Woo Hoo! At the heart of the matter

I love great graphic design. But sometimes the best design for the job is a bad one.

I love gazing at beautifully designed ads and billboards and cards and web-pages and packaging that is:

Stylish. Full of space. Deep. Clean and Crisp.

Smart looking fonts.

Full bleed photos.

I have New York Art Director’s manuals from the 50s, 70s and early 80s that are graphic design porn.

Full of clever typography that can make words sizzle.

A blend of colours that you would think would never work and yet, beautifully, they do.

Design that speaks volumes about a product in a split second  – without saying a word

Design that has humour and warmth and says so much more than it is

Great graphic design that in an instance conveys a brand.

Don’t start me on Movie titles. How damn clever are those people? The typography that often in itself entertains, that reinforces the art direction of the movie, that hints at the story contained within and yet still is just what it is – a list of names. Why isn’t there “best of movie titles” compilation?

Here is the text from a billboard from the 70s which I think is outstanding. (For the graphic designers out there born in the 60s -  note the use of Letraset! For those Gen X & Ys - would you believe me if I said that we use to have to put down sheets of letters on transfer paper and rub them into place with a pencil...Really!... just like kids fake stick-on tattoos).

And for great graphic design marrying with fantastic ideas to deliver conspicuously excellent communication pieces have a look at these and these.

Now poor graphic design is really easy to spot.

Let’s start with every line of text being centred. For fun, we’ll put everything into Times New Roman – but we will have at least 30 different font sizes (some far too small to read), lots of words in bold, and then some underlined, and others in italic, seemingly without reason and certainly with no connection to the text.

And can we bring at least 6 to 8 colours - used randomly.

Ordinary amateur pics with too much head space and no cropping or framing are a must.  And to really reach those heights of design yuck lets have too many images – perhaps fighting with a logo that contains too much information.

I realise this is totally subjective. My dogs breakfast is likely your Picasso. But surely the difference between good and bad graphic design is really easy to spot?

Or is it?

Sometimes the best graphic design is not the best looking.

You know when you are going somewhere there will be new people? You want to fit in and make a good impression. But you don’t get the dress code quite right? Everyone else is in jeans, you wore a suit? And you feel like a ponce?

The same is true of the graphic design for your business.

Your graphic design has to appeal – to speak to – your audience while conveying the essence of your brand.

Your logo, web-site, ad, brochures – all have to be dressed just right.

Sometimes those ads full of text, with every line centred, are just right – like here.

The visual look tells its own story – like the great typography in movie titles – without having to read all the content.

So, what is the right wardrobe for your business? All in black with very high heels and two simple pieces of silver jewellery? White linen pants with a bright t.shirt, jaunty scarf & floppy hat? Centred lines of Times New Roman from 8 to 72 point, or 48pt Calibri reversed out of a full bleed image?

Sometimes the best graphic design for the job doesn’t have to look hot – it just has to be right.

It’s easy to revel in good looking design but it’s more important to love design that works.

Got some samples of design that hits the spot?