MOTD's

MOTD's are about as close to art as I get. When I'm not making commerical websites, MOTD's provide me an excellent oppurtunity to hone my skills and practise techniques that may one day prove invaluable. On top of this, the structure and layout of MOTD's is unique in that very few request will want to do more than display information or pictures, and MOTD's instead are conitnually updated and central to a ships theme and feel. Whats not shown below is the hundreds of little images or deisngs that were never properly finished and never made it onto the site. I'll keep updating the various in progress designs on here so look out for them as they develope.

Command	-	Not Long ago I got asked to do the Command MOTD and naturally I was exstatic. Hopefully this will present itself properly when its finished.
USS Invincible	-	Not Really a new MOTD yet but I'm working on it. If this does get used, the real problem will be finding a ship to rename the invincible or one with a V in the right place in the name.
Drupal 6	-	Larry and Jack have been asking for a d6 themer for a while, and whilst my experience is lacking, I'm giving it a shot. What you see here is the demo page that I'm using to flesh out the design before I start implementing it in d6. The white "border" is easily colour changed for the abitious designer who fancies changing it slightly for his MOTD. Feedback is welcome.

USS Vanguard	Fleet 6	The Design was created prior to being asigned to the ship, so I still have images of the banner saying "USS Triuph" in places, however this eventually won "best MOTD" at the Emma's that year, and is partially responsible for my win of "Best MOTD Designer" that year. An interesting point, the Banner itself changes the bridge to fit the ships alert status.
USS Rogue	Fleet 2	This Started off based on a LCARS mockup that I turned steel by accident and liked too much. Its another example of seredipity winning out over the best layed plans of mice and men. This was nominated for "Best MOTD" but didn't win. It also features a photo manip of my then XO character on the ship, which I'm particularly fond of.
USS Atlantis	Fleet 3	I'll be the first to admit that the atlantis isn't one of my best designs. It has always suffered from being just before I did something great, and so never has really had the full attention it deserved. That said, whilst not brilliant, the design isn't that bad either, so here it is. If nothing else it gives you a feel for how my designing has evolved.
USS Olinski	Fleet 5	This one I'm particularly fond of. I put alot of new styles into this one and think I pulled off the carrier look just right. an MOTD like this only comes along once in a lifetime, which is a shame.
USS Chernov	Fleet 5	I designed this shortly after the new trek film came out in a pre-emtive measure, and sure enough no sooner had I finished it than an edict commissioning a new ship in fleet 5 based on the new trek movie. The rest as they say is history.
USS Europa	Fleet 6	The Europa was something I was doodling with about the same time I was doing the Chernov, as such you'll see many of the same elements in both. That said I think the banner and the colour schem captures the essence of the ship quite well regardless. This is about as close to a "pallet swap" MOTD as I've ever made.
USS Genesis	Fleet 6	I joked for years that I would replace the banner on this one with animated gif of "the way I walk". The Genesis was one of the few times were I simply built the design and the CO and XO made almost all the creative desisions. Its not one of my best but the graphics work well together so all is okay.
Starbase 202	Fleet 4	Starbase 202 was yet again a doodle that a CO took a shine to in IRC. I don'y know what spawned this. I believe I just kept drawing and drawing and this eventually emerged. It was fun to play with transparencies though.
Fleet 4	-	I find that motd's are a serious buisness, but when I get asked to do a fleet, I kinda freeze and go "blah". I then sit really hard and try and bash out ideas, keep doodling, bash out some more ideas, and 4 weeks later turn out something like this. The fleet 4 MOTD is a testiment to persaverence and hard work, and I think it shows. Its designed nicely in my view and very functional on top of this.
Fleet 3	-	Fleet 3 was a good idea. Nothing more. I sat down, bashed out an MOTD, and somehow, this was the result. It really shouldn't have been as good as it was, but then I suppose that, as is my mantra, the simplest things are the best. In addition, I redid the banner ready for the fleet wide sim.
Fleet 2	-	Fleet 2 is metal. It was an experiment, and worked out not bad in my view. Its not as stunning as fleet's 3 and 4 but its not half bad, and I still rate it above the other 3 fleets that aren't mine.
USS Dresden	Fleet 3	The Dresden always has a special place in my heart. I saw my first char when I joined grow up from an Ensign to the CO of her, and as such I made sure that she have a stunning and unique MOTD. She's always been famous for her LCARS MOTD of past and so on the switch over to Drupal I pulled out all the stops to make sure she had the best MOTD about, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for her and this Design.
USS Resolution	Fleet 3	Whenever a new ship is commissioned one of the biggest challeges is passing its review period. To do this it needs to have a healthy Role Playing environment and I am a firm believer that a ship with a decent MOTD not only wow's the admirality but also attracts players of all calibre, so I made sure that the resolution be ready once she was commissioned with this. I patted myself on the back when she became a full fledged ship soon after.
Outpost 45	Fleet 2	Purple... nuff said
USS Ogawa	Fleet 1	The Ogawa was my first ever MOTD, in collaboration with Wail Qasim. Though that design has since fallen by the way side, when I was asked to create a brand new one to reinforce the medical ship's rise back to fame I jumped at the opputunity. The result: a clean, pristine surgical room that is the new Ogawa MOTD
SS Bonaventure	Fleet 1	The Bonaventure is another design I'm quite proud of. Not only is it clean and functional, but like the Chernov instantly states its function and setting in a punchy way. You need only glance breifly to see the Bonaventure is an Enterprise era ship and the brushed steel effect, perhaps slightly overused, makes its presence quite known.