PSA: I got a campus flyer pulled for 'tone' and only saw my mistake later

I was handing out flyers about a campus debate on free speech last semester, and the student activities office said the wording was 'too aggressive' and made them stop. I was mad at first, thinking they just didn't like the topic. But then a friend pointed out I'd used a quote from a pretty extreme speaker without any context, which made the whole thing seem like a call to fight, not talk. It made me realize I was part of the problem by not thinking about how my message came across. Has anyone else had a flyer or poster rejected for something you didn't even notice at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.caleb2mo ago

Yeah that happens more than you'd think. I had a club event poster shot down once because the background color was "too intense" and might "cause alarm." Seemed silly until I realized it was the same bright red as the emergency alert system signs. Sometimes you're just too close to your own stuff to see how it looks to someone walking by. Good on you for actually thinking about it instead of just getting mad.

kellygrant2mo ago

Honestly that line about being too close to your own stuff is so true. It's like when you work on something for hours, you stop seeing the obvious stuff a fresh pair of eyes would catch. Tbh most people just double down when they get feedback instead of pausing to see the other side. Good design isn't just about what you like, it's about how it works in the real world for everyone else.

tara7001mo ago

Oh man, my friend had a similar thing with a flyer using all these jagged, broken fonts. Looked cool to her, but our whole group agreed it just read as "danger" or "keep out" at a quick glance. It's exactly what @kellygrant said about how it works for everyone else. You really do need that outside view sometimes.