winter-themed, sort of, but not a contest entry

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

February 1986

For some reason, I feel drawn to ads with terrible typesetting. The display font at the top reminds me of Star Trek for some reason, as if I am supposed to think, "ooh, futuristic!" What's with the red underlining? Did we misplace the highlighter?  I can live with a graphic being inserted in the middle of a paragraph, but in the middle of a word? I can't see "maxi-" hanging out there by itself without thinking "pad."

Comments

[penguindreamz.livejournal.com]

I always forget that GTE and Sprint used to be one. I worked for GTE before it became Verizon, and I work for Sprint now. (they were separate by the time I got to GTE.)

/coolstorybro

[marchenland.livejournal.com]

This looks very much like tech ads in Omni from the early- and mid-80s. This would have been right around the time that DTP programs first started appearing (first one appeared in 1985), so I suspect your issues with this ad are due to an inexperienced designer (or an intern or secretary with no design background at all) being told to design an ad but not having the tools or the skills to use the tools. Things were kind of wild and wooly at the time, and the early programs were very lacking in many of the bells and whistles that press people would have had (for example, the program may not have even had italics, or the user may not have known how to italicize the text - there were few if any things like ctrl-i at the time), and not a lot of font choices. But the advantage was that "anyone could do it" and much faster than a print shop could, so companies (especially magazines) would buy themselves a Mac and some poor person would be in charge of designing these ads. and the results were often like this!

The designs of this era remind me in a way of the old snake-oil ads of the late-1800s, in that people would try to use EVERY FONT AVAILABLE, as if to show off their prodigious skills and access to such riches of design! I can remember getting letters from friends who have JUST gotten access to their Mac lab at school and would just go WILD with fonts. :)

Awesome find!

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

I think you're on to something, marchenland. The techies who knew how to use the newfangled computers and DTP software didn't have a clue how to design an aesthetically pleasing ad. Companies tried to save money by having the same person do the layout and the typesetting. Actually, that still happpens waaaay too often!

[glass-houses.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I feel drawn to ads with terrible typesetting. Then they did their job! But I agree. I hate underlining in advertising; I find it ugly for some reason. I also dislike cutting words in half, like "maximum," which is split in half by the harshly displaced graphic.

Ugh, I always joke that "the only thing good that came out of the 80s was me, and that's pushing it."

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

I agree about underlining. It really adds unnecessary clutter to the ad.

I disagree about the 80s, though. I had a great time and loved (almost) every minute!

[glass-houses.livejournal.com]

Everything I know about the 80s come from stories people tell me. I was a 90s kid, really.

derp derp that other comment was really dumb sorry