Those bits of the M's coming above the gray kills its readability. The yellow just blends in with the background. If you're going to use thin letters coming up above a background like that you need to use a color with more contrast so it stands out. The T in Mute is also a bit hard to read, i think because the top of the T is so short and stops right at the top bar of the gray area.

actually in all honesty it's just as bad, for the same reasons but in different areas

The words themselves are more legible now, but now instead of the tops blending into the background the whole thing blends in to the gray behind them. You need something with contrast to make it stand out.

hmm... It may be easier to read if you just take out the gradients inside the lettering... in fact now that i think about it that'd probably go a long way in helping it. I know you want that kind of effect, but maybe tone it down so it's much lighter.


Edited by Zeratanus - 12 November 2009 at 2:32pm

It looks more readable, but it can be improved. Here's a quick edit as a suggestion. The second one is without the gradient, and the bottom one is bolder, tighter, background texture removed. Forum theme and text included for comparison.



Try looking from a distance, say, about 1 meter. I can't read the topmost button and the middle one is barely readable, while the bottom one and the forum text are still fine.

I'd say that effects on text that small is not a good idea, but if you still want to do it, I'd suggest a bigger font and more contrast between the background and the text.