New Splash Screen for 2.0

• Dec 28, 2012 - 15:59

I have designed a brand new splash screen for 2.0, and am showing it here for comment before submitting as a pull request.
newsplash

The music in the background is the autograph of the Goldberg Variations Aria from Anna Magdalena's notebook, which I thought tied in nicely with 2.0's association with the Open Goldberg Project.

I thought we should do something to differentiate 2.0 from 1.x

Let me know what you think :)

Attachment Size
splash.png 336.35 KB

Comments

• Dec 28, 2012 - 16:06

Very striking, I like it! Although I wonder if people would see it and then wonder why MuseScore can't produce scores with that kind of handwritten look?

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• Dec 28, 2012 - 17:02

I agree that 2.0 should differentiate from 1.x but I don't like the proposal for several reasons.

- It's not lisible, white on white, despite the embossing doesn't make enough contrast.
- The embossing of the edges looks like a paper out of a copy machine
- The font of "2.0" and "http://musescore.org" is not the same than the MuseScore logo and then the balance doesn't feel good
- We need to mention the GPL in the splashscreen. We didn't do it for 1.2 and it would be good to fix this.
- OpenGoldberg is a nice project , but it's over, I don't see the need to tie 2.0 with it
- If we choose to put music notation in the background, I would use music notation created with MuseScore, if possible not too much "dated" or "styled" since one of the big step forward in MuseScore 2.0 will be guitar tablature. But no music notation in the background would be fine as well.

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• Dec 28, 2012 - 18:11

I was under the impression that the MuseScore logo was not made from a font, but was custom designed - am I wrong here?

I have been searching for a while for fonts to match it, and Basic Sans Light is the nearest I have found so far, although I shall keep looking for a better match - maybe if I stretched Basic Sans Light horizontally it might look better.

Regarding the GPL - have you any particular text in mind? Maybe we could have on the splash screen "The Open Source alternative to Sibelius & FInale"??

I think it's important to important to have a consensus on this, so I shall have another go when inspiration strikes :)

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• Dec 28, 2012 - 22:09

Here's my second attempt.
piccy

Lettering is clearer and the edges of the 3d aren't as blurred, but there's still work to do get the 3D effect to look right.

I've retained the Goldberg autograph for now, but perhaps we could use Reunion as the background?

What do you think?

Maybe I should keep the Alpha channel when exporting to PNG as it seems to be losing something in the rendering to bitmap image.

Attachment Size
splash1.png 336.58 KB

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• Dec 29, 2012 - 00:48

Thanks Michael for trying :).

I think it probably is a good idea to play around with it for opinions and improvements before implementing it.

If a score is going to be present, I think we should use something generic, rather than existing material.

I'm not sure about the prominence of the GPL text - what happens in other software?

I'm looking at some other splash screens and came up with some questions:

Should there be a URL?

    I don't think so, as I can't see it in others.

Should 'MuseScore' appear smaller?

    I think perhaps.

Should 'MuseScore' (excluding version number) appear centred?

    I think so.
    If there is something at the left or right in the overall box, 'MuseScore' should appear at the centre of the space next to it.

Should the overall font of the version number be different from the name?

    I think so, as it keeps both separate, but still informs.

Should the position of the version number be different?

    It depends.

Should the overall box be smaller?

    Perhaps a little.

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• Dec 29, 2012 - 02:53

I'd expect there would be a new demo song for 2.0, but since they'll see it when the program loads, I don't know if it's so important to tie in to that. Might make more sense to go with a contrasting, to show something of the possibilities. Maybe even snippets of several different things.

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• Dec 29, 2012 - 10:03

I think it's probably better to use a generic score, something like the Goldberg Aria I'm currently using rather than try to collage snippets of ways you can use MuseScore 2. Perhaps it should be a printed rather than handwritten score? A handwritten one does suggest (to me) that it is a replacement for pen and manuscript paper, however.

To address some of Chen's concerns (in no particular order)

1. Regarding fonts: Lasconic particularly asked for the font to be the same throughout - I have been lucky enough to obtain a free version of the Neue Helvetca fonts with which the MuseScore logo was designed, so one possibilty would be to use varying weights of this across the splash screen.

2. The size is exactly the same as the splash screen for 1.2

3. It would be easy enough to make the GPLv2 less prominent - we just make it smaller.

4. I will play around with various positions for the logo/version

5. The URL was present on the original splash screen, so I just kept it. It is useful information, however, particularly if the splash screen is used for Video titling.

Keep your thoughts coming in on this, and we will eventually get it right.

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 04:13

My graphics skills are also crap, but the Scribus window looks like the approach I would use. I was thinking of two small snippets of score, one old and one from MS (a part from the Goldbergs would still be appropriate), the old one blending/morphing across into what it would look like in MS, with the pen (preferrably quill, but fountain will do) "drawing" the notes on the computer part and the bar lines being continuous. No text overwriting these snippets. Simple colors, simple fonts, simple text. I wish I could do a mock-up.

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 09:09

It would be practically impossible to get the barlines as you describe.

I did actually experiment with this but the blend looked a mess.

There is little enough space for the text as it is, so limiting it even further to not overwriting the scores is pretty unrealisitic.

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• Dec 30, 2012 - 00:40

First of all, thanks to Michael for working in this and sharing his thoughts.

Michael's drafts
Overall I prefer the first draft for:
*) the grey theme rather than the sepia (?)
*) the right justification (sorry chenlung!)
*) the version on a separate line and with the trailing ".0" (ready for version "2.1", "2.2", ...)
However from the second draft the greater contrast is preferable.

I like the idea of a manuscript score as background (regardless of connections with the Open Goldberg project), but I agree I might be biased on this. A score made with MuseScore itself is nice in demos or other things about it, but it is not necessary on the splash screen: it disappear too quickly to evaluate its capabilities and the user is going to try by himself in a few seconds; so, anything which makes clear what the program is all about (notating music) is appropriate and a manuscript might convey the right idea of careful handiwork, as Michael said.

An alternative could be some very beautiful or otherwise peculiar music engraving of the past, for instance: http://www.bibliotecamusica.it/cmbm/viewschedatwbca.asp?path=/cmbm/imag… (just a mere suggestion, I agree it is quite specialistic).

GPL text
I understand the point, but I wonder how many users would understand what it means (even vaguely). Would it not be better some more general text like "the Open Source solution"? (or anything on the genre, longer or shorter at will)

The other
Thanks to lasconic for collecting the samples; it seems to me that most of them are even more "too much" than Michael drafts; for sure Scribus, GIMP, Blender and Eclipse; {Open|Libre}Office are perhaps a bit on the other side ("not enough"?); the only one really nice looking to me is latest Finale splash screen, but it is hard to understand what it is about (assuming one does not know already what Finale is!).

I regret my capabilities in graphics are approaching zero, so I only can give comments.

Thanks,

M.

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• Dec 30, 2012 - 12:59

A very different idea

pic

The 3D look has now gone to be replaced with the simplicity of black lettering imposed on the handwritten score.

I've emphasised the 2, and entered GPL and version information within that area.

It could be argued that version information need only be present in thye About menu - it would certainly suit the minimalist look of this version to remove it.

It's possible that this needs a defining border round it - depending on the colour the screen would be displayed on.

Attachment Size
splash2.png 348.98 KB

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• Dec 30, 2012 - 18:31

Version 3 looks a bit better I think (the GPL message too), but:

The version number is far too big and detracts from the name.
There's no need to include non-essential version details.
The website is there (I know 1.2 had it, but no other software seems to do this).

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 07:36

I think this screen is very nice. I'm just afraid there has copied many flavors as Musescvore users. So that the makers of MuseScore just have to choose which they find themselves very nicely.

FredPaul

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 09:29

A selection of images on the web, processed with Gimp (however, dip-pen are on the market).
I was interested to propose the idea: a background,
completed as by hand, and MuseScore logo in the foreground.
A picture is easier than a language that I do not know.
There is someone very able in graphics (and with scores) in the community, perhaps he can take a cue. If the idea is accepted, someone could work around ;-).

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 09:50

Yes Franz - that was exactly what I was trying to put across in the last version.

Very minimalisitc - handwritten music behind the simple logo and version number.

The picture needs to be either open source, public domain or withe the appropriate Creative Commons licence otherwise we won't be able to use it for copyright reasons.

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 12:04

Played around a bit more with shepers' idea and managed to tidy up the transition:-
piccy

I've also managed to lose the pretty nasty background colour from the Goldberg scan.

I'm not sure about this myself - I think it's a bit too complicated.

Despite what Chen says I think we should retain the URL, as the splash screen may be used outside MuseScore itself.

Attachment Size
splash3.png 159.5 KB

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 13:20

That is somewhat what I had in mind but I wasn't using a score as the whole background, only a snippet of the Goldberg, with a digital morph to what that snippet would look like in MS. That's why I said the text would not overwrite the snippet. The morph would hide the transition between the bar lines. I like the idea of the old style inkwell pen still writing on the computer generated side, indicating that you are still in creative control.

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• Dec 31, 2012 - 15:24

The transition is a good idea and worth playing with more. Right now as I see it, the main issue is that the transition still seems too harsh. The two halves read too differently - the thickness, spacing, and darkness of staff lines don't match well. The dividing line is also too perfectly centered for my tastes.

What I could picture (but not execute!) is something where the page itself was shown as curling into an S shape, so the actual dividing line would be obscured within the fold. You'd see handwritten manuscript on the left, disappearing under the fold, and then the notation emerging on top and extending to the right.

But actually, I'd be fine with it simply being a sheet of typeset notation overlapping a sheet of handwritten manuscript, at some pleasingly cockeyed angle.

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