I have a new position at Central Coast Agency working with some new friends and trying to make some good work for our clients. I’m happy to be a Creative Director now, although it does push my efforts into guiding both concept and delivery – but that’s a good thing.
One thing I do enjoy is the critiques of work, trying to inspire the team to make the work better. This takes me back to my days in Art School, which led me to this extremely insightful list compiled by the great Art History ProfessorJames Elkins from the Art Institute of Chicago. He tried to complile all thenegative words used in a critique, which as you can see is pretty long. Ironically, words of praise are far fewer, and less used, but he’s compiling those as well for another post.
Didactic
Anachronistic
Fancy
Pretty
Merely pretty
Vague
Just fun
Easy
Almost insulting
Boring
Bland
Dull
Painfully dull
Unintelligent
Stupid
Trite
Doesn’t make sense
Has useless additions
Uninvolved
Dishonest
Immoral
Stupidly, gratuitously immoral
Unreflective
Over-controlled
Uncontrolled
Weak
Thin
Odd
Not odd enough
Too much
Self-serving
Too amiable
Simple
Simplistic
Literal-minded
Corny
Ridiculous
Awful (“bloomin’ awful,” etc.)
No motivation
Impersonal
Careless
Makeshift
Thoughtless
Been there, done that
Poor composition
Maudlin
Melodramatic
Too sci-fi
Schlocky
Garish
Kitsch
Not close enough to kitsch
Its only thrill is how close it can get to kitsch
Not kitschy enough
Unaware it’s humorous
Distracting use of medium
Obvious
Blunt
In your face
Gratuitous appropriations
Obscure
Obscure, bordering on obtuse
Condescending
Heartless
Repetitive
Incoherent
Too satisfying
Plays to the audience
Manipulative
Looks lousy
Commercial
Overly commercial
Subject matter and idea are disconnected
Form and content are disconnected
Too serious
Too corporate
Too manly
Sexist
Silly
Too light
Too dark
Finicky
Unstable
Neither accessible to all, nor accessible to none
Colors dissonant
Colors too harmonious
No congruence between artist, aim, and result
Cute
Too cute
Cutesy
Sweet
Campy
Stale
Mismatched styles
Half-hearted
Disengaged
Less than overwhelming
Too overwhelming
Cultish about the avant-garde
Looks like art
Too trendy
Wrong medium
Propaganda
Illustrates a theory
Too systematic
Formulaic
Makes no sense, but seems like it should
Just tossed off
Badly done
Mystical
Spiritual
Not spiritual
Intentions unclear
Intentions too clear
Meaningless
Empty
Bullshit
Lets the critics dictate its meanings
Implies a meaning, but has none
Not in control of possible meanings
Indecisive
Unfocused
Pointless
Aimless
Hopeless
Senseless
Mindless
Painless
Apathetic
Lacks apathy (too committed)
Wash-out
Unconvincing
Unconfident
Waste of time
Hypocritical
Happy
Amiable
Easy
Funny, but so what?
Self-censored
A one-liner
An ad
Too slick
Cheesy
A cliché
Propaganda
A slogan
A message
Intrusive
Heavy-handed
Contrived
Merely aesthetic
Not aesthetic enough
Tries too hard
Lost
Naïve
Cloying
Sentimental
Romantic
Romanticizing
Just plain ugly
Junky
Offensive
Disgusting
Not disturbing enough
Not extreme enough
Not weird enough
Not sick enough
Fake-o psychotic
Derivative
Interesting (the worst one)