10 F*ering Lights and The Importance of Good Design

When my colleague sent me this picture last week while he was shopping for Christmas lights, it immediately became my #1 favorite thing of 2016. In part because it made me laugh, and in part because it is such a rich example of what happens when design goes awry.

"Someone didn't learn about kerning fonts in graphics school..." my colleague wrote alongside the picture. Kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between the letters, generally with the objectives of readability and overall aesthetics. 

I remember when the Wall Street journal was black and white. Resolutely. It's what separated it from the New York Times (lefty creatives) and USA Today (god forbid). At that time I worked for a consulting firm who shared that point of view. We refused the use of color in our PowerPoint slides, and the thought of using photographs to illustrate our insights or recommendations was downright appalling. If what you had to say was truly intelligent and important, you didn't need any bells and whistles to get your message across.

Yet we take in information through our eyes, before we process it with our brains. We musn't underestimate the importance of what the words look like, what colors or typefaces we choose, how the layout works, when expressing our thoughts.

Moral of the story: design matters. 

So... if you find yourself designing the package for a set of flickering lights, be sure to mind your kerning. And if you'd like some help conveying your information in a visually appealing and effective way, drop me a line.

Happy Holidays!