Visually impaired graphic designers causing problems for everyone

[jkev57]

You blame graphic designers, I blame people not following the 'rules'.

I did 19.5 years in the newspaper industry. For classifieds and legals you shouldn't be using anything less than 6pt type. Body copy for a newspaper shouldn't normally be less than 10pts, 8pts for cutlines. Headlines, subheads and pull quotes use much larger font sizes. Mastheads should run around 8-10pts. Ad design, you don't want to go less than 5.5pt and that's usually for the fine print in coupons. Ads and stuff for web demand higher font sizes.

I've been working in the golf industry designing yardage books, scorecards, pin sheets and other materials for over five years now. About the lowest font size we want to go is again 6pt. But there are certain other rules that dictate 9pts being the smallest.

Most of the stuff I do is handled by older, retired people out on a golf course for a bit of fun. Font sizes have to be readable and we're often running at 9-12pts.

For the record, graphic designer of 25 years here. I wear glasses, but they aren't coke bottles and I work from home. Both QuarkXPress and InDesign will tall you what font size you have selected if you bother to pay attention.

As a newspaper editor, I can confirm everything you wrote. Thank you!

 

[Mousse]

Apple's always been about white space - or at least since the early 00s.

It's supposed to just work right? No reason to get the customer involved in things like instructions.

Real men don't read the manual.😁

That'll just confuse them!

I resemble that remark.😉

 

[MBAir2010]

I am trying to figure out what iTunes version i have,
after i eat 12 carrots covered with a dash of Paprika
(of course im going to attach a thumbnail size photo to keeps the mind-game graphic design ball spinning...)


Oh 10.4!

 

[Nermal]

You blame graphic designers, I blame people not following the 'rules'.

Not to conflate this thread with the "poor websites" one, but as a website developer (not designer!) I often find myself having to fight with the designers because they never follow the rules.

"Can you turn this into a button?"
"But it's just a link to another page and it doesn't 'do' anything so it shouldn't be a button"
"People will be more likely to click it if it's a button"

"Can you make this link open in a new tab?"
"It's just a link, if they want it in a new tab then they'll choose Open in New Tab"
"But *I* want it to load in a new tab every time, and my preferences are more important than those of the person who actually has to use the site"

You might be able to tell that I'm paraphrasing a little!

 

[eyoungren]

Not to conflate this thread with the "poor websites" one, but as a website developer (not designer!) I often find myself having to fight with the designers because they never follow the rules.

"Can you turn this into a button?"
"But it's just a link to another page and it doesn't 'do' anything so it shouldn't be a button"
"People will be more likely to click it if it's a button"

"Can you make this link open in a new tab?"
"It's just a link, if they want it in a new tab then they'll choose Open in New Tab"
"But *I* want it to load in a new tab every time, and my preferences are more important than those of the person who actually has to use the site"

You might be able to tell that I'm paraphrasing a little!

In my very first job (1999) as an Ad Compositor (designing newspaper ads) my immediate boss was the Production Manager. She was responsible for ensuring that the ads going into the paper were correctly done. So, I learned a few rules. I also learned a few others from another long term employee. Things such as 'never use a Photoshop effect just because', or only one serif and sans-serif font per ad.

The company also had a handful of bona fide graphic designers on staff. They were responsible for the look of the paper and the look of other products the paper put out. Company letterhead, logos, business cards, etc - all that stuff was what they did. They also did spec ads to attract larger corporate accounts.

One of those ads a corporate customer actually paid to run in the paper so the designer provided an EPS file to the Production Manager.

Annnnnddd, the Production Manager went ballistic! I had never heard her yell and scream before but she was on the phone cursing the designer out. Seems the designer had provided the ad in RGB and at 72dpi. It's a newspaper! PRINT. Should have been done at no LESS than 150dpi and in CMYK!

This was a $40 an hour (in 1999 no less!) Graphic Designer. I know that because the PM was so angry when she hung up that she spit out something like 'and they pay her $40 an hour for this!'.

It's funny, because I relocated to another office (same company) at some point and that designer eventually became my boss. SMH!

 

[VictorTango777]

It's not just in print/advertising. I had to replace a perfectly good 32" TV with a larger one, because I have a PlayStation and in the past few years a lot of game developers just seemed to assume that everyone has an enormous TV. At first it was one or two games, but now a large number of games have microscopic text that you need a huge TV to be able to read.

The exact same thing happens on newer car touchscreen displays such as Tesla. The text looks fine while the designer/developer sits in front of an extra large monitor with magnified view. So there is no need to test in an actual car while sitting in the same position as a real driver. Or to test on people with average vision and not wearing any visual aids.

 

[VictorTango777]

I was thinking about this the other day when I bought my first AirTag.
The instructions inside the box were too small to read and I had to get my phone out to magnify the text.
Here's a picture of it... notice the huge amount of whitespace around the instructions. That tells you the tiny text must have been a design decision because there was nothing to stop them making it bigger.

I'm sure the text appeared "normal size" on the designer's extra large monitor,
while the design application was set to high zoom
while the designer wears high magnification glasses

And the design was sent to mass production without testing on real world samples. After all, it looked fine on the designer's own screen.

 

[Nermal]

The exact same thing happens on newer car touchscreen displays such as Tesla. The text looks fine while the designer/developer sits in front of an extra large monitor with magnified view. So there is no need to test in an actual car while sitting in the same position as a real driver.

Now that you mention it, I had to ask how to get rid of an "informational" screen in my Toyota. There was a "don't show again" button that seemed to do nothing.

It turned out that the "button" was actually a toggle, adding a 1-pixel blue line on the left side, so you had to press it and then press OK.

 

[MisterSavage]

Now that you mention it, I had to ask how to get rid of an "informational" screen in my Toyota. There was a "don't show again" button that seemed to do nothing.

It turned out that the "button" was actually a toggle, adding a 1-pixel blue line on the left side, so you had to press it and then press OK.

That sounds like a car UI all right. 🤮

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think this has been a big issue with all of tech -- for a long time -- as so often the folks working on everything are young and with perfect eyesight (apparently).

A firm needs leadership that values and follows principles that place accessibility as a priority

That used to be Apple -- and it has really waned in recent years.

Apple still likes to advertise that they care about this, but actions are what matter and that has spoken for itself.