The ProofrEADJer, Early January Edition

In Defense of Terrible (Human) Design

 I found this flyer on a public trash can while walking the dog:

Great Christ. What a fugly design. How is this bad design, you ask? Where to even start? People like bullet points, so let's do bullets:

• The illegible handwriting font, rendered MORE illegible by stretching it horizontally and turning it into outlines

• The illegible serif font, treated the same way and turned RED on BLUE, for great visual vibrations

• The weird stock photos in circles of different sizes with unrelated captions on the outside

• Zero visual hierarchy. After "King's Kyds Academy", my eye doesn't know where to go next, besides wanting to look away altogether

• Open Enrollement! (sic) on the Nickelodeon splat shape, except it's green, so now it looks like vomit

My only guess is they got some of the toddlers to design and lay out this flyer. Those kids don't know shit.

But STILL, this hideous flyer shows some faulty but human decision making. A person saw the dimensions of the flyer and figured, "Hmmm. My design is shorter than the final dimensions... Hey, I'll just STRETCH the entire thing to fill up that space!" They couldn't decide which colors to use, so they just went with all the available ones to make it fun and kid-like. They typeset the phone number in the weird handwritten font, but it didn't look like a phone number anymore, so they added a phone icon to it!

Those naive or incompetent design decisions still took some thought. And the layout involved real effort on a computer somewhere. That sure beats the hell out of typing in a prompt on ChatGPT and having it shit out a soul-less, cramped flyer that looks like every other AI flyer out there now.

So where would you rather send your kids to be watched— a place that puts in some human effort, or a place that does the bare minimum and expects you to accept their lazy AI turd of a flyer? I'm going with the humans. 

The Daryl Hall Vocalization Quix: The Answers

Friday we quizzed you on Daryl Hall's extemporaneous vocalizations at the end of Hall & Oates songs. Here now are the long awaited answers, with handy links to the songs themselves!

1) Oooh but it’s wild oooh…
"Maneater"

2) Watch out watch out watch out watch out…

Also "Maneater"

3) We’re soul alone, girl…

"Out of Touch"

4) I know it’s so hard for you…

"Say It Isn't So"

5) Waiting for… waiting for… waiting for…
"You Make My Dreams"

6) Oh I see you, oh I see you, private private private eyes girl…

"Private Eyes", duh

7) Reach out, for something to hold…

"Out of Touch" again

8) Why do you have to say it isn’t…
"Say It Isn't So"

9) Too cold girl… too cold girl… too cold girl…

"Out of Touch"

How'd you do? Let us know in the comments!

The Daryl Hall Vocalization Quiz

Daryl Hall and Joan Oates were known for their catchy, hugely popular hits from the 80s. And in almost all of them, Daryl Hall ended the song with his unique brand of improvised vocalizations. As the music fades, you can hear him continuing to groove and reinforce the theme of the song with his scatting.

Here now is a quiz:

Identify the song by the Daryl Hall vocalization (some songs have multiple vocalizations):

1) Oooh but it’s wild oooh…

2) Watch out watch out watch out watch out…

3) We’re soul alone, girl…

4) I know it’s so hard for you…

5) Waiting for… waiting for… waiting for…

6) Oh I see you, oh I see you, private private private eyes girl…

7) Reach out, for something to hold…

8) Why do you have to say it isn’t…

9) Too cold girl… too cold girl… too cold girl…

Answers will be revealed Monday!

UAG

Saying Goodbye To 2025 and Other Things Advertisers Want You To Say Goodbye To!

Goodbye! Goodbye! *Kiss* So Long! Goodbye!

Hey, Wait a Minute.

This truck that advertises a business called JUST DRAINS instantly contradicts itself by also offering all sorts of other sewer and drain services.

That means it's NOT JUST DRAINS, JUST DRAINS.