Looking for assets to practice with

[pragmatic]

Hello all

 

I am trying to learn how to make HMTL5 banners with a view to hopefully earning some money from it in the long term.

 

Obviously to get to that point I need some examples of work to show prospective employers. My design skills are rudimentary at best and I was just wondering if there are any good resources that anyone knows of where you can use assets to practice making banners with.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Dipscom]

Hi pragmatic,

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

I don't know of any particular place but the internet is riddled with options to download royalty free assets. But I feel your issue would be the design of the banner itself. Have you considered looking for a teammate - a designer? Between the two of you, you would come up with a workflow and develop together.

 

Much like in traditional design agencies, where you have a copywriter and a designer. Just in your case it would be a designer and a developer.

[Carl]

Great advice, Dipscom.

 

In addition, you can get some inspiration by looking at storyboards for real ads: 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=banner+storyboard&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhqJOKzu3LAhVFpB4KHR1gDSUQsAQIHA&biw=2082&bih=1278#imgrc=_

 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=banner+storyboard&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhqJOKzu3LAhVFpB4KHR1gDSUQsAQIHA&biw=2082&bih=1278#tbm=isch&q=html5+banner+storyboard&imgdii=chVxohoWvIqkKM%3A%3BchVxohoWvIqkKM%3A%3BY8Zd4gc08sDK0M%3A&imgrc=chVxohoWvIqkKM%3A

 

 

Find one that uses some simple shapes or photography that can easily be found on royalty-free stock image sites.

 

For instance it shouldn't be too hard to re-create some arrows and $ in circles like: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2pbkbq_Ho64/SXEFJ6hnSGI/AAAAAAAACfs/NTU5dBt-4EY/s400/HRB_banner_storyboard.jpg

 

or maybe you can by free or low-cost templates that have some assets ready for you:https://www.google.com/search?q=banner+ad+templates&espv=2&biw=2082&bih=1278&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwis3pGP0e3LAhXJKh4KHRN_CCMQsAQILA

 

Regardless of your level of design skills you will need to be somewhat familiar with Photoshop and possibly illustrators as when you work with designers it will most likely be your job to get the assets out of those files and optimize them to work best in your ad. That will entail making individual jpgs, pngs and gifs and possibly combining them all into a spritesheet. 

 

But don't let those details discourage you from starting. Start very small and take on new challenges each day. 

[pragmatic]

Thanks alot for the advice guys, I'm not a total novice when it comes to using most of the adobe suite (and it's not too hard to find tutorials on youtube etc). It was basically just finding myself bogged down trying to create some viable assets to work with that was causing me the most grief.

 

That last link looks perfect, I've already made a couple of example banners so the code side of things is looking good, now with some good quality assets I can hopefully convince some people to pay me to do it!

 

Thanks again!

[Oliver16Years]

You should convince Creative Agencies because they get the jobs from the big multinational coprorations. I recommend getting in contact with Client Directors and show them Your portfolio. For full convincement, comes a demo job round, which must be free even if they want to pay for your. The best way is to spam them on LinkedIn which spamming You already.

If you manage to sign a contract with an agency, you should keep it alive.
- Don't coplain on the Storyboard if it seems impossible to realize.If they give you a .psd full with various blend modes. Just start to figure out how it is possible to convert the assets to normal mode.

- If they ask about when will you send a file, tell them double time. This way you can finish what you imagined without stress.

- Triplecheck your HTML before you send it to the Client. No worse than getting it back from the Media Agency with a list of error messages. I'ts a shame for You and your Creative Agency.

       https://h5validator.appspot.com/adwords

       https://h5validator.appspot.com/dcm

- Let the ball bounce on their side.

 

How easy to give advices!