You guys really love that before-and-after kind of style video on this channel, and today I have something really quite special for you. You're probably going to find it very, very useful. I'm going to show you some before-and-after graphic design examples, but one of those examples will be interactive, meaning you can make your own changes and submit them to me. More about that later, so stay tuned throughout the entire video. The first design is a poster for a cocktail party or kind of a bar, and I'm a little overwhelmed with this design. Now, you can say I've probably had my daily dose of gradients, but let's be articulate and smart designers. We need to ask the question: what are the key problems in this design? What do you guys think needs to be changed?


For a start, this section of typography is way too cramped and it's way too convoluted. Trying to navigate this section as a viewer will be confusing, especially if you're looking at it from a distance. Also, the layout just doesn't look too appealing in this format, so we are for sure going to redesign the typography. Secondly, as I mentioned, the gradient background reminds me of 1990s clip art; it just doesn't look good. Gradients are fine in some situations, but this is not one of those. Probably the worst offender of this design is the style seen in the main typography. Again, it looks like a gradient 1990s clip art style with a very generic headline style font that doesn't relate back to a cocktail party. But let's take a look at the revisions that I myself have made.


The first thing I did was to remove that gradient background and add something that will brighten the design up. I feel like this almost pastel tone works really well to create an inviting and somewhat feminine feel. You have to remember that a cocktail party is likely going to be attended by mainly women, so that's something you need to keep in mind when designing this poster. I then chose a more trendy, modern font for the main typography and dropped those pesky gradients. I then grouped and arranged the remaining typography in a neater fashion while using hierarchy in both size and color. Also, the cocktail illustrations have been scaled down to give the design more room to breathe. Making sure the design was trendy, modern, and appealing to women was the main focus of my revisions here. But what do you think? Let's move on to the next design.


Here's a landing page that does have a typo in the subheading. The designs that you see in today's video are exactly how I downloaded them from Freepik or wherever I happened to find them, so I'm gonna leave things like typos in there. This design is better than the first example in today's video, but I still see things I personally want to change. For this one, the changes I have in mind are quite drastic. I don't like how the text layout down here is pretty illegible, and also the third line has very few words in comparison to the two lines above. I also think the main text needs some attention, and finally, I'm going to basically change the entire layout of this design because I don't like this huge orange dividing space.


I came up with two slightly different revisions and I can't seem to decide which one I prefer. Here's the first one: as you can see, I've dropped that dividing graphic and opened up the entire design in orange tones. Orange is great to suggest action and movement, so it does fit this design. I've added some contrast in color for the main typography and then arranged the text below in a neater, more visually appealing manner. The second version is where I flipped the layouts and have a subtle, simpler black text below for the subheading. But which of these designs do you prefer? I myself really can't decide.


Design number three is a social media banner that again is presented in a bright orange. I don't know; I'm really feeling oranges and yellows lately. They just seem to invigorate and raise up my mood, which is never a bad thing. Anyway, the issues I see here are: firstly, I want to play around with these blue-purple design assets. I don't want to add anything to these designs as such; I want to try and keep things fair and keep the concept the same. Then, of course, we will dive into the typography and make some changes to the typography in general. But what would you do and how would you change this design? Or do you think it doesn't need changing at all? Let's take a look at what I decided to do on the revision.


I really love the typography changes that I made. Using some hierarchy to create appealing contrast works so, so, so well. I've also neatened up the remaining typography and removed quite a lot of those blue-purple icons. I wanted to give the design more room to breathe and it did work out well. Also, the gradient on these shapes wasn't spread across them collectively; they each had their own gradient, but I prefer the gradient kind of spread across all of them. It's amazing how small changes in typography can make such a big difference. Pretty sure you agree too.


Design number four is quite a simple one. I love the illustrations and the concept behind this one, but going back to the subject of typography, I feel like the design has been ruined with the choices made. The drop shadow is totally unnecessary and the style as a whole just doesn't work in the typography section. So I simply went in and made some changes by first having a more free-flowing font without any shadows, and it's in black. I complemented that with an italic sans-serif font. Typography really can make or break a design. 


Here is where you guys can bring your skills into the game. I have a design that you can download from Freepik and it's linked down below. This is exactly how you're going to find it. You have until Sunday this week to make changes to the design and then to send it back to me in an email. You can check the description below to find every detail on how to send it, and I'm really looking forward to seeing your guys' changes and improvements. You can do anything you want to it, so just get creative and be thoughtful. First, identify the problems and then solve those problems. If you want to learn more skills for your graphic design career, click a video on the screen, and until next time, design your future today. Peace.