Is there a best practice for disabled/inactive buttons or tabs that meet accessibility color contrast requirements?
A greyed out treatment seems to be the most common, however grey on lighter grey doesn't meet accessibility requirements for color-blind or vision impaired users.
Is there another common, popular treatment that maintains a high contrast while still being obviously disabled/inactive?
My hypothesis is that if you have old plain HTML forms, users are more likely to hover over elements and read tooltip texts giving more details about them. But if you style the forms to look new/fresh/cool/nice etc., people expect explanation texts and hints under or next to the fields much more and are less likely to discover the old HTML tooltips.
Result of this is that today you need to invest not just into styling of forms, but also into higher quality explanation texts, hint elements like question mark icons etc. People are having higher demands when seeing nicely styled form basically.
Somebody tried to prove this? Is there some kind of study available online? Or is just your experience same like the of mine?
Answer
I'd suggest it's not an aesthetic issue so much as a functional one. The tooltip just happens to be part of an older approach to solving this problem. People don't expect them on newer sites because they aren't as useful and have since been replaced by other solutions.
Because you can't "hover" on a phone or tablet the "old" tooltip approach is now largely useless. There are mobile-friendly alternatives, but in general the shift to mobile led to the "new look" out of necessity, including the use of better placeholder text, instructions that aren't obscured by fat fingers, larger touch-friendly input boxes, etc.
New user expectations arose from this new functional requirement - not simply a preference for an aesthetic change. Is there a kind of feedback loop where new mobile design trends are influencing desktop designs? Absolutely! But I don't think you can limit it to simply "old look vs new look" - it's also a question of how you solve the problem of presenting useful form information in a different context.
This question asked about mobile best practices for tooltips & has some specific suggestions for alternatives to traditional ones. I found this discussion from StackOverflow to be interesting since it dates from the early iPhone days when this was still an emerging topic. Didn't find any specific research though, sorry.
I have encountered a rather elegant argument about the limitations of empirically testing for market efficiency, involving the central point that we do not know whether a result is due to the "true behaviour" of the market or due to the model used to simulate that behaviour.
Unfortunately I have not been able to retrieve this argument online, nor any publications relating specifically to this, which may be due to the fact that I do not know how this argument is typically referred to in the literature.
In particular, I would like to understand how we can interpret any empirical results regarding market anomalies or market efficiency when taking into account the above important limitation. Say, for example, we use the Fama-French-Carhart model in order to examine whether a particular portfolio formation strategy leads to abnormal returns. If our $\alpha$ is positive and significant, how can we know this is due to an actual anomaly (on which we have based our portfolio formation), rather than a bias in our model, which has underestimated market returns (other than the fact that the model usually has a decent predictive power)?
I greatly appreciate any clarification or resources!
Answer
This the "Joint Hypothesis Problem". Basically, any test for abnormal returns is also implicitly a test of the model you use to define "abnormal". If you see a significant and positive $\alpha$, that could either mean that you actually are generating excess risk-adjusted returns, or it could mean that your risk model is incomplete.
This is basically what happened with Fama-French. If you assume that CAPM is true, then Fama and French showed that the market is inefficient, since certain portfolios have abnormal risk-adjusted returns. However, since "everyone" now knows about the Fama-French portfolios, and they still show excess returns over those predicted by CAPM, it's more reasonable to interpret their results as having discovered new risk factors.
All the viewpoint characters in my story are orcs and speak Orcish as their native tongue, but some are bilingual: they use English to talk to humans. Additionally, the main character has a magic power: she speaks with djinns telepathically, and it feels to her like she's talking to herself in her head and hearing herself reply. She does this in Orcish often, but can do it in English if she needs a djinn to deliver a message to a human. Her internal dialogue could easily go on for half a page if she needs, say, a djinn to explain a major plot point to her.
So that's 4 different modes of speech: spoken Orcish, spoken English, thought Orcish and thought English. And the narration of the main character's general thoughts and feelings needs to be distinct from the thoughts she shares with djinns.
Making it apparent in context to the reader which is which is not a problem. I can just say so. However I thought it might be handy to have a typographical convention so once the pattern is established I don't have to spell it out every time.
My first thought was that non-italic text could indicate Orcish and italic text could indicate English. Blocks of right-justified text with no speech marks and no narration could indicate the main character's internal telepathic voice, while all the narration and ordinary speech would be left justified and laid out in the traditional way.
However, I'm concerned that having right-justified blocks might be ugly as heck to the reader and/or look bad in a manuscript. Is there a better way?
Related:
I am currently trading futures products on some contracts that have low volumes. More accurately, the volumes of working orders in the book are fairly light. I am trying to execute a relatively large order that could move the market. I would like to break the order up to prevent this but I am unsure of the best algorithm to do it. I know there are iceberg orders but is there any other way to do this?
Answer
You are correct that large orders should be algorithmically broken-up. Perhaps the most straightforward algo is the VWAP (volume-weighted average price), which most brokers offer. Since a VWAP is easy to compute, the trading details are often transparent to the user.
There are more sophisticated algos, like Arrival Price, though not every broker offers these. Here's a list of common broker algos.
In general, refrain from submitting a standard market order for a large number of contracts and you should be alright.
Electric fans are often controlled by a knob which the user turns to power the fan on or off, and control the fan's speed.
On a lot of fans, the knob goes immediately from the off position to the highest speed, followed by the other speed settings in descending order.
For example on the picture below, you can see the knob going from the off position ('0') to the highest ('3'), and then the other two in descending speed order ('2', '1').
Why is that?
I am copyediting and doing layout on a play that includes a few plays on words and intentional misspellings. At first glance they read like typos. I am wondering if the convention is that I should be styling them differently (as I would, for example, for words in another language), or if it's best to leave it to the reader to trust that the "mistake" was intentional. For example, a line includes the phrase "next of skin" instead of "next of kin". I hate the idea that a reader would wonder if that was on purpose. Thoughts?
My protagonist is a very shitty person that makes bad decisions for the wrong reasons. They do eventually redeem themselves, not because of their own decisions, but because the supporting characters push the protagonist in the right direction. Will a protagonist like that alienate the reader?
Answer
It is not and never has been about making the protagonist likable. It has always been about making them recognizable. If you want a great example of an unlikable protagonist, try Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. Pinky is in no way likable and in no way moral. He is, however, recognizably human.
When people ask for a character to be likable, what the really mean is a character that they approve of, that exemplifies their ideology or embodies their life lie. These reader's don't want real humanity. They want a plaster saint.
For all other readers, though, it is all about making a character who is recognizably human and whose frailties we can sympathize with and whose career we can follow with interest (even if with horror).
I have recently drawn and scanned a children's book that I will try to have published. I converted the scans into vectors using Vector Magic in order to have nice, clean, smooth lines without any stray pixels. These files are now .ai files. I was wondering what my next step is in terms of
cropping - The pages are currently fully scanned A4s. I wanted to crop the edges off that were not actually part of the drawing and make it a resizable landscape. I haven't decided on the exact dimensions, but it will be in landscape, perhaps 18.7w × 12.7h.
re-sizing or moving elements - some drawn elements (i.e. a person) are either too big or two small. In Photoshop, I would simply cut these elements out, paste them to a new layer, move and resize them. This also includes rotation for crooked scans.
painting. The drawing is currently black and white lines. I need to "paint around the vector sketches" - filling in all the white. I have recently played with the Live Paint Tool in AI, so I think I could do this.
getting it print ready. I haven't decided if I will self publish or submit to some of my favorite children's book publishers. If I self publish, I have seen mostly 300dpi PDF requirements. What's the best way to prepare vector graphics for print production?
I am new to Illustrator but well seasoned with Photoshop. It seems that Illustrator does not have the same functionality as PS. I tried converting and then opening as an .eps but my smooth lines were very pixelated. I'd really appreciate any advice!
Here is an example scan (non-vectorized) from the book
Is a path the set of points from a to b? And is the stroke the "definition" (i.e. the color, shape, etc.) of the path?
And, how can you have a path with no stroke? Is this only because it is a computer drawing program? In the real world you can't have a path without a stroke can you?
If it matters, I am using Inkscape.
Answer
A path, as you said, is a set of points. It is a set of coordinates that define a shape. The path itself is only a set of numbers, a mathematical definition, nothing more. Anything you see on your screen is a visual representation of that path.
A stroke is a visual attribute that you can apply to a path. A stroke can have a defined width, color or a number of other properties. A stroke is a visual effect that is attached to the path.
You can have a path without a stroke, but you can't have a stroke without a path.
Are there any major advantages / disadvantages in styling ones buttons like Facebook, Twitter and StackExchange - vs. not styling them like Craigslist and 4chan?
Answer
Stylize buttons
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Beyond the labor, design perception and professionally concerns the real UX motive to styling you buttons should be MEANING.
Unstyled buttons all look alike. By styling your buttons you can provide the user with more information about that button, and what it does.
Consider for example the buttons that come as a part of twitter bootstrap: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/base-css.html#buttons
They suggest using button color to indicate things like:
Things to consider it styling your buttons:
Every aspect should be deliberate and provide value to the user.
Possible Duplicate:
Don't hide or disable menu items?
On a create/edit form, where the options available to the end user will depend on their previous input, in order to give the user some guides on how to fill the data, we shall:
Example: when asking who is the legal representative of someone, the form will contain a combobox with the following options: the own person, their parents or someone else. Only in the case the user chooses someone else, he was to fill a textbox telling who.
Which option will provide the best user experience?
I'm trying to cut a circle shape with a rectangle overlay and it's changing the shape of the crop somehow. This is similar to the pixel grid issues except I have the align to pixel grid off. So IDK what's going on. Here's what happening:
1. I Add A Circle (with the same circle shape behind it in black to show the distortion) Note: You can't see the black circle behind it because it's the exact same size. 
2. I Overlay A Rectangle 
3. I Select The Minus Front From Pathfinder 
4. I Zoom In And Proceed To Cry Note: You can now see the edge of the shape is no longer aligned with the same circular shape. It's changing the shape. You can't notice this unless you zoom in. 
This issue is happening on multiple instances of illustrator with new files with align to pixel grid off. I've toggled the snapping features. I've checked the file preferences for whether I was running a print vs web. It's a print file.
Answer
Adobe treats Minus Front and other Pathfinder options as new objects distorting the crop's appearance to fit the pixel grid. So while "align pixel grid" might be deselected in your transform palette, "align new objects to pixel grid" might be selected (hidden inside a drop down menu on the transform palette).
Also, this selector can be turned on automatically when opening a file where someone had that option selected and then proceeds to alter the settings of other files that may not have had this setting originally. There is also a pathfinder precision option that you can adjust to make the crop more precise.
How would I go about making a texture similar to the one used throughout this site:
Is it some kind of noise pattern?
My current goal is to write a novel (I'm already close to the 35K word mark). However, most of the books I've read about story structure are actually about screenwriting.
While stories are stories no matter the medium, I'm wondering whether everything in these books applies to novels. In particular, some books about structure are very precise about where in a screenplay should some important event happen; can this be directly translated to a novel?
In general, are the basic concepts about structure freely interchangeable between novels and screenplays, or are there major differences to be aware of?
Answer
In terms of structure the two mediums are actually very related and follow very similar patterns. You have a set-up, an inciting incident, a call to action, first act resolution etc. etc. The difference with a novel is that there are more ways to explore the intangibles that cannot be used in a screenplay - what a character is thinking, what memories they are having, what they can smell etc. - and these things are what gives a novel greater depth than a screenplay.
If you're interested in knowing more then you should read Alexandra Sokoloff's 'Screenwriting Tricks for Authors' which costs about $3 as an ebook or try her website.
She does both and she knows her stuff. Hope that helps.
I understand that they shouldn't be square to avoid confusion with checkboxes and that today they should be circle for consistency, but why were they originally chosen to be circular? I've never seen a radio with pop buttons (that radio buttons are named after) with circular buttons, always rectangular. Is there any affordance that a circle offers that another shape or designation lacks?
It seems to me that if you want to invoke the metaphor of this, the buttons should be rectangular. 
Answer
Square was easy
The earliest appearance of circular radio buttons that I can find is in Apple Macintosh System 4 (1987). Prior to that Mac OS used squares with beveled corners, which was probably just computationally easier to draw and better-looking on non-anti-aliased low resolution screens of the time. The general favoring of rectilinear shapes was dictated by the primitive graphics.
If not square then…
I don’t know of any source providing a reason for going with circular, but chances are square was the obvious choice for the checkbox, as they often appear square on paper forms, so designers picked the most obvious non-square shape.
Rectangular could look too much like a command button. It's vital not to mistake a command button for a radio button because a command button activates (possibly irreversibly) something immediately. You want to signal to the users that they're making a commitment of sorts. Radio buttons typically don't take effect until the user clicks the dialog's OK command button.
So if not square or rectangular, then what? Triangular? Hexagonal? Motif and IRIX used diamond-shaped radio buttons, which I’d rank as the next-most-obvious non-square shape.
Your radios may vary
You say that circular is incompatible with the radio button metaphor, but that’s not necessarily true. There were some car radios with circular buttons, which may have been the inspiration. Personally, I doubt it. I believe such radios date primarily from the 1950s-1960s, not the 1980s when these GUIs were designed. There are rectangular toggling buttons in GUIs that more accurately mimic common car radios from the 1980s, if you’re interested in invoking that metaphor.
Real answer: Users weren’t expected to see it as a radio
Actually, the radio button metaphor is a geek thing, not a user thing. Users were not supposed to make the connection to car radios. The Apple Publications Style Guide of 2006 advises tech writers to “Use radio button only in developer documentation; use button in user documentation” (p127). Up until Windows XP, MS referred to radio buttons as “options buttons.” It’s only important that they look like buttons of some sort, which are often circular, and almost never diamond or triangular.
A paper form metaphor?
Despite the presence of “buttons,” GUIs, including dialog boxes, owe most of their visual design to a paper-and-desktop metaphor, rather than a control-panel metaphor. They're basically virtual forms to fill out. Text boxes and check boxes obviously come from paper forms. Perhaps circular radio buttons were inspired by optical scan sheets, where a person fills in small circles or ovals with a Number 2 pencil. On such sheets (such as used for SAT tests), the users should only pick one choice in a set, so that’s an apt metaphor. That would also explain why radio buttons are small (smaller than command buttons) and turn black (in most UIs) when selected. That’s what I tell users as a mnemonic anyway.
What are some common mistakes to avoid while designing? I know color, text and images play a major part in designing, but there are so many other things that we need to take care of! I don't know those other things but I know there are so many...
Many times we get the end result with mistakes (minor-major-visible-hidden)...
So my question is :
I saw an amazing animated gif
And I thought I should give it a go.
I tried laying out several friends' pictures in movie maker and power director and though I sort of have a video where it is animated up to an extent, it is not as fluid, it feels more like a slideshow no matter how much I tweak the time/tween.
I thought, may be I need to fine control it and opened up Photoshop and added layer mask to go from image to image...though this is a lot better, I still don't have this fluidity.
I am not sure this is the right place to ask this question, but do any of you know how this method can be achieved? I think it's a great pic!
We have a Content Management System (near enough).
The picture below is the Administration page, which is a flex based front end, viewed in a browser.
If you think of admin pages with most CMS, like Wordpress or Drupal, they have the ability to link to the main site.
Usually they do this with the name of the CMS instance (e.g. Dekho Blog) at the top of the page somewhere.
We need to have a link from this admin page to the main site.
I would like to hear from the SE-UX community on your thoughts on the best way to go about this.
One idea I had, was to make that Dekho image at the top, the link to the site. Perhaps when you hove over it, it could glow or change colour? However, I am no convinced this will be obvious. At the same time, I quite like the simple nature of the admin page so do not want to over-complicate it.
Answer
The convention is that the site id or logo is placed at top left and links to the home page or main page of the site.
The reason this might not be obvious on your image is that the logo is not at top left, so if you were to move it, it would become more obvious via it's association with convention, as seen in the first image below.
It might also help the apparent lack of centralization as there are multiple features fighting for alignment here and the logo doesn't appear centralized.
However, I still feel there is a lack of distinctive border area around the logo which defines where the user is supposed to click, so alternatively, have a global navigation bar which separates itself from the main page content, as in the second image below. Then you also have a place to put other links if required (eg a 'Help' link maybe useful for some - maybe not in your situation...)
EDIT: A Big update on this topic is presented with PS CC 14.2! Now you can have linked smart objects, it works like in InDesign. Just go to 'File → Place Linked' and choose your PSB file.
This is the Promo video from Adobe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6AIgoFDwlk
Is it possible to import a PSB file (saved smart object) into several PSDs, so when I edit the PSB the change is visible in every PSD?
I only get it that way, that the PSB is copied into the PSD and the source PSB remains untouched.
Answer
To Complete and answer my own question here is the update from last year:
Big update on this topic is presented with PS CC 14.2! Now you can have linked smart objects, it works like in InDesign. Just go to File->Place Linked… and choose your .psb file.
This is the promo video from Adobe.
I'm thinking of publishing a book on kindle, but I don't currently have a business set up. Do you need a business to publish a book? I'm curious as to how to handle US taxes for the royalties. I wouldn't be publishing it from outside the US.
Answer
No, you don't need to set up a business to self-publish a book. In the U.S., royalty income and all related expenses to publishing the book (e.g. paying a graphic designer to create a cover, advertising, travel expenses for a book tour, etc.) are reported on Schedule C of your personal tax return.
EDIT
Regarding Social Security and Medicare taxes, you don't use the forms 940/941 that an employer would file. Instead, these contributions are called self-employment tax on your personal return, and cover both the employer and employee portion for Social Security and Medicare. The employer portion is a deduction on your personal tax return (available even to those that don't itemize deductions).
As Steven pointed out in his answer, don't forget that you may owe additional taxes that aren't covered by withholding of any W-2 income you may have, so you may need to make estimated quarterly payments to avoid having to pay an underpayment penalty when you file your tax return.
Do Google's fonts function just like any other font? I've only gotten a few but they look a little poor in quality when used in print applications. Has anyone used them for a print design and did it come out accurately? I know they are optimized for the web - is there a way to identify which ones will look alright on print?
Answer
They are fine for print, as far as freeware fonts go. They aren't designed or programmed for demanding typographic features but they'll get the job done. In fact there are some very well designed examples, within the limited typographic support provided.
I have noticed (mostly comping for web) that they have some strange display quirks in desktop apps. In my limited experience printing with them, it's display issues only.
What are some good instructional resources for learning logo design (books, sites)? How can I learn logo design more in depth?
This question is not about:
Answer
Maybe you should reword your question to be "What are some good instructional resources for learning logo design?" Because simply looking at lots of well-designed professional logos and analyzing them yourself is arguably one of the best ways to become a good logo designer.
You can't really be instructed into becoming a good logo designer. Most of the nuances of great logo design can't be taught or even put into words. It's not like there's a straight-forward formula or checklist for creating awesome logos. Sure, there's an academic side to design, but that's only a small component of becoming a good designer (just look at all the design school graduates who suck at creating actual designs).
So you can't just pick up a textbook or go to a website and expect to be "taught" how to be a really good designer. Most of what's required to become a good logo designer is developed through years of training/practice. That requires you to be more pro-active and teach yourself.
Specifically, you need to cultivate a strong aesthetic eye and develop your creative instincts. There's no textbook or tutorial that can teach you those things. It just takes lots of dedication and hard work. And there's no better resource for these things than:
There are instructional resources out there, but I think you'll find that most of them deal with the "fundamentals" or theory of design. Sites like Logo Design Love are certainly useful, but most of their content are just articles like "Top X logos for 2010", case studies, workflow tips, or general advice on the creative process.
I will however recommend the Logo Design Workbook by Adams Morioka. It's the closest thing to an instructional book on advanced logo design that I've come across. But a lot of it is just case studies, design theory basics, etc. However, it teaches you a lot about the business side of logo design as well. And it's just an overall good read.
I'm helping a friend to produce his website. He's supplied his logo and a flyer that he's used, which use the colour scheme he's opted for - green, blue and white. The specific colour values for the blue and green are:
Using those colours for on-page elements has had poor results for me.
I've tried to find a palette using Adobe Color CC, but can't get it to produce something using those two specific hex values. Unless I'm not using it properly, it looks like Color CC only creates schemes based on one chosen colour, rather than allowing me to specify two colours to work around.
So in these circumstances, given the specific colours I've been provided, how can or what can I use to create a satisfactory colour scheme from them?
Note that I'm not asking to create the same kind of/equivalent colour scheme for any other arbitrary colours.
Again - this is NOT the same question as the one asked here, which is asking if the calculations make sense. My question does not ask about calculations; I am asking how I can create a palette of complementing colours based on the two that I have been provided with.
Answer
Many ways to do this, including mathematically, but here is an opinionated approach based on experience.
From a colour theory perspective both the brand blue and green have similar values (saturation/luminosity). I don't think you need any more bright colours in the palette. You could pick either as the primary colour.
Use the primary colour for call to action buttons and links. Use it sparingly to highlight the primary functions of the page.
Create tints (lighter) and shades (darker) of your secondary colour by adding white and RGB black in 20% increments. This gives you a choice of colours of varying intensities for colour blocks and structural elements.
You also need a neutral colour in your palette. This is often grey or sand, but you can add a tiny amount of green or blue to make the grey less boring. This is commonly used as a background to help define focal areas of the page.
I know a lot of designers would find this approach quite dull, but it's failsafe, and quite similar to the one taken in Google's Material Design.
Many websites, specially government ones, enforce users to use a password which conforms to particular criteria. For example: use between 8-13 characters with at-least one integer and one capital letter and sometimes a special character. I have found such password patterns are rather hard to follow, and if you do it becomes extremely difficult to remember.
My Question is: Considering the security aspects vs memorizing burden to remember a unique password pattern for a site, it is worth to enforce password pattern restrictions upon user?
Answer
Every constraint you add to a password pattern, the more cognitive load you add to a user. And constrains can be good to make a password secure. But how secure is a password that user constantly forget and as a consequence hit the “forgot password” workflow yet again. Further you minimize the option for users to use there already memorized secure password on this site as well. Something that at least 60% of users do.
Security issues are particularly difficult to deal with because they’re an annoyance. We just want to let people get at the great tool we’ve created, but instead we have to build barriers between the user and the application. Users must prove their identities. We can’t trust any data they provide unless it’s been thoroughly sanitized.
Unfortunately, this is reality. A great deal of web traffic really is malicious, and sensitive data gets stolen. Typically, we ask users to supply a username (often an e-mail address) along with a password to sign in to an application. The username identifies the person, while the password proves that the person submitting the username is indeed the one who created the account. That’s the theory, based on two assumptions:
A password will never be visible outside the mind of the person who created it.
Both the username and password can be recalled from memory when needed.
Reference: The problem with passwords
Try to find the most common password around making users chose their own familiar password. You need (1) a minimum length of eight characters, (2) upper case and lower case letter, (3) a number or a special character like !@#£¤$. This pattern is fairly secure, but is questioned among security experts and usability experts. If you don’t trust my pattern make the judgment on the scale of User Experience vs. Security and you’ll be fine.
But never ever do this:
A dialogue of mine contains the following sentence:
"You fired all three of them?!"
Trouble is, I'm not sure I've ever seen a novel that used a question mark and an exclamation point together - it's something I normally see in comic strips and the like. Is using the two punctuation marks together only acceptable in certain forms of writing, or is it safe to use it in a novel without it appearing childish and/or obnoxious?
Using just the question mark doesn't really create the effect I'm aiming for.
Answer
I just ran a search on all of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files for the '?!' mark. Why this series in particular?
Here are the results: in 17 books (15 novels + 2 short stories collections) the punctuation mark '?!' appears 11 times.
What does it mean?
Even in modern literature that doesn't take itself too seriously, '?!' is extremely rare. You are right to be asking the question. I suppose other, more verbose methods are used to convey the same effect in other literature. Nonetheless, sometimes '?!' is the most effective tool and the right tool to be used.
Example:
“Fuck!” Thomas snarled. I looked up to see him stagger, holding on to the boat’s wheel with his right hand, his face twisted in pain. He’d taken a bullet in his left arm, just above the elbow, and he held it clenched in tight against his body, teeth bared. Slightly too pale blood trickled down his elbow and dribbled to the deck. “Plan B, Harry! Where the hell is plan B?!” (Jim Butcher, Cold Days, chapter 18)
Like you say, no other punctuation mark would give quite the same effect, and the scene is tense and fast-paced, so one wouldn't want to get more verbose instead.
As a power web user, I know how to use my browser and it drives me nuts when web sites force me to open a new page. My mother, by contrast, just gets confused when this happens. At the end of a web session, she closes the current browser window and wonders where all these other browsers came from.
Some companies I've worked with have a policy that all external links must open in a new window, in some kind of misguided attempt to stop people leaving their site. Instead it just annoys or confuses people.
So is there ever a good, justifiable reason to open a new window?
I am writing API documentation for a mobile loyalty program and I am not sure which of the following is better wording:
1) When the user requests for their visit and order to be registered in their account, a checkin is created at POS.
2) When the user requests for his/her visit and order to be registered in his/her account, a checkin is created at POS.
Which sentence is correct and why? If neither is correct, please show me the correct way and explain why. Here, 'user', is any person in general public who goes to a Point Of Sale Terminal.
I downloaded a 3d poster mockup from this website
The zip file contains 001.psd which allows you to put your poster in it and then creates a sort of wrinkled, 3d-ish texture to your artwork.
I previously kind-of achieved this by changing blend modes and using filter > distort > displace. However, what I can accomplish with 001.psd is more beautiful.
My question is, how can I create the same type of effect with for example this image:
I am interested most in giving it the same kind of 3d texture, kind of like emboss.
I searched youtube and other platforms but really couldn't find the answer. Any help would be appreciated.
Answer
Displacement map creates pushes and pulls only to a certain direction which is defined by horizontal and vertical displacement amplitudes in the displace dialog. So, do not expect it to make those criss-cross wrinkles which your black fabric seems to have.
If you still want to use your image as a displacement map for an image, that image must not have many long straight lines such as text or rectangular shapes, because one can easily see the displacement distortion is much simpler than the apparent foldings in you fabric.
If you distort an image which has quite small curved shapes and no long straight lines, the result can be plausible. The edges must be modified manually to fit, if they must be wrinkled.
An example
The brightness range of your image is at first stretched with the curves tool to cover 0...255:
Then a copy of it is used as a displacement map for an image and another copy is used with blending mode hard light to create the shading to the distorted image layer:
The original floral pattern has only curved lines, so the contradiction between the shading and the distortion isn't apparent at the first glance. The measuring tape at the left is long and straight, but it happens to have got a plausible distortion, too because the wrinkles at the left edge happen to go across the tape.
The next example shows that the result is virtually useless for another image with long straight lines. The original image:
The distorted and shaded image:
The shading works well, but the distortion is totally wrong to this shading. You must create the distortion manually. You can for ex. use the puppet warp transformation. As already said in the comments, by constructing a smart filter you can apply the same distortion to other images. Unfortunately the amount "how much distortion I must add" depends on the image content.
Here only a few points are moved a little around X and T:
Convert the image layer at first to a smart layer, then apply the puppet warp. The smart filter is generated automatically.
If you need exact results, the whole project should be performed in 3D. It's beyond the scope of this answer.
I have a picture containing lot of noise (see example below). Using photoshop CS5, is there any way to remove/or minimize these artefacts ?
I know this is possible in sound editors (like Goldwave) : you select a small sample of the sound containing only noise, and then apply a "noise reduction" effect, it will remove anything in the sound that contains same frequencies as sample selected. It is not perfect since its also remove some other usefull information in the sound but results are generally very good.
I am looking for the same functionality but for pictures. It should allow me to select some region in picture containing mostly noise (a black / very dark area) and then based on this region, the plugin effect should remove any noise on the picture with same frequencies/pattern.
I think some cameras have same possibility : you take a picture of a black background (thus containing only noise), then real pictures. using the picture containing only noise, the camera automatically remove artefacts in real pictures.
If not possible in Photoshop CS5, any other tool doing that would also be nice.
Note : i know about Filter > Noise > Reduce noise but it is not what i want.
EDIT : thanks all for your suggestions, after searching a lot, i have found one tool that does it : NeatImage. This was perfectly what I was looking for and made miracles. During some googling sessions I have also try some other and find Noise Ninja and Noiseware to be nice tools. I will try some of your suggestions when i will have time.
I have been looking around at different modal dialogs, and wondered about the best way to let the user close it. Clearly, the X has become a standard user expectation to close the window. Clearly the Esc key should do that as well. But I notice some allow the user to click the background to dismiss the dialog, and some don't.
I believe that there are two different types of modals: things that require user input and those that don't. One type of dialog is informative and passive - like browsing a picture or "hey this happened". Another dialog type is a transaction, that the user has input on. For example clicking on a database record and the modal allows editing of fields on that record.
It would be very frustrating to have the user enter important information, and accidentally click outside the dialog closing the record and losing their changes. I can see how explicitly clicking on the X or Cancel button communicates the user's desire to exit the modal and lose his work. In real life, people have multiple windows open, and copy stuff from window to window.
In the passive case, it's no big deal to make it a little easier to close the dialog because there are no consequences.
Clearly all dialogs within an app should behave the same. An app might combine informative dialogs and transactional dialogs.
What do you think is the best practice for this in a webapp that has many transactional dialogs to edit important records? Thanks for your thoughts.
A client has the requirement to provide translation options on their website, most likely using an automated solution like Google Translate. A colleague and I have been discussing the best way to present that control and are both of the opinion that it makes sense for it to appear at the top of the page (so that it is immediately easy to find when arriving on the page). The client has suggested that it should appear in the footer.
Based on a quick look around the web, translation options do indeed frequently appear in the footer, so there is an argument that we should follow that convention.
EDITED to include some examples of sites with language options in the footer:
Why are language options frequently presented in the footer? Is is purely to save valuable space above the fold? Ultimately, my question is, where is the best place for this control to appear from a usability perspective?
Answer
Stock reply: It all depends on the users of the site. :D
Non-stock reply: I'm with you and your colleague. If you're of the opinion the user needs the option to translate, make it high on the page, so that a non-native speaker doesn't have to hunt for as long. I'd also make sure it doesn't have huge visual weight to detract for native speakers.
There's a reason why at the beginning of an automated phone call menu system, they have the translation option - it's the easiest place for that user to find it.
So, make sure translation is necessary for the use cases, first. Then, tell the client, if it's important enough to be on the site, the best place for it to lower the barrier to entry for the non-native speaker is near the top of the page
This question crosses my mind from time to time as I am a Windows user and have often thought about going down the cheaper route by using a Linux based OS such as Ubuntu and getting free software that can do the jobs I need just as well.
As a user of the Adobe Creative Suite, I've always wondered if other designers/clients look down on you as a designer and also look down on the quality of your work if you don't use, let's say Photoshop and used GIMP instead, or Inkscape instead of Illustrator?
I may just be naive about this whole question and there could be many well respected designers out there that choose to use the free alternatives instead of the "top" software and get the work done just as well.
So basically, is it possible to establish yourself as a respected designer if you choose to use the free alternatives but create the same final quality of product?
Answer
In todays world there is Adobe, then everything else. This was not always the case.
I'll overlook any "learning curve" issues and assume someone knows whatever app they use well.
The issue with using "everything else" can be directly felt in terms of workflow speed and compatibility.
There was a time when you chose between Aldus Pagemaker (later Adobe Pagemaker) and QuarkXPress. Today you can choose between Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress. There's no direct connotation to either except perhaps if you are an XPress user you may be seen as more "old school" which is not necessarily a bad thing. It all really depends upon who you are speaking to. Those that know the design industry understand that InDesign and XPress basically do the same thing at a professional level and using one over the other is primarily a matter of preference. Those that do not know the design industry may not know what XPress even is and may see that use as varying from the "norm".
Scribus is also often heard of for layout. To be honest, I've not met anyone who sees the use of Scribus for design any more professional than if you were using Apple's Pages app or Microsoft Word for design. Scribus is an extreme niché market from what I can tell and, unfortunately, most would see a Scribus, Pages, or Word designer as no designer at all. For page layout, professionals see InDesign and Xpress and nothing else.
There used to be Aldus/Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator - using either was fine. When Adobe purchased Macromedia in 2005, Freehand died a couple years later. Freehand was a definite competitor to Illustrator and using one or the other carried absolutely no connotation as being "non-professional". It was all a matter of preference. Today there's Illustrator then everything else.
As an example of "everything else" and possible technical issues, Inkscape is a good tool, however it's built on an Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) core. That SVG core is still relatively new and suffers from growing pains in the form of unstable files at times. Not often, but it does happen. SVG has bugs and isn't as "fleshed-out" as the postscript/PDF core of Illustrator. After all Adobe has had 30+years to work on postscript since they invented it. SVG is only 15 years old and it's open source. So half the growth time and no "one" team developing it to go farther. Depending on SVG means you are reliant on someone, somewhere putting in work to further develop something they don't own. Naturally, growth is slower due to this.
There's also Xara. However, being a Windows and Linux only application, I can't comment directly on it's usage. I merely know it exists. I think the only connotation it directly carries is "I use Windows." I've not personally ever been given a Xara-created file so I can't directly comment on how "transferable" Xara files are with other apps. If they move fairly seamlessly to anything on the Macintosh platform that I don't think there would be an issue. But, if they tend to require Windows and Xara to open/edit the files then using Xara would basically paint you in a corner and make working with other designers difficult.
While other, smaller vector editing apps exist (Sketch, iDraw, etc) the overall feature set, in my experience, is minimal compared to Illustrator. But if these work for you, they work! The only thing I'd "think" knowing someone were using these would be "Okay, they aren't creating XXXX, because you can't with that app." However, "xxxx" may be entirely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
Photoshop has always been the leader in raster image editing. There's never been any other app which has as much power and as large a feature set as Photoshop. Due to this Photoshop is often years ahead of any competition in terms of features. However, it could easily be stated that Photoshop has too many features and not all of them are required by all users.
In terms of down-and-dirty raster image editing/correction there are a number of apps today which work. GIMP seems to be gaining traction as well as a few other smaller apps.
The issue with the "other" raster apps is often a lack of features and core functionality. For example, if you are only creating images for the web/screen many apps will work. However, as soon as you need CMYK images for press 98% of the apps are worthless. So, you would, as a designer, need at least 2 raster editing apps to cover both print and web work or find one app that does both - this is where Photoshop has a stable footing. GIMP does not support CMYK as far as I can tell. So, it's also one of those apps which may be worthless for anyone creating print designs. So this is more a matter of workflow than the actual app. The only real connotation Photoshop alternatives may present is "Okay, they aren't creating images for press." Whether or not that's a favorable reflection would depend on the person. I, personally, don't think many would hold it against anyone.
Macromedia Fireworks was a good web/UI competitor for both Illustrator and Photoshop. But Adobe killed Fireworks last year after purchasing it from Macromedia in 2005.
Corel has a suite of tools which are very popular - from Draw to Designer to Painter and others. These are all good tools, but due to feature sets often are more specialized in use. In fact, apps such as Painter are far better at creating digital paintings than Photoshop ever has been. But Painter isn't as good as general image touch up, restoration and color correction. So it's a trade off. Corel also ignored the Macintosh market for years - this did more to cement them as a less-than-optimum developer from the start. Had they started, like Adobe, by developing for both platforms I suspect they'd be real competition for Adobe today. You do still see many, many illustrators using Painter over Photoshop and sign shops seem to often prefer CorelDraw over Illustrator. I understand the Painter preference. I'm not certain what the sign preference is related to other than perhaps cost.
For web design... this assumes "web design" as related to HTML/CSS more than image editing and asset creation..... in my experience, it literally does not matter. Use Dreamweaver, Coda, or any one of thousands of other apps - or hand-code. I've not met anyone in web design/development that cares what you use. They only care about the code, and rightly so. That being posted, relying too much on what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) can be detrimental. You should often understand the basic code needed in web design even if you can't directly write higher-level functionality.
So what do all the app comparisons have to do with the question? Well, most professionals want to work the least amount time and accomplish the most. That seems only natural. And most who have been in the industry for a number of years are fully aware of the smaller alternatives to Adobe applications. And I'd hazard a guess that a lot have explored using the smaller apps, especially in the past couple years. The smaller apps may have even been adopted to a degree. Whether or not the "other" apps are a viable alternative depends entirely on what you need to do with files.
If you are a sole designer working on projects which remain in your control/office and are not handed off to anyone else to work on, then what you use to develop designs is largely irrelevant. The important piece of the puzzle is final file delivery. If you create press-ready PDFs it makes little difference what you use to create those PDFs just so long as they are correct and stable. If you are creating jpgs, pngs, eps, files, again what you use doesn't matter. It's the deliverable which matters. Most clients don't care what is being used as long as the final product is as it needs to be.
If you are part of a team, there can be compatibility issues. For example, if you are hired to create a full web site mockup then hand it off to a developer if you use GIMP, you then need to be aware of whether or not the developer knows and has GIMP or if you export/save from GIMP as a Photoshop compatible file, you need to be aware of issues which may arise there. If the entire team is using something other than Adobe software then things may be absolutely fine with passing off files. Essentially, if you aren't using Adobe tools you need to know how to provide files, in workable form, to those on the team which are using Adobe tools. So, this is an extra level of concern and could possibly present unresolvable issues.
I do not intend to speak for the entire industry, my experience is that if you aren't using Adobe tools you generally have far more time and file flexibility than most other professionals have. Whether or not some other designer would see that as a positive or a negative reflection upon you is wholly dependent upon that person.
I know if I were approached to partner with another designer and they wanted to provide Inkscape or GIMP files to me I really would not care. Send me files that work well and I'd promote your services, compliment you, and pass your name along .... However, send me files where I run into problem after problem with the files due to compatibility issues and my attitude will be different. In addition, I could not send you my Illustrator files without first flattening them and saving them as an EPS. That entails additional, otherwise unnecessary, work on my part. So there are problems both ways in this instance. Problems mean lost revenue and if someone chooses to save money by using free alternatives to Adobe applications at the expense of my time and my revenue then my desire to work with that person will decrease in direct correlation to the problems the files present. If asked at a later date to work with the same person again, I'd decline. It would be purely a business decision. That may be the biggest compatibility issue using freeware or inexpensive alternatives present.
We all like a smooth ride. If your choices disrupt that, others may not be in favor of adding you into the workflow mix. But if your choices do nothing to alter the overall workflow, there's little, if any, downside.
The direct connotations today regarding what tools you use are different than they were just two years ago.
A couple years ago, not using Adobe tools (with the exception of XPress) was directly seen as "can't afford" or "hobbyist" in the eyes of many. Before Adobe implemented the (horrible) subscription model most understood that due to Adobe's purchase and killing off of competition, there was no real alternative if you had to get your work done. Adobe created a seamless workflow between their major applications and even in spite of the bugs and problems with the software there was an understanding that using the Adobe Suite meant you could work faster. This is still true today for the most part. Therefore, if you weren't using Adobe apps (or Xpress) you were clearly seen as less-than-high-level. 5 years ago you didn't hear from Inkscape users or GIMP users in professional circles. They simply weren't present.
Today, not using Adobe tools carries a different connotation in my perception - some good, some bad. Today there's a clear move to get away from the stranglehold Adobe has on the design industry (I actually think it should be investigated as anti-trust) and many, many, designers are looking for a way to get out from under the Adobe thumb since it's clear that Adobe is taking advantage of their near monopoly in the industry. Often, I find designers using non-Adobe tools actually have and know the Adobe tools but are consciously trying to move away from them. All that carries with it is a clear indication that that designer isn't a fan of Adobe pricing models. But if you don't even know the Adobe tools, in general, it may reflect badly upon you. It's a sad state, but nonetheless often true. Adobe unfortunately has been the design industry for 30 years. Not knowing Adobe tools shows a lack of understanding in the industry and a tendency for isolation in your work. So in short, you need to at least have some understanding of the tools even if you choose to not use the tools.
Employment is another matter. Chances are if you're looking for a job in the industry Adobe is a staple of that companies workflow. Not knowing the Adobe apps certainly won't move your resume to the top of the stack and it won't matter that you know Inkscape or GIMP very well. I have never heard of any company which would even consider hiring a designer that was not familiar with the Adobe applications.
I've listed several various apps in this answer. These are common apps I've seen and heard of designers using. If you are using something which I have not mentioned here, most professionals will lean towards not thinking of you as a professional at all and more as a hobbyist. I'm not a fan of this, but it is often the reality. The trick to this is to show the work then if asked share the names of the tools you use. Designers can be elitists and look down upon someone using apps they've never heard of. However, if you show work they like, they suddenly become more open minded. Fickle bunch. :) A clear example of this is mentioning you use FrameMaker to most designers. Often, you'll see eyes roll and clear looks of contempt or superiority because they may have never heard of it. That is, until that designer finds out what Framemaker actually is. Then their attitude changes drastically. Familiarity in the tools tends to be conducive to colleague support - everyone having the same base leads to a sense of "community" and as soon as you change your base, the "community" begins to look at you sideways as unfamiliar ground.
Using smaller, non-Adobe apps can present technical issues if you need to hand off files. These technical issues will reflect poorly upon you. The more often they happen, then more you'll appear incompetent. No one tolerates "Oh, that was a bug in the app" as an excuse more than one or two times. If you can work with the smaller tools and not experience any technical issues when handing off or delivering final files, then there may be no issue.
If the smaller apps work and offer you the features you want, then by all means use them. The important factor is that final deliverables are in a state they are required to be in, you are aware of and can work with compatibility issues, and you're happy with your decision. But be aware that if you depend on others, or others depend on you, deviating from the "standard" which has been Adobe may not be the wisest move today. Hopefully that will change at some point.
Please realize that much of this is my opinion based on my experience. Different designers will surely have different opinions.
And this is way longer than I thought it was going to be when I started :)
Google's material design specifications have sets of colour palettes:
Starting with a base primary colour, which they designate as "500", they then have a range of incremental steps of shade, brighter and darker, to create a range of about 10 colours. The lightest is designated "50", and is near white, and the darkest, "900", is near black, but both retain some of the base colour.
I can't quite determine how the increments are calculated. I tried this online swatch generator, but I can't seem to dial in the range.
I think it's just a matter of adjusting luminosity up and down from the base "500" color, and I'm guessing that a value of "0" would be pure white and "1000" would be pure black, but the ranges in Google's palette's seem to have more saturation than a simple luminosity range.
Does anyone know what algorithm or process I can use to take a base colour and generate a palette in line with Google's palettes?
Answer
I made this little CSS3/AngularJS tool for a project to generate Material Colors palettes. You can enter your 500 hex color and use an external tool like ColorZilla to get the color values from there. Also the lighter ones are exactly the ones Google used, but the darker ones are off by a little.
Or is there a way to strike a balance between thematic naming and realistic naming?
Thematic: When the name relates to the character directly. Example: someone who only wears black clothes has the surname Sable, which means "black".
Realistic: What a character from a particular place and time is likely to have as a name based on statistics. Example: the common surnames in the United States are Smith, Brown, Jones, etc
Answer
When naming a character, is thematic naming or realistic naming more important?
Naming conventions are entirely discretionary and depend largely on authorial intent and reader demographics/genre expectations.
Serious literary works might place more of an emphasis on historical accuracy, for instance, so the author might avoid any sort of anachronistic nomenclature that undermines their work's authenticity. They might reproduce a realistic name based on the conventions of the culture, language, region, occupation, time period and social status of their character.
But realism doesn't automatically sacrifice symbolism and naming motifs. Many common naming attributions are already naturally denotative. Surnames can symbolize occupation (Smith/Tailor/Cotter/Carpenter/Butcher), region (lexical suffixes), family dynamics (patriarchal/matriarchal/tribal), or even status. Monikers, nicknames, aliases, pen-name handles and titles work in the same manner, they are naturally-occurring or culturally-appropriate aptronyms that reflect the personal attributes of the character.
The literary customs surrounding naming motifs are just as important and serve their own purpose. Often, these sorts of names hark back to a time when name-punning and alliteration were fashionable satirical devices used to ridicule, hyperbolize and poke fun. Charles Dickens and JK Rowling both capitalized on this sort of humor, allowing social commentary and stereotyping without being overly subversive. Naming motifs within certain genres, particularly the sub-types that fall under the umbrella of speculative fiction, are very popular, not only to uphold the whimsy of their respective genres but to add cohesion to the narrative by crafting characters that become an extension of the story's theme itself. This is a useful device if you're writing an allegory or parable, but it can toe the line of absurdism too much, destroying the realism that an author might have been aiming for. And if you're targeting a specific reader demographic and genre that don't favor the absurd, it will backfire. So you have to understand your audience's expectations.
But each serves their own purpose and aren't mutually exclusive. Again referring to JK Rowling, her Harry Potter series incorporated both philosophies for entirely different reasons. She used absurd names to denote foreign origins, to symbolize and to stereotype, to invoke wonder and satirize. But she also used realistic names to ground the reader and enable them to suspend their disbelief when confronted with the ridiculous.
Harry, for instance, is a very ordinary name meant to help a reader relate to the character because this character serves as a reader surrogate. The reader can more easily insert themselves in Harry's shoes if they relate to his status as an ordinary person freshly introduced to the world of magic, because each reader is, after all, a non-magical muggle from ordinary origins themselves. Whereas other names, like Narcissa Malfoy, are obvious aptronyms meant to stereotype and symbolize her personality as a narcissistic maladaptive person... which is also a foreshadowing device since this character is a villain in the story.
So the importance depends on how the author intends to present their ideas.
Is there any professional software (for Mac) that I can use to replace some of the adobe software like InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator?
I don’t mean one that replaces all, but the equivalent of each one.
Experts,
I need help in assessing the best approach for huge tables (lets say 500 rows), we want something that is intuitive, visibly appealing and gives more focus to table data. Most pages will have 1 table but there are scenarios where we have multiple tables so we need to account that as well
Currently, we are using scrollbars on table div but the issue is that it adds to another scrollbar (apart from scrollbar on sidebar navigation and content area). Rough sketch of our current approach is below:
For mobile we are using stack-table approach using footable plugin.
Although, one feature in Gmail looks appealing that is,
UPDATE: Please consider that table holds financial data, to be precise a Balance Sheet with multiple periods in column. First column is sticky/freeze/fixed rest are horizontally scrollable. Our main concerns are multiple scrollbars, if we can avoid the table scrollbars with loosing usability.
This question has come about as a follow on from @Scott's "How do you break out of current creative mind sets?"
I work in a (smallish) company that produces all it's in house content such as email newsletters, web image (banners, flyers etc) and I am the only person that does these jobs.
As it is a company that sells IT hardware, there are a lot of flyers that get sent out to customers and also numerous banner changes on websites every week regarding promo's.
Because I work in an office as the only "creative" I don't have the luxuries of sketching or using mood-boards etc as these flyers and banner are sent out fairly quick.
I have managed fine working here for just over a year but sometimes I feel like I get mental blocks as I find myself repeating a lot of older "styles" I used on previous flyers/banner.
What I would like to know is:
How, in such a short time-frame can I get more creative with my work without using creative planning methods?
Any tips greatly appreciated!
Theoretically, in pricing derivatives, most textbooks refer to the risk-free rate. What is obtainable in practice? The risk-free rate or the LIBOR rate?
We have been sent a design which is to be used as three panels for an exhibition shell scheme - at the moment we have a single page in essence which has a coloured bar top and bottom and there is currently 5mm document bleed.
The problem is that to print, we need to provide the printer with three individual vector prints (PDF ideally) so they can print one per panel and each panel needs to have its own bleed - for example, at the moment, the left most panel when created would have bleed on the top, bottom and left side from the document bleed but it would not have any bleed on its right edge.
The designer won't reply to emails and we have an exhibition next week so we are really up against it.
I have read up on slicing but it refers to "web images" which I don't think will be good enough quality so how do I create three equal vectors from one and how do I ensure that each of those created prints then has a bleed all around as needed?
Answer
So if I got this right.
You could either manually make 3 artboards side by side, or:
Object > Path > Split into grid...Objects > Artboards > Convert to artboardsWindow > Artboards. In the Artboards panel Select the first artboard and delete it.Now you're left with 3 artboards with the design spread across all of them.
File > Document setup...Marks and bleeds. Although if you set bleeds in the document setup, you'll be able to see the bleeds, so it may help you understand how they work in this case. 
File > Save as...Marks and bleeds, check Trim marks and check Use document bleed settings.Each artboard will automatically be saved as an individual page in the pdf.
I've recently come across the concept of the design brief as something that the designer generates to the client in order to fully comprehend the scope of the task and to minimize the amount of back-and-forth before you can start designing, and hopefully to minimize the number of revisions.
What questions, or kinds of questions should be answered by the client in the design brief?
Answer
When I think of a design brief I think it should have:
Many factors can come into play when deciding an audience. Some people will argue that certain typography and colors could be associated with a particular audience, as just one example.
You should know if you need to communicate with someone else like a print shop or advertising agency that is going to use your design.
Whether the client is going to expect source files, a template to be repurposed or a PDF.
Not just for the design but factor in any additional time that may be needed for bringing any source files up to spec for the design project
This is a very big one that I think gets over looked and I've seen some designers get burned. If you are going to provide multiple iterations or if the process is phased than each phase should detail the time for completion; and the expected time the client is to have it approved, typically 24-48 hours. If you don't set times and you come up on the deadline, the client can and will expect you to finish within 24 hours and blame you if you don't have it in writing.
Some projects a client will rely on another person brought into the mix and if you have a tight deadline and the client's photographer or illustrator didn't meet the time they were supposed to provide the material for you to do the design that will fall on you to still meet the deadline.
Knowing the goal in the brief will help the creative process
Not every client will like your design off the bat so in the brief it needs to be determined if there are a set of revisions that may be expected since you're here to not only provide a service but you need to make money.
We all have a standard norm to our design process but the brief in regards to versions provided some clients may expect a logo design to have on the first submission four or five.
The business background could be a key factor in the design, also help in the target audience and overall creative process in the design.
Sometimes you're fortunate to have an expectation or examples of how the client wants their design project to be because a client that has no clue is dangerous and you could be jumping through hoops trying to figure out what they want when in the end of a terrible project they never knew what they wanted in the first place.
A couple good articles on the subject that come to mind are How To Write An Effective Design Brief and Get The Design You Want! and The Ultimate Design Brief.
I find myself clicking on the auto select layer check box an egregious amount during the day. I was wondering if someone knew how to make it a hot key as that would save me quite a bit of time.
Answer
You can use Tool Presets and Actions.
Window > Tool Presets, and click the New Preset icon at the bottom of the Tool Preset Panel. Note the current Auto-Select setting and name it appropriately. Then toggle the Auto-select and create a second preset by again clicking the New Preset icon at the bottom of the panel.
Then, create a new action by clicking the New icon at the bottom of the Actions Panel (Window > Actions). Name it and assign and F-Key shortcut to it and click Record. Simply click the first Tool Preset you just created. Then click Stop on the Action Panel. Repeat this, assigning a different F-Key shortcut, and clicking the second Tool Preset you created.
You should end up with 2 actions, each with an assigned F-key shortcut which will then essentially let you toggle the Auto-Select setting (more specifically select a Tool Preset via the action).
You can't assign keyboard shortcuts to Tool presets, so this is really the only method I'm aware of.
I am doing tilemapping for a game. I originally went with a bright, vivid style but now want to tone it down into a more realistic style.
I spent a lot of time making a nice grass tile, but as you can see, it clearly doesn't match the darker colors in the tree that I'm going for:
Following this tutorial on hues, instead of redoing the grass tile, I decided to just change the hue to match. I selected the tree's base dark green color to paint over the grass, but it's coming out as an ugly olive color:
Clearly I am doing something wrong here. Which is the best way to change the grass coloring such that I retain the texturing?
Edit: I found going to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation is a good way to go... it allows you to play with Hue, Saturation & Lightness all within the same control panel until you get what you want.
Answer
You simply need to experiment with modes and opacity to get where you want to go...
I, personally, would probably opt for the Color blending mode above Hue. Then simply adjust the opacity of the layer until you're happy.
What might be the reason for a futures price on a stock being much lower than the spot, i.e. stock price?
Spot = 8.30 Futures M17 = 7.45 U17 = 7.23
The company does not pay dividends.
No-arbitrage pricing would suggest negative financing cost:
F(t) = S(t) * exp((risk-free_rate - dividend_yield)*(T-t))
Can this be explained by an extraordinary demand for hedging spot positions via shorting futures?
Completing the answer with stock quotes (this is a very popular Polish company with around 6 bn USD of asset value):
https://stooq.pl/q/?s=pxm&c=10d&t=b&a=lg&b=0 8,19
https://stooq.pl/q/?s=fpxmm17&c=10d&t=b&a=lg&b=0 7,67
https://stooq.pl/q/?s=fpxmu17&c=10d&t=b&a=lg&b=0 7.45
Answer
Can this be explained by an extraordinary demand for hedging spot positions via shorting futures?
The answer to your question is: kind of but there is more to it. Out of curiosity I looked into this a bit after you added the company name. The answer is similar to @will answer above but it was too much to add as an edit, hence, the separate answer.
This stock has went from PLN500/shr down to single digits. Currently trading PLN~8.60. Those numbers are adjusted for a 1:50 split in 2015.
When comparing the current price of a stock to it's future price, you need to adjust spot for dividends and cost of owning the stock (search for Fair Value if an explanation is needed). Owners of this stock have not received a dividend since 2012 and are currently receiving a rebate (not being charged interest) for owning shares--i.e. Short sellers are so sure this stock is going to zero that they are willing to pay an astronomical amount for someone else to buy, hold and loan them shares. That premium for the owner (cost for the short seller) is the difference between spot and future.
This is an instance where market participants are literally saying "I wouldn't buy that stock if you paid me to!"
Though the curve has shifted a bit since your original post, the backwardation is existing because no one has any faith in this company remaining a going concern (at the moment). Oftentimes a backwardated curve can lead to an arbitrage opportunity, however, not in this case. The arb is executed by shorting spot and buying future. For an arb to exist, the current price minus the borrowing cost for a short seller must be greater than the future price--it is not. There is no arb--just a poorly managed company that no one has any faith in.
Anyone interested in the -ve rate being paid to share holders can use this formula (assume the future price = fair value price) and solve for r.
http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/equity-index/fairvalue.html
Trying to achieve something like this text treatment, but not sure where to start.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/355573333059851007/
Not all self-adhesive stick well on bottles or car bumpers because the surface of the glass and shinny paint isn't very porous; the glue has no grip.
It also needs to be resistant to some conditions such as the cold, condensation or the rain. Self-adhesive papers as the ones sold by office supplies stores look low quality and don't meet these requirements. The ink and colors also fade quickly and Inkjet rarely print a nice finish or offer a lot of choice for stocks.
Vinyl stickers are expensive and cannot easily be printed in small quantities; going to a print shop is not always an option if there's no quality printer in town or if the stickers need to be produced quickly in-house. Vinyls are not convenient anyway for this type of project since they're not always resistant to cold temperature as much as paper.
The "custom" sticker question has often been asked here but they are all sent to the same answer about cheap custom stickers made on Inkjets or Laser printers or why vinyl stickers are expensive; that's not what this question is about.
What can be an alternative of stock to use as self-adhesive for wine/beer/food/weatherproof labels, and what digital printer (not inkjet or laser) could produce a quality similar to commercial labels in small or large quantities for a in-house print shop?
Answer
Printer
Xerox Phaser are very good digital printers for this kind of project and they're affordable for the quality and flexibility they offer. They use a solid ink (powder dry ink/toner) technology; the powder is dropped on the paper and then "cooked" to become solid. But they don't produce as much heat as laser printers, that's why they're a good option for sticker projects. Other laser printers can become messy when stickers are used as stock because some part of the glue will stay on the rolls and something the sheet will curl around them. Ideally for any printer, it's better to use a self-adhesive that has a margin with no glue around the edges.
The Phaser can print on pretty much anything including self-adhesive and can use the same stock as the one used for offset printing; therefore it's a lot cheaper and easier to find a great variety of stocks. Papers and self-adhesive can be purchased at any print shop, they'll trim it to the size the machine can print. Some Phaser can print tabloid 11 x 17" and 12" x 18", up to 46" in length (banners). They can also print in duplex even if not commonly used for stickers.
A lot of print shop own a commercial version of these Xerox printers and they all have an economical and high quality print mode to save inks; the quality mode usually prints a very glossy finish and the dry ink is thicker. Xerox cannot print on plastic or vinyl, but they can print on high gloss self-adhesive though. To fully personalize a bumper sticker, it's even possible to print on both sides if the peel-off side isn't too "sensitive".
It's also considered as an eco-friendly printer since it doesn't produce as much waste as a standard Inkjet; each powder ink cartridge can be changed individually and print thousands of copies. Yes they're more expensive than most inkjets or laser printers but the quality is superior and the number of copies that can be done with the toners is also greater. Inkjets can become very expensive because of the small quantity their cartridges can print and the specific paper they need. And laser printers cannot offer the same quality of the solid inks finish. The Xerox machines are a good investment for these reasons.
Obviously, I love Xerox because I know them very well and tested them to the max of their capacity (and fixed them too); I don't want to sound like a salesman but they're often ignored as an option for proofing and quality printing, and they're really superior to a lot of printers suggested here. There's other similar solid ink printers available on the market that are very high quality as well, but their toners are not available worldwide.
Stickers
There's many kind of self-adhesive and peel-off stickers on the market, and a good alternative to vinyl stickers is the "FasTrack® High Gloss".
Because of the ultra gloss finish, the colors are sharp and bright. As an extra, some UV varnish can be applied on them to protect them from the sun and from the scratches that could peel some parts of the print. This brand of sticker is super thin and the glue is very powerful; they can stick well even if the surface is not totally flat or not very porous, and they're not affected too much by the condensation, water or the cold. Usually, it's a challenge to keep a paper sticker to stay in place on a round or non-porous surface because of the tension of the paper and the humidity; ultimately some corners will start to peel even in dry environments or on clean surfaces. This is something that rarely happens with the FasTrack, that's why it's a good option as labels for bottles.
This brand usually have a black back side that makes it very opaque. It can be convenient if used to cover another label or a misprint, for example. The feel of that sticker is also really close to a laminated sticker or a vinyl. There's a matte version of this crack-n-peel sticker but it's not very convenient for wine/beer labels or bumper stickers, and the finish of the Xerox ink is so shinny that it almost look like a spot varnish when printed on an uncoated stock.
Combined with the Phaser Xerox as printer, the stickers will have a commercial quality; in fact this combo is used by some print shops but the printer is usually something similar to a Xerox Docu print station instead of a Phaser (the office version).
Spinnaker Coating FasTrack® High Gloss Opaque Labels
Spinnaker Coating main sites for other types of stickers and more details
Spinnaker Coating extra datasheet with similar stickers (different colors, durability, etc.)
Design
Regarding the software to use, Illustrator, CorelDraw and Photoshop give the best results, but any other publishing software will do (eg. QuarkXpress and InDesign). The Xerox Phaser has a an internal postscript driver and can print postscript fonts and files perfectly. There's no problems with Powerpoints, Office Word, Publisher and Excel files either. The Xerox drivers can be installed on Windows PC and Apple MacOSX.
If there's hundreds or thousands of custom stickers to prepare then it could be a good idea to do a "reprint" of the custom elements on a base already printed or to use a special software/plugin for variable data.
Selecting the best software and process to use to print the sticker will depend on how many stickers are needed, if the prints need custom design or texts and how fast it needs to be delivered.
Also, sometimes people forget that cutting papers or self-adhesive manually can be a lot of work and another machine might be required for this part; manual paper cutters such as guillotines are affordable but require some patience and dexterity when cutting designs that use double crop marks for bleed. Some heavy duty trimmers are electric, can do a precise cutting job and trim more sheets at the same time but are usually very expensive; sometimes it's better to start small and then invest in a good trimmer. For big batches of prints and to avoid investing on trimming machines, it's always possible to simply go at a local print shop and pay a little fee to get your sheets cut!
