Things You Like in a Design

A thread (which I hope hasn't already been done) for talking about things in a design (character, logo, building, whatever) that you tend to like. I'll start by saying that I have a strong appeal for designs that are almost fully black with visible eyes. I once picked up a keychain of Luci at a convention without pretty much any knowledge of the series beforehand simply because his design appealed to me that much.

In terms of logos and overall graphics: I like sharp shapes and relatively muted colors. Not Real Is Brown, but not so bright I can't stand looking at it. Also, I like 2000s-style shading over modern-day flatness unless it's done exceptionally well.

Edited by Piterpicher on Mar 6th 2023 at 3:59:45 PM

Most of my avatars are small creatures that are in a way cute, but also odd in a way that I can’t put my finger on. I need to add avatars of Minior and Vanillite too. Maybe also Clodsire. There’s something about each of them that is cute yet weird or goofy that appeals to me.

(I am aware that at the time of writing, I am using an avatar that stands out most among my collection.)

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Mar 6th 2023 at 10:03:29 AM

I like white-haired characters, especially if they happen to be white-haired women. I'm also found of Flappers and feminine short hairstyles. Symbolism in more abstract or fantastical designs are also pretty cool as well.

Messy, sketch-like designs for a not so stable character, or one who simply are beyond the world.

While it doesn't appear often that the whole character looks like a sketch, it usually shows up in the eyes that get a messy outline.

For characters who are beyond, they're more on the abstract side, on those "zoomed out" moments within a series that likes to mess and break with its bounds, showing something happening behind the scenes. Some character who seems like they were drawn in pencil, walking around in a white void.

Or maybe it's just my mind messing with me and there is no such thing as the latter. It feels like I made it up, I can only name one example, and it's within "Ruler of Everything"

Eh, I like it and this thread is about stuff you like in designs, so it's worth mentioning.

Edited by CardboardBot on Mar 6th 2023 at 9:10:43 PM

in graphic design, I like a good use of negative space. I love tattoos but hate a lot of the ones I see on people because too they've been overshaded and just look like mush from a distance.

Off the top of my head I guess I'm a sucker for dual-toned stuff, especially if it leans towards a Duality Motif. Likely because I'm also mainly a sucker for juxtaposition in general.

I'm gonna be honest here. In terms of character, setting, and art style design, I love neon colors!! Give me garish, obnoxious and and over the top bright colors! Character-wise, I'm only a little ashamed to admit I actually love those 2000s - early 10s Mary Sue sparkledog OCs, you know the ones. Setting and art style wise, I like it paired witn bold, stylized art. One style like that I can come up with off the top of my head is Sparklecare (2018)'s style.

Edited by moefoxes on Mar 31st 2023 at 1:23:27 PM

I've noticed that I tend to really like Funny Animal characters with neck bandanas (from top to bottom: Dillon, Pat and Kooper), and I've given them to a few of my characters too.

I like characters with realistic proportions, but with a flair of expressiveness.

I also think that intentionally going Off-Model works wonders.

I like cartoony "Westernesque" I guess you could say (opposite of Animesque) Japanese anime characters. I like big white cartoony eyes with small black pupils. Characters like Doraemon, many Fujio Akatsuka characters, and some characters from Sanrio like Hangyodon to name one, are some examples of characters like that.

I'm particularly drawn to those from the Showa era but that's not a requirement for the appeal.

Pretty much, I like chunky cartoony Japanese characters with cute designs, particularly those from Showa era anime aimed at children.

Things I like in character design huh?

Black, lots of black. Anything, from a Badass Longcoat, to monochrome suits, to a Little Black Dress. Long hair, especially on men. Outfits that show a lot of skin (including Stripperific outfits for women, even though I’m asexual there’s just something very aesthetically pleasing about them).

I also like sort of Humanoid Abomination and Animalistic Abomination to a lesser extent, type designs. The You Tuber Pastra’s avatar is a good example.

In terms of graphic design, I love maximalism and horror vacui. I love staring at an image and seeing what seems like infinite detail. More specific themes are chrome type and abstract backgrounds.

Character design is similar, in that I do like "overdesigned" characters quite a bit (big fan of Guilty Gear for this reason) but I do appreciate it when a character is simple enough to read at a glance.

Edit: I also like glitch art and the general aesthestics of failure (compression artifacts, generation loss, AI artifacts, etc)

Edited by BILLYMAYS!!!! on Mar 8th 2023 at 1:50:16 AM

Overall, I like designs that aren't too cluttered. This applies to anything from architecture, to comics, or tabletop miniatures. I prefer things to be relatively simple at a first glance, with clearly defined silhouettes and surfaces that don't hurt my eyes. Still, I'm no minimalist, so things can be both very detailed and be pleasing for me. All I want is for these details to be more subtle and support the whole image. For instance, the clothing for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which at a quick glance appears simple, but upon closer inspection keeps revealing more and more tiny details that enhance the whole outfit. Contrast that with most 90's superhero comics, where there is a plethora of disconnected elements (like pouches, bandoliers, ponytails, leather-jackets, bandanas etc.), so I have to squint and examine the image again, just to be sure what I am looking at.

Lolita fashion or just dresses with lots of frills and ribbons in general. Exquisite cuteness!

I like Peek a Bangs and characters with dark color palettes a lot, especially if it's blue and black (my favorite colors lol). I also like characters with black or brown hair (so it's no surprise that a lot of my own human characters have those hair colors). Also, not really a design thing, but I like anime expressions like the Sweat Drop and Cross-Popping Veins a lot

I like cartoon aesthetics that exaggerate the characters' features without doing too much, like the weasels in Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Daffy Duck.

The first thing that comes to mind is monster/character design that manages to convey that something is alive and intelligent while also being thoroughly de-anthropomorphised - sort of the opposite of the Uncanny Valley, where instead of being so close to human it emphasises the differences, it's so far from human it's hard to identify as a person.

The list is very short - I'm basically comparing them all to Ramiel - and I'm always incredibly impressed whenever someone manages it.

x6 yesss glitch aesthetics are so cool! Love them

As for other things I like... cool eyewear, fun hairstyles, glowy stuff, to mention a few

x6 Similarly, one recent graphic design trend I like is the use of relatively simple shapes and lines to create more complex patterns. One such example from the art world is the work of the late Charley Harper.

Edited by MDLuder on Mar 15th 2023 at 5:51:40 AM

For some reason, I find a black-and-white color palette very appealing. Not grayscale, just the colors black and white.