Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library • Hacker News Board

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#91

Post by stronglikedan » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #83

stronglikedan wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In that light the "real humans" comment comes across as a little weird But that's the light painted by you , not OP. OP gave very specific and valid examples of types of people that are missing. OP said, nor implied, anything about race. That's your straw man, and yours alone. The only thing that's weird is that an illustration library called "humaaans" is no where near diverse enough to represent humans.

> But that's the light painted by you, not OP. Right, I'm saying that's the most accurate light. I'm not trying to accuse the OP of anything.

It's actually the least accurate light, and a straw man argument fabricated by you alone. The criticisms about the lack of diversity have nothing to do with race, neither explicitly nor implied.

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#92

Post by x3tm » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 3:51 PM UTC

shanehoban wrote: post #4

Favourited. Really nice work and impressive landing page. Would love to have an online tool for this also, as others have said. The style of work really reminds me of undraw [1] [1] https://undraw.co

> A constantly updated collection of beautiful svg images that you can use completely free and without attribution.

Designers are my new favorite people. I have to go out now and meet some.

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#93

Post by b_b » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 3:55 PM UTC

Nice little Daft Punk easter egg in the panel with the "Nothing Found" example page (https://genius.com/Daft-punk-digital-love-lyrics), and the ending statement "We are humaaan after all." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_After_All)

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#94

Post by Hoasi » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:10 PM UTC

augustk wrote: post #73

elfakyn wrote: post #8

This looks like the generic "people" artwork you see in so many places.

Indeed. Clipart is low culture.

Low culture is necessary and perfectly fine. Still, a lot of work went into releasing these free generic illustrations. Also, the more free clip art is available and used everywhere the quicker it will go out of style.

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#95

Post by whatshisface » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:21 PM UTC

porphyrogene wrote: post #87

whatshisface wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author left out white people, and since he's white himself and from California the "he just doesn't live around white people" explanation that I was originally going for can't be right. If he had left out a people group that he didn't see very often (if he lived in Nigeria that could be white people, if he lived in Norway that could be Native Americans) then nobody would be upset. But all signs point to this bein…

If you ever feel that you need to know the skin color of a project's author in order to judge it properly then you are the one with the problem.

That's often true, but sometimes there is a cultural context. Knowing what kind of environment the author hails from casts light on interpretation more often than it does not, in fact. In this case, knowing that the author was not a Nigerian (for example) showed that the theory that "there are no light skin tones because the artist is not used to seeing them," is false.

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#96

Post by whatshisface » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:25 PM UTC

danielvf wrote: post #90

whatshisface wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author left out white people, and since he's white himself and from California the "he just doesn't live around white people" explanation that I was originally going for can't be right. If he had left out a people group that he didn't see very often (if he lived in Nigeria that could be white people, if he lived in Norway that could be Native Americans) then nobody would be upset. But all signs point to this bein…

Nah, there's a simple explanation. Humaaans uses an artistic style of solid patches of color against a white background. Very light skin tones work terribly in this style because they disappear into the background.

If true that would be hilarious, but I don't see how we could ever know for sure. If the real reason were unsavory, there would be an overwhelming social bias not to reveal it; and as a result even a true, positive answer wouldn't help.

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#97

Post by whatshisface » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:27 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #91

whatshisface wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But that's the light painted by you, not OP. Right, I'm saying that's the most accurate light. I'm not trying to accuse the OP of anything.

It's actually the least accurate light, and a straw man argument fabricated by you alone. The criticisms about the lack of diversity have nothing to do with race, neither explicitly nor implied.

It's not a fabricated straw man, it's my actual opinion. (Typically a straw man would be a caricature of your opponent's opinion). I used to roll my eyes when people added new skin colors to emoji options, but now that someone left off people that look like me, I understand that it's a nice gesture to be included.

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#98

Post by bbeekley » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:38 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #84

theon144 wrote: post #68

Nice! This came at just the right time for me too. I find the general attitude in this comment section curious, though; lots of people are arguing about the skin tone choice which is notably brown. Yet I feel that if it were lighter in shade, there would be much less grumbling and criticism about not including every single possible body shape?

The author left out white people, and since he's white himself and from California the "he just doesn't live around white people" explanation that I was originally going for can't be right. If he had left out a people group that he didn't see very often (if he lived in Nigeria that could be white people, if he lived in Norway that could be Native Americans) then nobody would be upset. But all signs point to this bein…

I didn't download the library, but I don't think the author left out white people. Here's a screenshot from the humaaans page that looks white to me. [1] Edit: another commenter showed pale skin tone in the library [2].

Even if you change the complaint to being about low white representation, it's also a little unfair to say that the author is "intentionally" trying to make it political. What about their work or documentation gives you an idea on their intention?

[1] https://imgur.com/a/wbmyIRG

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18997437

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#99

Post by flycaliguy » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:41 PM UTC

x3tm wrote: post #92

shanehoban wrote: post #4

Favourited. Really nice work and impressive landing page. Would love to have an online tool for this also, as others have said. The style of work really reminds me of undraw [1] [1] https://undraw.co

> A constantly updated collection of beautiful svg images that you can use completely free and without attribution. Designers are my new favorite people. I have to go out now and meet some.

Sounds like you will soon find us in line at the soup kitchen. /s

Re: Humaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library

#100

Post by whatshisface » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 5:08 PM UTC

bbeekley wrote: post #98

whatshisface wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author left out white people, and since he's white himself and from California the "he just doesn't live around white people" explanation that I was originally going for can't be right. If he had left out a people group that he didn't see very often (if he lived in Nigeria that could be white people, if he lived in Norway that could be Native Americans) then nobody would be upset. But all signs point to this bein…

I didn't download the library, but I don't think the author left out white people. Here's a screenshot from the humaaans page that looks white to me. [1] Edit: another commenter showed pale skin tone in the library [2]. Even if you change the complaint to being about low white representation, it's also a little unfair to say that the author is "intentionally" trying to make it political. What about their work or docu…

>What about their work or documentation gives you an idea on their intention?

I want to get in to this tarpit less than anybody else on earth, but after trying to come up with another explanation, I wasn't able to. The artist depicted a skin tone balance that is significantly different from what they're used to seeing, and the only reason for that that I can think of is if they were consciously attracted to the political side.

Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? No, of course not. In fact, I think the artist has a right to make a political statement if they want to. I might even agree with it. I'm just trying to take the discussion from 99% truth to 99.9% truth.

I might be wrong (and although it would sting my ego, in the long rung I would be happier if I was wrong), but I feel like this is one of those "everyone sees it but nobody is allowed to mention it" social things that is the bane of humanity. This project is definitely noteworthy because of the skin tone distribution of its front page, that's clear enough from observation.