Sketchplanations - A weekly explanation in a sketch

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Explaining the world one sketch at a time

The Firehouse Effect

When cliques, of people, with a lot of time to chat, start to believe in things that would seem crazy to the wider population. So named after an observation of firemen who would spend a lot of time talking between fires. My intro to this was from Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.…

28 Mar 2014

Euphemisms for losing money

Turns out there are a lot of ways not to say the market is down and your investments have lost value. Try also: quieter or choppy.…

27 Mar 2014

Progressive enhancement

A shift in the way we develop for digital devices. The mantra used to be ‘graceful degradation’ - design for what you expect people to use, then let your application gracefully degrade for older browsers, and smaller screens. Generally speaking the richest application, and the first to design for, was on the desktop. A more recent approach is mobile first. Start with core content, design for the smallest screens and least capable browsers, then progressively enhance the experience onto larger more capable devices, browsers and screens. My intro from Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski.…A shift in the way we develop for digital devices. The mantra used to be ‘graceful degradation’ - design for what you expect people to use, then let your application gracefully degrade for older browsers, and smaller screens. Generally speaking the richest application, and the first to design for, was on the desktop. A more recent approach is mobile first. Start with core content, design for the smallest screens and least capable browsers, then progressively enhance the experience onto larger more capable devices, browsers and screens. My intro from Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski.

26 Mar 2014

Use of the car horn

I often find myself reflecting on what ought to be an improvement to the caveman-esque communication method, which is the car horn. My theory generally goes that the vast majority of use of a car horn, in the UK at least, is not for its intended of use of signalling to others to watch out. Instead it probably has most use in telling people they're idiots, perhaps for pulling out in front of you. Next, letting the person in front know that the light has turned green, followed by letting your friends know you're waiting outside or just leaving. And, lastly, to let people know to watch out. But it’s harder than it seems, I'd guess, to make something that supports helpful behaviour provides safety and avoids lawsuits. Surely can’t be that hard though……I often find myself reflecting on what ought to be an improvement to the caveman-esque communication method, which is the car horn. My theory generally goes that the vast majority of use of a car horn, in the UK at least, is not for its intended of use of signalling to others to watch out. Instead it probably has most use in telling people they're idiots, perhaps for pulling out in front of you. Next, letting the person in front know that the light has turned green, followed by letting your friends know you're waiting outside or just leaving. And, lastly, to let people know to watch out. But it’s harder than it seems, I'd guess, to make something that supports helpful behaviour provides safety and avoids lawsuits. Surely can’t be that hard though…

25 Mar 2014

Less and Fewer

Two properties distinguish when to use less and fewer in English. Use less if it's measured by mass, for example, less sugar, and fewer if the nouns are countable, for example, fewer sugar cubes. Use less if the nouns don't go plural, for example, less furniture, and fewer if the nouns pluralise ok, for example, fewer chairs. Hopefully, this will help clear up any confusion. Also see: Affect Effect; stationary stationery; Compliment complement, the pedants are revolting (reddit)…Two properties distinguish when to use less and fewer in English. Use less if it's measured by mass, for example, less sugar, and fewer if the nouns are countable, for example, fewer sugar cubes. Use less if the nouns don't go plural, for example, less furniture, and fewer if the nouns pluralise ok, for example, fewer chairs. Hopefully, this will help clear up any confusion. Also see: Affect Effect; stationary stationery; Compliment complement, the pedants are revolting (reddit)

24 Mar 2014

Always accept a mint when offered

They could be trying politely to tell you something.…

24 Mar 2014

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