The world's most overrated graphic design http://www.fastcodesign.com/3043303/the-worlds-most-overrated-graphic-design by @careydunne via @FastCoDesign #OverratedDesign

Minimalist posters
Minimalist posters reduce graphics to their simplest form. Everything from minimalist classic movie posters to the ubiquitous “Keep Calm and Carry On” signs qualify. Related story: It's Time For The Minimalist Poster Trend To Die

Helvetica
Helvetica is one of the most popular sans serif typefaces of the 20th century, developed in 1957 by Swiss designer Max Miedinger. You've seen it in countless logos and brand identities, like American Airlines, American Apparel, and Staples.

Handlettering
Handlettering is pretty self-explanatory--type created without stencils or digital typography. It has enjoyed a resurgence of late.

Nike Swoosh
One of the most recognized brand logos in the world, the Nike Swoosh is a curvy tick mark designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971.

Infographics
Graphic representations of information are now ubiquitous in digital media outlets. Infographics--distinct from data visualizations--are often colorful charticles that say too little with too many graphics.

Letterpress
Letterpress is a kind of relief printing made with a printing press and moveable type. This old-school method was made all but obsolete with the rise of digital printing in the '80s, but has recently come back in style as a retro DIY design trend.

Artisanal Design
"Artisanal" is a buzzword in the contemporary branding world, referring to design that looks somehow crafty and handmade, even if it isn’t (as in the case of Dunkin' Donuts's and Domino’s “artisanal branding”).

Tonality
Tonality is a trend in graphic design in which color schemes and sometimes entire pages are saturated in one dominant color.

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Co.Design

The World's Most Overrated Graphic Design

Helvetica, hand-lettering, infographics, and more: which of these graphic designs gets way too much credit?

If Co.Design readers' eight picks for the world's most overrated graphic design were compiled into one, you'd have a letter-pressed, tonal, minimalist infographic poster in Helvetica about Nike's new artisanal branding campaign, with some hand-lettered details thrown in. Fortunately, these eight candidates haven't yet been hybridized. They're competing in the graphic design category for our upcoming March Madness bracket, in which you can vote for your (least) favorite.

We've already posted picks for product design and interface design, and you can check back later this week for picks in architecture, before voting in the bracket to name the single most overrated design in all the land.

[Infographics: notkoo/Letterpress: Petr Lerch/Moustache: suppixz via Shutterstock]

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21 Comments

  • Dana Tileva

    Yes, when something nice and beautiful and universal is created it is normal to be liked and used by everyone. This is not overrated. What a bullshit article.
  • Paul Vickers

    Totally agree with all these comments. Puerile article that degrades the design profession and industry. I have deleted Fast Co Design from my favourites tab. Bye-bye.

  • I cannot believe anyone would say that hand lettering could be overated! Clearly these people have no idea what it takes to create a legible typeface. Hope I'm not fastco's target audience as this one has lost me.
  • Cait Smith

    Please no more design - opinion articles written by writers who do not work in the industry.
  • 617921080

    It's my first time reading the Fastcodesign.When i saw the title of this passage,I was interested in it,however,after reading this article，I can't get any message that I want to get.Maybe, I will get the more messages about it in the future.

  • Facile digital fodder and insubstantive empty calories FC. If this is part your online content strategy, then I'm sorely disappointed. I certainly hope you don't believe your readership is as superficial and distracted as the one this piece seems to target.

  • I'm beginning to think Fast Co. is hiring from the Buzzfeed ex-employee pool. This is hardly an article, it's not even good material. It's unfortunate that posts such as these keep popping up. Stop posting non-stories, buzzfeed-esque, click-bating pieces. It's tainting a well respected publication.
  • Dan Wangelin

    The skill to expertly craft a design with letterpress or hand-lettering is overrated, unlike the high quality "articles" of FastCo.
  • Bryant Co

    WHAT THE FCK US GOING ON WITH FAST CO?! I head here to read articles that are informative or that have always been insightful and has helped better myself. If I wanted to read shtty, juvenile posts (which are not without their merits - they can be entertaining, at the very least) - I would have go tone one of the Gawker blogs instead.

    I really hope this sh*tty trend stops.