During the five years it took for me to earn a BFA in Graphic Design, I'd like to think I picked up a fair bit about the principles that go into making good graphics and signage and the like. Have a clear hierarchy, make sure the text isn't blending into the background, and be as sure as you can that nothing in the text or graphics forms unintentional dirty innuendos, which will inevitably be latched onto by the viewing public and either mocked relentlessly or used by watchdog groups to publicly castigate your work.
Oh, and don't use Hobo or Papyrus fonts, that's just wrong.
That the first real revision to these not-quite-rules came not from a graphic designer position, but from my job standing behind a cash register counting change and pressing touch-screen buttons like a trained monkey. You don't quite realize just how much graphic advertising material even a small convenience store uses until you have to help put it all up to herald the new Promotion O' The Month, or at least have to deal with a line of twenty increasingly-irate customers because everyone ELSE is busy tacking up vinyl signs and specially-cut cardboard boxes. Quite often, these in-store ads serve the simple function of informing the customer about the two-for-one deal on milk pints (skim and Vitamin D milk only, void on chocolate) or the newest variety of seasonal Reese's cups (now with peanut-butter flavor hat). Less often, the ads will talk about new programs created to breed a deeper customer loyalty without actually doing anything crazy like offering free discounts, like a deeply-hooded cashier waving their hand in the customer's face and intoning "You don't NEED to visit other franchises."
Either way, these ads all run the fine line of informing the customer and misleading them, keeping the little disclaimers unobtrusive without actually lying to the customer. The distinction is a subtle one, and the fliers and signs have reached the point of a sort of zen mastery in which they completely mislead the viewer while telling nothing but the unvarnished truth. I look on these ads with a mix of awe at the use of color and font size to achieve the desired effect so perfectly, and a mild disgust like I've sold my soul via proxy through my chosen career.
Here's the thing, though -- one thing I've noticed over the months of working retail and pushing king-sized candy bars on people who just want to buy their coffee and go.
It doesn't really matter.
Make the disclaimers and clarifications as large or unobtrusive as you want, and it won't make a lick of difference when it comes down to a customer angrily demanding their extra ten cents off. A customer will see exactly as much or little as they want. This is sometimes understandable, in a customer asking why they're not getting a discount on their gas, or why their second bag of candy isn't free (requiring a special program and coupon, respectively).
More often, this takes the form of a customer acting angry and bewildered that their bag of chips with the large, bright-orange, three-dollar price sticker on it is not ringing up at under $2.
So, if you find yourself in the position of being a designer asked to create this month's batch of in-store advertisements and POS signage, make the little details not so little. Work to make them something the customer sees immediately after the giant two-for-one text, instead of an afterthought. Leave no possibility that it can be ignored or forgotten. But don't sweat it, because the holy wrath of a customer in pursuit of a free Cadbury Egg is a nigh-unstoppable force.
Oh, and don't use Hobo or Papyrus fonts, that's just wrong.
That the first real revision to these not-quite-rules came not from a graphic designer position, but from my job standing behind a cash register counting change and pressing touch-screen buttons like a trained monkey. You don't quite realize just how much graphic advertising material even a small convenience store uses until you have to help put it all up to herald the new Promotion O' The Month, or at least have to deal with a line of twenty increasingly-irate customers because everyone ELSE is busy tacking up vinyl signs and specially-cut cardboard boxes. Quite often, these in-store ads serve the simple function of informing the customer about the two-for-one deal on milk pints (skim and Vitamin D milk only, void on chocolate) or the newest variety of seasonal Reese's cups (now with peanut-butter flavor hat). Less often, the ads will talk about new programs created to breed a deeper customer loyalty without actually doing anything crazy like offering free discounts, like a deeply-hooded cashier waving their hand in the customer's face and intoning "You don't NEED to visit other franchises."
Either way, these ads all run the fine line of informing the customer and misleading them, keeping the little disclaimers unobtrusive without actually lying to the customer. The distinction is a subtle one, and the fliers and signs have reached the point of a sort of zen mastery in which they completely mislead the viewer while telling nothing but the unvarnished truth. I look on these ads with a mix of awe at the use of color and font size to achieve the desired effect so perfectly, and a mild disgust like I've sold my soul via proxy through my chosen career.
Here's the thing, though -- one thing I've noticed over the months of working retail and pushing king-sized candy bars on people who just want to buy their coffee and go.
It doesn't really matter.
Make the disclaimers and clarifications as large or unobtrusive as you want, and it won't make a lick of difference when it comes down to a customer angrily demanding their extra ten cents off. A customer will see exactly as much or little as they want. This is sometimes understandable, in a customer asking why they're not getting a discount on their gas, or why their second bag of candy isn't free (requiring a special program and coupon, respectively).
More often, this takes the form of a customer acting angry and bewildered that their bag of chips with the large, bright-orange, three-dollar price sticker on it is not ringing up at under $2.
So, if you find yourself in the position of being a designer asked to create this month's batch of in-store advertisements and POS signage, make the little details not so little. Work to make them something the customer sees immediately after the giant two-for-one text, instead of an afterthought. Leave no possibility that it can be ignored or forgotten. But don't sweat it, because the holy wrath of a customer in pursuit of a free Cadbury Egg is a nigh-unstoppable force.
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