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What heraldry and Japanese mon can teach about visual-identity generators

83 points · 25 comments · bovermyer

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xp84 · 1790610018 · focus · HN ↗
Tangent, but I deeply appreciate the treatment of footnotes on this article, just floating alongside the text in the right gutter instead of at the bottom of the article. It seems so obvious (at least on desktop) but I haven't seen it before. It's so nice to be able to see whether it's something I want to read, or just a citation, without clicking and losing my place (yes, I know there's usually a link back to the article flow, but especially in the "sticky header" era we've been in for decades, that rarely works well).
1. bovermyer · 1790610180 · focus · HN ↗
  Thanks! Also, if you squish the browser down to mobile-size, they turn into end notes. It took me a bit of experimentation to get it like this!
  1. card_zero · 1790610777 · focus · HN ↗
    On my tablet (always in landscape, not lacking space), with "desktop site" mode on, the sidenotes are turned into footnotes anyway.
  2. bardackx · 1790611290 · focus · HN ↗
    I was slightly disappointed of them still being labeled as "side notes" even if they were at the bottom
    bovermyer · 1790611763 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah, there is room for improvement there.
    xp84 · 1790613774 · focus · HN ↗
    Heh. I guess one could have some fun with a ::before {content: "Side" or "Foot" } inside each breakpoint's media query.
2. jasonpeacock · 1790614822 · focus · HN ↗
  Tufte CSS[1] provides a style for this, I like the good use of the "wasted" space in the margins of most browsers.
  [1] <a href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/" rel="nofollow">https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/
yencabulator · 1790612807 · focus · HN ↗
Quick visual on some mon:
<a href="https://mon.xavid.us/" rel="nofollow">https://mon.xavid.us/
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_(emblem)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_(emblem)
1. xp84 · 1790613913 · focus · HN ↗
  Nice. I was craving more examples of this, as I'm not familiar with this tradition. "Cranes with Pine Branch" is my favorite on this list.
NickNaraghi · 1790616592 · focus · HN ↗
There was a really cool project a few years ago from Area Tech that explored this - generative shields (with heraldry on them). <a href="https://shields.build/" rel="nofollow">https://shields.build/
dzink · 1790616822 · focus · HN ↗
Can we all agree to system prompt Claude and open models to stop using the same exact Fraunces font everywhere (The Capital J looks like someone folded it backwards). I said open models because qwen and Glm and Claude produce the same design and font for the same “design a gorgeous website” prompt.
1. bovermyer · 1790616951 · focus · HN ↗
  I chose this font myself, though. It was a human choice in this case. =/
2. pachouli-please · 1790624854 · focus · HN ↗
  This site is not LLM-generated.
  1. dzink · 1790629962 · focus · HN ↗
    I ran multiple experiments with models the past few weeks for generating designs and 80% of the time they use Fraunces if no selection is provided. Even if this was not AI generated it will appear as if it is because of this Font. It’s the new em-dash.
    bovermyer · 1790677559 · focus · HN ↗
    I will not allow popular association to dissuade me from using typefaces I like. I'm considering starting to use em-dashes and en-dashes just out of spite.
Terr_ · 1790619424 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
1. alexpotato · 1790625493 · focus · HN ↗
  Related: Chernoff Faces [0]
  In summary, humans are really good at noticing differences on faces so why not plot multi-dimensional charts on a face instead of a regular X/Y plot
  0 - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernoff_face" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernoff_face
  1. Terr_ · 1790639093 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
delichon · 1790620311 · focus · HN ↗
A wild west version: <a href="https://ranchbrandsearch.com/tools/brand-designer" rel="nofollow">https://ranchbrandsearch.com/tools/brand-designer
A modern version: <a href="https://www.canva.com/ai-tattoo-generator/" rel="nofollow">https://www.canva.com/ai-tattoo-generator/
alexpotato · 1790625422 · focus · HN ↗
I love this for several reasons:
1. LLMs building tools that can be run by either LLMs or humans are a great idea
2. Generative art sometimes feels like "art by machine" but humans create art and logos in very similar ways e.g. start with "the rules" and then use that to create the art
Also, someone generally pops up in these discussions about "how this is not being creative" etc. To that I point people to the Everything Is A Remix series:
- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc (2016)
- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RYuvPCQUA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RYuvPCQUA (updated for 2023)
1. fortzi · 1790659442 · focus · HN ↗
  I was just going to say how nice it is to see the work of an actual person.
  This work isn’t generated, as the author commented in the thread
Jun8 · 1790626208 · focus · HN ↗
Here's an idea that I've retrained for the longest but never acted on:
Give people a survey, to identify movies, books, etc. they like. Then summarize all this into a visual symbol. Then you can print this on a t-shirt on a laptop sticker, etc. Humans get the general areas you like but it's machine readable, too - take a photo and you get all the details that he person chose to share!
Thoughts?
sandgraham · 1790628989 · focus · HN ↗
Reminds me of Urbit sigils. They had a really cool system for generating unique visual identities. The write up is one of my favorite design/tech articles:
<a href="https://urbit.org/blog/creating-sigils" rel="nofollow">https://urbit.org/blog/creating-sigils.
1. dcl · 1790636207 · focus · HN ↗
  no scroll bar :(
2. kazinator · 1790647842 · focus · HN ↗
  [delayed]
trhway · 1790637749 · focus · HN ↗
relatively simple coat of arms, that my family belongs to, over the years:
modern centuries <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:POL_COA_Junosza.svg" rel="nofollow">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:POL_COA_Junosza.svg , <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Junosza_(coat_of_arms)#/media/File:Bieliński_vel_Junosza_POL_COA.svg" rel="nofollow">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Junosza_(coat_of...
16th century, that one of bishop, not a knight <a href="https://wilanow-palac.pl/pasaz-wiedzy/karnkowscy-herbu-junosza-z-dziejow-prowincjonalnej-rodziny-szlachty-dobrzynskiej-do-konca-xviii-w" rel="nofollow">https://wilanow-palac.pl/pasaz-wiedzy/karnkowscy-herbu-junos...
early 15th century <a href="https://be-tarask.wikipedia.org/wiki/Юноша#/media/Файл:Junosha.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://be-tarask.wikipedia.org/wiki/Юноша#/media/Файл:Junos...
kazinator · 1790647561 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
NeoByte · 1790676247 · focus · HN ↗
[dead]

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