Intelligent Design
No, not that psuedo-scientific anti-evolution nonsense. I want to talk about design, and more specifically about graphic designers.
Why is it that graphic designers, whether they are working on exhibition panels, a booklet or other publication, or your new leaflet, or even (heaven forbid) a web site, just luurrvvv teeny, tiny text? I guess that they must all have perfect eyesight. Either that or they can’t actually read - why else would they treat text as if it were just another decorative element in the overall design?
I’ve been fighting an unending battle with designers over the last ten years trying to force them to make the text legible. While I have had some success with the designers I’ve worked with - they can see the point once it’s been explained (well, explained repeatedly over a course of months or years) - as far as I can tell the vast majority of them are as clue-challenged as ever. Which is a pity as there is some great visual design being done, but all too often it seems obsessed with itself as art to the extent that the design, the look and feel of the layout becomes more important than the actual content. At times it seems as if things are being done purely to impress other designers. The Wow! factor is all very well, but if all it generates in the audience is the ‘WTF?’ factor it rather defeats the object. They seem to forget that in the end the packaging is only there to facilitate access to the information.
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