Westward Ho Project Sticker Needed [closed]

Question

Westward Ho has a project box, but not a sticker.  There are a large number of profiles which align with this project (and sub-projects) which do not require project protection.  Currently there is no way to indicate such on a profile.  It would be beneficial to create the sticker to mirror the project box:

project box = {{Westward Ho|sub-project=Trails and Wagon Trains}}

with a sticker that lets the PM indicate the proper sub-project:

proposed sticker = {{Westward Ho Sticker|sub=Trails and Wagon Trains}}

Comments

I am not entirely clear on what the Westward Ho group has decided it wants for an image.

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The image of a covered wagon is the consensus.  Will one of those suggested below by Melanie Paul work for this purpose?

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Several covered-wagon images have been proposed. The draft of the sticker at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Westward_Ho_Sticker includes the one with a pale blue background. Melanie proposed several others. Is there a preference?

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I'm fine with the sticker image as linked immediately above by Ellen. Powder blue background is OK but other colors ok as well.

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The draft sticker with the blue background is acceptable to me.  Thanks!

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Westward_Ho_Sticker is now live. To use it, put {{Westward Ho Sticker}} on the profile, somewhere below the ==Biography== heading.

Currently it puts profiles in Category: Westward Ho, not one of the various sub-project categories.

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Thank You!  This will be very useful!

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So glad to have a sticker!!! ... I think.  Just when do you use this again?  For someone who came west?  Just anyone?  Leader of a wagon train?  I have read the rules for stickers but don't quite grok when to attach one.

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Awesome stuff, Ellen! Thanks to everyone involved in this.

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@Roger, great question.  There will soon be some information on usage of the sticker on the Westward Ho Project Page.  Look under the Templates section.

Answer 1

Yes!! It would be great to have stickers for each sub-project that mirror the existing project stickers. Can you make this happen for us, Templates Project? It would be much appreciated!

Answer 2

This is one instance where I would very much like to have the sticker.  When I was new to Wikitree I added the project box for the Westward Ho! to several profiles not knowing that it should have been a sticker, but apparently a sticker wasn't available.  Now I have error messages about the project box being there.

Comments

Excellent point!  Thanks Margaret!

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Use of the project box changed a while back, which now requires project management when it is used, which is what has caused the suggestions.

Answer 3

I support the idea of a "Westward Ho" project/sticker, but wonder if you have limited the scope too far.  What about the families who went westward from New York (say) to Wisconsin??  Westward, no???

Without any digging, that is where most of "my families" traveled...

Comments

Somebody decided it would be interesting, fun, and useful to start a project about the trans-Mississippi westward expansion, so we have the Westward Ho! project. I think that many of the participants in United States sub-projects like Project: Wisconsin also have interesting migration stories. However, I surmise that the interest in Westward Ho is related to the perception that the experiences of people who settled as pioneers in places like Wisconsin were generally less dramatic than the travails of people who ventured into and across the arid west.

Answer 4

Could the proposers of new stickers for Westward Ho please propose images and text for the proposed stickers?

This is the image in the project box:

It is a great image for the project (maybe it deserves to be displayed at the top of the Project page!), but at the scale of the project box it is hard to tell what it depicts, and it would be even more obscure at the scale of a sticker. Ideally, we could have a less detailed image for both the project box and the sticker.

To help generate ideas, here are links to the Template pages for  the existing stickers for Westward Ho sub-projects:

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Wild_Wild_West
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Homesteaders
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Immigrant_Pioneers

And to give you some more ideas about images and wording that might work, here are some examples of stickers currently used by similar/related projects:

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Southern_Pioneers_Sticker
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Low_Dutch_Kentucky
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Moravian_Emigrant_Family
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Voortrekkers_Sticker
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Penn_Fleet_Passenger
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Early_LDS

Comments

Hi Ellen,

Do we need a sticker for each sub-project?  My scope of thought is to have a single sticker that would be applicable to all Westward Ho! sub-projects, at least those which do not already have a sticker...  

"... ... ... was involved in the westward expansion of the USA: Trails and Wagon Trains"

"... ... ... was involved in the westward expansion of the USA: Lewis and Clark Expedition"

...and so on.  This would be similar to how the Native American sticker operates.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Native_American_Sticker

This is an example image that would apply to the sticker https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Dek_s_formatting_page

I look forward to your questions and feedback.

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Or you could do something such as a simple wagon.

  or   

Or a better crop than this of the existing image   (the shadow is squared off, which just looks wrong to me).

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A simple covered wagon, as Melanie suggests, is the kind of image that is most effective at the scale of a sticker.

Seeing the apparent continued interest in a more complex image, I cropped the current Westward Ho project box image to see how it might work in a sticker, and I created a dummy sticker (PLEASE DO NOT USE IT) to show the result. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Westward_Ho_Sticker . It is possible to discern some of the contents of the image at this scale, but I think that is mostly because I know what the image looks like.

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Ellen, I agree that the image at the scale in the dummy is difficult to discern. I think an image of a Conestoga wagon is appropriate. In Melanie's samples below, the b & w image seems to render better than the sepia tone. I'm not concerned about the shadow being cropped at that very small size.

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@Ellen, Thanks for working on this sticker!

Although not a universal representation for the overall topic, the covered wagon image will work well in my opinion.  It would be instantly recognizable and different enough from the image used for the project box to make the distinction between project/sticker with a quick glance.

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Yep!  You are right..keep it simple!  I tried making an image on my Pixelmator software, but once I downsized it I would not have known what was in the image if I hadn't made it myself.  The wagon downsizes great and the Conestoga tells the story right away!  Westward Ho!  Thanks, Scott

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I looked at all the samples Ellen and the best one is the Conestoga Wagon....You are correct, the less stuff in the image the better!

Answer 5

A sticker would be great!  I always thought that Westward Ho included much more than those on wagon trains.  Profiles of industrialists that supported manifest destiny and made it happen, many of them notables today.  At least that is what it was when I got my badge for this great project.  As far as the suggestion of an image depicting a covered wagon is good but it doesn't cover everyone.  Perhaps an image with a sunset and people and wagons in black silhouetted on top of the image? Just a thought, I will use the sticker when it is available on my profiles.  Scott

Comments

If folks are interested in customized artwork, someone will have to create it (or find it).

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@Scott -- you need to remember that sticker images are 50 pixels, not 500.  The more complex the image, the more detail is LOST on downsizing it -- and the more squished it looks, if any detail is able to be discerned. "Full" size of this one (cropped from the existing Westward Ho! banner) is 150px by 150px.  The other is the 50px size (how it would appear in a sticker.)

   

The wagons in my earlier post scale down really well - they're in that post at 50 pixels.

Simple is better for clarity.

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I tried several different images using Pixelmator on my computer, but there was too much going on once I downsized it.. so I think a covered wagon is probably the best image to use for our 'Westward Ho' sticker.  It makes the point and I do like it!  It down sizes really well.  Scott

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The earlier cropped image with corrected shadow (and a light blue background in an attempt to have the white cover show better)

A different covered wagon (supposed to be a Conestoga) with the oxen (or whatever) mostly cropped so it would downsize to 50 pixels high (so long as it is allowed to go up to 75 pixels wide)

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Thank you, Melanie!   I inserted the blue-background version in https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Westward_Ho_Sticker for folks to preview.

The elongated version is nice, but the 50px limit applies in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions.

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Drat -- I misremembered -- the images can be up to 75 pixels HIGH, not wide. 

Profile Stickers can have no more than two thumbnail images. They will be displayed at 50 pixels wide. Ideally they should be square, i.e. 50x50. They can be slightly taller but should never exceed 75 pixels high.

Can't make the conestoga higher than the width, as it'd just look silly.

If you'd rather a green background -  or even two-toned green and blue - I can try that.  (No guarantees.)

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Slightly squished, but not horribly so, on graduated green to blue background.

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Great job!  Your background makes it stand out! Scott

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Here's another option for covered wagon image for Westward Ho! 50x50px