Cliché of the Week: Clip Art

November 11, 2008 By Doug Neff

True story: I was working with a client, reviewing his existing slides with him, and making notes as to what needed work. We came across a data slide containing a large piece of clip art, similar to the fellow you see here.
It was the only graphic in the entire presentation.
I impulsively reached for the delete key, [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted November 11th, 2008 at 6:45 pm by Doug Neff
Tags: Clichés, Design, story, Visuals

Cliché of the Week: The Bullseye

October 22, 2008 By Doug Neff

We need to stay focused.
Our numbers are right on target.
We made our goal!
When someone says those words, does your brain instantaneously call up images like the one to the right?
It does? Good. Then your brain is functioning appropriately.
Clichés are perfectly normal and perfectly natural. Your brain was designed to retrieve visuals quickly, and clichés are [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted October 22nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm by Doug Neff
Tags: Clichés, Design, story, Visuals

Cliché of the Week: The PowerPoint Starburst

October 14, 2008 By Doug Neff

Honestly, I love Batman as much as the next guy. And I’ll even admit to wanting to be Batman at different points in my life.
But—and this is very, very important—I never wanted to be the campy, 1960’s, Adam West Batman. Never. Not once.
The difference between Adam West’s Batman and Christian Bale’s Batman is…well, it’s all [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted October 14th, 2008 at 4:08 pm by Doug Neff
Tags: Clichés, Design, story, Visuals

Cliché of the Week: The Parthenon (and contest results)

October 7, 2008 By Doug Neff

Behold, our revolutionary company strategy! It’s so compelling and powerful that we had to build a temple in order to contain it. The foundation represents our technology platform, which is the foundation of our strategy. The pillars represent…
Sound familiar?
You’ve probably seen the Parthenon slide in a variety of styles and colors (the green color represents [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted October 7th, 2008 at 4:41 pm by Doug Neff
Tags: Clichés, Design, story, Visuals

Cliché of the Week: Debbie, the Time Life Operator

September 30, 2008 By Doug Neff

You’ve known Debbie for years. She’s been there for you since you were a little kid, waiting patiently at the other end of an 800 number to fulfill your most urgent needs: that night when you just had to have the Mysteries of the Unknown collection or that rainy Sunday when you couldn’t live without [...]

Topic: Design, Diary, Message, Strategy
Posted September 30th, 2008 at 8:18 am by Doug Neff
Tags: Clichés, Design, Free Prize!, story, Visuals