7

You love your site and we love your site, but there is a whole world of people out there who might not even know it exists. When they do find it, their first impression will either scare them away or keep them around. Given this, let's take a hard look at the questions and answers here and make sure newcomers see the site at its best!

Below you'll find ten questions randomly selected from this site. What do you think about each of them and their answers? Are they the best they can be or can they be improved? Would they look interesting and inviting to an outsider or are they a little embarrassing?

Upvote the corresponding post here on meta when we're awesome. Downvote when our content just isn't quite up to par.

Oh, and do comment to let everyone know your thoughts and take part in this conversation. :D

11
  • 1
    After voting/commenting on all of them, I think they are all quite valuable to the site. Specially because we don't have as many visitors as other SE yet. Some are more interesting than others, and some are more "valuable", but I definitely don't think forbidding questions are going to do any good. In any case, I'd go for asking more questions ourselves, and creating good answers for them.
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:10
  • I agree with Yisela. Our problem is not the questions. It's the lack of questions, which comes from the lower-than-desirable number of practising designers using the site. That comes from the low number of questions (less reason for people to come back), its low profile (few routes for people to find the site) and an atmosphere that often seems unfriendly and unwelcoming (discouraging people to get involved). See our site stats area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1924/graphic-design and our users' steep rep curve graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/…
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 11:27
  • why do you think it's unfriendly and unwelcoming? I mean, when I joined I felt a little overwhelmed by how much everyone knows their stuff, but nobody was ever rude to me. Do you have examples?
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 23:52
  • @yisela I don't mean people actually being rude, and often we're fine, but I often see new people's questions being closed with little or no feedback or explanation - and unsurprisingly, those people don't come back
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 20, 2012 at 9:48
  • @user568458 Can you provide links to questions that have been closed without any feedback or explanation?
    – Farray
    Jun 20, 2012 at 15:59
  • Completely offtopic, but everytime I read "Let's Get Critical!" my mind sings it in the tone of Madonna's "Let's get physical (physicaaaal...)"
    – Yisela
    Jun 20, 2012 at 20:34
  • @yisela That's actually Olivia Newton-John. :P
    – Aarthi
    Jun 20, 2012 at 20:44
  • @Aarthi oh my, you are right, must be the diabolic Glee influence!!
    – Yisela
    Jun 20, 2012 at 20:51
  • @yisela shakes fist Glee!
    – Aarthi
    Jun 20, 2012 at 20:52
  • 1
    @yisela Also, the entire team starts humming that song any time we look at these evals, hahaha.
    – Aarthi
    Jun 21, 2012 at 15:40
  • Thanks for your help, everyone!
    – Aarthi
    Jun 27, 2012 at 21:09

10 Answers 10

Reset to default
3

Finding the "base" color of a gradient . . .?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

3
  • More on the Graphic Theory side, perhaps not as seo friendly but definitely interesting. I believe these are the kind of questions that give people curiosity about the site
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:01
  • 2
    I really like this question, I wish it had got some more answers.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:39
  • +1 excellent...
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:24
3

Looking for a font similar to Georgia, but without the numbers dipping as they do

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

2
  • 3
    Quite specific but a font related question that is not identification is always welcomed :)
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:00
  • +1 good one, enough specific to attract specific answers.
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:30
2

Feedback on Basic Website Logo

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

4
  • I am divided about these questions. I asked something around this in meta, but more in relation to "how to represent". Feedback is one thing, Willow's answer was really good (maybe too good, she worked hard!). In any case, this question was vague and lacked real value.
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:08
  • 1
    I like these questions. I understand the case against, but we do offer something genuinely different to sites like Dribbble which often seem like a wall of shallow compliments. We offer a more analytical community and a better structure for problem solving. There's a fine line between seeking critique as problem solving and just generally sticking things up, but I think people understand where that line is and this is a good example that shows it can work and that we offer something extra.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:21
  • After reading your comment and meta.graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/244/… I think I understand how these questions can improve the site. So... maybe they are valuable.
    – Yisela
    Jun 20, 2012 at 3:42
  • +1 this is the best so far, I would like to have more creative questions :D
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 10:02
2

Tools for making infographics

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

4
  • 1
    +1 for an interesting question with valuable answers, grabs people's attention too
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:04
  • -1 too narrow, time wasting to read.
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:27
  • @hhh I don't understand why you've downvoted every question that doesn't directly relate to your work? I see you're primarily a StackOverflow user, so you already understand that on SO questions can be very specific and that it's normal for people to only read questions about topics they are interested in. It's the same here. There's no expectation that every question should be relevant to every designer, because every designer's work is different.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 20, 2012 at 10:01
  • @user568458 cut, I did not understand a word of your writing sorry.
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 21:34
2

Dither and Gradients

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

3
  • Excellent for educational purposes, someone asking something like this is more likely to stay (and learn more, probably)
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:05
  • Solid question, solid answer. This is the sort of thing the site is great for - clear answers and people sharing and adding titbits of specific knowledge and experience so everyone is learning something.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:33
  • ...too localized, -1. Time-wasting after clicking to find it is only about a very specific software niche, it would be useful to narrow such questions already in title or something like that.
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:23
2

Which are the most prominent creative thinking techniques/methodologies?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

2
  • For me, in the same tone of "Finding a base color...", quite interesting
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:02
  • +1 Good stuff, something to learn.
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:32
1

Is there a DIN font free alternative?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

3
  • "freebie scavengers", usually do more searches than reading :P
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:03
  • 1
    I don't like font questions personally, but I think they're important for the site. Plenty of people like them and they give people an easy way to interact with the site. Our biggest problem is getting designers to find out our site exists and having enough new material to interact with to keep them coming back, and font questions seem to work well for that.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:30
  • +1 good one, exact enough to attract variety of answers.
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:26
1

Create icons from sprite image

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

5
  • I like these general questions, they attract people and have a little more content to them, as they usually turn into tutorials and therefore, quality answers
    – Yisela
    Jun 18, 2012 at 23:59
  • This shows that a question doesn't have to be brilliantly worded to get a solid, useful answer. (shame the guy didn't also share the script he mentioned...)
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:35
  • -1 this is not general question because it is only about photoshop, I was going to answer how to do it with one-liner but then noticed the small label "photoshop" so stopped answering. It is misleading that there is a label photoshop and then the guy mentions some *ix tool. I wish the labels such as Photoshop/Gimp/Inkscape/Adobe/branding were banned, you could use search instead -- too confusing. Otherwise I like this question, now it is too narrow...there are better ways to do this thing :P
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:18
  • 2
    @hhh I think he added photoshop because it was one of his possibilities (wonder he didn't tag it as Gimp too!), but answers using other technologies are always welcomed. You can still answer it, it might be of great help for someone else. Rather than answering a person, you would be adding content to the site/subject.
    – Yisela
    Jun 20, 2012 at 20:23
  • I would remove my downvote if *ix -style answer are really allowed :D ...hopefully helping someone :)
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 21:42
1

Gimp: Save tiff with a "Group 4 Fax" compression

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

6
  • 1
    I think the technical questions can be good for very specific searches, but I doubt how many of the people asking them stay around and turn into active participants
    – Yisela
    Jun 18, 2012 at 23:57
  • 1
    I agree with yisela: there will always be questions like this, they're not exciting, but having a good back catalogue of really specific questions like this means there's a way for designers googling similarly specific problems to discover our site. They're unglamourous but important.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:25
  • ...again worried that too localized...
    – hhh
    Jun 20, 2012 at 8:21
  • 2
    @hhh I don't understand what you think this site is for? A designer had a design related problem, asked a question about it, and got a useful answer. If another designer googles a similar problem, they might find this answer useful and might discover this site. This question isn't exiting, but you'd never normally have read it unless you had the same problem - in which case, you would find it useful. This isn't a magazine or a tutorial site. It's for people looking for answers to specific problems. This isn't a great question (hence no upvotes) but there's nothing wrong with it.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 20, 2012 at 10:12
  • 1
    @huh if you are looking for a design magazine with tutorials where an editor makes sure all the content is engaging to a particular subset of designers, these exist. I'm guessing Smashing Magazine might suit you, for example. But we're not trying to be one of those. We're trying to be a place where people can get, give, and share expert answers to specific problems.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 20, 2012 at 10:15
  • 1
    @hhh It is indeed very localised, but I think it's still good to have some of these "catalogue" questions. Specially because they will only appear in the Home once, and then they will wait in Limbo until someone searches for them :)
    – Yisela
    Jun 20, 2012 at 20:21
0

amalgamation morphing effects

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

2
  • This question in particular is quite vague and doesn't show too much research
    – Yisela
    Jun 19, 2012 at 0:05
  • 2
    It's a lazily written question, but it still resulted in interesting content. Room for improvement, but no harm done.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Jun 19, 2012 at 9:45

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