I'm studying HCI and the focus for persona creation on my course is resolutely that personas should be derived from user research data. I also attended adaptive path's uxintensive last year and the user research day was also in this camp. However recently I have had a few conversations with people who seem to suggest that its ok to 'make them up'.
Does anyone have any guidence as to when's best to go with whichever technique - or does it simply come down to budget and time constriants?
I usually get quite a lot of ideas for stories, but every time I want to develop them into a full fledged story, I get paranoid about how it might not be an original idea, and how it might be dismissed by people as a copy and not worth spending time on. Same thing happens with character names.
One solution to this would be to Google search the idea/terms, but then the further paranoia stems from this.
Do you guys feel like this when writing, or is it just me?
Answer
If it's original to you, it's original enough. Even if someone else coincidentally made something similar, you will still have your own twist on it enough that it will be yours entirely.
This is different from inventions, where the first person to conceive it is the person who gets credit for it. In writing, so long as you're not out-and-out copying from someone else, you're good to go.
Stop worrying so much and just write. Everything anyone could ever write is a copy of something, somewhere, that's already written. Just enjoy yourself and write for you.
I'm trying to export all 155 raster layers, each 240*240 in pixels, to separate png files, but it takes ages to do that using CS5 File > Scripts > Export Layers to Files.
This script creates new psd files, copies all layers to them, then makes one layer visible before deleting all the layers he has just added. It took about three hours to export half of my layers.
If I was a script coder i'd make exporting this way:
for each layer do {
make layer invisible }
for each layer do {
make layer visible
save file as "layer_name.png"
make layer invisible }
Is there any faster way to export all layers to png?
I was experimenting with JPEG quality loss upon resaving and noticed that not only (even after four resaves) did the quality not degrade (down to pixel level), but the file sizes actually increased by 200 kb or so each time.
Can anyone give an explanation for this? Where is this newly created information that increases the file size even coming from? I would have expected at least slight degradation and a decrease in file size. I saved using Photoshop’s save for web function and 100 % quality.
*Original (top) - 798kb *After 5 saves (bottom) - 1020kb
In Photoshop, I want to create 3 different sizes of the same logo. There will be some differences in the look of the logo depending on target screen size.
I believe the slice tool is what I want but I'm not sure. I've been learning more about the slice tool. It seems if I use it for creating differently sized logos, it will save lots of time as everything can be saved at once. This way, I don't have to create three different images with three different saves.
Is the slice tool the most efficient way to handle the above scenario?
Answer
I would personally have them in the same workspace, and as you mention I'd slice them for saving.
Only difference with the comments is, I'd also have each image in a separate smart object. That way, you can edit them freely in a different 'file' so to say, but see the results in comparison with the other two in the same canvas. I'm guessing this might be something similar to what you are looking for because I'm assuming you want to work with pixel perfection for the smaller ones (might be wrong!).
If the logos are very similar between them, I'd have more smart Objects ("yo dawg, I heard you like smart Objects so I put your smart Objects inside other smartObjects"). You could have a basic one that is common to all of them, and then different styles drawn on top of it fit each version.
Workflow:
In a new document, create three copies of you image
Convert each one into a separate Smart Object
Create slices for each logo size
Double click on a Smart Object will open it up for you, so you can edit it. Clicking save on the newly opened document will apply the changes you just made to the one in the main document.
I would like to generate an average stroke from a given compound enclosed path, or fill, in Adobe Illustrator CC or Inkscape.
Sorry I don't know the mathematical function name to achieve this. I've come upon a couple bizarre hacks involving Photoshop, but it stands to reason there is a simpler way to achieve this within a vector program. Unfortunately Illustrator's path averaging collapses my example into a single point, likely because it has both horizontal and vertical aspects.
Answer
Using Inkscape...
tl;dr Interpolate paths
As a generalized case, this is a very interesting question, for which I have a reasonable answer. However, your specific example is further complicated by the fact that your desired resulting "path" requires multiple disconnected, intersecting sub-paths (one for the horizontal line, and one for the vertical line). So, I'll be answering the more general (and simpler) case of one continuous, non-intersecting path, as summarized below:
Steps:
Important: Select one of the resulting objects (either one) and choose "Path" > "Reverse".
Select the two objects and choose "Extensions" > "Generate from path" > "Interpolate". (Make sure settings on the Interpolate extension are set as follows.
I am building a mobile application that uses a button to launch the navigation menu (much like the Path or Facebook interface). I also want to add a back button. The standard seems to be to place the navigation menu option in the top left hand corner.
My question is, is it ok to place a back button in the top right hand corner? Should I replace the main navigation menu with the back button and only allow access to that menu from the main screen? Should I swap the location of the back button and the navigation menu? Is there a standard for this or does it matter?
UPDATE:
Here's a screenshot of what I currently have: 
Answer
If this application is to be designed for iOS then placing the button on the right is actually a violation of Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for the Navigation Bar (see the Guidelines section):
A back button should appear to the left of the title, and it should be labeled with the previous level’s title.
If this application is being designed for Android, Windows Phone, and (I believe) BlackBerry a back button is not needed and would be redundant as there is a hardware button on the phone designed for exactly this action. If you're building for WebOS I believe there is a gesture used for back and thus no additional back button is needed.
Placing your back button on the right can cause confusion as users may not consider the shape and content first, but rather the placement and assume it means "next/continue/forward".
Placing the button on the left puts it at the front of left-to-right readers' visual scanning pattern and thus it's easier to find. If you're designing for right-to-left reader's exclusively, then you might be able to justify a right-hand placement, but you'd need to flip your icon around so the arrow points to the right as well.
See also this site for further examples on why placing the back button on the right may be a bad idea.
I am creating a logo using the acronym HSSC (High School Student Council). Here is the current logo.
My question is:
What is the best/proper arrangement of letters in this type of logo to read "H S S C" most naturally?
We were debating between the current arrangement, on the basis of its clockwise orientation, or by an arrangement where the "H" is in the current "C" position and the rest of the letters following clockwise from there, on the basis of its left to right reading orientation.
Answer
Of course everybody will read in a different way, but when you consider all possible combinations, you can still find out which has the highest probability of being read in the right order.
Since we read from left to right and top to bottom, we can rule the right and bottom quarters out as starting points.
Here are the possible reading orders:
Since two of those are the same they are (at least in theory) the most logical choice.
That being said: You should seriously consider a logo that works in a different way or at least put the letters in in pairs. One pair in the left quarter and one in the right. You can then for example add a date and some icon to the top and bottom quarter.
Currently on our application we have popup/lightboxes that have a close button in the top right corner, and some of the lightboxes have cancel buttons next to the submit button - in the case of a form. We also close the lightbox when a user click outside of the lightbox.
My thinking is we are creating a confusing UX, also adding challenge in programming, by letting the user close the lightbox by clicking outside the lightbox. We want them to make a decision once the box is open.
I want to remove the feature of clicking outside the box to close it, leaving the close icon in the top corner and cancel button. Is this a good idea?
I would like to know how scaling down images affects the quality. When scaling images up, they get pixelated and it's clear to see that the quality decreases, but when scaling down I sometimes notice the quality getting worse and sometimes I don't.
Background To be more precise we are developing a digital magazine and will have to use thumbnails of the cover throughout our application. I am wondering whether the designer (who we haven't hired yet) should export the cover to all the different thumbnails sizes we are going to need or whether it is ok to export it at it's native resolution (1024 x 768) and then just use a program which will automatically resize it to all the thumbnail sizes we will need.
I have noticed in other magazines on the iPad the thumbnail covers often have "jaggy" fonts and would like to avoid exactly that.
So my question is: What kind of images are save to down size without noticeable quality loss and what kind of images should I export to the desired size?
Questions regarding retina support
Another question I am having is regarding making the magazine "retina ready". I understand that it's best to design as much as possible using the vector tools in indesign or create icons and logos as vector graphics in illustrator, this way nothing else needs to be done for it to look good on both retina and non retina displays.
For raster images it is best to create two PDFs one with all the images at retina resolution (142PPI) and one at non retina resolution (72PPI). I know I can setup InDesign to automatically downscale images to those resolution on export.
For photos, which are only available at high resolution this seems to make the most sense and the only way.
My question is in what cases would a designer create images as raster graphics instead of vector graphics? I assume this would be for very complex graphics. But could someone give me a couple of examples or images which would not be suitable to be created as vectors?
In the case of images that have to be created as raster images, do I have to create two versions from scratch or can I just create a retina version and then scale that one down to non retina?
From my background with iOS development I know most designers create two versions of each asset from scratch. Especially for the icons. Could someone please explain the reason for this and when it is necessary and when not?
Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly or whether I got something completely wrong.
Greetings, Kim
Lately I've been asked to explain my job description, you know, what is your title?. I've been looking around to see how other colleagues describe the job.
I find that some people call it UX Designer, which is all right, at the end of the day we are designing an experience; but I find it isn´t clear enough for certain audiences. Some people (business people, product owners and even stake holders) don't really know what "design" means, or have a very narrow or incomplete idea of what is comprehended by "design". So, UX Designer, though accurate, is not useful in every case.
Another description I found was UX Analyst, which is also accurate. We are analyzing users behavior and coming up with solutions for particular problems. I find it that in the cases were the term UX Design fails to explain this part of the process, UX Analyst does a better job, but still is a bit incomplete. When you say the word Analyst people tend to forget about the creative process behind UX. They do not contemplate the fact that our job includes both analysis and engaging in creative solutions. So, that's the problem.
Lately I've been testing this new approach, the UX Architect. It seems that the word "Architect" gives a better sense of the complete task. It includes the analytic part of the process as well as the creative part.
I know this is the LEAST of our problems as a UX community, but I find it interesting how the perception of our job changes when we present ourselves with the right title!
So, what do you think? What's the best description you know? What do you use to describe what you do?
I'm looking to find a free source of tick by tick data (<1sec) for training purposes. It doesn't need to be longer than a day, and I don't care what instrument, or exchange, or time it is. I just want real numbers with a high frequency.
Is such a data set freely available?
I have been given a logo from a client that they want me to 'extract' or 'cut' the text out of and use just the text with a transparent background to fit with the design ethos of their marketing.
I'm using Photoshop CS6 and have tried using channels, magic wand and eraser but I can't get clean edges on the text.
I'm pretty new to Photoshop and any help appreciated.
Answer
The easiest way would of course be to try and find the typeface the text is set in, and reproduce the word. Barring that possibility, you could try the following:
This will yield your text, with some darkish edges where the Magic Wand took along some black pixels and made them partially opaque:
This will cover all of the visible pixels of the layer in white, leaving the partial transparency of the greyish edges intact, but making them white:
I am new to QuantLib and am trying to get it to replicate some simple bond math.
Suppose we have a 5-year bond with annual coupon payments of \$5 and face value of \$100, and interest rate of 4%. Classic calculations yield that the present value of the bond is \$104.45. When I try to do this simple example in QuantLib-Python, I get $104.70--despite my attempts to strip out calendar conventions.
How can I use QuantLib to line up with this simple bond math?
from QuantLib import *
# Construct yield curve
calc_date = Date(1, 1, 2017)
Settings.instance().evaluationDate = calc_date
spot_dates = [Date(1,1,2017), Date(1,1,2018), Date(1,1,2027)]
spot_rates = [0.0, 0.04, 0.04]
day_count = SimpleDayCounter()
calendar = NullCalendar()
interpolation = Linear()
compounding = Compounded
compounding_frequency = Annual
spot_curve = ZeroCurve(spot_dates, spot_rates, day_count, calendar, interpolation, compounding, compounding_frequency)
spot_curve_handle = YieldTermStructureHandle(spot_curve)
# Construct bond schedule
issue_date = Date(1, 1, 2017)
maturity_date = Date(1, 1, 2022)
tenor = Period(Semiannual)
calendar = NullCalendar()
business_convention = Unadjusted
date_generation = DateGeneration.Backward
month_end = False
schedule = Schedule(issue_date, maturity_date, tenor, calendar, business_convention, business_convention, date_generation, month_end)
# Create FixedRateBond Object
coupon_rate = 0.05
coupons = [coupon_rate]
settlement_days = 0
face_value = 100
fixed_rate_bond = FixedRateBond(settlement_days,
face_value,
schedule,
coupons,
day_count)
# Set Valuation engine
bond_engine = DiscountingBondEngine(spot_curve_handle)
fixed_rate_bond.setPricingEngine(bond_engine)
# Calculate present value
value = fixed_rate_bond.NPV()
print(value)
Answer
To begin with, as Student T suggested, you can check that the cashflows are those you expect:
for c in fixed_rate_bond.cashflows():
print '%20s %12f' % (c.date(), c.amount())
July 1st, 2017 2.500000
January 1st, 2018 2.500000
July 1st, 2018 2.500000
January 1st, 2019 2.500000
July 1st, 2019 2.500000
January 1st, 2020 2.500000
July 1st, 2020 2.500000
January 1st, 2021 2.500000
July 1st, 2021 2.500000
January 1st, 2022 2.500000
January 1st, 2022 100.000000
They seem ok, so the problem must be in the discount curve. One problem is that you're instantiating it as:
spot_dates = [Date(1,1,2017), Date(1,1,2018), Date(1,1,2027)]
spot_rates = [0.0, 0.04, 0.04]
...
But that means that zero rates will be interpolated between 0.0 and 0.04 during the first year, and of course that gives you wrong discount factors; so you should use
spot_dates = [Date(1,1,2017), Date(1,1,2018), Date(1,1,2027)]
spot_rates = [0.04, 0.04, 0.04]
instead. That gives a price of \$104.67, though, which is still not what you want. The next issue is that you're initializing the curve with a 4% rate and an annual compounding frequency; this gives you discount factors equal to $B(T) = 1/(1+R)^T$, which you can verify:
for i, c in enumerate(fixed_rate_bond.cashflows()):
T = day_count.yearFraction(calc_date, c.date())
B = 1/math.pow(1.04, T)
print '%20s %12f %12f %12f %12f' % (c.date(), c.amount(), T,
B, spot_curve.discount(c.date()))
July 1st, 2017 2.500000 0.500000 0.980581 0.980581
January 1st, 2018 2.500000 1.000000 0.961538 0.961538
July 1st, 2018 2.500000 1.500000 0.942866 0.942866
January 1st, 2019 2.500000 2.000000 0.924556 0.924556
July 1st, 2019 2.500000 2.500000 0.906602 0.906602
January 1st, 2020 2.500000 3.000000 0.888996 0.888996
July 1st, 2020 2.500000 3.500000 0.871733 0.871733
January 1st, 2021 2.500000 4.000000 0.854804 0.854804
July 1st, 2021 2.500000 4.500000 0.838204 0.838204
January 1st, 2022 2.500000 5.000000 0.821927 0.821927
January 1st, 2022 100.000000 5.000000 0.821927 0.821927
Since you have semiannual coupons, you probably wanted to use a semiannual compounding frequency, too. That gives you discount factors $B(t) = 1/\left(1+\frac{R}{2}\right)^{2T}$:
for i, c in enumerate(fixed_rate_bond.cashflows()):
T = day_count.yearFraction(calc_date, c.date())
B = 1/math.pow(1.02, 2*T)
print '%20s %12f %12f %12f %12f' % (c.date(), c.amount(), T,
B, spot_curve.discount(c.date()))
July 1st, 2017 2.500000 0.500000 0.980392 0.980392
January 1st, 2018 2.500000 1.000000 0.961169 0.961169
July 1st, 2018 2.500000 1.500000 0.942322 0.942322
January 1st, 2019 2.500000 2.000000 0.923845 0.923845
July 1st, 2019 2.500000 2.500000 0.905731 0.905731
January 1st, 2020 2.500000 3.000000 0.887971 0.887971
July 1st, 2020 2.500000 3.500000 0.870560 0.870560
January 1st, 2021 2.500000 4.000000 0.853490 0.853490
July 1st, 2021 2.500000 4.500000 0.836755 0.836755
January 1st, 2022 2.500000 5.000000 0.820348 0.820348
January 1st, 2022 100.000000 5.000000 0.820348 0.820348
With this further correction, the price is \$104.49, which is still 4 bps higher than you expect. But at this point, you might want to check your classic calculations, too...
What's the industry-standard way to document a design pattern?
I have seen websites like ui-patterns.com and patternry.com that host and share design patterns, but when creating an reusing a design pattern, is there a standardized way to document that pattern other than just screenshots and descriptions?
For example, this "Slideshow Pattern" on UI-Patterns has a screenshot and description below, but is that "how the pro's do it"?
Shouldn't there be some sort of diagram with these screenshots and descriptions?
Recently Malika Fabre post on Twitter a clear and blatant (and coarse) plagiarism of one of her magnificent posters for the British Bafta Awards (Twitter link):
In a Design course, as a final work, the students had to make an infography of their professional life: a Life Map. Among so many students it was clear that some similar idea would appear. One of the most recurrent was the design around the personal fingerprint.
Knowing that everyone did the job at the same time and delivered the same day, the general question was: if it's a professional job, is that considered plagiarism?
The answer for the course was that personally, rather than plagiarism I would consider it a lack of conceptual or design search. Stay with the first idea that comes to mind without deepening, neither conceptually or morphologically. What is not wrong, but in a professional is expected a higher level of self-exigence.
This is the 2018 summer campaign of CocaCola drink Aquarius in Spain and one of the great works by Steve Bronstein for Absolut, Absolut L.A. Special attention to the location of the springboard and the pool ladders:
What's the limit: the idea, the design, everything. Can Absolut say the idea of the pool-bottle belongs to them or making an advertising campaign with a pool with a bottle shape is free to everybody?
Note: I don't know if Absolut belongs to Coca Cola.
Edit after the comments
It is obvious that talking about multinationals, the responsible for the advertising campaign is another multinational. These companies usually have countless of well-informed professionals and it's clear that more than one of them knows about the existence of the oldest campaign with the bottle shape pool since, in addition to being highly promoted at the time, it appears in a significant number of sites.
For this I suppose that there is no plagiarism, copy or inspiration, more than the permissiveness of, even knowing of the existence of that design, to accept it as an alternative for the new campaign.
Maybe the designers we are visually over-informed, in my case, when I saw the advertising immediately I said Absolut L.A.! Actually to put the image in the question I had to go back to the place where the new advertising is and read the name of the drink.
Therefore, what is the limit within that permissiveness, if it exists? Or is it all OK?
I have a simple cropped picture of a cornet (my gravatar, actually). However, it is many tiny scratches that it has accumulated over the years (it's 50+ years old). Anyway, because the photo was taken with a flash, they are showing up as tiny white specks all over. What is the best way to remove them and still maintain the natural lighting gradient and hue?
I've tried blurring, but this only blurs them. They are still there. I've also tried smudging, but this damages the hue. I've thought of using the clone stamp tool, but there aren't many areas without scratches and the lighting effects are different everywhere. What's the best way to go around this problem?
This is the picture with the scratches. Open it in a new tab to see higher detail.
Answer
I'd agree with Dominic, the route I would go with is to take a better picture. However, I understand that's not always feasible.
There's a filter in Photoshop that can help; it's appropriately called "Dust & Scratches". To apply it to an image, you can find it in Filter → Noise → Dust & Scratches....
You'll have to play with the Radius and Threshold values to find a happy medium. Here are is a before and after to give you an idea of what this can produce:
For your photograph, this isn't going to be a one-and-done process if you want the best results. Some areas of your images will benefit from the filter, but others will lose the detail that you probably want to preserve. The texture on the valves is an example of something you probably want to preserve. The engraving on the bell is another element that gets somewhat lost underneath the filter.
To compensate for this, I would retain the original image as a separate layer and mask out anything you'd like to preserve. In the screenshot below, you can hopefully tell which two valves I've kept as the original and which was affected by the Dust & Scratches filter:
The filter is going to cause the image to look blurry, so a lot of fine-tuning and careful consideration for what to mask out will go a long way to produce a crisp result.
In the ACLU Design Handbook (9.5MB PDF) the use of the so called "modern engraving" effect is detailed on pages 135-137. What would be a good way to achieve this look in Photoshop (or Illustrator, fwiw)?
Ideally, I'd be looking for a way that
Example 1 
Example 2 
The duotone color effect can be added with a simple gradient map layer style, so it's not strictly part of the question.
A logline is a one to three sentence summary of a story, used to pitch a script to producers and other buyers.
It should contain:
Obviously the logline must hook the audience of prospective buyers by
As an example, here's the logline for the movie Jaws:
A police chief, with a phobia for open water, battles a gigantic shark with an appetite for swimmers and boat captains, in spite of a greedy town council who demands that the beach stay open.
There are numerous descriptions of the purpose and structure of a logline, and many examples from real films, published in books and on websites. There are even some exercises explaining how to distill a script or novel plot into a logline, but I find they don't yield good results. Maybe my plot is not good, but maybe I don't really understand how to get from my plot to a logline, despite the vague hints in those hyped screenwriting books. So:
Please provide a cookbook step-by-step that even an idiot like me can follow.
Despite having provided my own "answer" below, I am still interested in this last aspect of my question: the step-by-step how-to. Most texts on the logline are very general, and don't help you much with how to make your logline hook. I'm still hoping to read your answer, so please give it a shot.
Answer
If you can't boil down your novel into a logline (or "elevator pitch," which is how I learned it), then you may actually have a problem with your novel.
You've provided the structure of your answer in your own question. An elevator pitch must have:
So pick those out of your book.
Quick example: Lord of the Rings:
Once you have them, then the main job is to reword the sentence until it's a hook.
Nine people from disparate cultures must join together to destroy the magical artifact which will allow the ultimate evil to rule the realm. Meh.
A mighty wizard leads a reluctant band of men, hobbits, a dwarf, and an elf on a terrifying quest to destroy the One Ring before an ancient evil god becomes manifest and destroys all Middle-Earth. Now we're getting somewhere.
This game-related app is navigated through the sidebar, and there are tabs that in the main section to further navigate an area.
In the 'Updates' tab (shown), I am questioning how much information to show in each container, and how to use scroll vs pagination.
Releases are generally short, just the name of the new version and a little text to sum up what's new. Blogs can be much longer.
The client suggested that there could be around 20 releases displayed (they can be uploaded even a few/a day depending on the game developer) and then there should be a "next page" option, so it's not overwhelming.
Blog - there should be around 5 post (considering they are much bigger) and then again "next page" option.
Those "next pages" are meant to be displayed within the container, not a whole new page.
I am starting to consider leaving pagination behind me and focusing on scrolling. But I feel I should then consider changing that layout as I don't believe infinite scrolling would be comfortable to deal with in that "Releases" table.
Is it wrong to include both scroll and then pagination on the bottom of the container? (or should pagination be glued to the bottom of the container, with scroll "beneath" it?). And is there the best way to display pagination in this context?
I'm trying to replicate the background pattern of this image in Illustrator CC but am not having much success. I tried the star tool, but it didn't look right.
Updated When I select all the lines and click divide on the pathfinder panel, they disappear. See below.
Answer
It is not that hard. And here is how you can make it:
1. Create a desired size rectangle, add a line across it and align them properly to center. Then copy-rotate the line by 10 degrees (or 6, 360 needs to be divisible without remainder). 
2. Then select all objects and click on the Divide tool on the Pathfinder Panel. 
3. Now easily select every secont object and and color it in any colors you like. 
4. Add the circle element across the whole rectangle and apply the fading-out gradient as shown on picture. 
5. Add black star element with similar properties as shown. 
Here is how it should look like.
6. Now add white triangle element and voilà - you are finished. 
(Sorry for long post , but that was the only way to show)
I have been struggling a little with this problem. I'll start introducing my case so to better explain my concerns.
The scenario I'm dealing with is that of a password forgotten feature: I have a sign-in view, with text fields for username and password and a submit button (plus other things). Now I'm going to add a "password forgotten?" functionality that will ask the user the email to than send a reset link to it.
There are few alternatives to follow once the user click on password forgotten, :
To me the last solution sounds like the straghtest, but I don't have a concrete explanation for that, it's just common sense.
What's your point of you? Is it worth to use a popup input dialog in this scenario?
Answer
Forgotten password can be considered the corner case. So you want to optimize your interface for the main case. That's good. But in case somebody needs to reset his password you don't want to squeeze this into a modal dialog. The user is lost so let him focus entirely on the password reset task by removing everything that could distract him. So the point you list as 'minus' is actually a 'plus' for this solution.
I have a very simple sketch below and you might want to think about the links as better touchable elements (like buttons).
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
This is a famous web comic about a common experience in web design:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
It's based on the author's personal experiences and describes a typical / caricature client from hell who treats the designer as:
a mouse cursor inside a graphics program which the client can control by speaking, emailing, and instant messaging
...ruining the finished product by, for example:
Some of the solutions I thought of:
Any suggestions?
Answer
I think a lot comes down to having courage.
Work only for good clients. Turn down jobs from people from whom you get the vibe of trouble ahead (either by politely declining, or asking for an outrageous price). Glamorous jobs that would look good on your portfolio may be among them, as well as big-money jobs. In that case, it's up to what you want more badly - a nice job, or a well-paid/fame-creating job.
Work out a clear set of specifications, sketches and previews with the client, and then freeze them. Have the client sign them. Then start implementing. Charge outrageous prices for changes that take place after the specs have been frozen ("I need to re-work all the HTML"). You would never ask a plumber to change the plumbing after he's worked for a week to put it into the walls - it'd be a whole new project. The client needs to see your work the same way.
As a sub-set to #2, be careful with working in front of clients you don't know well. If they get the impression that "you just have to click a button to make a change", the gates to the hell illustrated in Oatmeal's strip are quickly opened.
And in the end, if it happens anyway... remove your name from the end result, write a bill, and move on. After all, it's work, helps pay the rent and if the client insists on wanting crap despite your fighting for good design values, you've done all you could.
I'm responsible for the UI/UX in a software development company.
During my absence, some developers decided to implement a "bounce" effect on a button of a website that they think should have more visibility.
Basically you will see this button jumping every 10 seconds, drawing your attention. The button points to the help content of the software.
I am usually against intrusive and annoying animations, but I would like to know more about this topic. I personally think that this solution is very intrusive and distracting.
How should I deal with blinking, bouncing, rotating, and zooming effects? Are there best practices?
Answer
In my book, all animations of control elements must be triggered only by user actions. For example, in large forms or full-screen workflows animations can be used as additional visual cues for the next step once something has been completed. If This Than That (ifttt.com) is a good example here - the page auto-scrolls to the next step when you click Next.
Random animations distract users from the current task and break their mental flow. This especially concerns elements that have no effect on the workflow of the task at hand (like the help button in your example).
I have downloaded some daily historical option data for a timespan of 10 years and want to perform trading backtests with them. Data are European index options, on ODAX. My question is about realistic assumptions on backtest fillings:
a) valid bid/asks: I would assume the mean of bid and ask as filling price
b) bid and ask=zero: This happens mostly for some of the ITM options, the underlying beeing more than 300 points away from ATM-strike. Not sure what to do: my idea - market maker has to take counterparty, so I assume realistic quotes and realistic bid ask spread and again mean of bid and ask.
c) bid and ask unrealisticly high/unrealisticly low: happens both ITM and OTM, same procedure as in b)
Are those realistic filling rules? If not, how should the rules be?
Let's say i have an icon in grey scale, and now I want to change it into a certain green tone instead. The icon is anti-aliased around the edges, so it doesn't look too rugged, and I want to keep this anti-aliasing, but now in a green scale.
Basically I want to define that what was black should now be a specific green, and every lighter shade of grey should be an equally lighter shade of green.
How is this possible i Photoshop? Am I right, that this could be called a monochrome image?
Solved
It seems that "Gradient Map" does exactly this. Image -> Adjustments -> Gradient Map.
Here I've applied a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer to the grey scale
Answer
Gradient Map Adjustment Layers are awesome, precise and exactly what you're after.
Gradient Maps map the underlying image's brightness to a point on the gradient. This means you can choose exact colours for highlights, midtones and shadows.
Do I love Gradient Map Adjustment Layers? YES. There's many ways to do something like this in Photoshop, but none are as easy or precise as a Gradient Map.
If someone could point me to a tutorial for getting the "grainy" or "snow dusted"-like effect, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks!
So in elementary school, I was told not to use Wikipedia too much because you can't trust what they write. So then for all the projects, I used the Canadian Encyclopedia, but then now, I really would like to know why not to use Wikipedia. The only answer I know of is that anyone can write anything, but doesn't it have to go through a review under someone that actually is part of the Wikipedia community? What I think, is that Wikipedia takes a lot of information from other websites, then puts it all together, which is why normally, they have a big bibliography. I was wondering- Is Wikipedia really trustworthy?
Answer
Wikipedia is a crowd-sourced site where anybody can contribute, just like this one. Wikipedia strives for verifiability and neutrality and has an active user community, but that doesn't mean that things can't get past it. It doesn't mean information there can't be wrong. Some pages are full of detailed, reliable information; some are not. So, in evaluating the reliability of what you read on any given page there -- or anywhere else! -- you need to ask yourself how they know what they say.
Do they cite sources? Good Wikipedia pages do. Do they not cite sources but make a logical argument? (Not so common on Wikipedia, but common elsewhere on the Internet, including Stack Exchange.) Do they present evidence?
Since you asked about Wikipedia I'll focus on sources. For a first approximation, ask yourself if the sources cited are generally considered to be credible. If they cite peer-reviewed, publicly-available research, that's pretty good. If they cite the National Enquirer (a tabloid full of sensationalist fiction masquerading as news), be very suspicious. If the facts you're checking are particularly important, central to your thesis for example, then you might need to actually go look up some of those sources to confirm that the Wikipedia page accurately represents them. If the facts are less important or tangential, or your assignment doesn't call for this degree of rigor, then establishing that Wikipedia's sources are credible might suffice without looking them up.
I wrote more about evaluating sources in this answer, drawing in part from this article from UC Berkeley.
For Wikipedia in particular, you can also check the "talk" page associated with the topic you're looking at. The "talk" pages can sometimes tell you if any content is disputed or of questionable quality. If the "talk" page is empty, though, don't assume that means everything's fine -- it might mean that no experts have looked at the topic yet.
It's impossible to say, globally, "Wikipedia is trustworthy" or "Wikipedia is not trustworthy". Unlike an edited, curated encyclopedia, it contains material at a range of quality levels. I find Wikipedia to be a good starting point in research; sometimes I find everything I need there (including supporting sources), and sometimes I don't. Don't rule it out, but do be prepared to go beyond it.
Both customers and companies want a quick and easy checkout experience. From what I've seen, a big UX bottleneck at checkout is the billing and/or shipping address(es) because there are so many input fields per address.
The traditional way of typing an address is something like:
Street address: 123 main st
Unit: 101
City: Schenectady
State: NY ▼
Zip code: 12345
Country: United States of America ▼
This is usually frustrating for me, because some addresses are "edge-cases" and don't necessarily fit into the format required by the web page.
And often, these fields are duplicated to populate both shipping and billing addresses. My question isn't how to prevent that duplication (there are "Ship to my billing address" checkboxes for that), but it's about reducing the number of fields on the form from 6+ to just 1:
Address: 123 main st #101, schenectady, ny 12345
(could be a small, multi-line textarea too)
Is it a more positive user experience to combine all the fields for an address into a single input field?
Answer
If you have a reasonably foolproof way to parse freeform addresses or (more likely) only need the address as entered by the user then I'd go for the single text box.
In a lot of cases you just need the address to print out on labels etc. for posting, so there's really no need to split the address into separate fields. At most you might want to extract the post/zip code, but that should be relatively easy to parse.
I get annoyed on sites (particularly American ones it has to be said) that assume that your address conforms to a single standard and they force you to enter the data in their format when it doesn't. So if they say "City" and "County"/"State" and both are marked as required, but in the UK we only usually enter city.
Is it standard practice to create negative copies of a companies logo if they don't provide one.
I'm asking as I'm creating a website which will have a companies page where I would like to list the companies I have worked for as B/W logos (and color when hovered over).
Suggestions?
Answer
"negative" and "black and white" are not synonyms.
Many companies have a 1-color version of their logo for things like cardboard boxes and any collateral where it is a waste of money to print more colors. It may not be used often.
However, it sounds like you are asking whether you can or should do it. The answer is: in general you are free to do whatever you want and they are free to complain about it.
One might argue that it is their property, but you probably have a fair use case considering it is for self promotion and it is specifically tied to your employment history, and you are altering them (original derivative work).
If there is going to be a problem it will be with the use of the logo at all and not an "unapproved" style faux pas.
When I create new rounded rectangles, I see the radii and other information in the properties, but after I work on something else and go back to that layer, the information does not show. How do I adjust the radii of the rounded rectangles without deleting and creating a new one?
Which layout works best for your users?:
I've done many online forms over the past few years. I have "pre-designed" patterns and layouts I've used over and over and over again. Some of the layouts have been heavily tested, some not so much.
One of my colleagues challenged me recently asking why I could be so confident that the layout they had proposed wasn't right. It made me stop and reassess my approach, which I realised were based on opinion rather than evidence.
Examples or evidence?
I have an existing paper form to work with. Its ugly. Truly ugly. The last thing I want is to create an online version of the same ugliness. Do you have examples of forms or wizards that you think are designed really well? Can you point me to any research or academic material that I could use to back up my recommendation to (read as: looming major argument with) the product owner?
My task: take an existing paper based form, convert it to an online form and extend the functionality to include validation on-the-fly, file uploads, credit card payments and confirmation, status and error messages.
The overall design: most likely to be about 8 screens, in the format of a step-by-step wizard. Users will be able to save incomplete forms and come back later. Most questions need to be answered, some questions are complex. Users will only need to use the form once every five years so they won't be familiar with the questions in advance.
The challenge: there's no existing pattern for online forms in this organisation, they don't have many running at the moment, and none as complicated as this form. I will need to convince the product owner that creating a replica of the paper form is a bad idea. A really bad idea.
In my web app we have an area where you can choose the type of "query" you want (left block) and then you see the selected form with the fields in the right
As you can see, 'Risk' field may appear a lot of times since it's available in 5 types of queries.
The question is: Should I keep the data when switching forms? Or should I clear the form every time the user selects a new form?
I explain myself:
Risk level input, I select something.
Risk level input againAt the moment every change of query type, I clear the fields and the user has to select again the wanted value (It may be multiple choice)
Example: 
Is OK clear the data? Or do you prefer keep the changes between each form?
Additional info: when the user changes the query from the left block, the page is not reloaded, just the fields are updated (shown or hidden). All the fields shown are required to submit the form.
Maybe another approach is to keep the changes between switches and add a reset button in the down-left corner of the right block. Example: 
What do you think? Any help is welcome
Thanks!
Jorge
Answer
It appears that you've correctly identified a potentially frustrating issue (losing their field entries when changing queries), and have found an adequate solution (the reset button).
If you have doubts that it should behave this way, you could implement two versions of this page: one that preserves the model between queries, and one that doesn't. I would wager that you're likely to find that users appreciate the preserving of their queries.
The queries selection is effectively simply changing the required fields. Since many of the queries are subsets of other queries, many of the fields will remain in place as the queries change. It would therefore make sense that the model itself should stay in place as well. Supporting this should help provide a sense of stability in the UI, as well as allow for users to explore the UI without losing data unexpectedly.
Here is the thing: folder2.svg is created by me, and folder1.svg - by someone else. As you can see on the screenshot the first icon looks crisp and nice, and my icon has fuzzy edges and coners, the background object isn't fully covered, although the objects in my folder2.svg file have the same size:
Can someone, please, help me solve this problem? How do I make such fancy icons as folder1.svg?
Thanks.
I am very keen to get into writing, and have come up with several outline plots for short stories, novels and even trilogies. However, one hurdle, which I expect is not uncommon for most new authors, is that I am put off by the difficulties of publication.
Everything I have ever read about publication points to the fact that it can take years, if at all, to get your work published. Often quoted is that the Harry Potter books were rejected by many publishing houses before a small firm took a chance!
Recently I have been introduced to the possibility of self-publication, via Kindle or similar devices. This seems to take out the difficulty of finding someone willing to take on your work. But, is this a good idea? Should this be last resort, or is this the future of publishing?
I really am new to all this, so any advice would be greatly received.
Answer
I'm a huge fan of self-publication and small-press publication, and I think the stigma attached to both is fading. (It's worth noting that my only experience being published is non-fiction with a big publisher, but a girl's gotta start somewhere, and I do a lot with self-publishers in my job as head of a web development shop focused on small business.)
Self-publishing is viable now in a way it never was before, because:
Distribution channels for literature are more centralized than ever. While you used to have relationships with thousands of book stores and small chains across the country to get any notice, now once you are in one or more of the big listings you will be on Amazon.com, Borders, and Barnes and Noble's web sites before long.
You used to have to shell out big $$$ to do large print runs. Now, electronic publishing and one-off printing let you limit your up-front costs to whatever it takes to write, edit, lay out, create cover art for, and advertise your book.
Advertising used to mean big $$$ and relationships to put together print ads, TV commercials, and radio spots. Now, a professional-looking web site, a good social media strategy, and giving away a copy or two on Goodreads will get your foot in the door.
In short, the gap between "self publishing" and traditional publishing is closing.
Some tips you should know:
Invest in a professional website, whether just for you as an author, or putting your work out under a small press name. You can start with something as simple as a blog and expand from there, but people need to know where to go to find you and your latest work.
In addition to selling via the big eBook outlets, offer sale of DRM-free (but watermarked, if you like) ebooks in multiple formats on your web site and/or through outlets specializing in DRM-free ebooks. There are a growing number of ebook consumers who are tired of DRM, and their desired rate of consumption, at least in the fiction market, is far higher than the supply serving them.
Learn how to leverage social media: Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Identi.ca, your own blog's RSS feed, etc. to promote your work.
Use a print-on-demand service (I like Lulu.com) to offer print copies -- it doesn't cost you anything and not everyone reads ebooks.
Don't be afraid to pound the pavement. If you are doing tech writing, speak at a conference. If you are writing YA fiction, offer to spring for popcorn and do a reading at a local school or youth center. If you are writing any fiction, talk to local bookstores about doing a reading and/or book signing (most love promoting local authors when they believe in the work).
Give away a copy or three to people (Goodreads is a good channel for this) to get those first good reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, etc.
Spend time on great layout and typesetting. You can do it yourself, and there are plenty of free, open-source software and fonts to help you. If your book is hard to read, it doesn't matter how good a read it is, it won't get popular.
Once your books hit Amazon, etc. make sure to go back and click the "I am the publisher" option to get your book and author info in shape.
Hope that helps
I am having some trouble to understand the derivation of the parameters of zero coupon pricing formula using Hull White. Specifically I am trying to understand how to get
--[1]
where is the continuously compounded zero spot rate:
and is the initial instantaneous forward rate curve
I understand the process to get below:
--[2]
and
---[3]
Can someone please help me with deriving [1] from [2] or [3]?
Thanks very much in advance.
Answer
Under the Hull-White interest rate model, the short rate $r_t$ satisfies a risk-neutral SDE of the form \begin{align*} dr_t = (\theta(t)-a r_t)dt+ \sigma dW_t. \end{align*} The price at time $t$ of a zero-coupon bond with maturity $T$ and unit face value is then given by \begin{align*} P(t, T) &= A(t, T) e^{-B(t, T) r_t}, \end{align*} where \begin{align*} B(t, T) &= \frac{1}{a}\Big(1-e^{-a(T-t)} \Big),\\ A(t, T) &= \exp\left(- \int_t^T \theta(u) B(u, T) du -\frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\big(B(t, T) -T+t\big)-\frac{\sigma^2}{4a}B(t, T)^2\right), \tag{1}\\ \theta(t) &= af^M(0, t) +\frac{\partial f^M(0, t)}{\partial t}+\frac{\sigma^2}{2a}\left(1-e^{-2at}\right), \\ \end{align*} and \begin{align*} f^M(0, t) &= -\frac{\partial \ln P(0, t)}{\partial t}. \end{align*} Note that, \begin{align*} \ln P(0, T) = -\int_0^T f^M(0, u) du. \end{align*} Moreover, we define the yield-to-maturity $R(t, T)$ by \begin{align*} R(t, T) &=\frac{-\ln P(t, T)}{T-t}. \end{align*} We show that \begin{align*} \ln A(t, T) &= \left[tR(0, t)-TR(0, T) \right] + B(t, T)f^M(0, t) -\frac{\sigma^2}{4a}\left(1-e^{-2at} \right)B(t, T)^2.\tag{2} \end{align*}
Note that, \begin{align*} & \ \int_t^T \frac{\partial f^M(0, u)}{\partial u}B(u, T) \\ =&\ f^M(0, u)B(u, T)\, \big|_t^T - \int_t^T f^M(0, u)\frac{\partial B(u, T)}{\partial u}du\\ =&\ -f^M(0, t)B(t, T) + \int_t^T f^M(0, u) e^{-a(T-u)} du\\ =&\ -f^M(0, t)B(t, T) - a\int_t^T f^M(0, u) B(u, T) du + \int_t^T f^M(0, u)du. \end{align*} That is, \begin{align*} &\ a\int_t^T f^M(0, u) B(u, T) du + \int_t^T \frac{\partial f^M(0, u)}{\partial T}B(u, T) \\ =&\ -f^M(0, t)B(t, T)+\int_t^T f^M(0, u)du\\ =&\ -f^M(0, t)B(t, T)- \ln P(0, T)+\ln(0, t)\\ =&\ -f^M(0, t)B(t, T)+ TR(0, T)-tR(0, t). \end{align*} Then \begin{align*} &\ \int_t^T \frac{\sigma^2}{2a}\left(1-e^{-2au}\right) B(u, T) du \\ =&\ \frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\int_t^T \left(1-e^{-2au}\right)\left(1-e^{-a(T-u)} \right)du\\ =&\ \frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\int_t^T \left(1-e^{-2au} - e^{-a(T-u)} + e^{-a(T+u)}\right)du\\ =&\ \frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\left[T-t+\frac{1}{2a}\left(e^{-2aT}-e^{-2at} \right) + \frac{1}{a}\left(1-e^{-a(T-t)} \right) -\frac{1}{a}\left(e^{-2aT}-e^{-a(T+t)}\right) \right] \\ =&\ \frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\left[\big(T-t- B(t, T)\big) + \frac{1}{2a}e^{-2at}\left(-e^{-2a(T-t)}-1 +2e^{-a(T-t)} \right)\right]\\ =&\ \frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\big(T-t- B(t, T)\big) - \frac{\sigma^2}{4a}e^{-2at}B(t, T)^2. \end{align*} Therefore, \begin{align*} &\ \ln A(t, T) \\ =&\ - \int_t^T \theta(u) B(u, T) du -\frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\big(B(t, T) -T+t\big)-\frac{\sigma^2}{4a}B(t, T)^2\\ =&\ f^M(0, t)B(t, T)+ tR(0, t)- TR(0, T)- \frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\big(T-t- B(t, T)\big) + \frac{\sigma^2}{4a}e^{-2at}B(t, T)^2\\ &\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad -\frac{\sigma^2}{2a^2}\big(B(t, T) -T+t\big)-\frac{\sigma^2}{4a}B(t, T)^2\\ =&\ \big(tR(0, t)- TR(0, T)\big)+f^M(0, t)B(t, T) - \frac{\sigma^2}{4a}\left(1-e^{-2at} \right)B(t, T)^2, \end{align*} which is the required Claim $(2)$ above.
