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Your not-so-favorite design Clichés

i'm not into design more video prod. but whoever started the rotating burst effect in commercials should quit and some up with something more original
 
mknawabi said:
...should be fired? im not sure what you're talking about. youtube vid example? :D
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here's an example of what it looks like:
starburst-background.gif

It looks something like that, now it just goes around in a circle and then they add a logo on top
 
This thread is a real education for any designer, especially a new, fresh and wet behind the ears designer.....

Coming from an animation background, where we were taught that a cliché is your friend, it can be difficult getting out of that mind set.

I agree with Jim and Melrose wholeheartedly, but we have all got to make a living.

I live in the hope that someday i will be given the opportunity to design something that really says something (vague i know!), this blind hope is what keeps me going when i have to deal with clients with 'big' ideas.

:)

PS..... I know i would appreciate more pictures in this thread, anyone else?
 
Maybe I should have 2 portfolios. A cliche free portfolio and one that represents something more commercial.
 
Someone (maybe me) should take the word cliche and use it as a logo combining every design element in this thread.
 
clichés

everything you guys mentioned sounded so cool to me until I read it in THIS thread. thanks a lot, ******S!

:D
 
I love how there's a drop shadow behind "cliche" and then there's the wet floors...which makes no sense...:p
 
Those nasty maple leaf looking brushes and grass blade brushes that people use in their Photoshop creations. :mad:
 
Just spotted this as I was downloading Pwngetool 2.2 - Alive in it's natural habitat I present documented proof of "The Handshake."

Note how clever use of stock photography doesn't have much of anything to do with the ad..

How very original.
 

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Lens Flare
Back lit 3D text (it was big around 2000 but thankfully not use as much anymore)
Animated GIFs
Rainbow gradients
Looped animated icons
The if in doubt "dropshadow diarrhea " approach
No whitespace
Comic Sans
Those stupid "emotional" images
Putting the word "Pro" after every service a company has... (Although more of a branding thing)
Spelling words like a retard in names... Nestle Expresso comes to mind (Again another stupid branding thing...)
Web site exported from Powerpoint and clients ask "Why doesn't this work?"

Just to name a few...
 
I bet I can think of a couple of things to add to the list:

- The frightfull overuse of "organic" texturing and primary graphics that seems to finally drift away from most designers these days.
- As some of you have allready mentioned, the mirror/puddle-effect (web 2.0 whatever) It's being used on everything it seems.

I would be nice if companies got a crash course in graphic design. I'm pretty tired of having to explain CMYK, why comic sans is not to be used and why you should never send a logo (100 x 100 px) inserted in a word document if you want it to be resized to 4 x 4 meters without me having to do extra work.

So there :mad:

PS: ezekielrage_99, "dropshadow diarrhea" cracked me up, it's been 15 minutes and I'm still laughing :D
 
why you should never send a logo (100 x 100 px) inserted in a word document

Jostifer said:
I would be nice if companies got a crash course in graphic design. I'm pretty tired of having to explain CMYK, why comic sans is not to be used and why you should never send a logo (100 x 100 px) inserted in a word document if you want it to be resized to 4 x 4 meters without me having to do extra work.
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OMMFG, AMEN TO THAT!
 
Jostifer said:
...and why you should never send a logo (100 x 100 px) inserted in a word document if you want it to be resized to 4 x 4 meters without me having to do extra work.
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SO true!

I also love it when they give you whatever they want to print, and what you receive is a PowerPoint doc that don't even has the proportions right. I swear, they even ask you to print a square, but what they send you is a rectangle, but since it has included text with measures (50x50), then it is indeed a square.
 
Reflections on everything

pseudo lo-fi
pastels
chinz
black and gold
Avant Garde in any use other than Avant Garde
Myriad
Rounded Corners
Nearly every web site
All of apples new products based on the design of a mobile
bling bling
 
Jostifer said:
PS: ezekielrage_99, "dropshadow diarrhea" cracked me up, it's been 15 minutes and I'm still laughing :D
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Thank you, I said that after a meeting with a very difficult client, it cracked up my boss and fellow workers...

All of the suggestions from the client revolved around:
1) Sequence 1 - Add dropshadow
2) Sequence 2 - Add dropshadow
3) Sequence 3 - Add dropshadow
4) Sequence 4 - Add dropshadow
5) Sequence 5 - Add dropshadow

Hence the "dropshadow diarrhea".
 
How about a web one; on a rollover, the link has an underline, yet the word that the link actually is has descenders, therefore the underline cuts right through them. It's one thing from non designers, but I've been on several design sites and I see this. Drives me crazy. Not really a cliche, though, I'll have to think of another besides the obvious things like Comic Sans and Papyrus.
 
I try and stay clear away from the obvious cliches. Other than that, most things are cliche, I just either change it up and take a different spin. I would never use the business handshake photo. But I would guess that any client would be fine with it. I never show that as an option.
 
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