Voting Guidelines
For reference, this is a guide to voting in LIMS. It only covers negative votes because positive votes are optional and therefore I'm not going to be picky. There's a difficulty involved with negative voting in LIMS stemming from the fact that criticism is required -- voting can quickly become very negative and mean-spirited.
In order to prevent that from happening, I've written up a set of guidelines that should be followed when voting.
EDITED 5/30/10:
What Not To Do #3 -- Reworked this section to be split up into two categories, and added more detail about using "boring", "too simple", "too plain", "it looks like nothing was done to it", etc. as reasons.
Guidelines List
What Not To Do What To Do
1. Don't rant about an icon. 1. Offer constructive suggestions.
2. Don't use rude language. 2. Be specific.
3. Don't vote according to personal preferences. 3. Be positive every so often.
What Not To Do
1. Don't rant about an icon.
A reason is required when you vote negatively for an icon, but keep in mind one thing:
This only needs to be a single reason.
I'm essentially just checking that you didn't vote for the icon for bad reasons. What a vote SHOULDN'T be is a list of the icon's shortcomings.
Bad Vote: The icon's coloring is dull. The text doesn't match the icon at all and the crop is awkward. Also, the shines are very distracting and don't add anything to the icon.
Better Vote: The crop is awkward.
The point of a LIMS is not to diss bad icons. It's to help people improve. Therefore, you don't have to point out EVERYTHING you don't like about an icon. You can if you like, but it's also okay to have a short vote!
2. Don't use rude language.
Avoid the following words. When you use these, it's a good indication that you're being a little mean-spirited in your critique toward the icon.
• Insulting words: "Horrible" / "Terrible" / "Ugly" / "Corny" / "Cheesy" / "Tacky" / "Dumb" / "Stupid" / "Wrong"
• Strong adjectives: "Extremely ___" / "Way too ___"
Whenever you see these words, you might want to rewrite the comment in a way that seems more like a critique and less like an attack.
At the same time, you can soften a comment by using less opinionated words:
• Less insulting words: "Low quality" / "Weird" / "Strange" / "Odd" / "Awkward" / "Boring" / "Dull" / "Silly" / "Funny"
• Weaker adjectives: "Somewhat ___" / "A tad ___" / "A little ___" / "Kind of ___"
3. Don't vote according to personal preferences.
Reasons should critique the technical aspects of an icon (e.g. color, crop, layout, text, clarity, effects, etc.). There are two main kinds of reasons that are too subjective to be accepted for votes: reasons related to the subject of the icon (and not its execution), and dislike of the general style of an icon without pinpointing any specific flaws. More specifically, voting for these reasons is not valid:
Reasons related to an icon's subject:
• Dislike of a movie or character.
• Not being familiar with an icon's subject.
• Dislike of the choice of cap. In a LIMS, the focus should be on the effects performed to make an icon and not the original cap.
General dislike of an icon's style:
• Voting negatively for an icon because the style is overused, boring, too popular, etc. Instead, pinpoint why exactly that style is visually unappealing.
• Using the word "boring" to describe an icon/its coloring without any other technical reason.
• Saying the icon is "too simple" or "too plain." Since simplicity and plainness are not necessarily bad, if you use this as a reason, you need to explain how the icon could be improved through complexity.
• Amount of time that (it appears) went into the icon. You should not make assumptions on how much effort went into an icon. Instead, concentrate on where the icon is technically lacking. (e.g. Instead of saying, "It looks like nothing was done to the colors," think of why the colors needed to be fiddled with in the first place.)
What To Do
1. Offer constructive suggestions.
If it's at all possible to do this, please do! It's all well and good to criticize, but it's best to give the icon-maker a tip or suggestion on how they could have made their icon better. This is what it means to be constructive (rather than just destructive).
For example:
Satisfactory Vote: The text color doesn't match the icon.
Good Vote: The text color doesn't match the icon. If you made it brown instead of black, then it would go better with Belle's hair, which is the focus of the icon.
Satisfactory Vote: There's too much going on in the icon.
Good Vote: There's too much going on in the icon. I think the bar on the right could go since it doesn't add much to the icon.
Satisfactory Vote: The background used in the icon overwhelms the subject.
Good Vote: The background used in the icon overwhelms the subject. Maybe you could desaturate the background to make Simba more visible.
2. Be specific.
There are also words and phrases that, while not bad per se, are very vague and tend to not be helpful without some additional explanation. Some examples:
• "Weird" / "Off" -- These require some kind of elaboration.
• "Plain" / "Dull" / "Boring" -- I see this a lot when describing coloring. Expand a little on what is plain -- not enough contrasts? too much browns? too much greys? too similar to the original?
• "Oversharpened" -- Be careful when using this. Many people use this for a variety of problems: lightened edges (caused by using filters like unsharp mask), pixelization (which can be caused by pretty much anything including coloring effects), color granulation (which can be caused by compression, or upping saturation too much)... Specify!
• "Blurry" -- Again, this seems to be a catch-all term. Blurriness can come from blotchiness in the picture (commonly from resizing images), or it can refer to overall blurriness of an image (such as intentional fog effects). If possible, try pinpointing where the image is blurry (or specify that the image as a whole is blurry).
In general, being specific yields a much more helpful comment.
Satisfactory Vote: The crop is unflattering.
Good Vote: Half of Jasmine's eye is cut off, leading to an unflattering crop.
Satisfactory Vote: The text is distracting.
Good Vote: The text is distracting. It's very pixelly, especially compared to the rest of the icon, and too many fonts were used.
3. Be positive every so often.
This is optional, but it's nice to leave a positive comment along with a negative vote. For example:
Satisfactory Vote: The original cap's ink lines are faded, making Baloo's features look indistinct and blobby.
Good Vote: The original cap's ink lines are faded, making Baloo's features look indistinct and blobby. The cropping is pretty awesome though!
Satisfactory Vote: The duplication makes the icon messy.
Good Vote: Really creative duplication, but it ends up making the icon messy.
In short, the one rule you should keep in mind is leave the kind of comments you'd like to receive. All right, happy voting!
In order to prevent that from happening, I've written up a set of guidelines that should be followed when voting.
EDITED 5/30/10:
What Not To Do #3 -- Reworked this section to be split up into two categories, and added more detail about using "boring", "too simple", "too plain", "it looks like nothing was done to it", etc. as reasons.
Guidelines List
What Not To Do What To Do
1. Don't rant about an icon. 1. Offer constructive suggestions.
2. Don't use rude language. 2. Be specific.
3. Don't vote according to personal preferences. 3. Be positive every so often.
What Not To Do
1. Don't rant about an icon.
A reason is required when you vote negatively for an icon, but keep in mind one thing:
This only needs to be a single reason.
I'm essentially just checking that you didn't vote for the icon for bad reasons. What a vote SHOULDN'T be is a list of the icon's shortcomings.
Bad Vote: The icon's coloring is dull. The text doesn't match the icon at all and the crop is awkward. Also, the shines are very distracting and don't add anything to the icon.
Better Vote: The crop is awkward.
The point of a LIMS is not to diss bad icons. It's to help people improve. Therefore, you don't have to point out EVERYTHING you don't like about an icon. You can if you like, but it's also okay to have a short vote!
2. Don't use rude language.
Avoid the following words. When you use these, it's a good indication that you're being a little mean-spirited in your critique toward the icon.
• Insulting words: "Horrible" / "Terrible" / "Ugly" / "Corny" / "Cheesy" / "Tacky" / "Dumb" / "Stupid" / "Wrong"
• Strong adjectives: "Extremely ___" / "Way too ___"
Whenever you see these words, you might want to rewrite the comment in a way that seems more like a critique and less like an attack.
At the same time, you can soften a comment by using less opinionated words:
• Less insulting words: "Low quality" / "Weird" / "Strange" / "Odd" / "Awkward" / "Boring" / "Dull" / "Silly" / "Funny"
• Weaker adjectives: "Somewhat ___" / "A tad ___" / "A little ___" / "Kind of ___"
3. Don't vote according to personal preferences.
Reasons should critique the technical aspects of an icon (e.g. color, crop, layout, text, clarity, effects, etc.). There are two main kinds of reasons that are too subjective to be accepted for votes: reasons related to the subject of the icon (and not its execution), and dislike of the general style of an icon without pinpointing any specific flaws. More specifically, voting for these reasons is not valid:
Reasons related to an icon's subject:
• Dislike of a movie or character.
• Not being familiar with an icon's subject.
• Dislike of the choice of cap. In a LIMS, the focus should be on the effects performed to make an icon and not the original cap.
General dislike of an icon's style:
• Voting negatively for an icon because the style is overused, boring, too popular, etc. Instead, pinpoint why exactly that style is visually unappealing.
• Using the word "boring" to describe an icon/its coloring without any other technical reason.
• Saying the icon is "too simple" or "too plain." Since simplicity and plainness are not necessarily bad, if you use this as a reason, you need to explain how the icon could be improved through complexity.
• Amount of time that (it appears) went into the icon. You should not make assumptions on how much effort went into an icon. Instead, concentrate on where the icon is technically lacking. (e.g. Instead of saying, "It looks like nothing was done to the colors," think of why the colors needed to be fiddled with in the first place.)
What To Do
1. Offer constructive suggestions.
If it's at all possible to do this, please do! It's all well and good to criticize, but it's best to give the icon-maker a tip or suggestion on how they could have made their icon better. This is what it means to be constructive (rather than just destructive).
For example:
Satisfactory Vote: The text color doesn't match the icon.
Good Vote: The text color doesn't match the icon. If you made it brown instead of black, then it would go better with Belle's hair, which is the focus of the icon.
Satisfactory Vote: There's too much going on in the icon.
Good Vote: There's too much going on in the icon. I think the bar on the right could go since it doesn't add much to the icon.
Satisfactory Vote: The background used in the icon overwhelms the subject.
Good Vote: The background used in the icon overwhelms the subject. Maybe you could desaturate the background to make Simba more visible.
2. Be specific.
There are also words and phrases that, while not bad per se, are very vague and tend to not be helpful without some additional explanation. Some examples:
• "Weird" / "Off" -- These require some kind of elaboration.
• "Plain" / "Dull" / "Boring" -- I see this a lot when describing coloring. Expand a little on what is plain -- not enough contrasts? too much browns? too much greys? too similar to the original?
• "Oversharpened" -- Be careful when using this. Many people use this for a variety of problems: lightened edges (caused by using filters like unsharp mask), pixelization (which can be caused by pretty much anything including coloring effects), color granulation (which can be caused by compression, or upping saturation too much)... Specify!
• "Blurry" -- Again, this seems to be a catch-all term. Blurriness can come from blotchiness in the picture (commonly from resizing images), or it can refer to overall blurriness of an image (such as intentional fog effects). If possible, try pinpointing where the image is blurry (or specify that the image as a whole is blurry).
In general, being specific yields a much more helpful comment.
Satisfactory Vote: The crop is unflattering.
Good Vote: Half of Jasmine's eye is cut off, leading to an unflattering crop.
Satisfactory Vote: The text is distracting.
Good Vote: The text is distracting. It's very pixelly, especially compared to the rest of the icon, and too many fonts were used.
3. Be positive every so often.
This is optional, but it's nice to leave a positive comment along with a negative vote. For example:
Satisfactory Vote: The original cap's ink lines are faded, making Baloo's features look indistinct and blobby.
Good Vote: The original cap's ink lines are faded, making Baloo's features look indistinct and blobby. The cropping is pretty awesome though!
Satisfactory Vote: The duplication makes the icon messy.
Good Vote: Really creative duplication, but it ends up making the icon messy.
In short, the one rule you should keep in mind is leave the kind of comments you'd like to receive. All right, happy voting!