Seven Phrases Designers will Always Hate

I love doing what I do. I have six years as an ad designer, three years as a freelance graphic designer and seven years as a catchall graphic designer, I have run into all types of design work, and all types of clients. I love to think of myself as a "beautifier of things", and that my work matters. Helping clients get recognized, helping clients establish a brand, helping clients make their business successful. My body of work has run the entire design gammut, and no matter what I've done, in what capacity, there are several "dream" clients that you love working with, always take constructive suggestions, and others well, they have their own ideas about what graphic design is and utter phrases that just make designers everywhere run screaming from their chairs. I will try to accommodate all clients, no matter what their budget. I pride myself on giving a good product whether they have lots of money to spend, or if their budget is on a shoe string. But regardless of cost, those few suggestions pop up, and I for one am sick of hearing them. Just because I feel the need to rant - I've heard three of these in the last week alone, and I am hoping that if just one person sees this, and changes their ideas, or even just one idea, designers everywhere can breathe a little sigh of relief.

In no particular order, here's my Top Seven Phrases Designers Hate to Hear:

#1 There's too much white space
Arg! Sometimes they don't word it like that - they may say "there's too much empty space here" or "there's room where we can put more text or another picture in". And they're wrong! Too much space (we designers call it white space) is a good thing! It gives balance and order to a piece. And depending on what it is we're designing, more space is a good thing.
Business cards don't need to have all your products and services crammed onto it. You're going to be sending out marketing materials, right? You have a webpage right? Your sales people are going to actually TALK to people about your company right? Right?! You don't need to cram that info in there. It just makes it harder for people to see your company name, your telephone number, your NAME. I've seen my share of business cards that I had to look at for five minutes before figuring out who I was supposed to call. Your business card should be simplistic - a basic form of communication. Keep it that way.
If the design is a newspaper or a magazine ad, you want to keep the information to a bare minimum also. Clients tend to think that since they are spending "so much money" on a print ad, that they need to cram as much information into the ad as possible to get as much for their money as possible. Less is more. Since you're counting on the viewing public to see the ad, stop for enough time to read it and want to call you, you want to keep it simple. Make it eye catching. Make it easy to read. Give them a hook for them to want to call you. If your ad is crammed up with text and graphics, they may not even see it. If they do, they may not be patient enough to read a paragraph or two, and you may give them more information than they want, and no reason to call you. Always leave them wanting more! Keep is simple, short and you'll ensure you get bang for your buck. Promise.

#2 Make the logo bigger
Another one to make us designers scream. Sort of similar to the one above, but this time, the client is happy to have minimal information. They still just see the white space as the enemy. Make the logo bigger! They cry. Make my address and phone number larger! Make sure my tagline is more visible! They've gotten the whole "less is more" philosophy, but not "whitespace is your friend". They've even gone so far as to suggest to you that you should "make everything bigger". And you want to yell and scream at them that it's impossible to do that, since there's just not enough room. And you either cry yourself to sleep after eating a tub of ice cream, or you try as hard as you can to tell them why that doesn't work, and when they don't agree, you cry yourself to sleep after eating a tub of ice cream, or lastly, you do what they request, jamming everything together, logos touching letters, no leading or kerning space and after they approve it for print, you cry yourself to sleep after eating a tub of ice cream. Seriously, those are the ways this situation plays out. Sometimes clients listen to you. I actually have a few books that I pull out when dealing with a difficult client that teaches the concept, and sometimes it works. Often though, the client doesn't care, and we all know that the client is always right. Right?

#3 Black isn't a color, right?
Forget what elementary school teaches you about color and prisms and all that jazz. If it requires ink to be put on the page, in a print shop, that's a color. It may be considered a "house" color and is the least expensive option, it's still a color. To say that you only want a "one color design" please accept the fact that it will be one color. Or to say that you want a one color design with green and black, you will be met with confused looks from your designer. Yes, black is a color.

#4 Is white a color?
Usually said by the customer confused with this revalation that black IS a color! Wow! Does this mean white is? Or isn't? So confusing!
Again, forget your color theory from elementary art class. Is white a color? That depends. Is the design going on white paper? Then no, it is not a color. It is the color of the stock. Yes, we can make it look like a black design with white writing, but honestly, if it's black on white, it's one color. If you're printing on a colored paper (like blue for example) and you want white lettering, then yes it's a color. Remember the rule of thumb: if we need ink to put it on paper, it's a "color". If it's the color of the paper itself, then it's not. Consider if white WAS a color, and you wanted a one color design. We'd be selling you blank sheets of paper. And if we did that, we'd be a paper supply company and not a printer.

#5 I don't have a logo - can I use this clipart?
This can reduce me to tears. Why wouldn't you have your own logo? There are companies online offering pre-designed logos, there are designers out there who would love to get to work on something for you. Our own shop has logo packages from only $100. Only one hundred dollars for something unique?? You can contact a design school and have students "practice" designing for you, and at the end you pick your favorite, and you have a logo! There are so many ways to do design on the less expensive, and we still have people using clip art.
I'm not saying that clip art is bad, or cheezy or cheap. I'm just saying there are flaws with clip art you will want to consider before just going with it.
- Clip art is non-proprietary. What that really means is anyone can use it. Any designer, person or company who owns that clip art gallery can use that clip art for anything they want. My favorite example is the spa that used a gorgeous, curvy clip art woman for their spa logo looked in horror when a strip club opened only a few blocks away using the same exact clip art for their logo. Not only did it cost her several thousands of dollars in reduced business by customers who were confused, but it cost her several more thousands of dollars in having to suddenly design a logo and reprint ALL her marketing materials, letterhead, business cards etc. AND her shop sign.
- Clip art isn't designed for logo use. Who cares? You may ask, but before you choose a clip art logo, make sure you ask these questions:
how many colors is the clip art? If it's full process color, get ready to shell out big bucks for all your printing. Full color is more expensive than one or two color printing. Ever notice how most logos are only 1 or 2 colors? This is by design, not accident.
Ask if the logo is vector. Whaaaa? Vector is a certain type of graphic (without getting too technical) that can be increased in size indefinitely because it is expressed in mathematical formula. The opposite of vector is rastor. Rastor is what we call files with extension names like .bmp, jpg, tif to name a few. These graphics are designed on a grid, and when you increase the size of these graphics, you can see the grid pattern showing. You may hear it referred to as "bitmapping". If the clip art is a high enough resolution, you may not have a problem with it, but once you try to use the clip art in a situation where it's too small for the application - look out, it'll look bitmappy and crappy. It's worth shelling out the few extra dollars to ensure your logo is vector.
- Ask who has access to the clipart gallery. If it's a Microsoft Office clip art gallery - be prepared for everyone and their dog using the same images in their memos, powerpoint presentations, and everything they can get their hands on. If it's a more exclusive clip art gallery - such as Metro, which is only available to certain design houses, and includes a steep $1000 per month subscription cost. It's a little safer to assume that less people will be using the same graphic.

#6 Use Chicago or other silly fonts
Or any other non-design font. I've had my friendly arguments with non-designers about the use of appropriate fonts in design. It's even been suggested to me that "in the right context" some fonts are okay. And while ANY font can be appropriate "in the right context" you will find that designers will cringe when you request certain fonts. Or too many fonts in one design. Or all capital letters in a script font. Or they suggest the use of a system font. Hell, fonts can be a whole new posting altogether. So rather than take up real estate by listing font issues, I'll just say that fonts are a touchy subject with designers. Heed their advice. More on this to come...

And now for the last one...
#7 I like (this company)'s logo. Can't I just use theirs?
It may seem like a too-obvious one, but unfortunately, I get this all the time. It's not usually with large corporations, but a small window cleaner may like a logo from a window cleaner they know in Ontario. Or a small gym who wants to take the Nike logo, turn it purple and have their catch phrase as "We Can Do It". And while us graphic designers may cringe and scream at the idea, our clients honestly don't know why this is wrong and bad. Why confuse yourself with another company? Why not try to differentiate yourself? Being unique will set you apart in the crowd. Being unique will let people remember you. Logo stealing is not only illegal and immoral (imagine if you spent the millions of dollars to come up with the Nike "swoosh" only to have hundreds of companies steal your idea - wouldn't that make you mad?) You want to be known for your individuality. You don't have to spend a million dollars, but spend just a few, and you will reap the benefits. Trust me.

There's about a hundred more phrases that designers hate to hear, but rather than go on an ill-tempered rant, I've shortened the list. Hopefully it may educate some people, make some designers laugh, and given everyone else some food for thought. I will blog about fonts soon, but next week, I touch on a favorite and illusive design concept: the ambigram. Mysterious and clever, I will blog about it, and may include attempts of my own. Oooh the suspense!
Enjoy your week!