Bad Design

So.

I am having kind of a bad run. Not writers' block but designers' block.

Perhaps today that run is over. More on that later.

Here's the thing. Design is a big buzzword these days, but what it is truly about is communication. Something needs to be made and someone needs to make it. Easy, right?

No.

Something needs to be made and too many people weigh in on how. Someone needs to make it and too many people have weighed in on how and the people who have made the parts have made them in a vacuum.

Today's case in point. A newspaper page with several stories. One deemed the most interesting. Problem: No communication between writer and picture taker. No discussion about story angle, what's interesting, good details. Just two souls in the same room, oblivious to each other. Oh, and the subject, who looks unhappy.

Result: Bad picture (Fact). Not real great story (Opinion).

Further result: Designer (Me) trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

So. First attempt, I am ticked off and do the dumb thing: Draw a lame page, because, why not? Apparently no one else cares.

Then. I go to the gym and sweat out the ticked-off-ness. Come back to work and make a save. Not great, but better than first attempt.

Page tomorrow will show a saddish-looking man in a static pose with a nice headline and a sort of OK background.

Could have been better. But no one talked to each other.

The more-on-that-later part: Never let someone's half-assed-ness (or even less than that) become your own.

The end.