45
votes
Accepted
Why should lines be avoided in tables?
Edward Tufte is the one that coined the term chart junk to refer to extraneous visual elements that tend to clutter, rather than clarify the data being presented.
This can refer to all sorts of ...
35
votes
What makes this POS design look dated?
Other answers focus on how to improve the design, but since you asked why the design looks dated:
Font too small. The very left looks less dated than the rest, why's that? On the left, the font size ...
19
votes
What makes this POS design look dated?
Considering this is a POS system, I'd say the functionality is there. The buttons are big, relatively easy to read, and they are organised in groups, which would facilitate me finding what I'm looking ...
15
votes
What makes this POS design look dated?
At first glance, I can't quickly tell what is what (and I have experience with restaurant POS systems). To me, the items in grey at the right of the UI don't seem to belong together. The yellow items ...
14
votes
Layperson friendly software or filetype for editable/formatted form?
Tell your client "no". This is why you are hired.
Would you ask a chef for his/her recipes so you can "make this on your own"?
Would you ask an architect to make plans you can &...
13
votes
Why should lines be avoided in tables?
I think you may reconsider the issue of your question by focusing on the table purpose instead of any general guideline.
For instance, if the readers need to compare the content of different rows, it ...
13
votes
How can I place the product on a social media post better?
I, personally, won't never rely on the lower left corner of an advertisement to convey anything. It's a dead zone, easily forgotten or overlooked by the viewer.
I, perhaps mistakenly, get the feeling ...
12
votes
Intentionally Left Blank Pages In InDesign
In many legal documents, I've been required to place a text box on the page that reads "THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK", so the reader doesn't think there's something missing. In your case, where ...
11
votes
What makes this POS design look dated?
Design aside, is it functional, and do the people operating it understand how to use it? There is an element of don't fix what is not broken if that is the case.
Yes, it looks dated, but many till ...
10
votes
Accepted
Usage of blank space in trade banner and text-positioning
This is merely my opinion... take it all with a grain of salt.
Realize that I know nothing about your company, it's audience, the target market, the nature of the trade show. What you sell, what you ...
9
votes
Why should lines be avoided in tables?
I don't believe you or your coworker are right. The more important issue is readability. Spacing on its own can effectively do this, lines / shading can often help to use less space.
Here we have a ...
9
votes
What makes this POS design look dated?
I'm not a design professional either, but since I have to consider this kind of thing when building mobile apps....
Ditch the old-school win32 3d effect. It's literally out-of-touch in an era where ...
9
votes
InDesign: Adding space before the first paragraph
Enable the Paragraph Rule: Above for your style. Set its weight to 0 and (you never know) its color to [None]. Check "Keep in Frame"; then, use "Offset" to move the paragraph down.
Apart from using ...
8
votes
Accepted
How do I progress my design aesthetic beyond the linear minimalist style i use for everything?
Some thoughts first.
There is a chance the feeling of stealing could be because you try to explore a finished product too deeply and not the general idea, the initial feeling.
1) Do not look for ...
8
votes
Layperson friendly software or filetype for editable/formatted form?
To answer objectively, you can attempt this with Google Slides, Figma or Canva, which are sort of cloud-based, Powerpoint-similar apps.
The client would still need to sign up and get used to the ...
7
votes
InDesign: Adding space before the first paragraph
One solution is to vertically offset the text negatively as much as you need and set a space after enough to compensate.
This isn't the cleanest of workarounds—To edit the text you need to select the ...
7
votes
Accepted
How can I attractively crop a photo that contains only part of a person (model)?
I would...
Extend the table the width of the ad (easy to do in this instance, just copy a section, paste, then transform it to stretch the width. Not a lot of clean up is needed).... crop closer to ...
7
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between figures illustration and images?
Typically, figures are directly referenced in the text or are visual implementation of what is being explained in the text. i.e. "See figure x". Figures are used to better explain through visuals or ...
7
votes
Are drop shadows on screen elements considered good UX, or distracting?
Drop shadows can help UX as one method of introducing elevation. According to Google Material Design's guidelines, elevation is helpful when you need to:
Allow surfaces to move in front of and behind ...
6
votes
Accepted
How to align elements to Bootstrap grid?
The Bootstrap Documentation doesn't seem to have a great example for this as far as I can tell.
I set up an example to try to visualize what Bootstrap does with the columns (I added your guide lines ...
6
votes
How to deal with "poor design" client feedback
If that is their feedback, 'the design is somewhat poor', then I'd like to turn that around and tell them that their feedback is 'somewhat poor' as well. And then I'd be mild.
Seriously, this is a ...
6
votes
Usage of blank space in trade banner and text-positioning
Claustrophobic text:
I think your current issue is that this text is too similar to the text below. It's a tad bigger but otherwise same color, same weight. I would try to increase the differences so ...
5
votes
Accepted
How to find the best position when designing a logo after adding logo name, logo mark and slogan?
This question is opinion based, and my answer is therefore opinion based. But I think it's worthwhile talking about balance here, since you did mentioned this in your comment, and balancing logos and ...
4
votes
Why is this thumbnail text so beautiful?
The design feature here is rectangles within rectangles.
The typeface is a condensed sans-serif with a heavy weight and in all caps, so each letter is very vertically rectangular, and each word is ...
4
votes
Iphone photograph resolution suitable for 12" album cover?
Assuming all is well technically with the image, most people won't notice such a difference. 12"x12" at 300DPI would be 3600x3600.
You can't just increase the size of the image in photoshop; that's ...
4
votes
My works are boring with the same layout all the time
Yes, this is a problem.
If you aren't pushing yourself to try new ideas and find interesting solutions, you aren't going to grow as a designer.
Look up some of your favorite graphic designers, try ...
4
votes
How to lay out ornate victorian-style graphics?
For actual drawing of curves on physical medium one would use some kind of guides. Rulers, curve templates, and physical splines are readily available. Rulers and french curves are surely in the ...
4
votes
Accepted
How does one price something like a corporate annual report?
Many variables can impact pricing here:
the size of the company: listed companies and multinationals with thousands of shareholders can budget more for this than a smaller/local company
deadline: if ...
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