Synthesis Trouble

I'm having difficulty grasping the synthesis system even after reading guides. I understand how the color of the aura affects the type of synthesis you should use, but I'm also being told that the size of the aura makes a difference in the success rate. The only time I can notice a difference in the size is when the color is changing rapidly, otherwise the size of the aura appears the same to me. Maybe I'm expecting this system to resemble 11's too much, because I'm trying to synthesize things that are a couple levels ahead of my Armorer rank, 11 -> 15. I guess I'm trying to ask:

Is there a size difference in the aura for any of the solid colors and does it affect the success rate?
Is there any substantial penalty for trying to synthesize things above your rank?

If anyone has any tips or tricks I could try please share them, failing all these synths is driving me mad. lol

Just use standard all the way, wait on red. You should be fine. Getting into the fine details is when you are worried about trying to HQ something.

well unless SE fixed w/e they broke with the last update there isnt much rhyme or reason to crafting atm. had a few lvl1 synths lastnight that i failed every standard synth on every color. SE has posted that the crazy fail rate is a known issue and are looking into it >.>

edit: looks like SE fixed it with todays update

Yeah last night was *** ridiculous.. I couldn't believe the failure rate I was getting..

Today's a bit better, but it still doesn't feel 'right'.

One friend of mine is complaining about high failure rate still tonight

I had 8 straight breaks on a lvl1 synth last night when I was lvl7. >_> I thought I just somehow sucked, lol.

WTH there's seriously something wrong, I just failed 10 level one synths in a row being level 1, and the people around me is having a explode fest.

I wait on red but I also wait on flashing to be safe.

I really loved crafting but this update has made me grown to hate it. -__- I am constantly failing synths well below my level now.