Okay, so today I decided to mess around with a “Thunder vs Nets” theme. I wasn’t really sure where to start, honestly, but I knew I wanted to see if I could create something, anything really, related to that matchup.
First, I spent some time just brainstorming. What could I do? Make a game? Some kind of data visualization? A simple image? I jotted down a bunch of random ideas, most of them pretty terrible, I’ll admit. But it’s good to get the bad ideas out of the way, right?
After a bit of that, I figured I’d try something simple. I decided I’d try to whip up a basic graphic, maybe something I could use as a social media post or something.
Getting Started (and getting stuck).
So, I opened up my usual image editing program. Nothing fancy, just something I’m comfortable with. Initially, I was thinking of doing a cool split-screen thing, with the Thunder logo on one side and the Nets logo on the other. I messed around with the colors, tried some different backgrounds, and…it just looked awful. Seriously, like a five-year-old did it. I spent way too long fiddling with it, but it just wasn’t working.
Changing Direction (slightly).
- I ditched the split-screen idea.
- Instead, I decided to try something even simpler. I found a decent-looking picture of a basketball court.
- I added the Thunder and Nets logos, one on each end of the court.
- I threw in some text: “Thunder vs. Nets”.
It was better, but still…meh. It was missing something.
Adding Some “Pizzazz” (or trying to).
I thought, “Okay, let’s add some effects!” I played around with shadows, glows, gradients…you name it. I probably spent another hour just tweaking little things. At one point, I accidentally made the whole thing look like it was underwater. That was…interesting. Undid that pretty quick.
Eventually, I got to something I could live with. It wasn’t going to win any awards, but it was decent enough. It conveyed the basic idea, and it didn’t make my eyes bleed. That’s a win in my book.
The End Result (and lessons learned).
In the end, I had a pretty basic graphic of a basketball court with the two team logos and some text. It took way longer than it should have, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I definitely learned that I need more practice with my image editing skills. And that sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best. Maybe next time I’ll try something more ambitious, but for now, I’m calling this a (small) success.
