Sorry, it's a bit quiet around here, after a burst of posting. I see tangocommuter has got some photos from tango al fresco last Sunday and in July. I don't usually take my camera to milongas. But I've been looking for a picture that could serve as the background to a flyer.
Click to embiggen.
I don't know who this lady above is, as I was staring fixedly at her feet, but I like their sweet little pose. It would be nice if the message itself could raise a smile.
This second one is more dramatic and probably makes the point better, but there's less room for the message.
I think I need a better choice of font, too, but searching through fonts takes time, I'm not sure what criteria to use (except that I think sans-serif is easy to print, but hard to read) and I've got to go out and do something else now. Suggestions in the comments please.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Floorcraft flyers
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28 comments:
Arial is far and away the best font for easy reading. I did a lot of research into this with real people.
Which angle are you taking for the photo? If you editted out the couple (or even just the guy's feet) on the top right it would be a great example of what to do, I think. As it stands it's more that the woman you like is in an oasis of calm. The second one seems to be more "don't do this!" to me, so I gues it depends which way you want to go?
I do however really like the idea :o)
Looking forward to the witty message suggesstions.
Oh and it needs a small hedgehog motif somewhere ;o)
Here are my two cents.
For the first photo:
"Collected, patient, listening, and aware of her surroundings"
For the second photo
"Nice technique means very little if you are punching holes in the legs of others....."
Hee :o)
Take care of each other – follow the acw line of dance and please don’t kick the other dancers!
If you’re going CW round the room…you’re going the wrong way!
Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and wait until it has come to a complete stop!
Remember Tango is not a contact sport
Tango heels are waaay too pretty to be covered in someone else’s blood.
Please don’t kick the other dancers, we like them just the way they are.
If your heels aren’t on the floor or against your leg, you’re probably about to hurt someone - and it might be me!
A bump for a bump and a gouge for a gouge leads to a milonga of injured dancers. Please follow the ACW line of dance and dance sensibly.
Unled Boloes - banned by the Geneva Convention since 1949
Breathing is optional. The Line of Dance isn’t!
You wouldn’t reverse on a motorway, so please don’t do it here.
Your shoes look considerably more beautiful when they’re not impaling my leg.
Keeping the two second gap doesn’t just apply to motorways
I’m sorry, did you damage your shoe as you gouged it into my ankle?
High boleos are like sex – best done when you’ve got the room to yourselves.
Bonus points are no longer awarded for colliding with other dancers at this venue. Please respect the ACW line of dance and dance sensibly.
Small is beautiful. Please keep your boleos beautiful.
Have a look at Verdana. It was designed by Matthew Carter, working for Microsoft to develop font faces that are easy to read onscreen, specially in small text. Verdana 11pt looks about the same size as anything else 12pt. But it looks hideous in bold.
Nice photos.
Good stuff Ghost :)
Having looked at the two pictures I would have said the first one was the more chaotic. Lots of people bunching up in lots of directions. On the second one I doubt that boleo is going anywhere - it would never get near the other lady - it's more likely in the next step they just got out of the way. Or am I missing the point?!
First one I would have something like "Leg - you are NOT cleared for take off" or "The space exists - it doesnt mean you have to fill it" ...
great stuff Ghost! My personal favorite "watch that foot!" example has always been this one: http://tinyurl.com/m6kpos
I concur with everyone else's observations. The first looks like a dance floor collaborative dream. The second is Textbook Examples of Dance Floor Dunces.
I agree that both pictures are closer to calamity averted than anything else. The second one I don't think is a boleo, it's just a little lift of her foot against her leg. (If this is you please don't feel too embarrassed). The floor on the first one is patchy but we are very close to the edge which is only just beyond the bottom of the frame.
I quite like the 'oasis of calm' idea. Maybe we can riff on that.
Generally tango al fresco was remarkably bump-free. I just missed a far dodgier moment before the second picture.
The first one is a more pleasing picture, I think, and has room for a positive message.
"Please tango considerately with your partner and fellow dancers so that we can all enjoy an Oasis of calm."
or
"Please help keep the dancefloor an oasis of calm we can all enjoy ~ Tango considerately with your partner and fellow dancers"
That kind of thing?
I think I like the idea more than the phrase. I feel that something positive would be nice, perhaps about the way we dance with everyone else as well as our partner.
How about just
"Peace on the dance floor".
or
"Can't we all just get along?"
[maybe only Americans will understand the latter...]
"Be Excellent to each other"?
;o)
Ok now we're getting too American or too obscure. I'll sleep on it; you lot can go on riffing.
"Dance in beauty"?
'night
A moment of peace..
or ..
Far from the madding crowd?
Fragments of thoughts...
"Together we can make"
"They could be you!"
"You can make a difference – let’s all dance together."
On a second reading I like:
"Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and wait until it has come to a complete stop!"
and
"You wouldn’t reverse on a motorway, so please don’t do it here."
With perhaps "Keep the two second gap" added to that last one.
Definitely a possibility.
For riffing ~
"You wouldn’t reverse on a motorway, so please don’t do it here.
Remember the two second gap and we can all enjoy the dancefloor"
Too specific. It's not about not reversing. Or about gaps. It's about dancing with everybody else on the floor with you, and never touching anyone but your partner.
I agree that it's too specific in a literal sense, but the advantage is that a lot more comes with the metaphor, which is very vivid. So a lot of other silly things you wouldn't do (like veering from side to side) are clearly implied, especially with the two-second gap bit added. As is a general expectation of sensible behaviour.
But see if you can come up with anything else. I've been thinking about:
"You dance with all of us, not just your partner. Protect other dancers."
"Tango is not a contact sport, except with your partner. Please dance carefully."
"We are all equal on the dancefloor. Please use only your fair share of it."
"Consider other dancers. They'll notice if you don't."
I looked into this and found that a short message can be added to the other side as well, without adding anything to the cost of, say, 100 postcards. Or it can be blank.
"It's about dancing with everybody else on the floor with you, and never touching anyone but your partner."
;o)
on the other hand experience tells me that the people who need this information probably need something more specific. There's the danger of it being
"Be a good dancer"
or as someone else recently said to me when I suggested something similar "Yeah, but what does that actually mean?"
It certainly fits the photo though
For the back
No murder on the dance floor
For everyone’s enjoyment, let's all pay attention to floorcraft. Please:
- Try to stay in one lane and avoid overtaking
- If there is a lot of space ahead of you progress into it
- Don’t crowd the couple in front of you
- Dance appropriately – eg no high boleos when the floor is crowded
Thank-you
I have a vague idea of a one or two paragraph long Hedgehog version of
"I have a dream" for the back
about us all dancing together. That kind of thing.
Arial or Verdana? In terms of accessibility, they are screen fonts so for print so they're not the best. A font with serif is usually a easier to read, but not always. The font or rather the typeface represents the tone of voice, so if you want to be stern, go for sans-serif et block letters, if it's kinder go for something more soft, etc. Make sure the copy is visible (strong contrast), experiment with colour.
For copy, I suggest "dance with others, not into them". I'll bring you back "line of dance recommendation" postcards they distribute around here.
I agree that those are screen fonts - for print I prefer serif, and have ordered accordingly ;) The other side is blank for personal scribbles.
Sorry, all, but I am looking at the ladies' painted toenails and glam foot-based apparel, and then I am looking at the men's shoes that haven't seen a lick of boot polish since they were born and ... TRAINERS! Can't we have a caption that just says 'Come on, guys, make an effort'...?
But seriously...
"Floorcraft means never having to say you're sorry...
Please dance with consideration"
Could be a coincidence / other factors, but after it was noticable that the floorcraft improved increasing about half an hour after the flyers made their appearance (there was a lot of reversing going on prior to that point). T'was actually enjoyable dancing downstairs in Negrachas for once :faints:
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