One of Sepia Mutiny’s signatures is our revolving banners. Back when Abhi first proposed a desi group blog, we pretty quickly figured out the overall theme on the writing side. But, interestingly enough, the banners took more rounds of discussion, trial & error to nail down — in part cuz too many of us were budding artistes / advertising impressarios but also cuz we recognized that the banners greatly shape the overall emotional tone of the site.
Our / my goal with the banners was sorta summarized in this old email conversation w/ the other proto-mutineers –
The logo needs to be dirt simple, pref monochromatic and scale well w/ size…. my ideal example is the Absolut Vodka bottle. In one of the many posts that went back and forth between me / Kiran & the Absolut Vodka company [re: the] Mulit ad, the Absolut folks said that the key to thier ad campaign was to extend the theme of Absolut as the “universal cultural observer” on behalf of the viewer. The Absolut bottle bonds w/ the ad viewer by showing the viewer an interpretation of an otherwise familiar / interesting scene.
Sepia Mutiny[‘s banners] could be the same thing….
How about just locking / loading on a single, stylized font and then printing that font in diff colors across diff desi themed picts?
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p>Now, back in the day, banners were mostly made by SM staff (esp. Manish) although we did have a round of submissions from a few friends of the blog.
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p>Recently, however, we received an extraordinarily beautiful set of banners submitted by Sank of EthnoTechno which totally captured the spirit. As we learned at the NYC meetup, Sank’s a designer by trade and his eye for layout, color, and detail are readily apparent in these images. A few of his submissions are below –
Mahvelous. Zimply Mahvelous. See the rest of the SM banners & learn how to make / submit your own.
[BTW – the original Absolut Mulit video can still be found on Absolut’s website and my pre-Sepia Mutiny review is here. It’s highly recommended viewing 
]
What’s interesting is Sank changed the fills too, not just the stroke. Really makes the titles pop.
Here’s more Mulit: Mulit’s bottles, TV ad satires on India
You know I emailed you guys Hay-ges ago saying I’ll do a banner? I did, a Sri Lankan one, but I thought it was too crap so never sent it. I just found it on my computer the other day. Now there’s no chance I’ll send it with this sort of competition. Cool stuff Sank.
Apologies for sounding computer-illiterate (I’m not a coder/programmer), but what should I used to open a PSD file if I wanted to try my hand at customising the banner ?
Many thanks in advance.
Photoshop.
Photo-what ?!
Just kidding 😉
Thanks for the prompt reply, Manish.
Sajit’s new ones are also really nice. You’ve built up a very hot collection of pictures there. I didn’t realise you’d used that Playboy pic! Jai, come on then I expect something good from you…
aw geez, now i’m all warm and fuzzy somewhere… i never dreamt that i’d be mentioned in a post, but there it is… i had the banner ideas for sometime, just needed to sit and do them… i actually have more, but the images are stuck on my camera until i buy and new transfer cable… thanks for the very kool post… more to come…
sank
AWESOME banners by the way. and you’re sooo right. i’ve always noticed the banners when i read here. and i love how they rotate. great visual style. kudos to your artists and contributors
Wow, the first one is amazing. Looks like a mushroom cloud.
“I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.” Oppenheimer misquoting the Gita at the first atomic test.
So, where do I send my contributions to my favourite group desi blog?
I’ve checked all about the ‘Banner Shout Outs’ page.
All there is there is:
Mail to: . Please include:
?
Roman,
Sorry to go off-topic buddy, but are you “Roman Singh” from Sikhnet ?
If so, we’ve talked before 😉
Image fixed– see the bottom of the page for the email address.
nice banners…. on a related note, does anyone know of india-centric pop-art collections/museums, particularly in the boston area? in some bookstore- i don’t remember where, probably one of the funky ones in harvard square- i remember seeing a book that had some indian pop-art. buxom babes from matchstick box covers and so on. but nothing really good.
Oi you buggers, don’t forget the Sri Lankans eh! Ravana, MIA and Temple of Doom are not enough!
A lot of Sajit’s banners were shot in Sri Lanka.
Oh…fine! I’ll take my Sri Lankan angst elsewhere!