Graphic Design Facts
Graphic Design is intelligence made visible. A website that reeks of intelligence calls for the right audience. While the site is your salesperson that works 24/7, the design would be your silent ambassador.
Graphic designing is a creative process. You need to stretch the imagination to be truly successful. Go crazy. Think out of the box. Play around a little bit. Not everything would be a success, but nothing would be if you do not give it your best shot.
The clever design is a perfect combination of science and art. Finding that balance can, however, be quite tricky. While creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, the design is knowing which ones to keep.
The thing about graphic design is that you can never tell how it can go wrong. It might look fantastic on the drawing board, but when the website goes live, you might tend to look at it differently.
Bad designs clearly have more profound consequences. Let’s take a look at how graphic design can go wrong.
- 2017 Oscars
Do you remember what happened? The awkward Oscars mix up was because of bad design. La La Land was announced as the Best Picture Winner after Warren Beatty was given the wrong envelope. Moonlight, the actual winner, did eventually get the prestigious gold statue, but only after one of the most chaotic and confusing awards show exchanges of all time. While the human error was part of it as the presenter was given the wrong envelope, had the design been better planned; the error could have been avoided. Best picture - the category of the award - should have been on top of the card rather than the end. In small font. That can be easily missed.
- Wrong contrast
The road to hell is paved with the best intentions. So was this design. The idea was to motivate people and tell them that if you set your mind to it, nothing is impossible. What was missed out was the collaboration between the different parties involved. Reduced contrast and wrong placement of the text ruined the bigger picture. Test the font along with the colors to make the text legible.
- Punctuation
Grammar is a big part of the design. When sending a message with just content, even a minor miss of the comma can ruin the entire design.
- A look at the bigger picture
Maybe they wanted the F to stand out. Perhaps the F is part of the logo and hence the increase in its size. But having said that, one must take a look at how else it could be perceived. Now, the damage is done for life, isn’t it?
- Butterfly ballot
When bad design could have caused incorrect ballot results, we are talking about some irreversible damage. The graphic design did more harm than good at the presidential election in 2000. The intention was to keep the font size large enough to be read easily by the elderly. Voters accidentally chose the Reform Party button as it was below the Republican button. Al Gore might have even lost the presidency because of it.
An excellent graphic design brings together the knowledge of technology and the design principles along with the nature of the prospects who interact with it. The success of the design depends on how seamlessly they merge. Testing is something that should never be ignored. That means that staging is an absolute must. Another fail-safe method would be to test it with a few other parties before making it live. More the number of eyes, the lesser the errors in the design.
The moral of the story is clear. Make sure that the graphic design is set to meet the user halfway. People look to utilize your product in a way that is natural to them. The design should imply the same. The slightest error could damage your brand. You do not want to be part of a marketing joke.
This is where the role of a professional graphic designer comes in. Give us a call and we can help you create a well-thought-out graphic design that can convert your company into a trusted brand to the outside world.
End of the day, it is in the little things.