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What Makes Graphic Design Bad
Graphic design is becoming increasingly fashionable. Although it is becoming extremely simple to get started, perfecting it requires more than an online course. It’s a craft, just like any other, it may go horribly wrong. Here’s how to recognise poor architecture and learn how to change it.
In today’s day and age, the first thing that comes to mind when you think about poor illustration is Comic Sans, Papyrus, excessive and explicit Photoshopping, and other funny classics that have gone down in meme history.
However, poor architecture isn’t necessarily obnoxious and noticeable. It can be visually pleasing at times, but it may not serve a reason. It can be deceptive at times. Often it’s daring and imaginative, but it completely misses the intended audience.
In this post, we’ll look at some of the more popular errors and poor choices that even experienced designers can create, as well as some of the more clear instances of bad design (and bad designers).
How to Spot Bad Graphic Design
Before we start raising fingers, it’s important to remember that through practise, expertise, and a desire to learn different styles, poor designers will become successful designers. Any of these poor designer characteristics aren’t really focused on their technological abilities, but rather on their personality and inability to collaborate. Here are some warning signs to watch out for.
They make excessive use of stock images, vectors, and diagrams.
This one may seem intuitive, but a designer who just connects a jumble of stock images and vectors and then adds the text from the brief isn’t a designer who has given any attention about what you need as a customer. That is actually carrying out the order, not designing. Vectors, stock images, and free drawings are graphic elements that anybody, even non-designers, may use to produce an image, while a professional is required to construct something original and artistic.
They should not adhere to the brief.
You have a strong need, certain unique demands, and perhaps constraints (brand name, tone of speech, social network sponsoring guidelines, etc.), but the artist is too innovative and free to be constrained by concept briefs. This is a strong indication that they are unable to integrate their styling and design abilities into your submission.
They may not plan for the intended audience.
Different generations, regional regions, languages, and so on have different views of architecture in marketing. Millennials, for example, choose pastel, subdued colours, plain typography, and straightforward style. Boomers prefer bold, eye-catching letterheads, lighter shades, and larger print.
Alternatively, Western viewers interpret knowledge left to right, while Eastern communities, such as Japanese, Mandarin, or Arabic native speakers, are accustomed to interpreting right to left, so the design’s focus point must be on the right side. If you’re dealing with freelance designers from a very different perspective than you, you might need to state items in your concept brief that are clear to you.
Colours have distinct associations in many civilizations around the globe. When most people think of white, they think of beauty and sophistication, but in China, white is a colour used at funerals.
And it’s not all about the obvious. Perhaps the sound of voice or aesthetic of the product must conform to the preferences of a certain demographic, so the artist must be aware of the intended crowd with which they are designing.
They are unable to transition to a new theme.
It’s fantastic when a designer has a distinct look that they adhere to. Visual design is a combination of talent and artistic flair, and creating your own distinct aesthetic is a major benefit. However, it is often important to tailor the style to the client’s requirements, since they have a branding guide, target demographic, guidelines and restrictions, and so on.
Poor customer contact
Non-designers find it difficult to collaborate with creatives. The typical customer has no idea what letterheads and embossing are, how much white space is enough, or why their copy is too large to suit in the style they like.
The lack of technological expertise, as well as the reality that customers often do not have a good understanding of what they want their concept to look like or how much time and preparation is required for a certain project, is a major impediment in the final product. A successful designer, on the other hand, should be able to solve these challenges by direct and equal contact with customers. Whether they are stubborn, unclear, and refuse to articulate anything plainly, they will proceed with their plan without contacting you as a customer. Perhaps you can deem that a technical faux pas and reconsider your designer option.
They never warn you against doing anything that is obviously wrong, and they never raise questions.
Clients may even be persistent and fix their minds on a concept that might sound brilliant to them but is really awful in terms of construction. Consider it a major red flag if the planner would not counsel you of a poor plan and backs up the point with concept tips that are understandable to the ordinary customer.
A good designer will help to clarify that successful graphic design does not necessarily mean sticking to the initial concept or desire, but can still find a way to integrate the heart of the theme or brief in a far better finished product.
Similarly, if they never pose questions, it may be a red flag that they would just paste together items to review any of the demands in the brief, without considering a fresh concept or creative solution, or proposing their own suggestions.
Their portfolio is too repetitive.
As a small business owner or content developer, you would more often look into a designer’s portfolio before contemplating hiring an in-house designer or a freelance designer. If all you see is one design and one commodity, you can reconsider. It’s great to be an expert on everything and discover your place, but odds are you’ll get a variety of brands and design styles from them, because a one-size-fits-all solution to design won’t succeed. When you study online graphic design at Blue Sky Graphics online graphic design course, we will ensure your portfolio is top-class by the end of the course.
Common design flaws that result in poor design
As previously said, there is a fine line between good and poor architecture. A designer can follow all of the rules and the client’s brief, but totally forget the tone of voice. Or create a lovely production and keep incorporating design features until they’ve gone overboard.
Here are some famous blunders that can ruin any style.
Positioning
Text and picture positioning in templates may be critical at times. It is important to consider the finished result rather than just the design motives and structure guidelines.
Kerning
Kerning, for those of you who aren’t designers, is the process of changing the distance between the letters. When a typeface has too little room between certain letters or too much space between others, manual kerning will correct the issue and improve legibility.
However, where a graphic designer does not deliver their kerning abilities, major, big problems will arise, as seen in these epic design failures.
