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Hot take: 90% of twitch overlays detract from the viewing experience and are doing everyone involved a disservice. Discuss.
I have seen streams made by gifted graphic designers who crafted AMAZING layouts, only to be vandalized by the Text+Gif combo of ANNOYING FOLLOWER ALERT that goes off in the dead center of the stream every 30 seconds because THAT'S WHAT WE ALL ACCEPTED
I spent years focusing the bulk time on the question "What would make a better sub alert system?" and found a few ideas, only for half of the concept to be co-opted by every big alerts service while the more important half got ignored because LOL that would be too hard, I guess?
The truth of the matter is that Twitch has done a better job of letting chat do the talking in terms of when things happen. Ask yourself if having another notification is redundant.
I know I have a tendency to start down this rabbit hole of ranting about once a year, but every so often I happen to go poke around and notice the same lack of innovation going on, and it just SUCKS. The whole sub-industry is filled to the brim with mediocre sameness.
I AM SO GRUMPY ABOUT THIS WHY DOES NOBODY ELSE FIND THIS AS FRUSTRATING AS I DO
Also: Fuck bit cups. Shoot them into the goddamn sun.
To be clear, my anger is not "Bit cups should have never existed", but rather that bit cups were the standard on THE DAY Bits became A Thing
, and since that day, there has been zero iteration that's made a dent in the mainstream implementation of graphics.
, and since that day, there has been zero iteration that's made a dent in the mainstream implementation of graphics.
I guess my point is this:
Twitch broadcast design in 2020 looks WAY too much like it did in 2015.
WHY?
Twitch broadcast design in 2020 looks WAY too much like it did in 2015.
WHY?
Why is it so hard for the big service websites to go farther with integrating the notification text into whatever element it's being paired with?
"Oh, we'll make the text dance a bit and change the color"
YOU CAME UP WITH THAT SIX YEARS AGO
"Oh, we'll make the text dance a bit and change the color"
YOU CAME UP WITH THAT SIX YEARS AGO
I would posit that the majority of stagnation is because every big service wants to offer customization, but standardizes around the concept of letting the streamer choose their animated background element, and then positioning the notification text relative to it.
But locking graphics into that system of "Text goes here, secondary media goes here" is a MASSIVE limitation. Like, you can make something that looks okay within those parameters, but can you do something *interesting*?
My path in life took me away from having to think about the bulk of these problems, but it's where I got my start and I continue to be confounded that nothing's really improved.
I don't have a solution. It's debatable whether this rant really has a purpose.
It just sucks.
I don't have a solution. It's debatable whether this rant really has a purpose.
It just sucks.
OKAY. Let's make this productive. Let's give people some actual advice about stuff. We will end this thread on a POSITIVE TRAJECTORY I PROMISE YOU
First: There are a lot of events you might care to call out on stream. Follows, Subs, Bits, Donations, Hype Trains...
...if every alert carries the exact same weight on screen, that's bad. They have different values to you and the viewer. Their design should reflect that.
...if every alert carries the exact same weight on screen, that's bad. They have different values to you and the viewer. Their design should reflect that.
Second: If you don't have the ability to differentiate, keep them the HELL out of the way. Your success is set up to instantly become repetitive and intrusive. Ensure that people get their kudos but in a way that doesn't feel like everything has to stop.
Third: Intrusive CAN be good. It can! But you better put a LOT of thought into *when* that intrustion happens, *why* it's happening, and *how*. We're talking like Level 5 Hype Train, $100+ donation, everyone's-throwing-bits-around-like-a-ticker-tape-parade style situation.
Most importantly: so many streamers have alerts because they just assume you need them.
As someone who has made an entire profession out of developing them, I assure you: You really don’t.
They can be a fantastic positive when done right. But usually, that takes effort.
As someone who has made an entire profession out of developing them, I assure you: You really don’t.
They can be a fantastic positive when done right. But usually, that takes effort.
Focus on your viewing experience. Focus on your style and presentation. Focus on communicating who you are and how people should feel about your content. Distinguish yourself.
I have to call it a night, but there’s more to talk about here. If you got any questions, drop them here, and I can try and address tomorrow.
...in retrospect, this whole entire thread came off much angrier and ‘old white man yells at cloud’ than I intended for it to.
Will remember in the future to ask myself if something needs to be said, if it needs to be said by me, and if it needs to be heard right now.
Will remember in the future to ask myself if something needs to be said, if it needs to be said by me, and if it needs to be heard right now.
Hello, everyone! Let us begin Part 2 of this thread, wherein Our Hero Realizes He Was, in Fact, Being a Total Crankypants, Walks a Couple Things Back, and Tries to Make a Point Without Further Embarrassing Himself
First things first: My 'Fuck bit cups' tweet was uncalled for. It's a really neat way to communicate cheers, my frustration was that it's still the only real widely used mechanism- but that's not fair to the designers who created it in the first place. Apologies to them.
I also failed to keep in mind something important -- broadcast graphics are HARD, but configurable graphics that still look good are WAY HARDER. I have always been in the enviable position that I have been building from scratch, with a specific channel's needs in mind.
Third: I am now easily outside the target demographic of Twitch culture, and there's a lot of it that I'm not fully connected with anymore. I am the dad in the kitchen staring at the box of Apple Jacks wondering why kids like them when they don't taste like apples.
Most importantly, I asked why the big alert services have stagnated, and the answer is obvious- When a streamer really wants to make high quality graphics, they're going to want something custom, and cease using the site.
You know, that whole reason I was able to start a career.
You know, that whole reason I was able to start a career.
Twitch graphics haven't stagnated- there are plenty of gifted designers coming up with new ideas and pushing the medium- but it's uncommon that those new concepts are desired by enough people to make it worth scaling. They work for the use case they were built for.
In short, I did a really awful boomer impression last night. I might have my critiques about broadcast design in general, but shouting at the sky that EVERYONE IS DOING IT WRONG is, in fact, doing it wrong.
(I really need to siphon this energy into a proper industry talk.)
