Millions of people watched (either live or on YouTube) the now infamous Best Picture fiasco at the end of this year’s Academy Awards. Talk about embarrassing. Afterwards, heads rolled. People got canned. Excuses and accusations danced back and forth like feet in the opening number of La La Land.
Among all the explanations, one thing that hadn’t been discussed much was the faulty design of the winner cards themselves. Had the typography been better, there’d have been no confusion or controversy. The mistake proves a point about what makes typography good or bad. When it comes down to it, good typography is not about making type look nice. Its primary function is more utilitarian. It’s about clarity and communication.
This article breaks it down nicely, and provides some great solutions for how the winner cards could have been better designed: