Joshua Tree Moment

I can't really think of an exact moment when I've become more cognizant of visual design flaws recently other than to say that one trait I've become aware of is that less really can be more. I think a lot of the flyers, billboards and posters around campus in particular try too hard to say too much. Similar to my comments about aiming your message at a targeted audience I think constructing a visual message is all about the overall impression one gets of the object. Sure, aligning texts and creating a balanced piece is important, but what really makes or breaks a document is the overall impression gained from viewing it. And the biggest way to prevent a viewer from knowing the most important facts of a message is to clutter the document with too much text and/or images.