explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2598: Graphic Designers

2022-03-27T09:27:54Z

Hknl: Change heading leavel so that xkcd.wtf will detect the 'colors' as part of the explanation.

{{comic
| number = 2598
| date = March 25, 2022
| title = Graphic Designers
| image = graphic_designers.png
| titletext = They might make it past that first line of defense. For the second, you'll need some picture frames, a level, and a protractor that can do increments of less than a degree.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the fiendish HEX CODE #D3D3D3 AND FRIENDS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is inviting a friend into his freshly repainted residence. The friend is presumably a graphic designer (per the caption) and doesn't want to enter. The caption analogizes this with a specific bit of vampire lore: Vampires can only enter a house if invited in by the owner. The joke is that if you paint each wall a slightly different shade of off-white, a graphic designer will be so repulsed that they are physically unable to enter the room.

Being presented with visual information that is ''just not quite right'' is known to cause feelings of unease and revulsion, particularly when presented with CGI human faces, a concept known as {{w|Uncanny valley}}.

In the title text, it mentions a contingency against the designer managing to actually overcome this disgust. In this case, Cueball sets up a second way to troll his graphic designer friend using some picture frames, a {{w|Level (instrument)|level}}, and a protractor that can measure increments of less than a degree. If these are left out, the graphic designer will be obsessed with ensuring that the pictures are hung perfectly level, so he won't have time to bother you with boring conversation — analogous to some folk tales where vampires exhibit {{w|Arithmomania#Folklore|symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder}} and can be distracted by triggering their tics. Alternatively Cueball may be skewing his picture frames by an extremely small amount, noticeable only to the designer friend, to disgust him even further — similar to the effect of [[1015: Kerning|bad kerning]], which a version of Cueball suffers from, but here applied like the use of {{w|Christian cross|crosses}} which vampires are famously repulsed by.

===Colors===
True to the comic's joke, Randall has colored each segment of the comic differently to each other.
The hexadecimal color codes are:
* Floor: #FFFFFF [[https://www.colorhexa.com/ffffff White]]
* Ceiling: #F3F7F8 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f3f7f8 Light Grayish Cyan]]
* Walls (left-to-right)
** #F2F0EE [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f2f0ee Light Grayish Orange]]
** #F3F4F2 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f3f4f2 Light Grayish Green]]
** #F2F3F4 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f2f3f4 Light Grayish Blue]]
** #F3F2F4 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f3f2f4 Light Grayish Violet]]
* Door: #F1F3F1 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f1f3f1 Light Grayish Lime Green]]
* Box seat top: #EEF1EC [[https://www.colorhexa.com/eef1ec Light Grayish Green]]
* Box seat front: #F2EEF0 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f2eef0 Light Grayish Pink]]
* Rug outer ring: #F0F2F1 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f0f2f1 Light Grayish Cyan - Lime Green]]
* Rug inner panel: #F0EFF1 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f0eff1 Light Grayish Violet]]

Whilst this subtle difference may be undetectable to humans without a graphic design qualification, it can be made clearer by increasing the saturation value of the image, as shown in this [https://i.imgur.com/gMpmJlp.png rendering with an exaggerated color saturation].

Also note that the window ledges are slightly inclined, falling subtly from left to right - which might be a variant of the second level defense proposed in the title text.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands in a lightly adorned room of a house, facing an open doorway. Each surface is painted an almost imperceptibly different shade of off-white. Knit Cap stands in the open doorway, as if about to enter the house. Cueball is reaching towards the doorway, inviting Knit Cap to enter.]
:Cueball: Come on in! We just repainted.
:Knit Cap: I... can't.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:If you want to set up a vampire-style barrier to keep graphic designers from entering your house, just paint every surface a slightly different shade of off-white.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2598: Graphic Designers

2022-03-26T17:06:17Z

Hknl: /* Explanation */ Link to comic rendering with increased color saturation (someone with upload rights please upload a copy to explainxkcd).

{{comic
| number = 2598
| date = March 25, 2022
| title = Graphic Designers
| image = graphic_designers.png
| titletext = They might make it past that first line of defense. For the second, you'll need some picture frames, a level, and a protractor that can do increments of less than a degree.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by HEX CODE #D3D3D3 AND FRIENDS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is inviting a friend into his freshly repainted residence. The friend is presumably a graphic designer (per the caption) and doesn't want to enter. The caption analogizes this with a specific bit of vampire lore: Vampires can only enter a house if invited in by the owner. The joke is that if you paint each wall a slightly different shade of off-white, a graphic designer will be so repulsed that they are physically unable to enter the room.

In the title text, it mentions a contingency against the designer managing to actually overcome this disgust. In this case, Cueball sets up a second way to troll his graphic designer friend using some picture frames, a {{w|Level (instrument)|level}}, and a protractor that can measure increments of less than a degree. If these are left out, the graphic designer will be obsessed with ensuring that the pictures are hung perfectly level, so he won't have time to bother you with boring conversation — analogous to some folk tales where vampires exhibit {{w|Arithmomania#Folklore|symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder}} and can be distracted by triggering their tics. Alternatively Cueball may be skewing his picture frames by an extremely small amount, noticeable only to the designer friend, to disgust him even further — similar to the effect of [[1015: Kerning|bad kerning]], which a version of Cueball suffers from, but here applied like the use of {{w|Christian cross|crosses}} which vampires are famously repulsed by.

True to the comic's joke, Randall has colored each segment of the comic differently to each other. See this [https://i.imgur.com/gMpmJlp.png rendering with an exaggerated color saturation].

The hexadecimal color codes are:
* Floor: #FFFFFF [[https://www.colorhexa.com/ffffff White]]
* Ceiling: #F3F7F8 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f3f7f8 Light Grayish Cyan]]
* Walls (left-to-right)
** #F2F0EE [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f2f0ee Light Grayish Orange]]
** #F3F4F2 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f3f4f2 Light Grayish Green]]
** #F2F3F4 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f2f3f4 Light Grayish Blue]]
** #F3F2F4 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f3f2f4 Light Grayish Violet]]
* Door: #F1F3F1 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f1f3f1 Light Grayish Lime Green]]
* Box seat top: #EEF1EC [[https://www.colorhexa.com/eef1ec Light Grayish Green]]
* Box seat front: #F2EEF0 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f2eef0 Light Grayish Pink]]
* Rug outer ring: #F0F2F1 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f0f2f1 Light Grayish Cyan - Lime Green]]
* Rug inner panel: #F0EFF1 [[https://www.colorhexa.com/f0eff1 Light Grayish Violet]]

Whilst this subtle difference may be undetectable to humans without a graphic design qualification, it can be made clearer by increasing the saturation value of the image, as shown here: [[File:https://i.imgur.com/sXVEXf6.png]]

Also note that the window ledges are slightly inclined, falling subtly from left to right - which might be a variant of the second level defense proposed in the title text.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands in a lightly adorned room of a house, facing an open doorway. Knit Cap stands in the open doorway, as if about to enter the house. Cueball is reaching towards the doorway, inviting Knit Cap to enter.]
:Cueball: Come on in! We just repainted.
:Knit Cap: I... can't.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:If you want to set up a vampire-style barrier to keep graphic designers from entering your house, just paint every surface a slightly different shade of off-white.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:2598: Graphic Designers

2022-03-26T14:48:53Z

Hknl: Please add a version of the comic with the color saturation cranked up

I think a better analogy would be with garlic. The threshold barrier is a magical force that blocks them, while vampires just find garlic really off-putting. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:12, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Anyone think we should add the hex color codes of all the walls to the explanation? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:23, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
:I suspect Randall didn't ACTUALLY use different colours in this comic. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:42, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
::I've just gone over the comic with a colour picker... I have bad and/or good news: You are incorrect. [[User:Tantusar|Tantusar]] ([[User talk:Tantusar|talk]]) 04:52, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Hey! As of tonight I'm caught up on XKCD for the first time in 2 years! I read them at the bar, at karaoke, and my last time out before staying in for the pandemic was mid-March 2020. I needed to share. :) First comic reading it ON the release day in that long. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:42, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Hey, Randall! You made the floor FFFFFF, but that isn't a shade of off-white. It's just white. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 09:12, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
:Who paints the floor, anyway? Varnish, maybe, in a suitably wooden-floored residential situation, but not paint. But I'd say it's (however, whether carpet or laminate or whatever) that is the white from which all the other whites are suitably 'off-'...
:(Also, the 'innocuous things that repel' vibe reminds me of the end-game for the vampire family in {{w|Carpe Jugulum}}, after being inadvertently highly trained to appreciate religious symbology.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 09:28, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

My dentist will not allow off-white colours in the front room of his house because the colour is too much like work related thoughts. He has told his wife that she can choose any colour style as long as it does not include off-white. (My hobby is to ask people how their job changes aspects of their non-job life.) [[User:Punchcard|Punchcard]] ([[User talk:Punchcard|talk]]) 12:54, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

It would be helpful to add a version of the comic with the color saturation cranked up, like this: https://i.imgur.com/gMpmJlp.png .
However, I cannot upload images. Also note that the window ledges have their own colors, too. [[User:Hknl|Hknl]] ([[User talk:Hknl|talk]]) 14:48, 26 March 2022 (UTC)