13 Habits of Bad Graphic Designers

Aristotle, the great philosopher, once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act but a habit.”

Graphic designers cannot attain excellence unless they develop good designing habits. Unfortunately, there are many designers out there who do not follow good designing habits and end up creating problems for their professional growth. This post highlights 13 bad habits of graphic designers. Read on and make sure you do not practice any of the following habits:

1. Reacting on Criticism:

Good designers never react to criticism, be it constructive or otherwise. Bad designers take criticism personally and may even get downright rude with the client.

2. Unaware of Industry Updates:

Bad graphic designers hardly know about the designing world let alone the people who make up the industry or the newest software updates and trends. If a designer is lacking in essential industry knowledge, s/he cannot be described as an innovative designer.

3. Not Sketching Designs:

Professional disaster. Every graphic designer must know how to sketch at least a rough draft of the project and have a proper design process they follow.

4. Procrastinating:

Procrastination is a bad habit and those who stick to this habit often come up with substandard work and are unable to meet deadlines.

5. Disorganized:

Losing important details, forgetting dates, mixing up project details etc. won’t make you look good as a designer.

6. Lacking Creativity:

Not bringing new ideas to the table, not learning new tricks or trying out new schemes because it requires extra effort. Using common derivative concepts is a sure sign of lack of sheer creativity. No one wants to hire such a designer!

7. Careless Attitude:

Lazy graphic designers don’t care about a client’s deadlines or their project completion. They delay deadlines, give substandard work and absolutely don’t care about clients.

8. Submitting Low Quality Images:

Sending clients low resolution images which are difficult to scale and impossible to enlarge. Submitting images in both vector and raster format is the right thing to do. You never know when the client might need to print the design on a different medium altogether.

9. Being Smug:

One of the characteristics of bad graphic designers is that they are smug and overconfident about their work. They consider themselves the best and even charge an exorbitant price for their substandard, derivative designs.

10. Copying Work:

Wannabe designers are the most active at copying concepts. They lack a creative drive which is why they prefer to copy other designer’s, claiming it as inspired art, instead of creating their own.

11. Not Using Correct Software:

Bad graphic designers fail to understand the significance of using specific software for various services. For instance, they will create a logo design in Adobe Photoshop and send the client raster files.

12. Lack of Color Understanding:

Designers must have a strong understanding of colors, contrasts and combinations that can appeal to the viewers. They must also know that web design templates are preferred in RGB while Pantone color standard is the best for logo design.

13. Being Unprofessional:

When dealing with clients, being professional is necessary. This includes using a formal language rather than using slang. Designers who practice an informal code of conduct harm their reputation and gain popularity as being unprofessional.

Unintentional mistakes are forgivable, but continually practicing these poor habits makes you a bad designer and bad graphic designers are NOT allowed anywhere in the professional world!

Vectors Source: iStock