If you’ve spent any time around passionate designers, you’ve probably heard them say they never turn off their designer’s eye. Everywhere we look we’re evaluating design, layout, colors and more. But what are we actually thinking about and is it beneficial? Sure it is! We’re critiquing, which helps us improve our own designs.
Want to know what kinds of things go through my head, even when I’m not at “work”?
Del Taco Coupons (”Go Bold or Go Home” Campaign)
I got this in the mail and immediately thought it was pretty attractive. That always pushes my “But why?” button! So I started looking deeper.
The background has a nice texture to it; interesting, but not dominating. It’s darkened around the edges (value), making a sort of spotlight (ah, shape!) of a lighter background behind the taco. Red is also a warm color, which is good for food (we like hot food, especially for tacos). Can you imagine this with a blue background? Not nearly as appealing!
Good design critique is not only about observing what is there, but what isn’t there, or what the designer(s) could’ve done instead but decided against. Remember that before this design was complete, the designer had to make a lot of choices and we don’t see the alternatives he/she could’ve done unless we ask ourselves what they could be.
This is the back. Yellow and yellow-green are analogous colors. I think this is a good color choice, especially for the subjects, jalapeños and breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns and waffles are yellow!). Do you see? Colors are about what we associate with them and the context they are used in. If this were an ad for laundry detergent, yellow might mean clean, bright and cheerful to us in that context.
The “New” above Jalapeño Rings is a little cramped and it creates visual tension. But as I look for how I could improve it, I see why it’s like that. Down at the bottom, the designer needed to put some legal disclaimers and copyright information, so instead of having that completely unreadable, s/he used the red product box as the background. So we can’t move the product down a bit in order to move the title and “New” down to give it more space. And then we look above and see there’s not a whole lot of room in those coupons either. Well, ok, at the very least then, maybe “new” could have been made smaller (that would have taken care of the slight overlap—more tension!—within the black price box, too).
Speaking of tension, the front has some, too. The 99 cents box is nearly touching the taco. That is visually tense. It should either have plenty of space around it, or overlap the taco. This black box and price could have easily been smaller to get rid of that tension.
This is a 6 column grid. But few things line up precisely! I even tried some different margin and alley sizes. Notice some of the alignments: follow the left align from the 99 cents box down to “Tuedays” and “3 Classic Tacos.” Not quite even. Same for the other side. Even if you don’t want to use a grid (which is not recommended!), at the very least, make sure your elements align to themselves if not to a grid (the top and bottom elements here should at least line up together).
So this is picky, but the alignment does bug me! The color division should align down the center of the dashed stroke around the coupons, instead it’s aligned to the left side of the stroke.
Go Bold or Go Home, Sherlock!
So that font. It’s so familiar isn’t it? Just a little poking around in the WhatTheFont forum revealed it’s called Ravenscroft (a free download from Mickey Avenue). The author says, “Ravenscroft was inspired by the lettering used around Disney’s Haunted Mansion attractions.”
But it has definitely existed before this digital version, which was created in 2001. The Sherlock Holmes series from Granada (the ones with Jeremy Brett from 1984 – 1994) used an extremly similar font extensively in titles. And I swear I’ve seen it in some Taco Bell stuff, too! Lesson: be careful when using these recognizable display fonts. They may remind people of things you didn’t intend!
Did you notice anything else about this design? Do you critique designs like this in order to learn from them, even in your supposedly off hours?
Very good evaluation. I love these kind of posts. I have to agree with you on pretty much every point, it certainly is a well designed ad with some great details, thanks for sharing this with us.
liam´s last blog post: 226 Brilliant Freelance & Work Related Icons Available Now
I agree with Liam, that was one great design critique, the good and bad.
Also cool how different a font can look in different layouts. Some great “detective” work tracing down the font’s origin.
Brad C´s last blog post: The Brads – Iran
mmmm hmmmm – very astute
Wow, what a detailed evaluation! The superimposed six column grid just rocks!
But despite all the subtle mistakes the designer of these materials did, I think overall, it still works!
Sometimes I wonder: When we designers design for people, does “people” include us? What is usually effective for most people may not be effective for us because we’re trained to see design differently. Ex. Will changing let’s say…Helvetica to Univers matter to the eye of the viewers we’re targeting?
Dwight Co´s last blog post: All Designers should read this Post
Hi Lauren,
It’s funny, reading through your comments, there’s a sentence that Dwight left, “When we designers design for people, does “people” include us?” — it reminds me of that old clause for canvassers, you can’t ask for survey results from people within advertising media and related professions.
Maybe that’s a bit of a curve-ball, but it’s a thought I had about critiquing design created for the general public.
David Airey´s last blog post: Compelling comments and ulterior motives
Nice analysis. One thing I noticed is the triangle formed by the big taco, which is itself part of a larger triangle with the bottom tacos.
Liam,
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I like writing these kinds of articles, so it’s good to hear people like reading them, too.
Brad,
I thought it was really interesting with the font’s history, too. I just wish I could trace the name/origin beyond 2000, before it was digitized.
inthistogether,
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
Dwight,
I think it works, too, and I know that most people aren’t going to notice these details. But does that mean we (designers) shouldn’t care? I think quality craftsmanship is still important.
David,
Hehe, yeah, they disqualify me all the time from surveys like that here. Still, there’s a lot we can learn from critiquing design, no matter the audience. But you’re totally right, the general public doesn’t notice these details.
Sacha,
Oh, great catch on the triangle! I hadn’t seen that.
I like your Website Design. Kind regards
I’m hungry for some chicken soft tacos now.
Hi I was wondering how you got the coupons. Do they come in the mail?
Patrick,
They either come in the mail or in the Sunday newspaper.
Greetings, excellent site and article. A little late to this party however, what strikes me as a photographer is the reversed taco, the highlights on the tomatoes, cheese, etc indicate that the product was lit from the left, making the shadow on the left…a bit “creative”?… Based in Japan, a land without Del Taco’s, however you have inspired tonight’s dinner menu! Br, T
Interesting read, I tend to do this with billboards, but because I’m usually travelling I don’t get the opportunity to analyse them to the depth that you have here.
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