Why Bad Design (Still) Exists
Designers are trained to notice bad design. It’s the mis-kerned letter, the clashing color palette, the confusing website navigation. We notice this because we have to, and it’s this awareness that allows us to do our job.
Bad design exists, usually, either because a professional wasn’t hired or whomever was hired wasn’t capable enough. The rise of software helps those not trained in design to create a “designed” piece easier, but there’s no guarantee that the communication will be clear or pleasing to the eye.
I get it. My friend James isn’t going to spend ten hours trying to figure out Adobe InDesign to make a flyer about his lost dog. But as ridiculous as it sounds, companies might task an employee with design work even though they have never been taught anything about design. It’s likely in this case that the company doesn’t deem paying for professional design a worthy cause. The point I’m trying to make is that it is always a worthy cause.
The act of being taught is important because it supposes that the learner doesn’t know everything there is to know about a given subject.
If I were to ask my mom (not a graphic designer) which serif typeface she thinks better for print between Georgia and Garamond, she probably wouldn’t even notice a difference between them. Why should we trust people who would answer similarly with designing anything? Sorry, mom. When a designer is hired, everyone wins.
There is a silver lining, however. The term “bad design” implies that something was designed, but did not reflect the quality, look, feel, voice, etc. that should be reflected. Whatever it was that failed was essentially a first run whose flaws were pointed out; now a designer can get involved and begin to solve these problems.
Perhaps this first failed run allowed the shot-caller to see how important the quality of design can be. How essential it can be to brand equity, and more important to businesses turning a profit. With the accessibility to brands that consumers are afforded, all B2C (business-to-consumer) material should reflect the utmost in quality. Hell, eveninternal communication should be high-quality. If a company’s employees don’t take the company seriously, how can consumers?
No Comments Yet
You can be the first to comment!
Leave a Comment