'Bad design is irrelevant'
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- godot
Q: What is the difference between 'good' design and 'bad' design?
A: A bad design is irrelevant. It is superficial, pretentious ... basically like all the stuff you see out there today.
- Paul RandThoughts?
Especially the last statement about 'all the stuff you see out there'...
- sparker0
i can agree with that.
- MrDinky0
so we all suck
and he is good since he hasnt produced break through design in recent days
- sparker0
i don't think it is that designers suck, it's just that a lot of what people call design today isn't.
design solves problems. most of the fluff that people produce doesn't solve anything. call it art if you want...but design has a purpose.
- unfittoprint0
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
true, true.
- carpetman0
beerholder
- unfittoprint0
true, true.
- jpolk0
"and he is good since he hasnt produced break through design in recent days "
eh? paul rand died in '96
- jevad0
true - if you haven't solved a probplem with your design then it simply becomes a part of the problem...
Too many 'designers' these days - be it web or print - are far too concerned with what's gonna look cool and hip than what they are trying to do with the design...I've been victim to it myself!
- paulrand0
I think Mr Rand was a bit hard on younger designers-- he dismissed a lot of good stuff
- andre_k0
there are many people that disagree with rand, but its mostly people who haven't had a proper design history education.
- mcween0
so much design is invisible. ( i guess that's bad design ) the good stuff is what's talked about ....
- jevad0
sometimes I think the best design is invisible....
really nice site btw jeff....
- nick0
completely agree.
but there is something to be said for the styles of today..
sure, sometimes the message gets lost.. but it sure is per-ty
and that being said..
im way more likely to look at something if it pleases me aesthetically..there is a time and place for everything...
- nick0
oh yeah..
and 'bad design' is kinda relative..
- nick0
for example, take a look at all of the reggae/dancehall flyers in Toronto
they all look the same, SO FUCKING UGLY.. REALLY BAD DESIGN..
but hey, if the flyers dont have 'that look' ... the intended audience wont even pick it up..
- monkeyshine0
I think invisible design is the point. If a consumer or the audience (unless they happen to be another designer) sees the design before the product before them, then the design's function fails, no?
- nick0
who's really to know?
i only look at things i think are pretty
but i know a lot of people who are into not-so-pretty things.. and who wouldnt know pretty if i beat them over the head with my pretty stick
ya see me?
- Dolan0
He's right and he defines his own answer. Look up "superficial" and "pretentious" at dictionary.com and see if they apply to a design. If they do, it's bad. Here's another good one: "ostentatious" --- synonym to pretentious.
- ian0
True nick 'there is a time and place for everything'.
As far as I know, good design is invisible but it fits the intented purpose of the piece.
A flyer is supposed to attract attention and make you go clubbing so it needs that eye catching element but instructions to fit snow chains on a car tyre need to be easy to read and very legible under different circumstances, to coin Erik Spiekermann.
Each needs a different approach. Bad design would be trying to force a style on something that doesn't need it.
- unknown0
people design bad because they want to be featured on this magazine and that website.