#however the importance of Space or Breath in design is more akin to a purposeful silence in music

[catmask]

does anyone have like an anti aesthetic. like something you look at and can recognize as a complete fashion/interior design/artistic movement and understand it but it makes you shudder seeing it. i am not talking like “its morally bad” “its poorly structured” like just sheerly devoid of joy for you actually invites a repulse response.

[offantasiesandreams]

Hi hi! May I request the Batter with youtuber player. He can hear everything they say when they record and play the game. I want reader to praise him a lot and saying something like "omg he's my favorite characters for sure! Can't wait to get a plushy of him!". I wanna see Batter being extremely flustered by this. As always no pressure write this however you want and whenever you want or don't write this at all. I love your long writing. Have an outstanding day!

Btw the thoughts connection writing was really amazing. I didn't request it but wanted to say this anyway.

Thank you, that's very sweet of you to say! Glad to hear people like my long writing, but I do need to try to tone it down from here on out! Also, excellent idea! Sorry for taking so long, private life has been taking its toll on me! But I'll try my best to write as many requests as I can today and tomorrow!

Batter with a YouTuber!Reader Playing OFF

Notes: A bit suggestive at one point, but nothing graphic and nothing happens

To you, this was just another game at first. One you had heard about here and there, the character being compared to the likeness of other, more popular ones. At the very least in regards to his design. Ultimately, it was some of your viewers, who recommended the game to you. A somewhat old indie game going by the name of OFF.

Having started the game, the eerie title screen did not escape you. While you knew naught but that one character, whose name you did not even know, it was not the first time something akin to this had occurred. There were many types of games out there, after all. Pressing the record button, you got ready.

“And by popular demand of five people at most, here’s OFF! Shout out to the five of you for your determination to not give up until I caved in! Let’s see what awaits us in this funny little game with the funny little guy that looks like Scout TF2!”

Opening with a warning and credit to the composer of the soundtrack, you were led to a screen allowing you to type in your name and choose your gender. It was only then that he appeared. “You have been assigned to a being called “The Batter”. The Batter has an important mission. Be sure that it’s accomplished.”

“It’s him! The boy! Baseball man! His name couldn’t be more generic and he looks so sad and pathetic. I want to protect this creecher so bad!”

To him, it was a world he had seen before, even if he only started existing the moment it was created. There was a purpose to his being, a mission, and someone to lead him where he was to be. He was aware of your name, or, at the very least, what you claimed to be as such. You, who was omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. With a deity at his side he was to succeed, regardless of all hardships. “To move my body, use the arrow keys on your keyboard. To interact with the environment, use the space bar or the enter key.” And with that, the Batter’s grand quest began.

“Oh god, that’s his portrait? He’s got four eyes?? Not gonna lie, that’s kinda epic and, dare I say, hot even.”

What? Batter may have considered himself lucky to be able to hear the messages of his one and only Player, making at least one sided communication possible, but this was not at all what he had in mind. Perhaps he simply misheard you, a difference between the language of a deity and a mortal.

He, in fact, did not, as he concluded later on.

Your comments were more humorous than anything at first, making fun of him being a baseball player, wanting to give him a gun and, most notably, as well as commonly, praising him.

“Y’all, I want Batter to purify me, not gonna lie.”

Although not the best at deciphering statements like these, he could make an educated guess on what it could have meant based on everything you had previously said. It left him subconsciously holding his breath, imagining all the possibilities of such with the beloved effigy of you in his mind. Shaking his head, he tried his best to fight off these intrusive thoughts protruding his senses. Though, to hear you think so highly of him, it excited him, showing him he was as important to you as you were to him.

“If I do not get a plushie version of him I can tuck into bed and kiss on the forehead right this instant then what even is the point of life!”

Truly, there was no one in this abandoned room alongside him, but to have you declare such fondness for him in this manner of utmost innocence, he was afraid to show his face in fear of his expression betraying the feelings he held. Despite this, he lightly pulled down his cap, hoping it would conceal the flush on his cheeks. As your might pulled him in another direction, he sought to convince himself of this being nothing but another compliment. Verily, he wanted your scenarios to become reality.

“Ayo, did his sprite turn pink?”

[thebiscuiteternal]

Since the exchange reveal was today, I can finally cross-post this here.

“A Working Relationship” Sci-Fi AU, Artificial Intelligence, Secret Histories, Intrigue, Finding Your Place (and getting a crush on your android boss)

__________

“I don’t care how smart he is, you’re not putting a Jin on this ship!”

His first reaction is a flush of anger. The second is a barely-smothered explosion of laughter.

In all the insults he’d borne over his parentage in his lifetime, this had to be the first time in… well… ever that it was his father’s side being disparaged.

But when he peeks around the corner and sees who’s arguing with the Admiral, he immediately understands why.

The speaker is a perso-core droid.

Meng Yao has no illusions about the treatment of the droids custom-ordered by the ports his father owns. He’s even met some of them, when they came to drop off another meagre payment to his mother. Delicate, beautiful dolls designed for little more than to be stared at… or played with.

Easily broken, and just as easily replaced.

His still healing ribs give a throb. He can relate to the feeling.

He can use it, too, he realizes, a plan coming together in the back of his mind as he watches the pair bicker.

“Excuse me.”

They both turn at the sound of his voice, and the droid’s eyes narrow, photoreceptors and the light patterns decorating his body briefly shading closer to red than their usual pale green. He’s reasonably sure that if that long dark hair and silver skin weren’t synthetic, he’d be bristling like an offended Firenian Raptor Cat.

It’s an uncomfortably attractive look.

He immediately squashes that thought, then bows, carefully emphasizing the stiff discomfort of the motion. “I apologize for causing any discord. It’s true that my father is Jin Guangshan, but I have no association with the company, nor the ports that it owns.”

“You approached him for work two stationary cycles ago,” the droid says, voice tinged with suspicion.

He had been made aware his background had been searched from the moment he’d been identified as a Jin, however, so he is ready for that. “My late mother desperately wished for me to join the family business. His, of course, not hers. But visiting him has proven to be a mistake. It’s clear now that my father has a very similar opinion of his illegitimate children as he does his droids.”

He opens one of the side panels of his flight suit to show off the bruises that still prominently mottle his skin despite two visits to a medical ward he could afford.

It’s the briefest flicker-flash, a barest twitch of synthetic musculature that most people wouldn’t notice on a human, much less a droid. But the reaction is there, and he can feel the emotional shift in the air as the droid and the Admiral look at each other, the argument between them now silent instead of snapped.

After a few moments that surely feel longer than they actually are, the droid makes a noise that would have been a huff from anyone with lungs and turns away. “One full planetary rotation,” he grumbles, then stalks away down the hall.

If the droid means the planet they’re currently in orbit over, that’s thirty days by the timers in the ports. “Is that to be my entire billet?” he asks cautiously, not wanting to let it sound like a complaint.

Admiral Nie shakes his head. “Probationary period. If Sang-er declares you a fit for Baxia’s crew by then, we’ll re-draw your contract for a more formal position.”

“You value his opinion very highly,” Meng Yao says, careful to keep his tone neutral, lest the Admiral think he’s probing.

Which he is, but-

“As well I should. He's been serving with our ships since before I was born, after all; he knows the fleets inside and out down to the last fastening and half-byte of data."

Something about the way the Admiral says that lingers in the back of his mind even as he’s herded down to the ship’s infirmary to have his ribs properly treated. It’s hardly uncommon for the owners of a particularly well-made droid to brag about them, but to his ear it sounds… odd.  

Less like an owner pleased with his possession and more like a younger brother proud of his elder.

He’s finished settling into his cabin, what few things he owns unpacked and stowed away, when something twigs in his brain.

Sang-er.

It couldn’t possibly be what he’s thinking… could it?

---

The first week of Meng Yao’s temporary new job starts with a surprise and ends with a realization.

Given his prior experiences with employers and Sang-er’s clear dislike of him, he braces himself for the bottom of the heap and jobs like cleaning over-boiled acid out of engine cells. Instead, Sang-er puts him through a mentally grueling -and yet actually somewhat satisfying- examination of his skills, then unceremoniously shoves him straight into financial work.

Tracking numbers and allocating data has always been something he could do in his sleep if he so wished; though he doesn’t exactly let his mind wander, the tasks are easy enough that they allow him space to observe.

He wasn’t wrong, he decides, in pegging the relationship between his human boss and his mechanical one as being something akin to siblings.

Which really only lends further credence to the theory his other observations are steadily building.

Observations like how Sang-er is simply too advanced for a perso-core droid. He sifts and sorts information, skimming star maps and calculating alterations via hard-light illusions generated from his own body, and does it all with a speed and ease that should have overtaxed him a hundred times over. Small-droid cores simply aren’t designed to hold or process that much information that fast.

But a ship’s core, on the other hand…

When he’d been small, a friend of his mother’s had dreamed of one day leaving and joining the Qinghe fleets, drawn by the near legendary status of Nie Zhuyun and her ship Huaisang. A captain so sharp and daring and a ship so clever and nimble that people claimed she had somehow bonded her mind to the core to make them a perfect symbiosis.

How many of the tales his mother’s friend told were true were arguable, but what had been true was that when the Wen Chancellor had finally succeeded in his near singleminded obsession to have the ship destroyed, its core had never been found in the wreckage.

Nie Mingjue had said that Sang-er had been serving the fleet since before his birth, but that didn’t mean it had always been in the same body.

And then there is the second most important observation: Sang-er never leaves Baxia.

He’d been unsure about that one at first. Even though they are docked, most of the crew remain onboard a good portion of the time. But after a few days of watching, it has become clear that while even the Admiral occasionally goes out into the port for one bit of business or another, Sang-er stays on board at all times, sometimes with some gentle but pointed reminding on the Admiral’s part.

As if the droid is being purposely kept hidden.

And he can guess from whom. His father has a very good business relationship with Wen Ruohan; even though the ship is docked in a port that isn’t directly owned by the Jin family, there’s a fairly large presence of both Jin and Wen contingents. If he’s right, and Sang-er really is a reconstruction of Huaisang’s core-

He stiffens, then reaches out to stop the flow of numbers he’d been monitoring.

When he had gone to that first medical ward… there had been…

He closes his eyes and sucks in a sharp breath, then lets it out slowly.

"There a problem?" a nearby officer asks.

"No, sir. Just needed a moment for the eyes," Meng Yao says, and then gets back to work.

---

His thoughts nag at him for the rest of the designated day hours and follow him into his bed that night. They’re still plucking at his nerves the next morning, annoying him enough that he barely touches the breakfast he would have gladly stolen -maybe even committed violence to get- from a rich man’s table not too long ago.

If he's right, then he has inadvertently picked up some information that would be extremely valuable to the Admiral and Sang-er.

But to use that information, he will have to do something he absolutely despises.

Tell everything.

There is no safety in full disclosure. Keeping things close to his chest had been the only way he’d survived the arduous journey between the port he’d grown up in and the central hub where his father resides.

But Sang-er has already proven very capable when it comes to checking up on those he does not trust. If he withholds anything that he overheard, and Sang-er finds out he’d done so, then being ousted from the ship is probably the best thing he could expect.

And… he... likes it here.

It’s hard to admit that, even just in his own mind. He’s only been employed on Baxia for a week.

And yet something in his heart just settles at the idea of staying here in a way he can’t remember feeling in years. The Admiral checks up on his wellbeing. His other crewmates treat him as his station befits. He’s comfortable in the jobs he’s been assigned. Even Sang-er -for all the droid’s aversion to him- judges his work fairly and takes his opinions into genuine consideration. Comparing the crew he’s found himself with to the tittering sycophants who’d taken such glee in watching his father reject him-

He bites his tongue to stop the flow of bitterness before it becomes overwhelming and clouds his thoughts.

The point is that, for the first time in a very long time, he has found himself a place he does not want to give up.

If that means having to lay all his cards on the table, then… then fine.

He reaches a point in his tasks that he can safely pause for lunch, but instead of going down to the dining hall, he goes looking for Sang-er.

---

After more than a little unsure wandering and some eventual directions from a couple of helpful crewmates, Meng Yao finds the droid in question in one of the small-ship hangars, surrounded by a star map and several of their scout pilots.

For a moment, his breath catches in his throat.

In the dim lighting of the hangar, Sang-er's eyes and the geometric designs decorating his form glow brighter, mingling with the reflective light of the illusory stars against silvery skin. With one fingertip, he draws flight paths and points of interest, directing models of their ships less like he is ordering soldiers and more as if he is conducting dancers.

It’s hard not to stare, and in that moment he understands better some of the particulars of the information he’s about to relay.

Drawing up his nerve, he straightens his back and approaches the knot of people just in time for the lights to come back up and the star map to vanish into the palm of Sang-er’s hand. A couple of the younger scouts wave to him, drawing the droid’s attention in his direction.

“Please excuse me if I’m interrupting anything, but may we speak in private?” he asks quickly, before any potential judgements can be made.

Sang-er regards him silently, expression completely neutral, then tilts his head in acquiescence. “You’ve all got your assignments,” he says to the scouts. “See you in fourteen days.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Follow me,” Sang-er says as he turns on his heel, and Meng Yao obeys.

Their destination turns out to be the hangar manager’s office, or what would have been the hangar manager’s office if they didn’t have Sang-er. The doors close behind them with a swish and click, but Meng Yao barely hears it over his own heartbeat.

He swallows hard as he watches the droid lean against the desk.

Okay.

All cards on the table.

"Wen Ruohan knows that you're Huaisang."

Sang-er doesn’t flinch or stiffen or show any other reaction that would give away a human but, like their first meeting, Meng Yao feels the subtle shift around them. "Interesting. And you've come to this conclusion because…?"

It’s not an outright denial. No automatic accusations of wild imaginations or delusions or… anything like that. Just a quiet demand to show his work, like the evaluations before. Meng Yao can’t help but find it oddly soothing for this to be treated as nothing more than a basic report despite the severity of what he’s revealing.

“There’s a specific medical ward in the district of Koi Port that most of the residents pretend doesn’t exist. At the time I was… dismissed, it was the only one I could afford to visit. One of the other patients there was complaining that a job for the Wens had been taken from him and handed over to shifters employed by the Jins.”

That gets a visible reaction as Sang-er’s hands clench on the edge of the desk he’s leaning on.

It’s an entirely understandable response. Shifters are the worst of the worst when it comes to orchestrating and carrying out the theft of high-end droids, and their services don’t come cheap at all. For someone like Wen Ruohan, who already has so much power of his own, to enlist them from another company…

Well, the implication is clear.

“Go on,” Sang-er says, and Meng Yao doesn’t fail to notice the tension that’s entered his voice.

“He didn’t specifically describe the target, but he did mention it was aboard the flagship of the Qinghe fleet, and that the backer had ordered it to be captured fully intact, or else. No offense to any of the other droids here, but there’s no one other than you who could possibly garner that kind of demand. And no other reason why Wen Ruohan would make it.”

“I see.” Sang-er’s expression still hasn’t changed, but the words are decidedly even more clipped. “And what price would a Jin expect for information like this?”

There’s the suspicion that he’s been waiting for.

All cards on the table, Meng Yao reminds himself for what may be the tenth time. Or the twentieth, he admittedly has lost track. If he doesn’t remain honest now, he stands to lose everything.

He allows himself one more nervous swallow before answering. “I don’t know… probably something obscene, honestly. I want to be extended to a full contract.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

Sang-er blinks at him, unable to catch the surprise from flickering across his face quickly enough, though it’s quickly schooled away. “That’s it,” he repeats, arching one eyebrow disbelievingly.

“You’ve already given me nearly everything I was looking for when I originally went to meet my father. I want to keep that,” Meng Yao says. “The rest… I will come to terms with eventually.”

There’s no immediate response, and the silence stretches uncomfortably between them as Sang-er appraises his words and everything else. It’s hard not to squirm under the stare.

Then Sang-er’s expression visibly softens, and the sight nearly knocks the wind out of him, it catches him so off guard .

Oh, that’s just not fair.

He quickly recovers, standing straight as Sang-er pushes himself away from the desk and walks past him.

“Well, come on, then,” the droid says, and he absolutely does not shiver at the new warmth in his voice.

“Where are we going now?”

“To give my recommendation to Mingjue and have you moved to more permanent quarters. And then we will start planning to deal with this new development.”

We will start planning, he says.

Meng Yao finds he very much likes the sound of that.

[092219archive]

planning out a kh!eren has been rough and planning out kh!eren’s nobdy has been even worse.

i don’t update here as much as i used to because all i do nowadays is spam my poor twitter followers (whoops!) with my cursed and awful ideas ft. verbal emotion talk. i have been working on things, particularly my kingdom hearts selfships 💦 some ideas i post and brainstorm, and others stay in the brain and never get to see the light.

but first things first, i want to complain about kh!eren, who is still being worked on in The Lab™ as i type this.

the thing is with kh!eren is that i still have no real grasp and understanding of the plot and lore. there’s a bunch of what ifs and hows that spin around in my brain while i’m trying to solidify my ideas, and i feel like my answers are right in front of me yet i’m so blind to them. at this point, i can’t really care much about creating this grand, original backstory for kh!eren because that’s a lot of brain work i can’t spare (i still haven’t read ansem’s notes). of course, i’ll change things up when the time comes around but since my knowledge on kh is still shaky, i’d rather not have to deal with weird plot stuff juuust yet.

it’s tedious, but it’s fun in its own way. what can i explore? what haven’t i? how can i change things? how will this affect what’s already existing? i could pull things out of my ass and then make things work, but alas, “canon is my playground.”

a lot of what i’m having trouble with is more technical stuff, too. i spent weeks trying to figure out exactly what kind of attribute i want my character to have, and what kind of weapon they’d be using while in organization xiii. i normally default to the “sniper role” as seen with my fate insert, but unfortunately for me, rat man was waaay ahead of my time. and then i figured i’d go for lances since that’s. well, it’s not my brand but i’m associated with characters that tend to use things similar to lances when in combat, you know? but xaldin beat me to it. and this is the part where i was like, “okay, well, you’re clearly having difficulties trying to find a weapon for kh!eren’s nobody... let’s move onto something else.”

turns out trying to figure out an attribute was worse. initially i joked around and said that kh!eren’s nobody should be able to manipulate space, but turns out rat man beat me again. i’m going to destroy you, xigbar. i would’ve defaulted to water or ice, but demyx and vexen respectively already have those attributes. after a while, i figured i’d work with poison but even now, i’m still unhappy with the attribute because it doesn’t really sit with me. i’ve never been a... “poison” kinda person, but i guess metaphorically it’d make sense.

and i can’t even let kh!eren’s nobody be associated with the moon because Saïx Was Here. there goes my sun/moon ship dynamic. all of my “go-to” ideas have basically been used in the official material (which is nice, but i’m also suffering), and i’m forced to think out of the box. that’s... probably why i’m having so much trouble too because, and as stupid as this sounds, i haven’t really thought out of the box in a while. most of my characters follow a singular trope with a very specific association, but as most of it was done already, i’m kinda forced to get creative because i’ll feel awfully guilty if i don’t. i don’t wanna steal ideas that already exist in canon!! that makes me feel bad.

the only thing i’m semi-okay with is kh!eren’s design along with their nobody, and even that’s subject to change as i gain more ideas and flesh them out further. technical information should have been easy to fill out, but to my surprise, it was hard to do even that. what’s their number? their title? you know, all that stuff. i realized that, “wow. kh!eren is... a pretty blank slate right now” besides the existing design. which doesn’t look that bad, actually. i got anxious about posting it because i felt that they wouldn’t belong in the kh universe, but those are trivial things i don’t have to worry about at the moment. design changes to kh!eren and their nobody can come later... i wanna worry about the other important stuff, like weapon and their attribute.

and i think, technically speaking, i could slap just about anything onto kh!eren’s nobody. but i also would like something that, well, i like. i know that they usually have to do with something... kind of natural? organic is a weird word to describe it as but that’s about it. i don’t think you can technically use an actual manifestation of “shadows” or “darkness” since xemnas has “nothingness” as his attribute which is kind of... the same, or similar to, thing to shadows/darkness. ANYWAYS, i’m still putting thought into this. it’s hard, and my brain’s the size of a pea.

but as for weaponry, i am getting somewhere! i was thinking of using something similar to the weapon, kama, except double that and then double that again. i don’t know what to name it yet, and i’m already thinking about how this can spark up interactions with the other members of organization xiii. but the fun stuff has to wait, because there’s a few roads i wanna take with kh!eren... i say a few as if there’s gonna actually be a “few,” but i’m honestly thinking like. two roads, at most. if i wanna go crazy then three, but that’s not very likely.

i mean, i guess to some extent, attribute isn’t so important that if i don’t figure one out, i’ll die, but also... if i don’t figure one out, i just might. it’s just a little thing i’ve been stressing out over!! i don’t think i should be, but god, i really am.

that’s also just the tip of the iceberg of problems, too. i have their whole backstory to work out and i may just use an au or two to make things work in their own right.

if you looked at my ugly handwriting (or under the read more), i put “birth by sleep/kingdom hearts union x.” i’ve been considering a few routes in terms of that...

see, if i let kh!eren’s starting point be birth by sleep, then their story would begin before the actual events of birth by sleep (with aqua, terra, and ventus). they’d be training under master eraqus to be a keyblade master as would any other dedicated student, but the teachings of light and dark eventually become convoluted within their mind. what’s right, and what’s wrong? is this really okay? things like that, where they question their role and their existence within the world, or worlds, rather. the answers spiral down into a dark place solely because kh!eren was in a dark place during these events. i’d imagine even before meeting master eraqus that their life was basically in shambles and they were put under this constant state of stress where they’d constantly turn to the darkness. however; i’d also imagine that kh!eren wouldn’t want to fall to darkness, because that’s what’s expected of them. nobody wants to succumb to the darkness because it’s terrifying. but there comes a point in their life where they’re just this void of any real feelings because they can’t recognize or distinguish what from what anymore, and they begin to question the world from their own perspective. this causes them to seek out “answers” to fulfill their curiosity and to give them something akin to a purpose, in which in the process, they lose everything and follow xehanort. or something like that.

but if i dropped them off into the place where everything began, then things would be just a liiittle different. maybe not entirely, but kh!eren would be a bit of a schemer. they question their existence after the happenings of the keyblade war to find out that nothing truly matters, and they become this cunning kind of character that breathes “using people for their own means.” but they’re not necessarily submitting themselves to darkness, because they believe that what they do is for “the greater good.” i guess this weird, chaotic neutral or good kind of character. but time passes and it passes, and there’s nothing but “i remember what i did before, so if i can keep up the act, i can pass as a person.” and that’s most of their life in the organization, which would just be going through duties and playing their role. do they know the truth? yeah, perhaps. do they do anything about it? no, what’s the point?

i have more material to work with if i start with birth by sleep, but at the same time, whatever happens in khux kind of interests me and i want to see where it goes... which is why i was planning two aus... but god knows i might just smash them together for convenience which. i’m not sure how’d that work considering both kh!erens start off at different times and have different experiences, even if they do end up ultimately the same by the end. one’s just more sarcastic! not that big of a difference.

god, this got so damn long. i’ve just been in this rambly mood where i wanna spam and dump my thoughts somewhere and i guess this is it!

[ocgear]

Devlog #6 Writing, Music, and Art

Hey y’all! I wanted to give an update since I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m dead ^^;

For quick updates on the project: OCG is being produced in two parts now. Part 1 will contain the many mysteries that the world of OCG has to offer and part 2 will be a sort of answer arc. The first draft of OCG part 1 is written and I’ve been hard at work revising and editing the prologue and chapter 1 of the script. For part 1, there is roughly 6-7 chapters of planned content. I’m hoping that at the end of the day, Part 1 will resonate with you, the reader.

Covid has been extremely hard on my ability to complete the project. I won’t get too personal on a devblog, but my health and finances were impacted. I apologize for the delays and this account’s inactivity. I feel like I'm letting down the people who want to read OverClock Gear and I just want to let everyone know that I'm still committed to working on the project and that despite the inactivity, I'm still working hard to improve every aspect as much as possible.

I'd like to share some of the things I learned along the way so that maybe future devs can learn something from my struggles.

WRITING:

As a warning, I want to say that none of the following are hard rules of writing. These are just things that I've observed as a writer and as a consumer.

Probably the most challenging part of a Visual Novel is writing a script that works with the format. The rules for VN writing are different from traditional novels and screenplays as many elements will be shown on screen but usually not enough to get a full sense what's going on. This is more of an opinion, but I feel that the descriptions should supplement the action and we should pick and choose when to show with sprites instead of describing. This is especially true when considering dialogue and internal monologue will make up a majority of the script akin to a movie.

It's not to say you should ignore everything you know about writing, however. There's still things about structure and character arcs that are useful.

Speaking of characters, balancing your cast is also a challenge. Every character is fighting for enough screen time to develop enough for the reader to care. As I'm writing OCG, I am trimming down and trying to give each cast member enough time to breathe while keeping in mind the characters' backstories and motivations. There's also the delicate balance between backstory and current events to keep in mind. I think it's especially hard to figure out how to reveal backstory without dumping a history lesson on the player.

There's also the issue with paragraph length for display purposes. VNs have a unique format that breaks down text into easily digestible chunks. However, overutilizing the space can sometimes make the reading experience worse.

There are a lot of things to consider visually too when writing your script. I've had to think about the actual space that they occupy so that chain of events make sense. Since there will be visual elements to the story, I need to try to figure out how those elements fit in too as I'm writing. For instance, how characters will appear, do gestures, and different CGs that need to appear are crucial to the format and needs to be considered.

From a general storytelling perspective, I've been toying with the idea of including gameplay. However, I realized that in trying to do so, I'd have to create a bunch of excuses to play the minigame which would be:

1. Unsatisfying without enough stages to challenge the player

OR

2. Disrupt the story to challenge the player

I think that if I wanted to have gameplay, I should plot out the game in a way such that the story fits the gameplay and not the other way around. Since I'm working on a primarily story driven experience, I won't be including any minigames that would take the player out of the experience. However, I have ideas for games that could take place in the world of OverClock Gear. Those are sitting in the vault until I release OCG part 1.

There's also something interesting I learned about twists and keeping people engaged in stories. Maybe this is something of a beginner's trap, but when people say a character isn't interesting it's usually because a character doesn't have anything meaningful to say or do, or they're simply floating through the story without influencing it. Giving a character powers and an award winning backstory isn't really enough to make someone interesting in a story. Giving a character flaws also doesn't make them automatically interesting. It's how you tie all these traits into story and their impact on other characters that make it interesting.

In today's day and age, readers have become more critical and perceiving than ever before, so it may seem like you'd need to hide more information to make your twists have impact. But I think it's better to show some of your hand. Twists also need room to breathe. They need to be logical but unexpected. A reader needs to convince themselves that it was possible through several minor clues leading up to the event. But balancing what to show and what to hide is a challenge in itself. Through showing off my script edits, I came to the conclusion that setting up expectations is a lot more satisfying than trying to make everything a mystery. Readers seem to get frustrated when the mystery leads nowhere in a story for an extended period of time. However, that's not to say every mystery should be revealed in a quick fashion. I think it's a balancing act, one in which we have to reveal what we can to keep the reader engaged while hiding the bigger stuff behind the curtains. In a way it's like slight of hand: We try to misdirect the audience with "true" events in the story and then blow them away with something they never saw coming.

An example of a bad twist from a scrapped project that I did several years ago: The main character meets a super secret organization who protects her from a military government. One of the people who protects her is a commander in that organization and seems to know a thing or two about the MC. However he is shot and killed before anything could be revealed.

There are elements that we can anticipate from the scenario: The MC is caught up in some crazy conspiracy with rogues and the military. However, the characters don't come off as interesting because they aren't given room to breathe. The organization became a device to set up the premise of the story. The commander doesn't impact the story and basically anybody else could've stepped in to save the MC. The MC isn't given time to bond with the commander and as such the twist at the end doesn't come across as earned.

These are just some thing that I've been thinking about as I've been consuming media and writing. There are too many games and fictional works that I've ruined for myself by being too critical. But through this, I'm hoping that the final script for OverClock Gear will be something I can be proud of.

Art:

I'm studying animation production to try to incorporate some of that knowledge into my VN. I want to be able to create a more immersive experience and make my VN more visually appealing. Some works that I really like are Muv Luv and Phoenix Wright. They're both unique in their presentation and utilize different parts of visual media that make them stand out.

The Muv Luv team are masters at using dynamic camera movement to craft visual spectacles. Despite the sprites being mostly non-moving, the way they are tweened and the few pose changes they have are combined with the camera in a way that almost makes them feel alive. Even in the first cutscene of Muv Luv Alternative, the parallax effects and strong camera angles help to sell that cinematic feel that isn't really found in any other VN's I've read.

Phoenix Wright's sprites are a joy to look at. The animations are done with such strong key poses that I sometimes forget the game's animations were meant to be limited. In the modern day, there are many tools that are used to create smooth looking animations with complex actions like 3D models or Live2D. I'm honestly not a huge fan of Live2D animations as it often looks as if a puppeteer is handling the rig. 3D also presents the issue of having to create specialized rigs that can handle weird scenarios like foreshortening. For example in Dragon Ball Fighter Z, there's a lot of model distortion in cinematics that is pretty complicated for someone with no 3D expertise. Facial expressions are also a huge part of making visual novel character appealing which can be difficult to do well on a 3D model. Not to mention, to emulate a 2D style, the frames need to be displayed at 24fps which means chopping frames in-between the interpolated keys. It can be a lot of work to create something that closely resembles "Anime". There is also a charm in a more traditional approach to animation that I think more visual novels should employ. Though I recognize that for complicated sprites, a traditionally drawn 2d animation isn't practical at all, I want to use the idea of strong key poses to create more lively sprites as well as play with depth to further immersion.

There are some more ideas that I have for creating a better visual experience, but I don't want to go into too much of a tangent ^^;

Music:

I went back to learn more about music theory and I came across some great videos that emulate the Japanese video game/Pop style. If you're curious, you can check out Gavin Leper's channel on YouTube. That being said, something I realized about music in Visual Novels and Film in particular is that sometimes the music should accompany the dialogue or actions in the work instead of overpowering it. There are moments when elevator music is important and when it's important to use a swelling emotional piece. Not everything in life "goes hard" and I think that also applies to music in stories as well. Music in games is also designed to loop in contrast to film where individual pieces can be created for specific scenes. This adds an entirely new thing to think about since it needs to be repeatable without getting annoying. I don't really have a clean answer to this, but to observe songs from games you like and see how they transition from the end to the part that loops.

This was a long post and there's so much more I want to talk about but I'm trying to stay productive and get the script done. For anyone else struggling with finishing their VN, "Finish the Script" by Scott King is an excellent book. Wishing everyone the best!

- OCGDev

[thesimplyluxuriouslife]

303: 33 Ways to Live Your Fullest Life, as taught by Norma Kamali

"Living your purpose will make it possible to do all the things you need to do to reach the goals you need to reach in order to fulfill your dreams, which are as big as the world and as optimistic as your mind can imagine." —Norma Kamali, author of I Am Invincible

Change is inevitable, in the world, our bodies and our lives. How we navigate life's endless changes determines the quality of our lives, especially during our everydays and how we experience each 24-hours, but from the longview of life, it will determine the legacy we create, the connections and relationships we make and build and how or if we contribute positively to a better world tomorrow.

Fashion designer Norma Kamali's new book, part memoir, part lifestyle/self-esteem builder I Am Invincible is aptly described by Cynthia Rowley as "personal power with a side of popcorn".

Upon the book's arrival, I read it in one day. Highlighting constantly, stopping and rereading, taking closer notes so as not to forget and apply immediately her wisdom to my life, I couldn't wait to share with podcast listeners and blog readers (where does the 'side of popcorn come in you may be wondering? she shares a simple, yet delicious recipe for homemade popcorn - I tried it the next day - yep, loved it).

What good fortune we all have to live now with so much to learn, apply, explore and tickle our curiosity, and with such good fortune, we can easily become overwhelmed. However, Kamali reminds and models in her own life of more than 70 years that this good fortune need not betwixt us but rather spark excitement within us to figure out how to make it work for each and every one of us so we can live with purpose.

The book transpired out of a gift she gave to a friend who was celebrating her 50th birthday. She gave as a Moleskine journal filled with 50 Tips on Turning 50! and the reaction led to asking her to make her book available, and now we have quite the book of inspiration and lessons applied and learned.

As someone who chose herself when she founded her own business in her early 20s after ending a marriage and the business she and her then husband began together and continues to hold the reins and someone who found whom she describes as her soulmate at 65, Kamali is a living example of intentionally building one's self-esteem, recognizing and celebrating your authentic self and living with purpose in your business and personal life.

Her book begins with the driving question: If you can control the quality of your life, why not do it? And while she definitely had me at Why Not . . . ? I couldn't agree more that indeed we should invest and apply in all the areas we can to elevate the quality of our lives.

Today's episode/post shares 33 of which there are many more lessons discovered as I read her book. I hope you enjoy.

~be sure to tune in and listen to the audio version of today's episode for further discussion on each of the points shared below.

LIFE & MIND

1.Be brave

"Be willing to surrend who you are for what you can become. Change is very hard for many people, but change is inevitable in all of our lives. It is oftentimes what propels us forward. If you initiate change, you will have proactive management over it."

The courage to be brave is not for the faint of heart. The moment of transition lasts more than a moment, and during this time of transition from where you were to where you are going with your choice is full of emotions challenging your decision, then buoying your excitement, then challenging your decision again. The only way to overcome the doubt is to continue to strive forward as such feelings are only the mind's lizard brain wanting you to continue what it knows not necessarily because it is best for you.

~read this post - How to Be Brave: Follow Your 'This' to Live the Life You Have Dreamt About

2. Understand your hormonal levels

"Throughout puberty, pregnancy, post-pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause, women ride a hormonal roller coaster. Diet and exercise are the first lines of defense for balancing hormones."

On a practical level, since I mentioned emotions in #1, not only do we need to strengthen our emotional intelligence (EQ), but as women, we need to understand the hormonal changes each of us will go through at some time. Kamali recommends speaking to your wellness doctor or an expert in the medical field to best understand how to navigate and understand what your body is moving through.

3. Learn to love yourself first, so you can love others well

"Positive self-esteem based on how we feel about our mind, body and soul is needed for self-love. If we haven't done work in the self-love area, there is a chance we are not as discriminating as we need to be, especially in relationships."

Kamali's own life exemplifies the need to walk away for our own well-being,"Walking away begins with a belief system you have in your head about your own value." And it is in the self-love, we become clear about how to love others well and know what love actually looks like.

4. Professional teeth cleanings - multiple times a year

Back to the practical. Of course, brushing our teeth daily, multiple times a day is a must along with flossing, etc., but our smiles are powerful. They not only enhance our beauty, they boost our own confidence and endorphin levels when we smile, and a healthy smile can be maintained for an extraordinary long time if only we take preventative measures regularly throughout our entire lives. Two times a year tends to be the recommendation by dentists, but opt for more if you can and let your smile shine.

5. Embrace a meditation practice

A meditation practice need not be elaborate. It can be as simple and momentary as intentional time slipping away to the restroom while at work for 5 to 10 minutes to breathe deeply and settle ourselves, but yes (I know I have recommended this practice many times here on the blog), meditation is a worthwhile practice for so many lifelong health benefits - the mind most especially.

6. Be proactive to navigate well through fear/anxiety/worry

When it comes to eliminating or handling well unwanted worry, undesirable situations, Kamali advises developing routines to engage in everyday whenever worry, fear or anxiety arises. For example, she shares how meditation breaks when taken "temper anything stressful that might throw off [her] routine".

7. Embrace regular, rigorous exercise to improve sleep

"In addition to helping naturally reduce stress and anxiety levels, regular exercise has been shown to boost the amount of time the body spends in deep sleep. This is the most physically rejuvenating phase, important for memory and cognitive function. When energy is restored, cells regenerate, and the immune system is strengthened."

Upon reflection on any night in which I woke up prematurely and was not woken up, it followed a day I did not exercise. On days I do not exercise due to exhaustion - mental and emotional fatigue, I actually cause more stress because my sleep is not deep and sometimes interrupted of my own accord. All of these ahas I have seen and learned in my own life reiterate the vital importance of making time in my day for an exercise routine.

8. Make your bedroom a sacred space in your sanctuary

Currently, as many readers know, I am nearing the end of a much anticipated bedroom restyling and when it is complete I look forward to sharing with you my decisions for the space and how they help me create a sacred space. Each of us will make unique choices for the decor, the sheets, the ambiance which work best for us, but one thing Kamali reiterates is to leave the bedroom for sleeping, resting and connecting intimately with your partner only. In other words, leave the technology outside of the bedroom.

~10 Décor Tips for Creating a Private Sanctuary for Rest & Repose: TSLL's Restyling Process (mid-way through) of the Primary Bedroom (for TOP Tier exclusively)

~Why Not . . . Create a Sanctuary for your Senses?

~14 Ways to Create a Happy Home, episode #278

FOOD

9. Make what you eat a lifestyle choice

"What you eat should be a lifestyle choice, not a fad diet, just like your workouts should be part of your daily routine, and not sporadic."

TSLL lives by the principle of eating well and with the seasons. The food we eat need not be fancy and it absolutely doesn't need to lack flavor as it is the flavor which will satiate us, telling our bodies we are full and satisfied. However, learning how to cook and eat this way is a skill we are taught as children or need to teach ourselves as adults. It is well worth it and once we understand the fundamentals, easy than might be expected.

"The simple secret I've learned is that if we eat quality food we will feel fulfilled and less controlled by our cravings. The amount of food we need is much less than you might imagine."

~Enjoy Stepping into Your Kitchen with 6 Simple (and effortless) flavor tips

~explore TSLL's cooking show - The Simply Luxurious Kitchen - to begin to enjoy stepping into your kitchen

10. No more sugar

"[Sugar] doesn't do your complexion any favors, either. A doctor once described sugar's oxidizing effect on cells to me as akin to 'rust'. The rust starts to decay and age the cell. This accelerated cellular aging also harms the building blocks of collagen and elastin, causing skin to sag prematurely."

The natural sugars found in fruits and some vegetables - keep on devouring them! However, by becoming aware of how sugar infilrates our diet without either realizing it or recognizing how much we are actually consuming, we do our health and our skin no favors.

11. Add ginger and/or lemon to your hot water to debloat

Water, water, water all the time, water. Adding fresh lemon juice also is a healthy choice, one many of us know about, but did you know about adding ginger? (I have a feeling many of you did and I am late to this health tip :), but I want to share with you all.) Ginger is a carminative along with many other herbs, and carminatives help to soothe the digestive tract and relieve gas, cramps and bloating.

12. Stock your épicerie with foods to care for your inner and outer health.

In episode #109 and in even more detail in chapter 12 of TSLL's second book Living The Simply Luxurious Life, I share a list of 34 essential items to have in your Épicerie (grocery or pantry).

TSLL's 2nd Book (learn more here)

STYLE

"Style survives fashion and personal style is developed with time."

13. Courageously get to know yourself and your personal style will reveal itself

"The more you know who you are as you move through your life, the more you develop your personal style."

As I step forward into a new chapter in my own life (more to come on that this summer), I am excited to further fine-tune my personal style. My goal is so that "Every piece of clothing", when you have cultivated your own personal style, "will have a purpose in your wardrobe." It's possible and far easier when we know ourselves and how we enjoy living.

14. Understand the value of timeless style

"Women who understand the value of timeless style look amazing all of the time."

~further exploration, listen to/read episode #103: Effortless Style: The Truth (explore further in TSLL's 2nd Book, chapter 11)

15. Don't follow trends

Style remains and fashion fades. While we can be inspired or piqued by a new fashion walking down the runway, responding rather than reacting applies just as much to our decisions for our wardrobe as it does to our interactions throughout life with others. Explore this post - Why Not . . . Create Your Own Style Commandments? to strengthen your approach to building your personal style.

16. Sustainable clothing shopping requires wise shopping choices

timeless clothes

multiple purposes

seasonless (when possible)

Investing in high quality clothing, paying high price for well-made items made of quality fabric is shopping sustainably. You shop less and you wear the items longer.

17. Your personal brand is introduced through your clothing

Branding is communicated by many other factors - our energy, posture, congeniality - but before we even speak, our clothing talks for us. Our sartorial choices are powerful, and as Kamali encourages, "let yours be uniquely you".

18. Organize your closet to excite and focus your attention and save time

Kamali suggests organizing your closet to help you edit what you really want to wear and in fact organizes her personal and office closets by color, then by fabric, and then by category: dresses, jumpsuits, tops, jackets, skirts, pants.

19. Purchase multiple items you love and fit well

From undergarments to blazers, layering pieces, anything that is timeless, Kamali recommends investing in duplicates.

20. A strong confidence requires less artifice as protection

"But with her new book, she hopes to drive home the limits of fashion. 'A dress can only do so much,' she says. 'When you feel good in your body and your mind, you’ll probably spend less on clothes.'"

Upon reading the profile of Kamali's book in the WSJ, it was the above quote which resonated with me quite strongly. Yes, we need clothing, I am not one to advocate for sans-clothing living although I know some do and that is perfectly fine for them. Clothing is powerful, but when we rely on our clothing to do the work we need to be doing for ourselves for our mental well-being, we place too much importance on what we are wearing causing unnecessary stress on our mental health and strain on our budget.

I wholeheartedly, as readers and listeners know, advocate for investment pieces rather than cheap, clothing (referencing #16), and as we find peace within ourselves, strengthen ourselves with soft skills to improve how we engage with the world, our clothing, while it may introduce us before our words and actions begin, becomes secondary. Meaning, we can wear the same outfit more often without worry, we can stick to our personal uniform with confidence knowing it works with our lifestyle, and we can feel good in the clothing we have chosen further supporting us as we live how we had hoped in our dreams we could one day experience in real life: with great purpose, with deep joy and true contentment.

WORK

"Be independent; learn how to earn your own way. Then you can choose someone you love versus someone to take care of you."

21. Explore your dreams for your life journey

"The wonderful thing about a dream is that it is limitless and it is free, and it can become the path to your purpose."

Let persistent curiosity be your guide to where your purpose will be discovered. Kamali writes, "invest in your future now" even if you don't know what it will lead to or the potential it will present down the road. Simply invest because you are genuinely curious and let tomorrow reveal what it will.

22. Empower other women, don't compete

"Girls compete, women empower."

Citing insecurity and a lack of self-esteem as the cause of fear which then leads to a scarcity mindset prompting competition, when we step forward instead as women with strong self-esteem paired with generosity, there is no need to compete because we are secure in our ability, excited to learn more and willing to help as we can those who look to us with inquiry.

23. Do something that scares you

In so doing, you keep your mind sharp. Stretch your mind, learn something new, attempt something you've never thought of yourself doing, yet when presented with the opportunity, your curiosity is piqued. Try it, give it a go and who knows what doors or windows or ahas will open.

24. Respect in your field will take time

"Respect is like money, you have to earn it."

Your reason for pursuing your chosen career will determine your longevity. If your purpose comes from within, you will have the perseverance to ride the waves of questioning and/or doubt others in the field may have of your ideas. Stay true to your core purpose, be open to learning, flexible with the journey forward and how it unfolds, and in time, and in a moment most unexpected, you will realize you have garnered the respect of the field you so devoted yourself to.

25. Deal with your 'failures' well and your future will be bright

"Allow yourself a limited amount of time to recount the events that led to failure and to assess the damage. Take responsibility, look at the options for your next steps, get advice, then get on you feet and know you are not alone in failure."

26. "Do it for joy and you can do it forever"

As shared in #24, what motivates you to pursue the career or caling you find yourself and have chosen to remain or step into anew from another career that didn't quite fit will determine your longevity.

When I sit down to write, it fuels me. When I am tasked with other jobs I have done for pay, I am drained. Listen to this for your own energy sources to determine whether or not you are pursuing what is best for you.

BEAUTY

"Authenticity Enhanced is my beauty preference, since being me is definitely easier than trying to look like someone else."

Enhance who you are and only use makeup (after caring for your skin well) for definition, "not to hide or disguise or hide the real you".

27. Take care of your skin

The French have taught me many lessons, and this is one of them: tend to your skin and your makeup need only be minimal and secondary. I have written quite a bit on this topic, so I will list the post to explore for more detail (and list of recommended skincare brands and products) below:

13 French Beauty Products I Love and Recommend

22 French Beauty Secrets worth the Investment in either time or money, episode #258

15 of My Favorite Skincare Products

Let's Talk About Beauty, episode #102

28. Take pride in your individuality

"Being the author of your own life is far more interesting than imitating another's life."

~7 Components for Building a Signature Style

29. Exercise for beautiful skin

"Sweat for glowing skin and to release toxins."

~Why Not . . . Treat Your Body Like a Temple?

30. Leave the nails unpainted

"Natural, unpainted manicures are healthy and maintain a timeless look."

I have been leaving my own fingernails unpainted for, well, for all of my adult life and prior to actually as well. However, I just recently began going sans color when I give myself a pedicure. I am loving it. Less to purchase, but it forces me to care well for my overall health and directly, my nails.

While I sit down every two weeks for my at-home pedicure and tend to my fingernails every week, my choice surprised me as I wear sandals frequently in the summer, but it simply means, I will know my nails are healthy and that all is well.

31. Drink green tea for your skin

An antioxidant for the skin, Kamali shares she drinks one or two cups of green tea every day. With multiple benefits, green tea can calm redness and inflammation and protect the skin from free radical damage, and even the small amount of caffeine in green tea can help reduce puffiness around the eyes.

There are so many wonderful green teas. Currently in my tea cupboard are Vert Provence from Mariage Fréres and a variety of green teas from Palais des Thés.

Kamali's green tea mask recipe (use in #32 for your at-home facial): (1) place a paper towel on a dinner plate; (2) pour a small amount of freshly brewed cool or room-temperature green tea on the paper towel; (3) drain any excess liquid; (4) lie back with your head on a towel and place the paper towel over your face; (5) relax and breathe in a meditative manner; (6) remove when you are ready and pat dry your face.

32. Give yourself at-home facials in-between your seasonal or bi-monthly facials at the spa

Begin with a cleansing your face well (I use Caudalie's makeup removing facial cleanser which is 100% natural and vegan) Use a simple natural scrub using olive oil and sugar or sea salt, provide a steam treatment by sitting near a steamer (if you have one) or draping a towel over your head above a bowl of hot water - keep your face about 6-12 inches above the water). Then apply a facial masque best suited for your skin - I highly recommend any masques (or products) from Eminence Organic Skincare.

My facial cleanser

MAKE IT HAPPEN

33. Commit

"The minute you reflect upon what your purpose is in this lifetime, you can commit to it, and the esaier it will be to maintain focus and stay on course."

Committing occurs when we take action beyond ourselves. The conversation steps outside of our minds, we hand in the job application, turn in the resignation letter, purchase the lease, apply for the loan, say yes, say no. Following any one of these decisions, we are in it. Sure we could back out, but we've already made one of the most difficult decisions and aren't you curious to see how it can unfold if only you would put your whole heart into it?

I just made a commitment last week which put a long-held dream into motion (I will share more concretely what it is later this summer), and yes, there is fear and trepidiation, but I do my best not to hang out with these emotions for too long because I have much more excitement I now have the opportunity to full embody and explore.

Live your life on purpose for a purpose which will make you come to life and you will be, as Norma Kamali states from the beginning, invincible.

~Read Norma Kamali's highly inspiring and motivating book I Am Invincible

Petit Plaisir

—Italian Furlane Slippers from SantM.co

~functional luxury footwear

~handmade with velvet and slip-resistant rubber soles just as the gondolieri have worn on their Venetian boats. Sizing up is highly recommended, but I have did purchase my true size for one pair and while snug, it fit well and became even more perfect for my foot with a handful of wearings. I also have one that is one size larger which I wear everyday and love.

For more sizes and color optinos (if you cannot find what you want on the home site, shop below)

here (Verishop)

~Sponsor for today’s episode:

Jenni Kayne

Receive 15% off your first order with promo code SIMPLE

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #303

~Subscribe to The Simple Sophisticate:  iTunes | Stitcher | iHeartRadio | YouTube | Spotify

Tune in to the latest episode of The Simple Sophisticate podcast

[warmdevs]

New Post has been published on https://warmdevs.com/visual-design-terms-cheat-sheet-2.html

Visual Design Terms Cheat Sheet

Visual design dictates how interactive elements look in an interface. It influences the user experience in many ways; for example, it:

affects legibility

creates visual balance on the page

coaxes the eye to move toward certain page elements

directs users toward actions

builds trust and credibility

reinforces the brand

Given its importance, all UX designers (and everyone on crossfunctional development teams) should have at least a baseline understanding of visual design and share a common language. But even proficient UX designers are not always versed in visual design, and few teams are able to create a solid common vocabulary. That difficulty can lead to hours of back-and-forth communication, countless unnecessary revisions, and costly misunderstandings. Conversely, good communication about visual design can make a site or application truly delightful and streamline design iterations.

This cheat sheet can plant the seed for a common visual-design vocabulary for your cross-functional team. We have chosen this collection of terms because they are either most important or most misunderstood. The topic areas include:

Graphics

Color

Visual weight

Types of images

To help illustrate some of these definitions, I am going to employ the assistance of my officemate, Finley:

A photograph I took of my dog, Finley, this past Christmas. What a good boy.

Note: We use the phrase visual element or element to refer to an image, a page, or a fragment of a page or of an image.

Brightness: the balance of light or dark colors that an element has (not to be confused with contrast, see below) or the density of light or dark colors within an image

When overall brightness is increased, all colors, foreground and background, are made lighter — that is, closer to white (complete lightness). When brightness decreases, all colors are darker and closer to black (complete darkness). Manipulating brightness in any visual can influence how easy it is to distinguish details. If something is too bright or too dark, the visual might be washed out or hard to see.

The original picture of Finley was taken at night, and the photo is dark. When we decrease brightness, details become more difficult to see. Slightly increasing brightness makes the image’s colors brighter, but also eliminates some details, like the edges of Finley’s ears (identified by the pink arrow in each frame) which blend into the background in the brightest frame.

Brightness of an interface can also influence the overall tone and brand identity. Take these two websites of two different investment banking companies, which have similar layouts above the fold, but with different hero image choices. Betterment opts for a darker (low brightness) hero image (with the exception of the woman’s face, whose complexion results in more contrast, see below) and slightly brighter buttons, while Wealthfront uses a brighter hero image (albeit with lower contrast due to the presence of pastels, see below) and layout with dark buttons. The brightness of the image and the darkness of the buttons ultimately influences the contrast (see below).

The Betterment site (top) features a dark hero image with dark buttons, while the Wealthfront site (bottom) features a brighter hero image with dark buttons.

Contrast (also known as gamma): the difference between the light and dark components of a given element

The differences in light and dark tones add visual interest that make the image strong (or as some say, “bold” or “pop.”). Contrast is important for readability and can help draw the viewer’s eye toward important details.

Slightly increasing contrast makes the shadows more noticeable. Decreasing contrast makes the picture less defined and thus, makes it harder to distinguish the details. Increasing contrast too much makes parts of the image too bright, which is uncomfortable to look at, especially for long periods time.

Density: quantity of visual elements in a given area or space

High-density pages are sometimes referred to as “busy” or “crowded.” Low-density pages have few components (e.g. text, colors, or textures) and use negative space or white space (i.e.,areas with no content  —see below). The definition of density applies to images, pages, and displays. Pages or displays with very few components are often referred to as simple or minimalist (see below).

If there are too few components on a page (which may not even warrant a dedicated page), users may not have enough information scent to confidently navigate that page. Conversely, too many components on a page can cause sensory overload and increase the task time or the chance that people will ignore relevant information. There will always be a tradeoff between how dense a page or display is and how much interaction cost or cognitive load that page will cause or require.

The wireframe on the left has higher density than the one on the right, with many elements filling the space on the page and less negative space.

Duotone (meaning “two tones”):  a color profile comprised only of different shades of two contrasting colors, with no other colors present

In order to qualify as duotone, there must be enough contrast between the tones for them to be considered two different colors. For example, light pink and dark pink would qualify as monotone, but not duotone, while purple and yellow are two different colors, and would qualify as duotone.

Grayscale (also known as black & white): a color profile composed of only black-and-white tones or shades of gray, with no other colors present

Grayscale is an example of monochrome (see below), but not all monochrome images are grayscale.

Minimalism: a low-density aesthetic style in which a design provides the bare minimum components needed to fulfill some purpose

Minimalism can apply to a page, an image, or a design. While minimalism may have aesthetic value for some audiences, it does not necessarily make a design easy to use (see density above).

Monochrome (meaning, “single color”): a color profile composed only of different shades of a single color, with no other colors present

Contrary to popular belief, monochrome is not only black and white, and monochrome images do not have to be grayscale. They can be any color, as long as every color in that image is a lighter or darker shade of that one color.

The first image is monochrome and in grayscale — the only colors used are varying shades of black. The second image is monochrome, but this time in pink. The last image is duotone — incorporating shades of purple and black.

Negative space (also known as white space or isolation): space which lacks text, graphics, or foreground colors

A visual element (such as a page or an image) with enough negative space can seem less busy or crowded. Some people refer to negative space as “breathing room” between elements — be it within a photograph or between interface elements on a screen (see density).

Note: While the term white space includes the word “white,” negative space is not necessarily white. For example, a white square would not be considered negative space if placed on a green background, but the green area would be. However, if the square was green, and the background was white, then the white area around the square would be considered negative space.

Pixel:  tiny unit of light emitted from a screen (an abbreviation for the words “picture element”)

Each pixel can appear as only one color at a time. To confuse things further, the word pixel (abbreviated “px”) is also used as a measurement unit for sizes on web pages. So a 1-px element can actually can encompass multiple physical pixels (actual light-emitting dots on the screen) on high-DPI screens.

Saturation: how intensely colors appear in any given element

This term is also used in print; the word literally means “filling to excess” or “soaking.” You may have heard saturated images referred to as “bold” or “vibrant in color.”

Highly saturated elements have bright, bold colors such as neon green, bright red, or electric blue, while less saturated elements have neutral tones (closer to black, white, or grey) or muted (or pastel) colors like mint, blush, or periwinkle.

As saturation is decreased, colors appear more neutral and less intense.

Color intensity affects readability; if text is too highly saturated it can strain the eyes. Color intensity can also influence brand perception — intense colors are often perceived as “lively,” “bold,” or “young,” while neutral colors tend to be perceived as “calm,” “mature,” or “grounded.”

As saturation increases, the intensity of colors increases. As saturation decreases, color hues become less vibrant until the image is devoid of all color except gray tones.

Texture: the varied layers in a given area of a visual element

Akin to fabric texture, which includes woven fibers and objects laid in the foreground and background, a highly textured digital element also has multiple layers. In an image, texture might be a sense of 3-dimensional space created with shadows and angles, while an interface might use overlapping elements such as text on top of a background image, or a 3D button with text on it to provide a sense of texture. Texture and depth can help draw the eye toward important details and set a tone for the design.

In the first image on the left the rectangle has little texture and one layer (arguably two if you count the text shadow effect). In the second frame, texture is increased with two layers: the yellow rectangle added behind the shadowed text. In the third frame, texture is higher with the addition of Finley’s photograph, which has layers in itself.

Visual balance: when all components of an element have similar visual weight (see below) and each element appears as strong (or weak) as the other elements on the page

Symmetrical balance: Similar objects evenly distributed across a page, screen, or element

Asymmetrical balance: Dissimilar objects but of equal visual weight distributed across a page, screen, or element

The wireframe on the left is symmetrically balanced because the elements are similar and are evenly distributed across both vertical halves of the page. The wireframe on the right is asymmetrically balanced because some elements are not the similar to their counterparts on the other side of the page, yet have similar visual weight. For example, the button in the top right (identified by the red arrow) is smaller than the button in the top left, but it is a darker color and has high contrast with the page background, which increases its visual heaviness and makes up for its smaller size. The top right button draws attention while still maintaining visual balance overall. The images and text blocks are different, but are also balanced in visual weight because the text is highly dense that balances with the low-density images. Both types of blocks are also equal in size.

Visual weight: how prominent an element appears compared to everything surrounding it

The more visual weight an element has, the more it draws the viewer’s eye. Weight is typically influenced by one or more of the following visual attributes: contrast, size, density, texture, color, and negative space. The more distinctive the visual attributes are, the greater the visual weight will be.

Increasing or decreasing visual weight of certain elements can help guide the eye toward high-priority details within a design.

Types of Images

Raster image (also known as bitmap image, including .JPG, .PNG or .GIF files): an image whose size is static and is composed of pixels (as opposed to vectors  — see below)

In essence, a raster image is a collection of individually colored dots which, from a normal viewing distance, appear as a single graphic. When a raster image is zoomed in on or stretched, the pixels are more defined and visible.

A raster image can be one of many different file types, however certain file types perform better than others in specific contexts. In UI design, for example:

.png files enable transparency while .jpeg/.jpg does not

.jpg files can often be smaller and quicker to load; however, image quality may also degrade when scaled

Vector image (including .SVG files): an image which can be scaled easily without losing accuracy or modified because the file contains mathematical calculations for every shape in the image

These are typically used for images that are not photographs, such as logos, icons, diagrams, or other graphics.

(Top) Zooming in on the top half of the letter “g” on a raster version makes the image fuzzy or pixelated. (Bottom) Zooming in on a vector version of the image preserves the image quality because the image infinitely scales according to the equations in the file.

Conclusion

Use this cheat sheet of terms to help your team help demystify visual design and the language communicating it. Cut the time and revisions spent on misunderstandings, and bridge gaps during the design process.