15

So far, our only ad is this one:

Stack Exchange Q&A site proposal: Language Learning http://area51.stackexchange.com/ads/proposal/82841.png

Since we have already been in public beta, I think the Area 51 theme is deprecated because it makes people think us that we are still a proposal. A better ad would attracts more visitors to us. It can be as simple as this:

enter image description here

The formula to make one is quite simple. First urging the potential readers a question to make them realize that they have a problem. Then giving them a solution (our site) that can solve their problems.

What is your idea to create a better ad? Please discuss. Also, link the place you post the ad to the corresponding answer, so that we can go there and vote it.

Image requirements

  • The image that you create must be 300 x 250 pixels, or double that if high DPI.
  • Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
  • Must be GIF or PNG
  • No animated GIFs
  • Absolute limit on file size of 150 KB
  • If the background of the image is white or partially white, there must be a 1px border (2px if high DPI) surrounding it.

Now if possible, the ads should try to target SE sites related to languages such as German Language, Chinese Language, etc. This should also bring us out of the abyss of inactivity.

Feel free to post your submission on the ELL and EL&U community ads meta posts to see how the community there reacts to your ad. (If you hit the threshold of a net count of 6 upvotes, your ad will be displayed.

9
  • 2
    The site's icon can be found here
    – Quill
    May 4, 2016 at 10:30
  • 1
    Ads should be targeted to a specific audience. When you propose answers, please think about your target audience and mention it in your answer.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    May 4, 2016 at 11:55
  • 2
    Note that ads meant to be shown in the sidebar of graduated Stack Exchange sites must be 300x250 or 600x500, PNG, max 150kB. See e.g. this question for the full requirements (note that they changed between 2015 and 2016).
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    May 4, 2016 at 11:56
  • Also, something here should be noted: it is worth also advertising on Linguistics as there could be a fair bit of overlap between the two sites.
    – fi12
    Jun 7, 2016 at 17:01
  • @fi12 have they finished the beta phase?
    – Ooker
    Jun 8, 2016 at 4:46
  • Does this question have a deadline?
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Aug 4, 2016 at 20:29
  • @ChristopheStrobbe why should it have a deadline?
    – Ooker
    Aug 5, 2016 at 6:07
  • @Ooker I wanted to know of there is a specific process: e.g. submit ad proposals by date x, vote to determine the good ones between date x (or immediately after submission) and date y; place the ads after date y.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Aug 5, 2016 at 9:57
  • @ChristopheStrobbe no, there is no deadline
    – Ooker
    Aug 5, 2016 at 11:32

11 Answers 11

Reset to default
12

language learning ad

XCF

Alternative version (thicker text)

5
  • 3
    Did you make the head yourself or was it based off of another image? I really like how you conveyed the four essential parts of language learning in a visually appealing way, nice :)
    – fi12
    Aug 6, 2016 at 0:54
  • @fi12 Thanks! I roughly traced this in GIMP.
    – Hatchet
    Aug 6, 2016 at 1:13
  • This a great image, but if I may suggest using a bolder font for the Language Learning SE part. I think that might make it more catchy.
    – Ken Graham
    Aug 21, 2016 at 18:48
  • @KenGraham How's this?
    – Hatchet
    Aug 21, 2016 at 20:52
  • Yes that is much better.
    – Ken Graham
    Aug 21, 2016 at 20:56
8

EDIT:

Language Learning Ad

source XCF

original version

Here's my submission (also my first community ad ever); it's kinda more on the generic side.

Target audience: It's a pretty general ad... Probably any of the language-related sites, like Japanese Language, ELL or EL&U, Spanish Language... etc.

3
  • I like the layout, but I think "Learning another language" could be misunderstood to mean learning a specific language. I don't think anyone has come up with a better terminology yet, but at least the help center on/off topic info. sections should be filled in to say individual language learning questions are off-topic..
    – user3169
    Jun 8, 2016 at 16:12
  • Did you make it as a vector file? If so, can you upload it? It will make any attempt to improve the ad easier
    – Ooker
    Jun 13, 2016 at 18:07
  • @Ooker Nope, made it in Gimp. Here's the XCF: drive.google.com/open?id=0BwGW-uwAuI0MZ0dMb3R6aVo5Y0k
    – Hatchet
    Jun 14, 2016 at 15:55
6

enter image description here

It's a pretty generic ad that could be used on any of the language sites. This is my second submission for an LL ad.

Edit: I've posted this ad on ELL (9), EL&U (6), and Japanese Language (0).

7
  • I propose the use of a different font.
    – intcreator
    Aug 14, 2016 at 16:50
  • @brandaemon don't worry, it's not as bad as you think. It's Comic Neue, not Comic Sans ;)
    – fi12
    Aug 14, 2016 at 19:08
  • The entire font family wins only negative points for me.
    – intcreator
    Aug 14, 2016 at 19:11
  • Also colored text on colored background is icky.
    – intcreator
    Aug 17, 2016 at 19:04
  • 1
    Both the green and the blue text have insufficient contrast with the background for people with certain vision impairments. If you are on Windows or Mac, you can test contrast with this free Colour Contrast Analyser. If you want to find colours that contrast well, you can try Joe Dolson's Color Contrast Spectrum: input a colour and choose a granularity, and you will get a list of colours with contrast ratios. Ratio should be higher than 4.5.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Aug 18, 2016 at 10:49
  • @ChristopheStrobbe thanks for the information.
    – fi12
    Aug 18, 2016 at 12:20
  • Unfortunately, the ad for ELL is still below the threshold of 6 upvotes.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Oct 14, 2016 at 21:22
5

Modified version (Thanks to fi12 for the suggestion):

enter image description here

old image

Here is my community ad. If there is any suggestion please let me know.

Thanks to @Hatchet for his design. My design was based in his design.

6
  • 2
    I like your tagline "Need help in language learning process?", but I would suggest making the text larger and changing it slightly to "Need help during the language learning process?"
    – fi12
    Jun 13, 2016 at 14:35
  • (You may also want to give @Hatchet credit for the original design of the advertisement.)
    – fi12
    Jun 13, 2016 at 14:36
  • @fi12 Implemented your suggestion. Sorry for the late response.
    – Kolappan N
    Aug 17, 2016 at 16:22
  • Are the 4 typos in this ad all intentional? (Language, Learning, process, and Language)
    – intcreator
    Aug 17, 2016 at 19:03
  • @brandaemon Corrected those typos.
    – Kolappan N
    Aug 18, 2016 at 14:30
  • I gave it +1, but I would change "Language" in the question to lowercase ("language") and turn the italics into normal text.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Sep 25, 2016 at 19:33
2

My ad targets English Language Learners. (I was also considering targeting an ad towards Linguistics, ELU, or perhaps one of the other language sites.)

Also, this is my first foray into making community ads, so please tell me if there's something that's wrong or could be improved with my suggestion.

enter image description here

If anyone needs the link, here it is.

Edit: I've posted this ad on ELL (1) and EL&U (2).

2
  • 2
    This needs a border, because the background is white.
    – Flimzy
    May 7, 2016 at 13:57
  • There is a border, it's just white.
    – fi12
    May 7, 2016 at 14:37
1

Since we are agreeing on fictional languages, I though about targeting Science Fiction and Fantasy SE. As Star Wars is really popular nowadays, I decided to make a Star Wars themed ad:

[enter image description here]1

If you click on the ad (which is PNG and 300 x 250 pixels), it will direct you to our site (https://languagelearning.stackexchange.com/).

5
  • Not bad for the idea, but although I don't watch Star Wars, I wonder if we can actually answer that question. How do Chewbacca learn to speak?
    – Ooker
    Jun 21, 2016 at 9:19
  • It's a good idea, but I feel like there's more of a distant relationship between our site and this ad. The vast majority of people learning this site are using it for natural/constructed languages, not fictional languages.
    – fi12
    Jun 21, 2016 at 10:06
  • @fi12 We are currently accepting fictional languages so why not give it a shot?
    – Anthony Pham
    Jul 8, 2016 at 21:03
  • It would be better if the fonts were consistent and more professional. Rather than a serif and a Comic Sans-esque, try for a nice sans-serif.
    – intcreator
    Aug 17, 2016 at 21:58
  • this is geocities age
    – noɥʇʎԀʎzɐɹƆ
    Sep 8, 2016 at 20:58
1

enter image description here

2
  • 1
    I personally don't think "Become a polyglot" accurately represents the scope of a site. Yes, maybe after utilizing LL with many other tools, you may eventually become a polyglot, but the vast majority of the questions asked on this site have to do with the process it takes to get there.
    – fi12
    Aug 17, 2016 at 21:11
  • 3
    @fi12 It would not appeal to all, but some people do want to become polyglots, and some other people may become curious what the site is about. So the ad can be useful, but it cannot be our only ad.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Aug 19, 2016 at 21:22
1

Here is a simple one:

Ad: Learning a new language sounds like a daunting task? There is help at Language Learning

1

Here is another one.

ad for Language Learning Stack Exchange with 9 different languages

Русский is Russian, አማርኛ is Amharic, తెలుగు is Telugu, हिन्दी is Hindi. 希腊语 is Chinese for "Greek".

I created the image in Inkscape and exported it to PNG. The image is available under a Creative Commons licence; you can also use it on other websites and on blogs.

8
  • I like the idea of having conversation in here. Out of curiousity, why do you choose Vietnamese in the language list?
    – Ooker
    Aug 19, 2016 at 4:25
  • There are roughly 7000 languages in the world (though many are becoming extinct), so any selection is necessarily arbitrary. Vietnamese is interesting because it is an East Asian language written in a Latin script (the reason is obviously related to colonisation).
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Sep 25, 2016 at 9:54
  • I would say that at least English, French, Russian and Chinese are popular languages
    – Ooker
    Sep 26, 2016 at 8:08
  • @Ooker All the languages you mention are in the ad. Do you have any concrete suggestions for changes?
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Sep 26, 2016 at 8:10
  • You misunderstand me. What I mean is, mathematically speaking, there exists a chance for having English, French, Russian and Chinese to show up at once randomly in the pool of 7000 languages. But I don't feel that way :). I think there is a reason why you put those languages in the ad instead of the others, so what is it?
    – Ooker
    Sep 28, 2016 at 14:06
  • @Ooker It's basically a selection of languages that would look familiar to many people (English, French, Russian, Chinese), some that would look less familiar (esp. አማርኛ and తెలుగు, and to a lesser extent हिन्दी), and "Flemish" as pronounced in certain Flemish dialects (as the real "odd one out", I would say). Hindi and Telugu are rather big languages, while Amharic has the most unusual script of the lot. There isn't too much thinking behind the choice.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Sep 28, 2016 at 17:01
  • so you pick some from the most popular languages, some from the less popular, and some have special history development like Vietnamese, is that correct?
    – Ooker
    Sep 30, 2016 at 8:24
  • @Ooker It's more a matter of familiarity (for people in the West, at least), than popularity. BTW, I have now added the ad to my profile.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Oct 3, 2016 at 18:45
-1

enter image description here

4
  • Your tagline is nice. A background color instead of pure white would be nice. However it's upto you.
    – Kolappan N
    Aug 17, 2016 at 16:29
  • I like your tagline here, but personally I'd opt for a non-white background color. It feels a bit dull to me.
    – fi12
    Aug 17, 2016 at 21:10
  • I think "Learn how to learn languages" would be more accurate.
    – Tsundoku Mod
    Aug 18, 2016 at 21:25
  • @ChristopheStrobbe It's more specific, yes, but I figure most people will figure out what the subject matter is from the URL. I tend toward simplicity.
    – intcreator
    Aug 18, 2016 at 21:39
-6

image description

Thank Hatchet for the original design. Here are some sites that I put it there:

10
  • Your text is poorly formatted. I would move your text slightly upwards, to prevent any letters in your tagline from being cut off. (Also, you may also want to give @Hatchet credit for the original design of the advertisement.)
    – fi12
    Jun 13, 2016 at 14:37
  • Well I don't have the vector file of the original design so it's not convenient for me to make modification.
    – Ooker
    Jun 13, 2016 at 15:06
  • Why is this ad bad?
    – Ooker
    Jun 21, 2016 at 9:17
  • 2
    "a place to ask for the language itself" doesn't really make sense. What is "asking for" supposed to mean? "asking about"?
    – Dan Getz
    Aug 7, 2016 at 1:57
  • But...isn't this site about how to learn the language? It's call Language Learning after all...
    – intcreator
    Aug 14, 2016 at 16:53
  • @brandaemon this ad is used to post in another site
    – Ooker
    Aug 14, 2016 at 16:58
  • @Ooker so "this site" refers to the site you're on, not on the site that's being advertised? That's pretty confusing. Looking at it again it makes sense though. I'd see if you can present the message in a clearer way.
    – intcreator
    Aug 14, 2016 at 17:00
  • @brandaemon it's only confusing here
    – Ooker
    Aug 15, 2016 at 1:32
  • As evidenced by the vote counts on the other sites it's been posted on, I would argue to differ.
    – intcreator
    Aug 15, 2016 at 4:30
  • @brandaemon yes, looking at it again on the critics on ELL and I agree with you. Bad word choice here
    – Ooker
    Aug 15, 2016 at 7:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .