LIMS Voting Guidelines
Due to some missunderstandings taking place during the day I won't be correcting your votes anymore. Correcting them was evidently a bad idea because people can't distinguish who I'm talking to and begin to resubmit their votes or go crazy asking if it was aimed at them or not.
Beause of this I'll post some fresh voting guidelines for you all to have as reference. If a vote doesn't apply to these I'll simply ignore it and count your other votes (as long as those are o.k., of course). If you realize one of your votes doesn't follow this guidelines and would like to resubmit them you will still be allowed to do it. I just won't be giving you guys warnings.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM:
Criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions.
Like I said the idea of this LIMS is to help us all improve our skills and in this votes are key. They are the ones that help you understand where you failed and what could be corrected. Of course we might not always agree with the votes we get, art is always subjective, so we're free to take the advice we believe to be well founded and dispose the others. But as a whole this should be a positive and helpful experience.
What to take into account when voting:
In short, you have to see whether or not the icon blends in well or if it's all over the place. If there's something standing out that shouldn't, if the original message of the icon has been preserved or if it has been clouded by the techniques used. We can't all master all techniques so some things might be off, I'm only asking you to pick the icons you think have had more failings.
BAD VOTES:
What counts as not technical you ask? Well I know we all have our own preferences technique wise... What some people might find oversharpened others might find alright, some find textures overpowering, others find icons without them to be plain. There is a very thin line between being neutral and letting your personal taste win the best of you, especially as rounds go on and makers get better, still I think there are some major distinctions we can agree on.
What counts as personal preferences are comments such as:
"I find pink to be overused in nowadays icons."
"That technique isn't original enough."
"I don't like light textures."
I think you get the idea. Pink might be overused (not really, was just a random example) but it could still look good on that particular icon. Techniques don't have to be original to be used properly. I don't care how much you hate any technique, if it fits and/or is presented the right way then it's not enough of an excuse.
GOOD VOTES:
Again, we can't always be completely arbitrary, but if you explain your choices with a logic we can all follow then it should be acceptable.
What counts as not personal are comments like:
"There's too much pink in the icon making it hard to distinguish Hermione from the background."
"That technique doesn't fit the sort of base you chose." or "That technique doesn't bring out anything about the icon making it look plain."
"I don't like that light texture because it overpowers the icon and takes away attention from so&so."
Perhaps pink was the first thing to catch your attention because you hate it so much, but your choice was explained in a way pink lovers might also agree with.
MISSPELLINGS:
This is sort of a fence case. Personally I wouldn't vote against a misspelled icons but I know some might and I think it can often be justified. However if the misspelling was done with a purpouse then the vote against it will not be counted. Here are a couple examples:
"My preciousss" ---> The excess of S's can be taken as a misspelling, but Lord of the Rings fans will be able to tell there's a purpouse behind them (that of linking the icon to Gollum).
"It's leik LOL!!" ---> liek is obviously misspelled and one could argue that LOL isn't a word, however using that sort of internet lingo can often be used to add meaning to the icon or to make it funny.
Since we can't all know every word of internet lingo or every fandom and their own idiosyncrasies, some might not be able to tell the difference (myself included). I am sorry if your icon happens to be a victim of these "bad votes", it's a risk you'll decide whether to take or not.
Like I said, there are a thin lines to cross... and in the end it will all be up to my own personal subjective perception. We can't be perfect. I'm just trying to clarify some of the greater differences of what I believe to be a good or a bad vote, so that we can all be more or less on the same page.
Any questions feel free to ask, I'll answer the best I can.
If you want you can find our old voting guidelines here.
Beause of this I'll post some fresh voting guidelines for you all to have as reference. If a vote doesn't apply to these I'll simply ignore it and count your other votes (as long as those are o.k., of course). If you realize one of your votes doesn't follow this guidelines and would like to resubmit them you will still be allowed to do it. I just won't be giving you guys warnings.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM:
Criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions.
Like I said the idea of this LIMS is to help us all improve our skills and in this votes are key. They are the ones that help you understand where you failed and what could be corrected. Of course we might not always agree with the votes we get, art is always subjective, so we're free to take the advice we believe to be well founded and dispose the others. But as a whole this should be a positive and helpful experience.
What to take into account when voting:
- Main focus (what where the makers told to focus on? does it show?)
- Colouring (is it too much? is it too little?)
- Cropping (can you make out what the icon is about?)
- Image quality (too sharp? too blurry? too dark? too bright?)
- Use of text (placement, font, etc)
- Use of textures (is it overpowering? does it blend well with the rest?)
- Use of other techniques (not all techniques fit all icons)
In short, you have to see whether or not the icon blends in well or if it's all over the place. If there's something standing out that shouldn't, if the original message of the icon has been preserved or if it has been clouded by the techniques used. We can't all master all techniques so some things might be off, I'm only asking you to pick the icons you think have had more failings.
BAD VOTES:
What counts as not technical you ask? Well I know we all have our own preferences technique wise... What some people might find oversharpened others might find alright, some find textures overpowering, others find icons without them to be plain. There is a very thin line between being neutral and letting your personal taste win the best of you, especially as rounds go on and makers get better, still I think there are some major distinctions we can agree on.
What counts as personal preferences are comments such as:
"I find pink to be overused in nowadays icons."
"That technique isn't original enough."
"I don't like light textures."
I think you get the idea. Pink might be overused (not really, was just a random example) but it could still look good on that particular icon. Techniques don't have to be original to be used properly. I don't care how much you hate any technique, if it fits and/or is presented the right way then it's not enough of an excuse.
GOOD VOTES:
Again, we can't always be completely arbitrary, but if you explain your choices with a logic we can all follow then it should be acceptable.
What counts as not personal are comments like:
"There's too much pink in the icon making it hard to distinguish Hermione from the background."
"That technique doesn't fit the sort of base you chose." or "That technique doesn't bring out anything about the icon making it look plain."
"I don't like that light texture because it overpowers the icon and takes away attention from so&so."
Perhaps pink was the first thing to catch your attention because you hate it so much, but your choice was explained in a way pink lovers might also agree with.
MISSPELLINGS:
This is sort of a fence case. Personally I wouldn't vote against a misspelled icons but I know some might and I think it can often be justified. However if the misspelling was done with a purpouse then the vote against it will not be counted. Here are a couple examples:
"My preciousss" ---> The excess of S's can be taken as a misspelling, but Lord of the Rings fans will be able to tell there's a purpouse behind them (that of linking the icon to Gollum).
"It's leik LOL!!" ---> liek is obviously misspelled and one could argue that LOL isn't a word, however using that sort of internet lingo can often be used to add meaning to the icon or to make it funny.
Since we can't all know every word of internet lingo or every fandom and their own idiosyncrasies, some might not be able to tell the difference (myself included). I am sorry if your icon happens to be a victim of these "bad votes", it's a risk you'll decide whether to take or not.
Like I said, there are a thin lines to cross... and in the end it will all be up to my own personal subjective perception. We can't be perfect. I'm just trying to clarify some of the greater differences of what I believe to be a good or a bad vote, so that we can all be more or less on the same page.
Any questions feel free to ask, I'll answer the best I can.
If you want you can find our old voting guidelines here.