Design Catch Phrases.

Over the past 18 years in this industry I've heard and experienced a lot of things design related. And as any good designer does I've learned to deal with most of them in a fun sarcastic way of course. The following is a brief collection of catch phrases that have evolved over time, some inspired by specific co-workers or ones gleaned from a conversation and elaborated on. They are fun design related quips you can start to use in your own circle of influence. Think of it as the 'Verbal Advantage' for designers. If you piss someone off and get fired though it's not my fault so use at your own risk.

You can't polish a turd!: If the concept or design is bad to begin with then no amount of revisions or repurposing will improve it. (My room mate in art school was fond of this saying and so am I.)

FRANKENSTEINING: The process of collecting graphic parts from different design options and compiling them into one new option. What you end up with is a design solution worthy of a mob carrying torches and pitch forks and not good design. (Inspired by weasel marketing people. Big surprise huh?)



Craptacular!: An easy one word critique used to relay your dislike of the work being presented, while still sounding up beat about it. (Inspired by art meeting that catered to the lowest common denominator.)

Serial Design Killers: What you start calling the marketing department when they keep shooting down every original idea or design? (See the pattern yet?)

The client may be King but they're not the Art Director: Listen to your client, take into consideration all their input, weigh the options, study the details, know the target audience and then if necessary ignore all of it and design what you think will work best.

Design-O-Saur: A designer who refuses to embrace digital design methods and trends and is constantly referring to the good old days of colored marker comps and border tape.

Horrawful: A design piece is so bad it cannot be classified into either 'Horrible' or 'Aweful' category by itself but rather a combination of both. In context you could use it in this manner. "Did you see that project he did? It was horrawful!"

Have a good design catch phrase? Post in the comments and I'll add it to this list.