazing new skyline!!

@misaugstad misaugstad mentioned this issue Apr 25, 2019
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@jonfroehlich jonfroehlich mentioned this issue Jun 29, 2020
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@jonfroehlich @manaswisaha @misaugstad @tongning @ptmitra @bridgetsheff