In the mail I just got my yearly prayer rug from the church that is very enthusiastic with their designs. The Prayer Rug, made of paper, has a portrait of Jesus with his eyes closed on it, but when you stare at it you will notice some dark outlines that make it look like his eyes are open after awhile. The outside of the envelope has hierarchy issues with its information and I counted three fonts on one side, not to mention the wording has been attacked with a red pen reminiscent of my teachers work on my high school essays. I have been receiving this letter for many years, so it is very widespread and the design has been successful enough to not be changed for all this time. When I first received this letter I do have to say that the design got my attention, made me open the letter, and then read it entirly. This made me think; bad design can get your attention but does it help you communicate the desired message effectively or present your product well?
My friend just bought a shirt that is so badly designed that he thinks it is good. I have bought bad and tacky for the novelty. So can bad design be good when you have the knowledge your design is bad and can you make your customer aware that you (the designer) knows it is bad and that is why it is good? Or is the bad design only good when the intentions were true and so wrong it must have been designed by such an odd person that it is truly a rare gem?
1 comment:
Interesting question. I guess you have to be really good at what you do, know all the rules and regulations in order to break them and get away with it. Kind of like modern art. A lot of it is pointless and ugly but you can't stop staring at it because it's interesting somehow. Or something. Maybe how interestingly pointless and ugly it is. Someone's gotta know.
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