Design Simple
Posted: July 5, 2012 Filed under: Design | Tags: design, Einstein, simple, Street Sign 3 CommentsI celebrated the Fourth of July holiday at the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. On my drive back to Philadelphia, as I was passing through Moravia, this street sign caught my eye, baffled my mind and made me laugh. Can you guess why?
That’s right. Why is it so damn complex?!
One of my top rules of design is, give the audience a little credit! People are actually pretty smart. If you put the symbol of a bus on a street sign, people will understand that there is a bus stop ahead. Why the need for so many added colors and symbols? If anything, these added complexities take my eye off the road for longer than necessary.
I’m sure Einstein wasn’t talking about graphic design when he said, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” But it certainly applies. Design simple.
So tell me, have you seen anything lately that is overdesigned? Do share!
Susan Schneider Design 
So funny you say that. Last summer I was driving a colleague from Portugal around Pittsburgh and she commented how our road signs in America are needlessly detailed.
Well now I must do a follow-up blog post about Portugal’s signage. Vamanos, Britt 🙂
Design can be simple or is it an oxymoron?