6 ms·

Ask HN: Please review my concept

10 points by abhishekdesai 17y ago

gdp 17y ago
I like the idea. I have a horrible signature. I'm not sure I would part with real money for a better one, but I like the idea. What I don't like is the front page of the site. The text there basically conveys nothing. I had to re-read the first paragraph several times to make sure I hadn't mis-read it. It just doesn't give any sense of what the service is!
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Thanks for the suggestions. You are right we need to work on the presentation. I am glad you liked he idea though.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
jacquesm 17y ago
Nice idea, maybe I'm not your target audience though :) Questions: 1) what's the point ? (this is probably proof that I'm not your target audience...) 2) how do you expect to get people to use your product ? in other words, are they expected to 'practice' your signatures ? 3) what are the legal issues surrounding changing your signature ? (mine is on just about every official document I have, passport, driving license, various permits, business documents and so on)
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  1) There are many people who hate their signature but just does not know how to get a better signature 2) We provide videos with the images of the Signature using which they can practice the Signature. They do. 3) There are not much legal hassle in changing the Signature. You may need to have paper telling this is your old and this is your new signature and you may have to remember how to do the old signature.
brk 17y ago
I love the idea. The site needs more to it though, it feels kind of "shallow". I know that is not very good feedback, but it kind of comes off like "different/odd" instead of designer. But all of that is not what causes me to hesitate... My current signature is basically a big stylized "B". It works, it's kind of unique and it gets the job done. It's also on my drivers license, passport, 2 mortgages, my checking account (not that I write many checks) 3 credit cards, a hundred + legal documents and probably a few places I'm forgetting. So, I pay you $30 and I get a new cool sig. Sweet. What about the last 20 years of accumulated signed cruft that my fancy new sig now no longer matches? It wouldn't even be a slight derivation from what I have now, it would be totally different, might almost look forged. How do I handle that? Some info/advice/etc on your site along those lines might help...
- davidw 17y ago
  Reminds me of this: http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/ http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Yes actually in the older version of site we had this section. I guess we need to put it back here. Thank you for the feedback. It really helped.
yummyfajitas 17y ago
I don't understand the product. Am I seriously supposed to watch videos to learn how to write my signature in a new way? Or am I wildly misunderstanding this?
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  You need to signup and pay for the Designer Signature. You will get 3 Designer Signatures developed by our inhouse artist after understanding your requirements. You can choose any one of the Signature you like and watch the video to know how to go about it. Video is a means to understand how you can actually do the Signature.
michael_dorfman 17y ago
I wanted to like this, really I did, but you lost me about here: It is a proven fact that handwriting and signatures are the best tools to understand a personality.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Why do you say that? You don't think they are the tools to understand personality? Or they are not the best ones?
  - anamax 17y ago
    >> It is a proven fact that handwriting and signatures are the best tools to understand a personality. > You don't think they are the tools to understand personality? In a word "no". The site in question provides a new signature for a fee. Do you believe that people can change their personality by paying a fee to a web site and writing their name differently? I'm pretty sure that almost anyone can produce 20-50 different signatures. If someone does so, have they developed new personalities? (Claiming that they had those personalities before doesn't help your position.) Signature/handwriting analysis is as useful as analyzing the bumps on one's head. It help with identification, but tells you nothing about the person.
    - abhishekdesai 17y ago
      Handwriting analysis tells everything about that person. Probably that is why each person has unique handwriting and it also changes depending on the age and circumstances person is living in. If you change your Signature as per the Graphological inputs from an expert it surely brings positive changes to your personality. It is psychological.
      - plinkplonk 17y ago
        "If you change your Signature as per the Graphological inputs from an expert it surely brings positive changes to your personality." citation needed. I'd like to see any scientific backing for this claim. Sounds like mystical mumbo jumbo to me (and deosn't belong on HN in my opinion)
Ahri 17y ago
I frequently open a bunch of tabs in firefox and then go through them one by one. I got to the tab with your site and was genuinely confused; I had the general idea that you were selling something, but wasn't sure what. I didn't know why you only used a tiny amount of my pretty normally sized screen (no content?) It was only when I got to the showcase that I felt remotely interested (as it is, I only got that far based upon the faith that I opened the tab so it MUST have something of interest in it). I think the showcase should be on the front page. On a related note I frequently check out "new programming language!" websites. Unless they have a quick example on the front page I close the tab and forget about them. I'm pretty sure that most people will exhibit this kind of disinterest: if you want my money you need my interest first. Show me something interesting and concise straight away or I'll walk.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  Second the showcase remark, that's a really good observation, I had exactly the same feelings while going through the site. Only when I reached the showcase I got a faint feeling there might be something to this concept after all. If the text of the posting had not been 'please review' then I would have been gone long ago. This violates the 15 second rule: http://webadvice.org/archives/17 http://webadvice.org/archives/17
  - abhishekdesai 17y ago
    Thanks. We sure need to work on this.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. Yes showcase is the most interesting thing on the site and we should keep that on the homepage somehow. I am glad I am getting such cool feedback from you guys. I appreciate your time to review this.
alrex021 17y ago
I still have no idea what this site offers. :) It certainly needs to be a lot more clearer at a glance, I lost interest very quickly.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  yes this is the major part we need to work it seems. thanks for the feedback.
nbhat 17y ago
Product explanation needs to improve, a collage or a slide show of the signatures might help people to understand the product.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  yes true. thanks.
- mrduncan 17y ago
  Totally agree. Once I found the gallery I pretty much immediately "got it" but up to that point I was having a hard time figuring out what it the product actually was.
xelfer 17y ago
Just from a first view of the site, I'd check the kerning on your business name. It can easily come across as 'Sig n in St yle'.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  ok cool. thanks. will work on it asap.
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  that kerning makes me think that when I get home I'll run the text through a font checker. I don't think anyone who writes English normally would write calligraphy like that. Presumably for a low number of users you could return simply one of 3 or 4 different styles of signature, taken simply from good handwriting fonts and facsimiled on video for the lessons? Not necessarily a bad idea.
  - abhishekdesai 17y ago
    Well we create signatures from scratch for each and every user. Our team of calligraphers create them according the inputs given by user. We can not use ready made fonts to do that.
    - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
      I'm not saying you do, I'm saying a dishonest person could and would probably get away with it for quite a while.
JonAtkinson 17y ago
I think your idea is ridiculous. I'm not sure how you plan on overcoming years of muscle memory in order to provide... what? Some kind of extension of my personal brand? I really don't care what my signature looks like. I can't even remember the last time I signed for something, and I'm not bothered about what the UPS guy thinks of my signature. Maybe I'm missing some cultural difference here, but I've never judged anyone on their signature, nor do I expect to be judged by my own. As for Graphology being a science? It isn't. I realize that saying so supports your marketing copy, but the style of someone's handwriting is purely a product of the method by which they were taught to write.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  May be you are not the target audience for this site. But there are many people who hates their Signature and want to change it for better. They feel let down by their Signature. I was one of them and thus this idea started. I am not sure Graphology is science or not but to the people whom we have given handwriting analysis we have accurately identified their personalities from their handwriting sample and current signature. We have received the feedback on the same saying "we have done the great job in identifying my personality traits". This is true for even those people for whom we have given negative review of their personality. Your feedback is totally appreciated though. I also need to know why people may hate my concept.
  - JonAtkinson 17y ago
    I've got to say, you're handling a lot of negative criticism very well. Kudos. I don't understand why anyone would feel let down by their signature - you need seriously low self-esteem to feel that your scratch on a page is something worth getting worried about. Will your audience be large enough? Are there enough of those people out there? Do you REALLY have 5000 customers? Paying customers? As for graphology, it falls in the same area of astrology and spiritualism in which the proponent can toss out any reasonably broad trait, and someone will say "thats JUST like me!" - it's basically all bullshit.
    - 17y ago
ErrantX 17y ago
Rule 101: please dont send me my password in an email, in plain text. :)
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  true. thanks.
diiq 17y ago
What follows is not physical truth, but emotional truth --- alas, that is what counts when you want to market a product like this. I find your concept alarming. On paper or digitally, my signature is a symbol whose only referent is me. Not Sam, or diiq --- Sam points to a thousand thousand different individuals. But my signature points to me because I am the only person who can produce it. If you want people to accept this product, you'll need to convince them that the signature they recieve is: a) absolutely unique to them b) representative of them c) still points back to them If I sign my name using Disney's trademark hand, people will see Disney, despite the fact that it's my name. Is there really enough variety in your showcase that I will believe people won't recognize your work? To make this work, your designer(s) will have to become such master forgers that any hint of their own personal style vanishes. I... wouldn't want to be one of those designers.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Each signature we create is absolutely unique for that person, we can guarantee that. It also represents their personality in case graphological signature. When each person adopts to the signature we have created for her, She adds her own personality traits in doing that which makes signature points back to them. There is no way any person can do exact match of the Signature we have created for her.
costan 17y ago
You should replace the colored water images on the left of each page with actual signatures. The colored water images are overly generic, and that's really disappointing coming from a business that claims to do visual design. Having signatures may also help people understand the difference between your 2 products... right now, it seems like your premium product (the graphological signature) is just the "extended bs edition" of your entry-level product.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Seems like a nice idea. Thanks for the feedback.
dablya 17y ago
Are there any security issues with this? I mean, if I used this, I would be adopting a signature that has been perfected by someone else... I also agree with working the gallery into the front page somehow. The gallery is what explains it best i think.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  No there are no security issues. We do not take any contact information of the person. We also give them 3 signatures out of which they are free to choose any. Yes gallery we will be moving to homepage very soon.
vicaya 17y ago
Is this a mylivesignature.com knock off?
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Heard about it for the first time. Thanks for the tip though. We have started this from February 2006. I am not sure how old is mylivesignature.com
erikwiffin 17y ago
I have to say, I love this. I'm a typography enthusiast with horrible, horrible handwriting, and an even worse signature. What I'm worried about though, is dropping $30 on a signature and possibly not liking your 3 options, or even worse, falling in love with one of them and not being able to reproduce it.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Well it has happened very rarely that a person had not liked any of the 3 signatures. But if it happens we are more than happy to provide 1 or 2 more options as per his additional inputs and feedback.
abhishekdesai 17y ago
Hey Guys, I have done some changes as per your feedback. Please let me know if it is easier to understand the concept now. Thanks, Abhishek

10 points by abhishekdesai 17y ago

gdp 17y ago

I like the idea. I have a horrible signature. I'm not sure I would part with real money for a better one, but I like the idea. What I don't like is the front page of the site. The text there basically conveys nothing. I had to re-read the first paragraph several times to make sure I hadn't mis-read it. It just doesn't give any sense of what the service is!

abhishekdesai 17y ago
Thanks for the suggestions. You are right we need to work on the presentation. I am glad you liked he idea though.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

jacquesm 17y ago

Nice idea, maybe I'm not your target audience though :) Questions: 1) what's the point ? (this is probably proof that I'm not your target audience...) 2) how do you expect to get people to use your product ? in other words, are they expected to 'practice' your signatures ? 3) what are the legal issues surrounding changing your signature ? (mine is on just about every official document I have, passport, driving license, various permits, business documents and so on)

abhishekdesai 17y ago
1) There are many people who hate their signature but just does not know how to get a better signature 2) We provide videos with the images of the Signature using which they can practice the Signature. They do. 3) There are not much legal hassle in changing the Signature. You may need to have paper telling this is your old and this is your new signature and you may have to remember how to do the old signature.

brk 17y ago

I love the idea. The site needs more to it though, it feels kind of "shallow". I know that is not very good feedback, but it kind of comes off like "different/odd" instead of designer. But all of that is not what causes me to hesitate... My current signature is basically a big stylized "B". It works, it's kind of unique and it gets the job done. It's also on my drivers license, passport, 2 mortgages, my checking account (not that I write many checks) 3 credit cards, a hundred + legal documents and probably a few places I'm forgetting. So, I pay you $30 and I get a new cool sig. Sweet. What about the last 20 years of accumulated signed cruft that my fancy new sig now no longer matches? It wouldn't even be a slight derivation from what I have now, it would be totally different, might almost look forged. How do I handle that? Some info/advice/etc on your site along those lines might help...

davidw 17y ago
Reminds me of this: http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/ http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/
abhishekdesai 17y ago
Yes actually in the older version of site we had this section. I guess we need to put it back here. Thank you for the feedback. It really helped.

yummyfajitas 17y ago

I don't understand the product. Am I seriously supposed to watch videos to learn how to write my signature in a new way? Or am I wildly misunderstanding this?

abhishekdesai 17y ago
You need to signup and pay for the Designer Signature. You will get 3 Designer Signatures developed by our inhouse artist after understanding your requirements. You can choose any one of the Signature you like and watch the video to know how to go about it. Video is a means to understand how you can actually do the Signature.

michael_dorfman 17y ago

I wanted to like this, really I did, but you lost me about here: It is a proven fact that handwriting and signatures are the best tools to understand a personality.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
Why do you say that? You don't think they are the tools to understand personality? Or they are not the best ones?
- anamax 17y ago
  >> It is a proven fact that handwriting and signatures are the best tools to understand a personality. > You don't think they are the tools to understand personality? In a word "no". The site in question provides a new signature for a fee. Do you believe that people can change their personality by paying a fee to a web site and writing their name differently? I'm pretty sure that almost anyone can produce 20-50 different signatures. If someone does so, have they developed new personalities? (Claiming that they had those personalities before doesn't help your position.) Signature/handwriting analysis is as useful as analyzing the bumps on one's head. It help with identification, but tells you nothing about the person.
  - abhishekdesai 17y ago
    Handwriting analysis tells everything about that person. Probably that is why each person has unique handwriting and it also changes depending on the age and circumstances person is living in. If you change your Signature as per the Graphological inputs from an expert it surely brings positive changes to your personality. It is psychological.
    - plinkplonk 17y ago
      "If you change your Signature as per the Graphological inputs from an expert it surely brings positive changes to your personality." citation needed. I'd like to see any scientific backing for this claim. Sounds like mystical mumbo jumbo to me (and deosn't belong on HN in my opinion)

Ahri 17y ago

I frequently open a bunch of tabs in firefox and then go through them one by one. I got to the tab with your site and was genuinely confused; I had the general idea that you were selling something, but wasn't sure what. I didn't know why you only used a tiny amount of my pretty normally sized screen (no content?) It was only when I got to the showcase that I felt remotely interested (as it is, I only got that far based upon the faith that I opened the tab so it MUST have something of interest in it). I think the showcase should be on the front page. On a related note I frequently check out "new programming language!" websites. Unless they have a quick example on the front page I close the tab and forget about them. I'm pretty sure that most people will exhibit this kind of disinterest: if you want my money you need my interest first. Show me something interesting and concise straight away or I'll walk.

jacquesm 17y ago
Second the showcase remark, that's a really good observation, I had exactly the same feelings while going through the site. Only when I reached the showcase I got a faint feeling there might be something to this concept after all. If the text of the posting had not been 'please review' then I would have been gone long ago. This violates the 15 second rule: http://webadvice.org/archives/17 http://webadvice.org/archives/17
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Thanks. We sure need to work on this.
abhishekdesai 17y ago
Thanks for the feedback. Yes showcase is the most interesting thing on the site and we should keep that on the homepage somehow. I am glad I am getting such cool feedback from you guys. I appreciate your time to review this.

alrex021 17y ago

I still have no idea what this site offers. :) It certainly needs to be a lot more clearer at a glance, I lost interest very quickly.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
yes this is the major part we need to work it seems. thanks for the feedback.

nbhat 17y ago

Product explanation needs to improve, a collage or a slide show of the signatures might help people to understand the product.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
yes true. thanks.
mrduncan 17y ago
Totally agree. Once I found the gallery I pretty much immediately "got it" but up to that point I was having a hard time figuring out what it the product actually was.

xelfer 17y ago

Just from a first view of the site, I'd check the kerning on your business name. It can easily come across as 'Sig n in St yle'.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
ok cool. thanks. will work on it asap.
pbhjpbhj 17y ago
that kerning makes me think that when I get home I'll run the text through a font checker. I don't think anyone who writes English normally would write calligraphy like that. Presumably for a low number of users you could return simply one of 3 or 4 different styles of signature, taken simply from good handwriting fonts and facsimiled on video for the lessons? Not necessarily a bad idea.
- abhishekdesai 17y ago
  Well we create signatures from scratch for each and every user. Our team of calligraphers create them according the inputs given by user. We can not use ready made fonts to do that.
  - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
    I'm not saying you do, I'm saying a dishonest person could and would probably get away with it for quite a while.

JonAtkinson 17y ago

I think your idea is ridiculous. I'm not sure how you plan on overcoming years of muscle memory in order to provide... what? Some kind of extension of my personal brand? I really don't care what my signature looks like. I can't even remember the last time I signed for something, and I'm not bothered about what the UPS guy thinks of my signature. Maybe I'm missing some cultural difference here, but I've never judged anyone on their signature, nor do I expect to be judged by my own. As for Graphology being a science? It isn't. I realize that saying so supports your marketing copy, but the style of someone's handwriting is purely a product of the method by which they were taught to write.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
May be you are not the target audience for this site. But there are many people who hates their Signature and want to change it for better. They feel let down by their Signature. I was one of them and thus this idea started. I am not sure Graphology is science or not but to the people whom we have given handwriting analysis we have accurately identified their personalities from their handwriting sample and current signature. We have received the feedback on the same saying "we have done the great job in identifying my personality traits". This is true for even those people for whom we have given negative review of their personality. Your feedback is totally appreciated though. I also need to know why people may hate my concept.
- JonAtkinson 17y ago
  I've got to say, you're handling a lot of negative criticism very well. Kudos. I don't understand why anyone would feel let down by their signature - you need seriously low self-esteem to feel that your scratch on a page is something worth getting worried about. Will your audience be large enough? Are there enough of those people out there? Do you REALLY have 5000 customers? Paying customers? As for graphology, it falls in the same area of astrology and spiritualism in which the proponent can toss out any reasonably broad trait, and someone will say "thats JUST like me!" - it's basically all bullshit.
  - 17y ago

ErrantX 17y ago

Rule 101: please dont send me my password in an email, in plain text. :)

abhishekdesai 17y ago
true. thanks.

diiq 17y ago

What follows is not physical truth, but emotional truth --- alas, that is what counts when you want to market a product like this. I find your concept alarming. On paper or digitally, my signature is a symbol whose only referent is me. Not Sam, or diiq --- Sam points to a thousand thousand different individuals. But my signature points to me because I am the only person who can produce it. If you want people to accept this product, you'll need to convince them that the signature they recieve is: a) absolutely unique to them b) representative of them c) still points back to them If I sign my name using Disney's trademark hand, people will see Disney, despite the fact that it's my name. Is there really enough variety in your showcase that I will believe people won't recognize your work? To make this work, your designer(s) will have to become such master forgers that any hint of their own personal style vanishes. I... wouldn't want to be one of those designers.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
Each signature we create is absolutely unique for that person, we can guarantee that. It also represents their personality in case graphological signature. When each person adopts to the signature we have created for her, She adds her own personality traits in doing that which makes signature points back to them. There is no way any person can do exact match of the Signature we have created for her.

costan 17y ago

You should replace the colored water images on the left of each page with actual signatures. The colored water images are overly generic, and that's really disappointing coming from a business that claims to do visual design. Having signatures may also help people understand the difference between your 2 products... right now, it seems like your premium product (the graphological signature) is just the "extended bs edition" of your entry-level product.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
Seems like a nice idea. Thanks for the feedback.

dablya 17y ago

Are there any security issues with this? I mean, if I used this, I would be adopting a signature that has been perfected by someone else... I also agree with working the gallery into the front page somehow. The gallery is what explains it best i think.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
No there are no security issues. We do not take any contact information of the person. We also give them 3 signatures out of which they are free to choose any. Yes gallery we will be moving to homepage very soon.

vicaya 17y ago

Is this a mylivesignature.com knock off?

abhishekdesai 17y ago
Heard about it for the first time. Thanks for the tip though. We have started this from February 2006. I am not sure how old is mylivesignature.com

erikwiffin 17y ago

I have to say, I love this. I'm a typography enthusiast with horrible, horrible handwriting, and an even worse signature. What I'm worried about though, is dropping $30 on a signature and possibly not liking your 3 options, or even worse, falling in love with one of them and not being able to reproduce it.

abhishekdesai 17y ago
Well it has happened very rarely that a person had not liked any of the 3 signatures. But if it happens we are more than happy to provide 1 or 2 more options as per his additional inputs and feedback.

abhishekdesai 17y ago

Hey Guys, I have done some changes as per your feedback. Please let me know if it is easier to understand the concept now. Thanks, Abhishek