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HOW A DESIGNER FIXED THE OSCARS

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If you didn’t watch the Oscars this past Sunday night, then you missed what was, arguably the biggest screw up in the history of the awards show. Circa Steve Harvey 2015, Oscar presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, announced the WRONG Best Picture Award. It wasn’t until the ‘La La Land’ team was part way through their acceptance speeches that true winner ‘Moonlight’ was announced, and then audience and would be-recipients had to endure a few painful moments while everyone shuffled around and the rightful winners took the stage.

 

So, what could have prevented this gaffe of epic proportions?

 

THE RIGHT TYPOGRAPHY.

 

Designer Brandon Jameson  shared a revamp of the winner cards, which he created in light of the snafu.

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Original Card

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After Adjustment

 

As you can see on the original card (or maybe you can’t, because it’s in miniscule font), the award category is at the bottom of the card. This means that you would have to pull the card all of the way out of the envelope to see it. As the most important piece of information, Jameson has smartly moved it to the top of the card, making it much more prominent than it was originally. With a few other adjustments, the new format makes the winner as clear as day, even if you’re two drinks deep and forgot your glasses at home.

A simple tweak to the design of the cards, and the whole problem goes away. This is a large-scale example of how important, font, font weight, logo placement and document layout can affect your event or business.

“Is the most important information clear?”

“Does this font make sense for my circumstances?”

“Is the layout helping or hindering?”

“Will these colours and images be distracting from my message?”

 

Asking simple questions during the design process can help deter from using elements that can be misleading, or in some cases, cause a commotion that will be fondly remembered by the internet in the form of a highly amusing meme for the rest of eternity.

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Have you ever struggled with typography?

Let us know in the comments below!

 

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