monitor - How can I make sure that my on-screen colors are consistent?

I designed a mockup on my LG monitor. When I view the same design on another monitor that I own, the colors seem drastically different. I reset both of the monitors to their factory defaults, but still the issue persists. I'm wondering if some of my clients might dislike my designs because of this. What should I do?

How can I make sure that what I design is what my client sees?

Even worse still, I've realized that my laptop is showing different colors too.

Answer

Regarding the question

I reset both of the monitors to their factory defaults, but still, the issue persists.

This does not help at all. The basic configuration is not on the monitor but in the graphics card that sends the signal to them.

For web could be enough, but for photography or print, you need special hardware. There are some brands, for example, this one: http://www.xrite.com/colormunki-display

The basic calibration I mention is so you know, at least, your colors are not too crazy.

I'm wondering if some of my clients might dislike my designs because of this. What should I do?

TALK to them. "Hey, the color for this can vary from monitor to monitor, this depends if your monitor has some basic calibration"

How can I make sure that what I design is what my client sees?

If exactitude is needed, either deliver a calibrated print sample in case of printed material or go with the client and calibrate their monitor or show it on a device of your own... calibrated.

Did you notice the word calibrated?

You need to make a simple basic calibration on your 3 devices. (It can be hard to modify the basic brightness and contrast of some led monitors, but try to find how to specifically adjust them)

A basic tutorial

Many new monitors are limited on the options you can adjust. Some may be present or not.

1) Monitor temperature - color

On the monitor's menu look for an option temperature/color. Some monitors define this as temperature or as the specification. Choose:

• 6500°K, D65 or sRGB

Do not use, warm, cool, blueish. Sometimes you can use 5500°K but the recommended is D65.

2) Brightness

If your monitor can handle this normally a brighter option is better. "Brightness" controls the darker points of the image.

Here is a test pattern. You need to barely see the No.1 using a dark background. Open the image in a new window.

But as this is too easy to move in some devices is the hardest to maintain well defined.

3) Gamma

The most crucial parts are the middle tones, which are controlled by the gamma function.

This is controlled by the graphics card. Look in your control panel or in windows right click on the screen. There is a chance you have some kind of application to modify this. Something like this:

You need a "standard target" to compare. You can adjust all the RGB components together, but I recommend setting them one by one.

The objective with this patterns is to modify the gamma settings so the 2.2 number blends with the background. Higher numbers will look brighter and lower numbers darker.

Open this images in a new window, at 100% zoom:

Almost all modern computers have this panels, but in the case, you do not have it you can use this application on windows. http://www.quickgamma.de/indexen.html

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Vincent posted one comment that wants to be addressed:

Why should I do it?

Here is a joke:

One man is driving a car and he is hearing the news. "One drunk man is driving on the opposite way on the highway!"

He says... One? There are a lot of them!

Well, you do not want to be the drunk man.

If your calibration is too magenta, and you shift the image to greens, the image is green, not really balanced.

Pixel precision of wireframes?

I was asked to design a series of interactive wireframes using Axure for client who wanted to see how we would approach a design process. I made the designs in grey scale in relatively medium fidelity but I was strongly recommended by some other designers that I should make the wireframes as pixel perfect as possible (even though we are using placeholders and no color). I am a little confused about this since the concept of wireframes is to quickly show a proof of concept and to drive the thought process.

I do understand a clean and well designed wireframe is pleasing to the eyes and might have a more positive response,but the challenge is that making it so pixel perfect\precise involves as much time as creating a visual design and I dont want to get into the trap of users thinking that this is the final shell upon which color has just be applied and then the design is complete.

So my question is that is there any real advantage in making wireframes pixel perfect and where are those specific cases.

I did look at the questions How much detail in wireframes? and Using color in wireframes…is this a “no no”? but they dont answer the question I have.

Edit: Well what I meant by pixel perfect was like perfect alignment,ensuring the grid contents have exact spacing on each side and we are using the exact icon sizes which would be used in a mobile space

Answer

In my opinion having wireframes pixel imperfect is definitely the way to go. I prefer a sketchy style for two reasons:

1. It drives my inspiration. By not worrying about creating perfectly looking wireframes it's easier to test different iterations and I'm much more able work out creative approaches than when creating strict and perfectly aligned wireframes.


2. Usually when clients see pixel perfect wireframes they judge it as if it's a finished design. By using a sketchy style it's much more clear that this is a conceptual work in progress. You can't imagine how often I have clients asking why I didn't use any color.

By the way, a really great tool to create sketchy wireframes is Balsamiq Mockups.

Hiding vs. disabling actions and show a message on mobile

EDIT To clarify, I meant hiding vs. disabling actions with a message (similar to a toast) showing why it's disabled.

I'm curious as to whether it makes sense to hide or disable actions on mobile. I've read a couple of threads on this already, but it seems to mostly be focused on desktop applications (see here: Don't hide or disable menu items?).

I am wondering if it is different for mobile design? I have never seen an action disabled on mobile. Also, Android's developer action bar guidelines recommends:

The action bar should show only those actions that are available to the user. If an action is unavailable in the current context, hide it. Do not show it as disabled.

For some context, depending on the user's permissions, the actions (in a bottom bar) they see will change. They may see upload, and sometimes they don't see it. What are the best practices? Is it better to just hide it to keep the UI clean, or should we disable it? In some cases, based on their permissions, they may never have a certain action.

Is it reasonable to use language codes in an interface?

In an interface that supports multiple languages, is it reasonable to show them by their language code, or should the full names be used?

eg:

Select Language:

En ❘ De ❘ Es ❘ Fr ❘ Pt ❘ Ru ❘ Zh

Or is it better to use:

Select Language:
English ❘ German | Spanish | French | Portuguese | Russian | Chinese

Personally I don't know what these language codes mean off hand, however - native speakers who are use the internet may be used to recognizing their own language (its often assumed that USD means United States Dollars for example).

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This is technical documentation, however this may not be important.

vector - How can I crop everything outside of an art board in Illustrator?

I've got a very complex texture that I have running WAY over the art board and I need to clean it up for a client. How do I get rid of every point outside of the art board?

backtesting - What are the key risks to the quantitative strategy development process?

Prompted in part by this question on data snooping, I would be interested to know:

What are the key risks that should be considered when developing a quantitative strategy based on: (a) historical data or (b) simulated data?

Why does OSX print a bolder image than Windows in Illustrator?

For those interested the solution would be to use Acrobat for printing.

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I've noticed that OSX prints a bolder image than windows does for text that has been converted to outlines. See the circled text. It's obviously more bold on OSX.

To be clear the top text has not been converted to outlines. It prints the same on both operating systems. The circled text has been converted to outlines.

(look at the letter s if you have trouble seeing it.)

I made a scan of the results. Here is the same exact file printed on the same printer in OSX and Windows side by side.

Don't tell me to not print from Illustrator. I want a technical explanation as to why it's happening.

Answer

Okay... explanation...

The Macintosh print technology, especially with Adobe applications, relies on a Postscript RIP (Raster Image Processor). What a RIP does is to take data and construct a raster-based image from that data. A Postscript rip is there to specifically interpret postscript data to a raster image for output.

Adobe applications on the Macintosh send data as postscript to be printed. If the printer being used does not have a Postscript RIP then the printer interprets the data as best it can. This often results in prints which are based on the embedded, low resolution, preview image within the postscript data, not the postscript data itself. So you get essentially a "this is the best I can figure out" type of print. Often vector data is inaccurate, or just looks pixelated. The printer kind of spits out a "fax-like" sheet rather than a constructed image from the mathematical plotting postscript data provides.

Illustrator especially looks for Postscript Level 3 support. There are various support level for Postscript - level 1 , 2 and 3. Similar to "versions" but called "levels". The higher the level the better the interpretation for more advanced Postscript.

You can print to a Postscript level 1 or 2 device. However you might find some aspects of Illustrator artwork look poor (such as gradients) while others appear fine. Essentially it's all a "crap-shoot" without Postscript level 3 support. You get what you get and it's not about how you've set things up or any "problem" with Illustrator. It's a limitation of the printer itself and it's ability to support some technologies.

To circumvent the fact that a printer does not support Postscript Level 3, you can save the Illustrator file as a PDF, then print the PDF.

Why this works...

Acrobat (PDF/Distiller) is a software Postscript RIP What Acrobat/Distiller do is read the postscript data and then construct a high quality image based upon the postscript data itself. The exact same thing a Postscript Level 3 printer would do. The difference is only that Acrobat/Distiller do it all within the software and don't spit out a page. Instead, Acrobat embeds a new (high quality) preview image based upon the postscript data, ignoring the existing, embedded, low resolution, postscript preview.

So, if you print from Acrobat/Reader you are printing a high resolution raster image Acrobat created directly and not relying on the printer to interpret postscript data or to print the low resolution embedded preview image.

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Why Windows does this better for you....

Windows doesn't use Postscript. Windows uses PCL (Printer Command Language). So postscript support on a Windows machine isn't anywhere near as imperative as it is on an Apple machine.

Many lower-end, less expensive printer will support PCL. In fact it's hard to find any printer which doesn't. However, most lower-end printers do not support Postscript. And if they happen to support postscript, level 3 is yet another matter. This is why the same printer can print the same thing and it appears different coming from a Macintosh compared to coming from a Windows system. PCL vs Postscript.

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Inkjet printers are most notably lacking postscript support in most cases. Only the top-of-the-line Inkjet printers tend to have an onboard Postscript RIP. However some manufacturers, such as Epson, provide the option to add a postscript RIP when purchasing a printer - like buying a car with the option of having air conditioning. There are some lower-end laser printers which will also fail to support Postscript. It's not just inkjets.

Checking a printer specifications for Postscript Level 3 Support before purchase is one of those things that should be mandatory if you print from or work on Apple computers, especially if you intend to print from Illustrator or InDesign directly. Photoshop prints high quality raster images (even if you used vector tools). Basically, Photoshop has it's own internal RIP when printing. So postscript support isn't really a concern for printing from Photoshop.

How to transition from poetry to song-writing?

I've written poetry since I was nine, and I would say I'm pretty good at it. I also really like music, and I can create simple melodies that I hum to myself. But whenever I try to write a song, my attempts fall flat, and I don't understand why. I'm good at rhyming and metering and I've written poetry before that, with a tune, could be turned into a song, but when I actually set out to write a song, not a poem, I am disappointed with the results. Is this common? And how do I fix this? How can I transition from poetry to song-writing, even though they are similar?

Answer

You have answers about the differences between poems and lyrics. I will focus on the how. What techniques can you use to make this transition?

I wrote a lot of song lyrics when I was in high school and the best advice I got was to write down lyrics of commercial songs I liked. I'm a lot older than you: there was no internet, there was no way to look up lyrics, and only about 1/3 of record album liner notes included lyrics (at least records were big so there was space to do it).

I'm going to give you the same advice but I'll warn you, don't just look up the lyrics on the internet then cut and paste. You need to feel the lyrics. Not just as part of a song, but the written words on the page. Listen to the song, pause, rewind, listen again. Write them down with a pen or pencil on paper. Or type them in to a computer. As long as you're feeling it where you write.

Figure out what the singer is saying and make guesses about how to break up lines and stanzas. Which part is the chorus (usually it's obvious, sometimes, not so much)? Write down the actual words, even if it's the same one 10 times.

When you're done, you can check it against a published source. Keeping in mind that a lot of lyrics on the internet are wrong. Or truncated. Also, if there's a difference between the official lyric and what the singer says, go with the latter.

Repeat the process for at least a dozen songs, preferably in the style you want to write in. In most cases, the words that move you deeply are simple and repetitive. You already know that's going to be the case. But you need to create it with your hands and feel it in your fingers.

Now start writing. Or take something you've already written and strip it down then build it up again.

What is central to your theme or message? Turn it into a chorus. You can change the words each time but they should be similar. Use the verses to tell a story. Or lay out a description. Or create a manifesto. Take a break after each verse to sing that chorus again, to let the words of the verse sink in.

Sing as you write. Or at least after your first draft. It doesn't matter if the melody is the one the song will go to. Make sure it's singable. The sound of the words is more important than the meaning.

Another technique is to write down ideas first, then sit down at the piano, guitar, or just on the couch, and sing it. Pull apart the words and use what works. You can start with a poem and sing that. Break it open and use lines, phrases, or single words that fit the song.

Does the poem (or unformed idea) have a story? Find the major touch points and make each one a verse. The chorus is the message or even the ending of the story. For example, if the poem is about the end of a relationship, the chorus might be about the breakup and the verses about meeting, the first sparks, deepening love, then the crisis you could not overcome. Your story can be about politics, friendship, the drudgery of schoolwork, or anything you want. Tell it simply and sing it loud.

How can I know what fonts a website is using?

How can I find out what font or fonts a website is using? Are there any tools or browser extensions that can make the job easier?

Answer

Option 1: Use a browser extension (Easy)

Extensions such as WhatFont (available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari) make it quite easy to detect font families of any text in a webpage. You just need to install the extension, activate it on a site and click on the element you want to inspect. The results are shown in a floating box, always in the context of your choice.

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Option 2: Manually check the CSS with browser inspectors (Advanced)

Most web browsers let you easily find the fonts by using right-click → 'Inspect' or 'Inspect Element'. It can also be done by pressing F12. This will show a list of styles attached to the website, that you can explore to find the fonts used in any HTML element.

Using the inspector is not as straightforward as using an extension, but it has several advantages. Some CSS understanding is required, as you'll usually need to go through several styles to find the one being applied. As a general rule, styles that are crossed out are being overwritten, so always look for the ones that are being applied last.

All styles from the page are listed in the Style tab, but if you use the Computed tab instead, you can find the properties that are actively applied to the element you have selected, including of course the font-family.

Finally, another way to quickly check what fonts are being used globally (but NOT how or where) is to go to 'Application → Frames → Fonts'. There, you will find a list of all referenced (non-system) fonts.

This second method is slower, but using the inspector can give you great insight into the way the whole page is built. Also, lots of designers and developers use it as a tool for testing changes before actually writing them on the stylesheet (because changing a CSS line in the inspector triggers a real-time preview in the browser).

naming - How does the narrator address a character who has changed her name, but only some people call her this new name?

I know this is similar to How to Handle a Character When She Is Lying About Her Name but the situation is slightly different in where my problem lies.

I have a character who is introduced as Tabatha to the reader. However she changes her name at one point and the reader does not know. Other characters are constantly referring to a person called "Maria" and the reader never 'sees' her in any scene. Later it is revealed that Maria is actually Tabatha (both to the readers and the characters who know her as Tabatha).

It's at this point where I run into my problem. She's embraced the new name "Maria" and she spends the bulk of the remainder of the narrative around characters who refer to her as such. However now the reader knows she is Tabatha and for at least half of the book (if not more) the narrator has called her this when she is in scene. But after the revelation, it seems fitting and appropriate for the narrator to call her Maria from this point on until she makes the conscious decision to change her name back.

That seems to be the right path but wanted to make sure it made senses

Also I want to be consistent considering I have another character who is often referred to by two different names. Only that scenario is different. I have a character who is almost always referred to as Mrs. Coles by the narrator because for the most part she is only around teenage characters who call her that. But during the rare scenes where she is around only other adults who call her by her first name "Anita" the narrator refers to her as such and typically each scene she's introduced by her full name and then it's subsequently shortened to either Mrs. Coles or Anita depending on the scene.

With that in mind, it almost seems that with my Tabatha character, if she is in a scene interacting mostly with people who ONLY refer to her as Tabatha that the narrator should adjust accordingly and when she is primarily with people who ONLY refer to her as Maria the narrator should adjust accordingly and just like with Anita Coles, at the beginning of each scene I introduce her in a way that gives both her names (not sure how I would do that) and then "shorten" it to whatever is appropriate for the scene.

For some reason though, that logic seems less appropriate with the Tabatha character than it does with the Anita Coles character (perhaps because it's easier to introduce Anita Coles to a scene by her full name and just shorten it).

I hope that's enough information to help with figuring this out.

Answer

You have a few options, all of which are (in my view) perfectly reasonable:

• 
  

  If you're using an intimate narrative style (with access to only one character's thoughts at a time):

  
  
  
  
  • Simply call her whatever the character in question considers her to be. If your viewpoint character still thinks of her as Tabatha, call her Tabatha even if everyone else calls her Maria.
  
  
  • Show events from the perspective of a character who transitions from thinking of her as Tabatha to thinking of her as Maria, and follow this transition (such that the reader goes through it too).
  
  
  • Switch viewpoints, such that when she's being referred to as Maria, she's viewed by a character who sees her as Tabatha, and vice versa, such that the connection is evident.
  
  
  • The opposite of the above. Have her viewed by someone who thinks of her as the thing she's being called. Done sloppily, this could be confusing (and make it seem like different people), but I think as long as you're conscious of this risk, it should be fairly easy to make it clear from circumstance that they're the same person.
  
  
  
  



• 
  

  If you're using a less intimate style (with the freedom to communicate things that the characters don't know; think LOTR) or a semi-intimate style (where you can communicate things that they know, but which aren't immediately on their mind; think Harry Potter), you may be able to simply explain. After this, it shouldn't matter what name you call her, as long as you're consistent. You establish the change has occured, then write confidently in the knowledge that the reader now understands this.

  
  

Word on the street was that Tabatha, now calling herself "Maria", would be coming to the party too. Exactly what had stopped Maria from attending the last three parties was anybody's guess, and a subject of hot debate among all but the very quietest members of the group.

OR

Word on the street was that Tabatha, now calling herself "Maria", would be coming to the party too. Exactly what had stopped Tabatha from attending the last three parties was anybody's guess, and a subject of hot debate among all but the very quietest members of the group.

• If you're trying to capture the surface level, and express her as a chameleonic character, it might be appropriate to switch the name around according to who she's speaking to (or even arbitrarily). Doing so will (I think) do one of two things (depending on how consistently you characterise her):
  
  
  
  • If her behavior is very consistent, it will give the impression that her name is irrelevant (she's still the same person underneath). This is a little like how religious figures such as God and Satan have many names - it communicates the idea that their identity is deeper than a name, and though names may change their identity will not.
  
  
  • If her behavior is noticeably different depending on who she speaks to, it will give the impression that she has no true nature, or that her true nature is so obscured as to be hidden even from the reader.
  
  
  
  

Ultimately, it depends on your stylistic choices, and the impression you're trying to give.

volatility - Construction of VIX and VVIX

I just read the CBOE's Whitepapers for VIX and VVIX and notice that they are constructed in the same way, i.e. a range of calls and puts on the respective underlyings (S&P500 in case of VIX, and VIX itself in case of VVIX) weighted inversely to their strikes squared. I understand that the motive is to create a constant gamma portfolio.

The question is, as the underlyings follow different forms of processes (assume GBM for S&P500, CIR for VIX), how come the construction be the same for both indices? I thought that different processes would lead to different greeks, which in turn would affect the way we build the constant gamma portfolio? Or does it not matter at all?

Answer

Strictly speaking, indices such as the VIX are built to approximate the expected variance (of log-returns) that would effectively realise under a pure diffusion setting (i.e. no jumps) $$ \frac{dX_t}{X_t} = \mu(t) dt + \sigma(t,.) dW_t^{\mathbb{Q}} $$

Writing out the equations (*) yields the famous static replication formula in terms of strike-weighted OTMF options that you refer to, along with the constant Gamma portfolio interpretation you mention.

Although many people claim that this constitutes a model-free estimate of future variance, this is not completely true since pure diffusion is assumed all the way (but this does not preclude the fact that the diffusion coefficient $\sigma(t,.)$ could exhibit its own source of stochasticity, i.e. that the true diffusion process could be Heston or local volatility or GBM... hence the model-free adjective).

IMHO, you should really see volatility indices such as the VIX as expected realised variances assuming pure diffusion, in a similar way you look at the implied volatility of an option as the figure you should use in a (wrong) GBM setting to retrieve the (right) observed market price.

I hope this clears your confusion.

(*) This requires approximating the sample variance of the log-returns observed over $[0,t]$ as the quadratic variation $\langle \ln X \rangle_t$

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[Edit] More details on the derivation + constant Vega feature in this excellent note by Fabrice Rouah.

layout - Allow list box to expand to browser height?

I'm designing a web app that includes a list builder. I've proposed that the height of the list box containing the available items should grow depending upon the available browser height. However, I haven't been able to find any examples or best practice articles on this topic, so now I'm unsure.

The list may have a handful of items or up to hundreds/thousands. It can be a flat list or a tree. I'm including a filter box to help users to reduce the list and find particular items.

Also, In general I'm not forcing all the page content to fit into the visible area. The page can scroll as necessary, but probably won't on these list builder pages. I just wanted the list to take the available height to provide the largest view possible.

Answer

Well, expanding panes with window resizing is so routine on desktop apps it's almost a given. The Windows 7 UX Guidelines say:

Of course, the reason users resize a window is to take advanced of the additional screen space, so the content should expand accordingly by giving more space to the UI elements that need it. Windows with dynamic content, documents, images, lists, and trees benefit the most from resizable windows. (p583)

The guidelines provide an illustration of a resizing list view control.

Not expanding your panes sort of defeats the purpose of having resizable windows, preventing users from using the screen resources in the best way they can. Expanding your panes in web apps really has no downside I can think of.

I believe web apps don’t do it because (a) it used to be impossible, (b) lots of developers never learned how, (c) the rest didn’t want to bother. I think it’s far overdue.

But then, there are a lot of goods things that are routine in the desktop world that have yet to make it into web apps –they’re still in the pre-GUI era in many ways.

login - Why is the common practice of sign in error message always mix the wrong username/password cases together?

Example: When I try to sign in a service with a Username / Password combination, the error message always returns as "Username or password is invalid." But the actual case is that I input a wrong username which doesn't even exist on this site. Why doesn't the message simply tell me the username doesn't exist?

I tried with several services. Only Facebook tells me my account doesn't exist. Others (Google, Twitter, SlideShare, Yahoo!) just don't rule out the possibility that password is wrong.

I am wondering why this is a common practice. Is it some tradition dated back from old-time limitation which has great potential to improve, or does it behave like this for some legal reason?

copywriting - Does using bold font for keywords and key points increase readability of user manuals?

I find myself writing quite a lot of articles, user manual-like documents, as well as posting hundreds of questions on stackexchange sites.

Over time, I developed a certain style of writing, which uses bold letters to emphasize keywords, and key questions. I do so, because I found that users often fail to see the key points that I'm trying to make. I find myself figuring out, what is the main question that I want to ask, and mark it in bold. Does using bold font improve readability of text for first time reader?

When I write a document that is about 10 pages long (nicely formatted with section titles, table of contents and such), I still find myself wanting to bold the key points. I'm interested in learning if using bold fonts improve readability of documents that may be read more than once, such as user manuals.

Maybe there are some professional copywriter or technical writer blogs, etc, that deal with this style of writing? I don't want to overdo it.

Answer

I don't have references to hand, and Google is failing me, but my (very fallible) recollection is that:

• 
  

  bold text inline decreases reading speed / legibility

  
  


• 
  

  bold text increases "scannability" when searching since folk can easily find the bolded text

  
  

There are, of course, other options to highlight key points that will help readers find the important text than bold.

For example bullet points;

• highlight key points


• help readers find important text

without the same typographic distractions. Sidebars and other marginal notations are also commonly used. I know at least one TA who says that the urge to use bold text to highlight is an indication that she needs to rewrite for clarity.

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If you want to dig into technical writing more I recommend you take a look at the Society for Technical Communication (http://www.stc.org/). There's also an STC UX SIG with a mailing list that's open non-STC members (bias warning: I'm the list moderator ;-) You may find some folk on that list who have more knowledge about this specifically.

stochastic processes - Geometric brownian motion vs. Ornstein Uhlenbeck

I'm looking at the SDE of Geometric brownian motion(*):

$$d X(t) = \sigma X(t) d B(t) + \mu X(t) d t$$

(with analytic solution $X(t) = X(0) e^{(\mu - \sigma^2 / 2) t + \sigma B(t)}$)

and the SDE of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process:

$$d X(t) = \sigma d B(t) + \theta (\mu - X(t)) d t$$

In which case the one or the other is better suited for modelling financial data? I read that currrency price data can be well modelled by O-U process. Is there a heuristic/empirical argument for that ?

terminology - What is the difference between a designer and an artist?

I've noticed that I often use the words "artist" and "designer" in the same context. It seems to me that every designer can be an artist, but not every artist is a designer.

I wasn't sure though, so I had a look at the definition of design, by Google:

de·sign

noun

• a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made.

synonyms: plan, blueprint, drawing, sketch, outline, map, plot, diagram, draft, representation, scheme, model

• the art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan or drawing.

synonyms: pattern, motif, device

• purpose, planning, or intention that exists or is thought to exist behind an action, fact, or material object.

synonyms: intention, aim, purpose, plan, intent, objective, object, goal, end, target

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Based on that definition, a designer could be the creator of many things. So in that way, it seems every artist might be a designer.

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So, are the two interchangeable? If not, what is the difference?

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Edit: Please support your answer via citation or definition so that your answer might be marked correct, rather than being a matter of opinion.

Answer

There is no difference.

Design is art, art is design.

Any good artist is designing their work. Any good designer has an art to their work.

The artist "designs" the composition of any piece they create, be it a painting, sculpture, furniture, etc. There is design even in a child's drawing. They choose where the sun goes, where the dog is, where the grass stops, etc. That's all design within artwork.

The designer uses "artistic" choices to create appealing images. Colors, line weight, position, proximity, scale, motion, are all artistic choices made by a "designer".

If any possible difference does exist, it could possibly be argued that there is a responsibility difference. But that does not convey to any of the work specifically. Those who self-classify themselves as "designers" may perhaps be more time clock punchers while creating art. And those who self-classify as an "artist" may be slightly more free to create their designs when the mood strikes them.

I see this question as being similar to asking, "Is that a dollar or a buck?", "A quid or a pound?" Same thing.... just different terminology.

Referencing dictionary.com....

Designer: a person who devises or executes designs, especially one who creates forms, structures, and patterns, as for works of art or machines.

Artist:

1 a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.

2. a person who practices one of the fine arts, especially a painter or sculptor.

3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.

4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mime artist; an artist of the dance.

5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.

I've crossed out obvious unrelated definitions, but the other three are pretty much the same as the definition of "Designer"

In today's world, many may see a "designer" as a computer operator and sadly many designers may see themselves that way as well. However, design traditionally has required great craftsmanship, steady hands, a good artistic eye, etc. Design hasn't always been as simple as launching an application and them moving some objects around on a digital page. There is art in it, same as there is design in art.

I, personally, don't know any designers who would not also qualify themselves as artists. I do know several artists who would not qualify themselves as designers, but that's more a bigoted stance about money than the actual work.

Were the designers who created the wonderful music posters and album covers of the 60s and 70s not artists?

Was Paul Rand not an artist?

Saul Bass and Milton Glazer merely designers with no "art" in their work?

I think not.

Oh so many down votes.... :) Apparently a great deal of designers think they aren't artists or a great deal of artists think they aren't designers.

python - forward + displacement

I I am trying to price a cap/floor using Quantlib in Python. the initial code from from this website: http://gouthamanbalaraman.com/blog/interest-rate-cap-floor-valuation-quantlib-python.html

Here is my code to price a floor on EURIBOR1M.

When I print the results , I get the following error:

RuntimeError: forward + displacement (-0.437337 + 0) must be positive

And when I launch the computation for a floor I get this error:

start_date = ql.Date(4, 2, 2019)
end_date = ql.Date(31, 8 , 2023)
period = ql.Period(1, ql.Months)
calendar = ql.TARGET()

buss_convention = ql.ModifiedFollowing
rule = ql.DateGeneration.Forward
end_of_month = False

schedule = ql.Schedule(start_date, end_date, period,
                       calendar, buss_convention, buss_convention, 
                       rule, end_of_month)

ibor_index = ql.Euribor(ql.Period(1, ql.Months), ts_handle)
ibor_index.addFixing(ql.Date(31,1, 2019), -0.368)

ibor_leg = ql.IborLeg([2074408.03], schedule, ibor_index)

strike = 0.0
floor = ql.Floor(ibor_leg, [strike])

vols = ql.QuoteHandle(ql.SimpleQuote(0.547295))
engine2 = ql.BlackCapFloorEngine(ts_handle, ovs_handle)
floor.setPricingEngine(engine2)
print (floor.NPV())

RuntimeError: forward + displacement (-0.368 + 0) must be positive

 import QuantLib as ql
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    import numpy as np
    %matplotlib inline

calc_date = ql.Date(22, 2, 2019)
ql.Settings.instance().evaluationDate = calc_date

dates = [ql.Date(22,2,2019), ql.Date(22,4,2019), 

         ql.Date(23,5,2019), ql.Date(24,6,2019),
         ql.Date(24,7,2019), ql.Date(22,8,2019),
         ql.Date(23,9,2019), ql.Date(23,10,2019),
         ql.Date(22,11,2019), ql.Date(23,12,2019),
         ql.Date(23,1,2020), ql.Date(24,2,2020),
         ql.Date(22,5,2020), ql.Date(24,8,2020),
         ql.Date(23,11,2020), ql.Date(22,2,2021),
         ql.Date(24,2,2022), ql.Date(23,2,2023),
         ql.Date(22,2,2024), ql.Date(24,2,2025),
         ql.Date(23,2,2026), ql.Date(22,2,2027), 

         ql.Date(24,2,2028), ql.Date(22,2,2029),
         ql.Date(24,2,2031), ql.Date(23,2,2034), 
         ql.Date(24,2,2039), ql.Date(22,2,2044),
         ql.Date(22,2,2049), 
         ]

yields = [-0.36800000,-0.36500000,
          -0.36520000,-0.36430000,
          -0.36350000,-0.36200000,
          -0.36190000,-0.36150000,

          -0.36000000,-0.35890000,
          -0.35680000,-0.35410000,
          -0.34600000,-0.33650000,
          -0.32000000,-0.30490000,
          -0.22600000,-0.13200000,
          -0.02640000,0.08200000,
          0.19150000,0.30100000,
          0.40100000,0.49900000,
          0.68700000,0.89380000,
          1.06480000,1.13200000,

          1.14900000]


day_count = ql.ActualActual()
calendar = ql.TARGET()
interpolation = ql.Linear()
compounding = ql.Compounded
compounding_frequency = ql.Annual

term_structure = ql.ZeroCurve(dates, yields, day_count, calendar, 

                       interpolation, compounding, compounding_frequency)
ts_handle = ql.YieldTermStructureHandle(term_structure)
ts_handle.referenceDate()

strikes = [0.01,0.02, 0.025, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05]
expiries = [ql.Period(i, ql.Years) for i in range(1,6)]
vols = ql.Matrix(len(expiries), len(strikes))
data = [
        [90.635, 96.25, 73.745, 67.215, 61.17],#vector of vols by strike
        [66.665, 70.58, 60.48,  55.18,  49.6],

        [61.225, 64.64, 56.595, 55.18, 49.6],
        [57.25,  60.33, 53.5695, 49.045, 43.695],
        [51.645, 54.29, 49.065,  45.015, 39.915],
        [47.755,50.13,  45.8,    42.04,  37.21]
   ]

for i in range(vols.rows()):
    for j in range(vols.columns()):
        vols[i][j] = data[j][i]/100.0


calendar = ql.UnitedStates()
bdc = ql.ModifiedFollowing
daycount = ql.Actual365Fixed()
settlement_days = 2
capfloor_vol = ql.CapFloorTermVolSurface(settlement_days, calendar, bdc, expiries, strikes, vols, daycount)

optionlet_surf = ql.OptionletStripper1(capfloor_vol, ibor_index)
ovs_handle = ql.OptionletVolatilityStructureHandle(
    ql.StrippedOptionletAdapter(optionlet_surf)
)

tenors = np.arange(0,10,0.25)

tenors = np.arange(0,5,0.25)
strike = 0.015
capfloor_vols = [capfloor_vol.volatility(t, strike) for t in tenors]
opionlet_vols = [ovs_handle.volatility(t, strike) for t in tenors]

plt.plot(tenors, capfloor_vols, "--", label="CapFloor Vols")
plt.plot(tenors, opionlet_vols,"-", label="Optionlet Vols")
plt.legend(bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, 0.25))*

intuition - Are some of Windows 7's UI less intuitive than previous versions?

One feature I can't understand is the minimize to desktop button. I can't imagine why it is more intuitive to put it as this little tiny transparent strip on the bottom right hand side instead of wherever the user wanted to have it like in XP.

Second feature - you can't put any quick launch things on the start bar. Like if you had a word doco u frequently refer to, you have to put a word shortcut and then the document. So it takes at minimum two clicks where before it took one.

Third feature - The file explorer is much harder to use cause it's got different columns for folders it deems has different content - videos, music, files etc. At least put in an easy way to say, change a folder to have columns you would use to view files. eg. If I wanted to see how big each mp3 was and when it was last modified, i couldn't just change to the file view, I would need add all the columns individually.

Are there features in windows 7 that you find was just better how it used to be?

creative writing - Avoiding the "not like other girls" trope?

The "not like other girls" trope is pretty common in young adult fiction, arguably misogynistic, and usually applied to a female protagonist or love interest. Attempts to make a female character strong and unique can very easily end up in this territory, even if the author didn't intend to write their female character like that.

I write superpowered female characters in YA sci-fi/romance fiction, and I want them to be strong, independent, unique girls, without straying into "not like other girls!!!" territory. I don't want them to be copy/paste characters, predictable in nature, or an acre of water an inch deep, per se. How do I keep my characters unique and avoid this trope?

Answer

If you want to avoid showing a character as "not like other girls" then make sure your "other girls" aren't stereotypical.

The trope shows up with female characters who don't fit in. They don't have a lot of female friends, if any. When they do the stuff they like to do, they're surrounded by men. You can praise these characters all you want but the sexism sticks. Because they're doing these fun, intellectual, deeply felt things because they're different.

Don't make them different.

Make your female characters just like some other girls and very different from others. And just like some boys and very different from others. In real life, there's a mix anyway.

Our culture does steer kids from a very young age into male and female roles and activities (even when the parents don't, even when you don't think it's happening), so you'll have some lopsidedness. And that's okay. But for any large group where the social gender pressures aren't too extreme, you will have various genders doing all sorts of things and acting all sorts of ways. Show that.

Girls who like stuff that is more commonly done by boys will seek out other girls who like it too. It's only in TV shows that these girls have no female friends. Ditto boys who like "girl" stuff. Sure, maybe there are some exceptions, but it's not common.

If your female characters aren't actually doing things that most people would identify as "boy stuff", and it's just that they're strong and independent, and that is what makes them "not like other girls," then your problem isn't with your main characters but with your supporting cast. Not everyone is strong, not everyone is independent, but that has little to nothing to do with gender.

Write true to life and balance your characters out. That's how to avoid stereotypes.

conventions - When developing the user experience for mobile applications, is it better to be consistent with the platform, or your brand?

Some of the best received mobile applications seem to be those that work harmoniously with the native platform (for example, an app that sticks to the metro guidelines, for Windows Phone); however I could see that using the same user experience across all platforms could aid customers may make an app easier to use.

Are there any metrics or existing research that show whether applications are better received when they follow the conventions of the platform, compared to when they're consistent with the brand across all platforms?

Answer

For almost all brands, it's not an either/or choice. Instead, when adapting your brand to a new platform, try to understand the platform's look and feel and adapt your brand's look and feel to it.

Luckily, the things that matter most in branding (e.g. logos, color scheme, graphics, and visual layout) tend to be things that platforms give developers lots of latitude to define. Don't feel you have to compromise on those things. But when designing buttons, navigation, and other lower-level UX elements that platforms tend to specify, try to align with the platform standards.

As the other posters mention, in the rare case that platform and brand conflict, go with the platform. Otherwise you end up with apps like ITunes on Windows and other platform-hostile apps which confuse users. If users don't like using your software, it won't help your brand!

There are some (very rare) cases where breaking with platform conventions are OK. If you do this, just make sure you're doing it in a smart way, where "smart" means it won't get your app booted from your platform's app store and you don't do it any more than is critical for your brand. For example, on Android almost all apps use sans-serif fonts for readable text. But the New York Times's serif font is so much a part of its brand that its apps will always use a serif font, even if that results in less-readable text. But even Times apps limit serif fonts to news article content. Other text (on buttons, headings, etc.) is the platform default.

monte carlo - Time Step Size for Heston Model for Different Option Maturity

Suppose we are to price with Monte Carlo method two options differing only in the maturity time, with the same, say, call option payoff, or Asian option payoff with a fixed averaging window, with the underlying stock price following the Heston model. We know the distribution of variance in the Heston model approaches a stationary one as time approaches infinity. To achieve the same accuracy,

1) can we use longer time step size for the option with longer maturity than the one with shorter maturity?

2) What about using variable time step size with step size growing towards the time of maturity?

android - Choosing between Tabs and ActionBar spinner

I need to show group of objects in two ways: in the list and on the map. I can use tabs or action bar spinner. As Android guide says both modes are acceptable (In Android application, when to use View control instead of Tab). But because of map there're few problems:

• tab mode works with swipe gesture and when user is on the map he can't swipe to the list (because map intercept gestures to be draggable). Thus to see map he can swipe or tap on the tab, but to see the list he needs to tap on the tab only.


• I think that spinner mode looks not so obvious in my case. One element in the dropped menu looks strange.

Is there better way of showing/switching map and list?

resource recommendations - Is there an easy way (a pattern or plugin) to create urban maps? Inkscape preferred

This is a tall order, but I thought it might be worth asking.

I'm working on a project where I need to basically fake a large urban map: streets, parks, rivers, etc. Essentially I'd like to wind up with something that looks like Google Maps at one or two stages short of maximum zoom.

I don't really want to spend an infinite number of hours drawing it, however.

Ideally, this would be something that I could generate in SVG, but reasonable resolution bitmaps would be fine too.

Gozzy's Map Generator and Dave's Mapper are kind of what I have in mind, but I need urban, not D&D. Suggestions?

Please provide some feedback for Logo Critique

This is a logo for a pathology society.

Parameters are: Symmetry. Science Colors, Blues & Greens. Connected circles representing diversity, connection, synergy.

I have an entire brief and hundreds of versions if needed.

Design patterns or strategies for complex or large table data in Mobile phones

I want to display a table with 4/5 columns and possibly 100 rows (as in desktop app right now) in smartphones. The table cells are also editable. Now we want to port this desktop app to smartphones (Android / IOS), what will be the most optimized way of showing this on Smartphones.

** I'm sure many people must've come across this problem by now, Is there some patterns or solution for displaying such kind of large data (editable) on smartphones.

Answer

When designing for mobiles, the first question you should ask yourself is, "Do users need to be able to perform the same actions while on-the-go as they perform at their workstations?" The second question you should ask is, "Can all of these actions be performed comfortably on all mobile devices?"

When you're dealing with 100-row tables, that translates to at least 7-8 screens on a mobile. That's not comfortable, especially when you want them to be editable. Editing needs to be invoked somehow, which is usually accomplished by tapping. The recommended target area is 9mm, so your entire table height can be as much as 900mm (90cm/0.9m/35.4in/2.95ft).

Thus, drop the editing capabilities and introduce some sort of pagination and filtering to improve usability.

There's also a similar question: How should large table columns be handled on a responsive design? and you can search for other mobile table questions for more ideas & solutions.

Should I design business cards in InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop?

Basically what the question says, what are the pro's and cons to using InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop for business cards?

Or is there something else you prefer to use?

Answer

Nice question!

In theory, any of those (plus others you haven't mentioned, like the open source alternatives Gimp and Inkscape) let you design a business card. If you are particularly proficient with one of them, you might want to consider going for that one to save time. While the three Adobe products have some similarities of use, they all require some learning time. If you have the time, I'd definitely recommend you pick one (spoilers: It's Illustrator).

InDesign's specific purpose is laying out printed materials. That's its strength, you can see it as a way of joining Photoshop and Illustrator elements into a new 'thing'. However, where it shines is with multiple pages (tools like text wrap are extremely powerful). The good thing is: It packages fonts and images all in one file, but the file size will generally also tend to be bigger, so in your case, it might be a bit of an overkill. Yes, you could use InDesign, but you will be missing drawing features.

Photoshop is best for creating and editing photos or raster images. Its main 'power' comes with its image manipulation possibilities. It is not made for printing. Think of it more as a way to edit pictures you want to then add into printing materials. So, you could use Photoshop, but then you'd have issues preparing the files for the printer.

Illustrator is used for illustrations, logos, and scalable graphics in general. It's also widely used in printing, but not for multipage documents like InDesign, as it has no support for master pages and it doesn't let you automate page numbers. Illustrator's drawing capabilities are closer to Photoshop, but 'better' for non-raster illustrations. You can do anything you can in Photoshop - illustration-wise - and you will be able to get everything ready for production in no time.

So, in short, I'd say most cards get designed in Illustrator. As Confused mentions, all printers will be happy with Illustrator files, there are plenty of examples you can follow and the result will just be, overall, better.

Some related posts you might find useful:

Why is the Gimp selection pane not going away?

I needed to move something so I copied it and pasted it to its new location and now where I have pasted it there is a selection pane that will not go away.

I've tried to move the pane and tried the "Select All" function (Ctrl + A) to no avail.

website design - Why does the golden ratio work? Or does it?

This is just one example of an article promoting use of the golden ratio in design. Over the past few years I've seen quite a few similar articles, but none of them really seem to go into depth beyond just explaining what the golden ratio is. I've been able to find very few actual studies that test it and it seems as if the results are inconclusive.

Here are some more web design articles advocating the golden ratio:

Unfortunately, even though the articles above are from some of the more popular design blogs online, not one of them even cites a study. Only Jason Santa Maria seems to be even questioning its use, but he only questions it for the medium of the web.

At the risk of going against the grain of the design community, is there any objective evidence that the golden ratio actually improves design? Are there any split test studies comparing the effectiveness of a website design based on the golden ratio versus one that isn't? And if, in fact, the golden ratio in design is proved to be more effective, why is that the case? Are there greater principles that we can pull from it that can be applied in different ways? Are there are other golden ratios?

option pricing - How to hedge a derivative that pays the reciprocal of the stock price?

1) Suppose S is the stock price, how to hedge a derivative that pays $1/S_t$ at time $t$?

2) Suppose there will be a dividend of amount $d$ between $t$ and $T$, how to hedge a derivative that pays $100 $*$ S_T/S_t$ at time $T$?

The person who asked me the question said we don't need to assume the distribution of S here.

Thanks!

print design - How do Pantone coated and uncoated colors relate?

I need some help understanding the relationship between coated and uncoated Pantone colors.

From what I've read online, the coated formula (say 200 C) is for printing on coated (glossy) stock, and the uncoated variant (200 U) is for uncoated (non-glossy) stock.

This would lead me to believe that the colors are formulated to look as similar as possible when printed on their respective stocks.

However, they look quite different on my display, and when running them through the Pantone xref app targeting the TPX color book, it returns rather different results for each:

200 C => 19-1763 TPX
200 U => 17-1641 TPX

Is the difference between colors achievable on coated and uncoated stock severe enough to lead to this discrepancy? Or am I mistaken about the coated and uncoated colors being meant to produce the same results on their respective stocks?

When a color is referenced as simply Pantone 200, should this be construed to meant the coated or uncoated color?

Answer

You're pretty much spot on, they are formulated differently for the different papers. Uncoated is a more matte finish whereas coated is for glossier finishes, although in part that is down to coated paper being naturally more glossy. Additionally due to the lack of the steaming and pressing process, uncoated stock is by far more absorbent and requires the inks to be thinner and in lower quantities, however, in the vast majority of cases, the result will be almost identical. Its important to note that uncoated will obviously bleed more, by a margin of up to 10% extra, causing a shift in the print, especially with halftone printing, which will in turn affect the visible output.

In recent years however Pantone have skipped the U/C variants for the consumer market, and by default target uncoated variants. Some colours will look drastically different due to the difference in absorbency and whiteness of the paper, due to pantone white actually being transparent, to let the paper's whiteness show through.

In short, by default uncoated will be targeted, but if in doubt, contact your printers.

web app - Should a search page have a clear button?

Its probably a very subjective question, but here it goes....We're building a website that will provide basic and advanced search criteria. The advanced search criteria will be upto 50 fields, checkboxes, textboxes, etc.

I had a look at some popular websites, and a few of them like http://www.google.com/advanced_product_search do not have a clear button. I can't decide if there should be a clear button and the case for or against it.

I do understand that we have a lot of fields and the users could potentially want to clear all the fields that they entered. I know that these requirements should come from the client, but they can't decide if they want one or not.

So what would be the case for or against it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

Personally, I've never once user the Clear button. Usually, I want to modify a single field, not all of them. But like you said, it's very subjective.

design - Do signs printed on the road offer a significant advantage for the user over signs on a post?

I was driving earlier today and I came across a stretch of road that didn't have signs for the speed limit but instead had it written on the road like so:

Image source

It got me thinking that it seems like it would make sense to do this all the time as you're constantly looking at the road (hopefully) while driving. It would be something similar to how turn lanes are done.

Image source

Question(s)

Is there a particular reason the speed limits aren't written on the road? Does it give a better user experience to have them all on signs?

Answer

I would say there are a couple of aspects here

1. 
   

   Line of sight : Though while driving your line of sight is mainly on the road, the main point of focus is at object ahead of you straight ahead (e.g. a vehicle going ahead). Hence writing the speed signs on the road would have to require the person driving to focus down and assimilate the information which would deviate him from his focus. However having signs would allow the user to quickly scan the content as he goes past it while not getting too distracted.

   
   
   


2. 
   

   Speed : The example you gave above would work if the user was driving at a low speed say 25 MPH as that gives him more time to react. However if he was driving on the highway in a 60 MPH zone, the reaction time take to read the text on the road and also keep track of the vehicles in front of him would be less and hence there is potential scope of accidents. However in the case of a sign, since its at the eye level of the user and within his line of sight he can quickly scan the content without deviating focus from the road.

   
   


3. 
   

   Eye level : The signs are raised and hence a better eye level as compared to the text on the road which requires the user to focus down. Hence a quick glance would enable him to read the information. That said, there are strict guidelines on the positioning of signs to ensure the user doesnt have to scan too far to read the sign as shown in this article

   
   

The radar speed sign should be installed no more than 5 feet from the road curb. At more than 6 feet from the road, the sign will take the eyes of the driver an unsafe distance from the roadway.

marketing - How do I get more exposure as an author?

I've done everything, from building a nice website, being active on social media, posting my work on numerous websites, but I just cannot seem to get readers/followers. Any advice? Here's my website link if you want to check it out for yourself. https://klararaskaj.com/

Answer

Write something that captures the imagination, from page 1.

First, +1 to DPT answers, those are practical.

This is like asking "How do I write a #1 book". There is a lot of advice out there on writing a #1 book, and much of it comes from #1 authors, but in the end their advice relies on a person being able to write with some imagination, skill and persistence.

Allow me to provide the logical analysis:

Publicity is a valuable thing. There is a limited amount to go around, even with the Internet, because each of us must make a choice of what to do with our few spare hours each day, and we don't want to spend much of it deciding what to do with it. Thus over 99% of ads are ignored (literally, studies have been done!) and people gravitate toward their trusted sources in considering any new source (a new author, new TV show, new game, etc).

The trusted sources are actual friends, facebook 'friends', celebrities and existing often used sources (ads on shows I watch, bloggers I follow, etc).

Consider a viral video on YouTube, something that makes most people literally laugh out loud. Every single one of these I have personally seen, I watched because a trusted source sent it to me, or one of the online authors I read posted a link in an article, and so on.

Publicity means the attention of the public.

The big problem is there are a hundred times as many people that want a few minutes of our attention than we have hours of attention to go around. I could literally spend every waking hour following ads offered to me and not get through a fraction of them.

The filtering machine we have evolved: Thus we all filter those demands on our attention, and it has to be in a way that excludes nearly all of them. Usually that means ignoring 99.5% of the direct pleas (unsolicited ads). So we investigate maybe 1 in 200 that we find has a compelling picture or headline (and if it doesn't start paying off damn fast, like 20 seconds, we abandon it and move on). Now if we do investigate and the random ad we followed did pay off with some visceral reaction (laugh, pity, righteous anger, heart warming, etc), then we have found a little treasure free to share with our friends (or fans, if a celebrity).

Which we do, we share it. If we have a reputation amongst our friends and fans as a reliable source of content that pays off, they are far, far more likely to check out the content, share it with their friends, and all that attention is publicity. For example, if Chris Rock tweeted his 2 million followers with a link to a YouTube video and nothing in text but 'LOL', after retweets it would get something like, oh, 1.2 billion hits. because Chris Rock is a trusted source for the 'LOL' comment, if HE says it is 'LOL' then it is worth me investing some attention to it.

In non-celebrity trust department, I have told various friends that a new show is worth watching, or a new author is worth reading, and vice-versa. They put in time to see, as I do when they recommend something. A few seconds of them telling me something in passing is more powerful than a thousand TV commercials.

Friend: Have you read anything by ZB?

Me: No, is he any good?

Friend: frikkin' awesome.

Me: What's it about?

Friend: I'm not telling, just read it.

Me: Okay [sold].

"I'm not telling you what this book is about, just buy it and read it." Would that ever work in a TV commercial? [No. The answer is no.]

The machine is very effective. A tiny bit of advertising does make it through. The average person (again, backed up by studies) can reach 150 other people.

(This is not a 'normal' statistical distribution, more of an exponential rising, with a significant number having a reach of less than 5, and in the highest echelon, a tiny percentage of celebrities able to reach tens of millions with a tweet or facebook post or article or mention on their TV show).

If more than about 1% of people would also pass it on, you have the "viral" effect, not necessarily to world-famous status, but a saturating effect: Meaning that everybody that should find it interesting does get exposed to it, through their network of trusted sources.

This is especially true if it makes its way into the trusted feed of a "hub" person that can reach thousands or millions. So how does Chris Rock find a video HE thinks is hilarious? Almost certainly because a personal friend sent it to him, or it was mentioned on a site he likes to visit. A trusted source.

Don't fight the machine. You might think of ways to hack at this, use deception to get attention and so on. But there is a more reliable way to just exploit the machine as it is. It is difficult, but the answer is to write something compelling. You can advertise it yourself with facebook ads, or submit it to an agent: It is their job, and they get paid, to find compelling content they can sell. They will also respond to their trusted sources, but as part of their job they read far more unsolicited offers than others, so you have a better chance of being heard if you give them what they expect in terms of query letter and such (part of what they expect is good writing in such letters.)

So I've gone a long way around the track to end up at what we already know: You get the publicity of Stephen King or JK Rowling by doing what they did. Write something compelling as an unknown, submit it to a professional that also finds it compelling and sells it to an audience that finds it compelling, and tells all their friends about it, until it saturates: It has reached everybody that will find it entertaining enough to be worth whatever time and money you are asking for it.

You have to start with the product. Learn to write content that appeals to at least four or five percent of average readers, AND ads that appeal to at least 1.5% of viewers, and if you have done that then with very small investments of money (on the order of $100) you can light a fire that brings them to your site.

Or send it to an agent that is interested in reading more.

adobe illustrator - Problem converting RGB to CMYK for print

Below you find the design for our business cards. The triangles are yellow, as you can see outside of the canvas. However, inside the canvas, only when I set the Color Mode to CMYK, they appear pink. When I switch the Color Mode back to RGB, they appear yellow as expected. However, when I print them, in both cases they turn out pink...

I would just like to know what is going on here and how I can change them back to the right colors?

CMYK Colors:

Answer

Blending modes work fundamentally different in CMYK vs RGB.

This is basically down to the different ways that each color mode works and is why you see the difference. There is more in-depth discussion on the issue in this previous Q&A:

The reason it is always printing as you see it in CMYK is because it is being printed in CMYK, regardless of the color mode your document is when you send it to print. If you are working for print you should always be working in CMYK, from the start. If you can help it at all you shouldn't be converting anything from RGB at all.

A quick and easy work around:

1. Set up your layers and blending modes how you would like in RGB


2. Select all your blended objects (both the objects with the blending modes applied and the objects below that those objects are blending with).


3. Object → Flatten Transparency... (make sure the Raster/Vector Balance is set to all vector). This will split all your overlapping blended shapes and set their colors to a solid representation of the output of the blending modes.


4. Set your document back to CMYK.

business - Is it ethical to make derivations (adaptations) of an external agency's work as an in-house designer?

I work as a graphic designer in a big European (but not E.U.) public establishment with two fellow designers.

We have a corporate communications coordinator, which usually deals with all kinds of stuff including "managing" the design process, but it usually fails. S/he usually requests and pays for "designing a poster" to an external agency and then asks for its source files so that we can adapt that "design" to some other mediums such as creating a billboard, social media images, brochures or even "converting" it in our own language (when it's designed in English) and even some revisions of the original work.

I'm suspecting that rather than paying for these revisions or adaptations to the external agency, our management tries to take advantage of us, being a some-kind-of public official, who they think will be obey their "orders".

Is it legal or ethical to do something like that? I don't think it is legal, ethical and even can't be classified as a "designers job" to edit someone else's work. I will be refusing to work on such projects officially but I can't manage to find any similar experiences on web.

I'm planning to ask for an official consent of the external agency that they are aware of someone is using their work to create such derivations. I will also ask for the official agreement between our firm and the agency to see if there is any stated information about "modified work".

What other things can I present to our general managers (which are hierarchically on top of this coordinator and its supervisor) to reject this kind of project?

Answer

In answer to your question about can you make derivative works from the source files provided by an external agency - it depends on how you purchase those "source" files. If you are paying for "work for hire" and the agreement is you own the source then yes you have every right to modify size or even use graphical elements in other works.

I'm familiar with "work for hire" because the artist Keith Haring sold several of his works copyright and all to Playboy. Playboy then made watches, towels, and other products from those works that a company I co-founded help sell - something Playboy could do because they purchased the copyright AND the work itself.

The Haring foundation, the group established to manage Keith Haring's estate, didn't like it and threatened to sue but the agreement between Haring and Hefner was clear - Playboy owned the copyright and paid more for the work in order to re-print. The estate was mad about the "reprints" being products not in the magazine, but "reprint" wasn't defined as limited to the magazine so a lawsuit would have been expensive and fruitless for the foundation.

Yes you can make derivative work if your agreement pays for the copyright. If the work is considered "work for hire" where you management asked a designer to do a job and it was stated that the copyright of the work created transferred from the artist creating it to your buying managers then you/they can do whatever you/they want.

Copyright always stays with the artist by default, so best to have an agreement that states (c) is moved as "work for hire" and so derivative work(s) are fine and part of the agreement.

Without an agreement stating how copyright is transferred then NO you may not safely create derivative works since (c) is owned by the original designer.

user behavior - Best position and labels for buttons on an order creation page

I have a "create order" interface which already includes several buttons. Please have a look at the screenshot below:

![enter image description here][1]

My Question:

1. I need to add a new button ("Add New Item") which should be visible and accessible to the user at all times, even if they have scrolled down the page. Where should this button be?;


2. I need to change the position of the "Cancel" link to make it clear that all the package details which are loading will be canceled. Can you suggest a better position and label for this?

So far I have considered adding these two buttons at the end in a 'static' position, so even if the user scrolls the window these buttons will still be accessible. Please screenshot the screen below.

![enter image description here][2]

{removed the images for Data Privacy Reason}

jpg - Is there any method to deliberately digitally corrupt an image?

For an art project. I want to take a high-resolution digital image and digitally 'corrode' it.

My original intention was to subject an image to repeated jpg compression, and show the iterations, but after experimenting I realise that the compression method won't achieve any effect after the first pass (rookie mistake).

What methods are available to do this, if any? While I'd like to go for a progression, as in the compression example, I'm happy to hear about methods that would achieve random results as well (for instance imitative of digital static).

website design - Shouldn't automated translation be optional?

More and more websites use some automated translation into what they think is my language of choice, be that by relying on a browser setting (for which I'm looking for a fix) or worse by geolocation. Even worse, these (usually automated) translations are often both terrible and cannot be switched off. This is even more terrible when only a sites framework is auto-translated while (fortunately!) the actual content stays in the original language, since a mixup of languages is not exactly comfortable.

So, is this very bad design or am I missing a very sophisticated thought here?

Answer

TL;DR "yes".

This is a problem that touches on best practices for localization (commonly "L10n") and internationalization ("i18n").

The problem you've highlighted does seem rather common with CMS framework implementations that come with interface language packs.

From my own development experience, the rationale of community managers (like those at NASA for the site you linked) often goes something like this:

1. Let's use a CMS framework to make development and maintenance easier.


2. Cool, it also comes with "translations".


3. Let's enable them to capture and please as many people as possible.

Unwittingly, this results in a terrible user experience: unpredictable, partly-translated content that ends up showing a lack of understanding of the needs of international users.

On a site like UX.se, though, this is preaching to the choir.

Mind you, there are some cultures in which mixed-language content is expected like South Korea (and many Asian countries):

Basically, don't break the user's expectations.

gui design - How to avoid big banks of buttons?

What are some alternatives to having repetitive rows buttons that create large banks like the one shown below.

I think it's too visually dominant and distracting, not least because there's one of those optical illusions (where dots appear in the gaps when you scan.

Any potential solution will need to be touch and repsonsive friendly.

Answer

Buttons tend to convey actions, while it looks to me more like these are navigation links. Showing them just as regular links (following whatever style in your app) would be probably be much less imposing both visually and as an action to take.

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You can also take this a step further, and provide some more useful information instead of simply displaying buttons or links, by showing the number of items (or some other type of information about them) relevant for each as a hyperlink:

If there is a limit, then you can show that as well (eg: 2 of 10).

This may also make the application more complex, or cause a performance hit that's not worthwhile, but it could be worthwhile especially if it saves the user time (and the need to navigate into several items to discover nothing is there).

color spaces - Finding intermediate colours between two xyY colour points

I am working in an application where I need to know the intermediate points between two xy coordinates in CIE 1931 colour space.

In the picture below we can see that a linear transition (straight line) between A and B will go through a series of other colours, and I am struggling to find a mathematical way of describing the transitions between A and B in order to get intermediate points.

Any ideas?

Answer

This anwer is just intended to give you some ideas.

The Cie lab, (actually any color space) is a 3d space.

I'm not sure on what is the "real" 3d space, becouse for practical reasons it can be converted into ortogonal coordinates, so you have 3 coordinates, not 2.

"Linear transitions" are relative to what road you take. To make transitions between colours you can take several aproaches.

This will give you diferent "Middle colours". In an HSB for example, the model 2 will mantain the Bright and saturation on the same level just rotating the Hue value. In terms of Hue it is a linear transition. But if you use another aproach the B and S values will be splited into 2 paths, like model 3, and that will not be linear.

On example No. 3 however, you don't cross diferent hue values, just the Origin and Target hue values.

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Of course "linear transition"s is the obvius choice if you are using a mathematical aproach.

You can use some "S" curves or probably a logartimic curves, but, On what basis you choose each one? Probably you want a perceptual model?

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At the end, a simple ((X2-X1)/2)+X1 will give you the middle value in X axis. The same for the y axis.

fiction - Use of real-world languages in a fantasy world

Can you use real-world languages in a fantasy world?

For example, in the fantasy world Nuvo there are witches who speak “Russian”. Since this fantasy world has no relation to the real world, or to Russian people in the real world, could someone still have their witches speak “Russian”?

What is the difference between volatility and variance?

How do volatility and variance differ in finance and what do both imply about the movement of an underlying?

page layout - InDesign Data Merge and hiding missing data

I have an InDesign document which is filled from the data in a CSV using data mrege. The csv has columns for name, phone, email etc, but some of the data in the csv isn't filled in as it is not all necessary so when InDesign gets to that record it leaves it blank. So far so good, but I have my document setup like this:

Name: Bob


Phone: 01234567890

Email: bob @ email .com

When a field is missing I end up with just a blank record and I want the data merge or a script to just hide that all together if it's missing so that if a phone number is missing I just get:

Name: Bob

Email: bob @ email .com

and not:

Name: Bob

Phone:  

Email: bob @ email .com

I can't find any way of doing it, except by manually going through the generated document and that is more open to error.

page layout - How can a design be balanced and yet have a focal point?

The concept of a focal point seems to be a fundamental one in web design, yet doesn't a focal point mean a page cannot be balanced?

Surely by definition a focal point means that the page's 'weight' is shifted towards this focal point?

Answer

As DA01 mentions, having a focal point doesn't necessarily mean the page will be unbalanced. It's good to have at least one focal point in the sense of accentuating the main message(s), for example a call to action.

Now, elements can be distributed differently across a design and still be balanced (if you are using a grid, then you start with a certain balance right away). Distribution doesn't always have to be symmetrical. For example, you might have a large element placed very close to the centerline of the design, but you can balance it by adding a small element farther away from the centerline:

A lighter element can balance a heavier one by being further away from the center of gravity. You can also use color and texture to modify the impression of "weight" for certain elements.

Some examples of nice asymmetrical balance:

When using symmetry, the result is order and cohesion, whereas asymmetry lends itself of interest, character, and uniqueness. It also can be used to showcase points of interest in the page. So in short: Yes, a design can be balanced and yet have a focal point.

Ways to improve your writing skills

As a CS major I've learned that knowing how to write is critically important, but, I'm not really sure how to improve my writing skills. I'm currently trying to write a tech blog in English, but, whenever I sit down to write, it just reminds me of the fact that my English sucks...

So, my question is; how can I develop a better understanding of the language?

P.S. The book "The Elements of Style" wasn't particularly useful...

Answer

In addition to reading (as suggested by others), practice writing in contexts that are already available to you. (Starting a blog is good too, but if you can't build a reader base that can be discouraging.) You're a CS major; that presumably means you are designing and implementing software. There is more to software documentation than inline comments in the code; go beyond that, even if it's not part of the assigned work, and you will both practice writing and develop skills that will help you in a software career. A lot of programmers can't write a coherent design document or technical specification; if you can, you're a step ahead.

Practicing writing is good, but how do you know how well you're doing? If your professors aren't able/willing to review documentation as part of grading your code homework/projects, see if your university has advisors who can help with that. Some schools have people whose job includes helping students improve their writing; usually (from what I understand) this means graduate students working on theses, but ask your curriculum advisor, any professor, or someone in the careers center if your school has such services. If it does, any of those should be able to connect you.

Finally, if your school has classes in technical writing (which will probably be offered by the English department), see if there's a low-level course that's open to non-majors. Such a class is likely to focus less on "literary" writing and more on explanatory "nuts and bolts", which might be an easier introduction than, say, a creative-writing class.

icon - Is there a way to extrude an image in Photoshop?

I want to create a new icon for my application according to the new Android Design Guidelines. Is there any way to get my 2D silhouette and automatically extrude it to create the 3D effect?

Answer

Before you get into extruding your icon, it's worth considering that a) you only have a very small number of pixels to play with (3 at the most, really), and b) there are very, very few Android app icons that use (or fake) extrusion to create the illusion of depth.

The guidelines call for dimensionality, and there are many effective ways to achieve that without getting into Repousse, which is only available in Photoshop Extended.

If you have Extended, here are the steps:

• 
  
  

  If your shape is rasterized, Ctl/Cmd-click on its layer icon to create a selection, then click the New Layer Mask icon in the Layers panel to create a layer mask around the shape.

  
  


• 
  

  From the 3D panel, choose Repousse Object and click Create. Adjust as needed.

  
  

If you don't have Extended, you can quickly create a simple faux extrusion by duplicating your icon layer twice and moving the copies below the original. Nudge the upper copy up and right one pixel, and the lower copy up and right two pixels, then merge the two layers. Darken the visible part of the merged layer with the Burn tool or use a Levels adjustment. (If you need more "extrusion," make more than two layers, but I wouldn't go beyond three for an icon.)