?! Quel Gay Graphique ?!
Okay, here is something that has bothered me for years. Why MUST ads for gay events be so poorly designed?
These graphic designers seem to think that the more of these features are used, the better:
Star burst background.
ALL CAPS.
Drop shadows on every word.
Beveled and embossed words and images.
Outer and Inner glow words and objects.
Each piece of information gets a different font.
Rainbows. Rainbows. Rainbows.
Here are some more examples and recent updates
The brilliance in this AZUCAR type treatment is that the texture of the word AZUCAR is actually a glowing green-hued disco ball, with a drop shadow, outer glow, and (shudder) WINGS. Who thinks of this stuff? And that possessive apostrophe on “Saturday’s” turns off the ‘grammar fascists’ i dig.
Okay, so maybe I am just jealous that I don’t look like this after I get done with work… but anyway. Look at the design choices, not just the content of the design (like a throne for a bottle of tequila? that’s just embarassing)
Here we have the gay design chestnuts: bevel type, ALL CAPS on Thursday, cursive and print, rainbow coloring on the words “Gay & Lesbian”, and some silly background which just makes the garish thing even more unreadable. Oh, and the martini glass. Kind of like ice ceam cones on ice cream stores, gay bars feel that they need to give a visual clue to their bar customers that it is a bar. Next slide, please.
I am really, really gay. And yet, I have never humped a disco ball. Admittedly, I have considered it, but perhaps I was not wearing the appropriate shoes, like this woman has on. The stiletto heels must give good traction while scaling a dance club’s slimey walls, not unlike ice-climber cleats. *sigh* Is that why she is glowing?
Here we have the classic sunburst background, “accenturated” by some sort of smoke-y semi-transparent image, ALL CAPS, drop shadows, way too much text generally, and a MySpace reference (adorable).
This one also commits one of the most heinous design flaws — mixing serif and sans-serif fonts. Infuriating!
And here’s a summary of it all:
Entries (RSS)
This is hysterical. I love it!
Carmen
I couldn’t agree with you more.
I found this VERY amusing.
I TOTALLY agree that these ads are designed poorly. I went to school for graphic design and I can tell you now that even I can design a better flyer than those people. What ever happened to simple and straight forward design? I would think that people in are community would not just surrender to all the standard cliche’s of rainbows and glitter and neon colors. I am all for some wonderful new designs that don’t put our community to shame. Design with sophistication…..not faux pas.
Thanks for posting a comment — and keep keep making good design.
I don’t know who you are, but you are absolutely right. Where do we draw the line at womanizing the womyn when it comes to ads in our own back yard? I guess sex sells and at every turn there is a pervert that buys it? What kind of message are these porely graphiced pirates sending to the rest of the world? I thought we were fighting for equality, not trying to get yet another label. Like we don’t have enough of those. What happened to self respecting good moral and value lesbians? Party.. have fun.. don’t make us look like idiots doing it. Personally, I like the approach of the Bearded Oyster in OC, MD.. they advertise strictly within the community and word of mouth. No stupid flyers. No cheesy disco heels and barbie boobs and no oversized rainbows….. Just “Hey, We’re getting together and having some fun… wanna come hang out?”