A Pic Up the Backside

I try not to repeat myself too much in my blog but the post this morning brought me two unsolicited pieces of mail that made me so mad I couldn't resist.

Along the lines of my blog "Fauxlaroid" a few weeks back regarding the enduring charm of the format of a polaroid print, the post contained two examples that show how badly the format can be misused.

The first is for a curry by phone service based not far from where I live, 'Dial-a-Curry' offer the opportunity to 'supercharge your tastebuds' - a great pity then that the designer of their leaflet should have had so little taste... Maybe he had had a few too many Cobra Beers! The 6 'fauxlaroids' seem to have several different formats, in some the chemical pouch is bigger than others and on one seems not to be square. Given that there is such a wide precedent for this use of images I really think that designers could do better...

However, the next one really takes the biscuit! This is a page out of the Aylesbury Vale and County Times, a free info magazine distributed to residents of Aylesbury Vale. In this issue there is a touching piece about a group of young people with special needs being taken on a trip to Finland - to an outdoor activity centre. The piece is wonderfully upbeat about the achievements of the participants. Shame about the achievement of the designer then - The pictures used to illustrate the article are a montage of three photos taken during the stay - overlaid on a scan of the back of an SX70 print! Where the black square would be! Not even centered! Oh dear, I think the designer has given himself a pic up the backside...