

Pizza Flyers: The Height of Good Graphic Design? - abstractbill
http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/002462.html

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jkkramer
I think he's arguing separate points, one good the other not:

1) Pizza flyers are expected to look a certain way and despite the fact that
this look is deemed trashy by snob designers, it's actually appropriate for
the product and audience. This is true and valid. See also:
[http://www.graphpaper.com/2006/09-04_class-and-web-design-
pa...](http://www.graphpaper.com/2006/09-04_class-and-web-design-part-1-the-
class-struggle)

2) "...the logic suggested that if a pizza flyer does its job then, no matter
how awful it looks it must, by definition, be 'well designed'." No it doesn't.
Just because it does its job doesn't mean it does its job WELL. I keep a copy
of local pizza flyers because they're local, not because they're well
designed. One flyer could still be designed better than another. But a badly
designed flyer costs me a few seconds at most, so I don't really care.

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aristus
He is trying to separate two concepts: "works-as-designed" and "esthetically
well-designed". There are many things that would not benefit from high
esthetics, but do benefit from a surprising amount of sweat.

The case of pizza flyers is a good example of overlooked effort: they have to
look both alluring _and_ cheap. Their design is not ill-considered, at least
for the larger brands. They have been worked out over decades by talented and
observant people using empirical data.

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GavinB
The "looking cheap" bit can be important for many products. Many consumers
would rather not pay for expensive advertising and design on products, and go
for a products that appears ths most "no-frills."

