pentascape - 3:17 pm on Apr 6, 2006 (gmt 0)

This is what I would do:

- Design a banner ad without thinking of implementation. EG I want this to appear here then fly over here and flash this up etc. Storyboard it. On paper (it doesnt crash).

- Look at the design and think how much there is of the following categories: movement, imagery (photographic/vector/simple), interaction (stuff moving with mouse etc)

- From that you should get an idea which way you want to implement the banner design (Flash, GIF etc)

- Then, develop the banner in the format that suits it working best. Don't create something in a different format just because it is going to be smaller if that jeapordises the banner's functionality (not meeting the design)

- THEN look at getting the filesize down. Flash compression, gif settings etc.

Hope that is useful.
PS If you end up with a humungous flash banner, you may be able to split up each frame into sub swfs which load into a master swf. You could then make it load progressively. Ask if you want more info on that (I'd probably post in flash section)