Today my superviser showed me his book that he made through Print On Demand for his tabletop gaming or some such shit. It was pretty bad design wise.
man that is an awkward situation, when someone shows you something they are proud of that you think is stupid. And then when you lie and pretend to like it,
they might make one for you. I almost got that just before Christmas when a designer at one of my freelance clients randomly told me about his Star Wars costuming, but the crisis was averted because his costumes were seriously well done. Anyway take heart because it could be worse; while with people at work that's bad, with relatives it's worse.
However, the art teacher in me feels the need to point out...
Dude used gradients.
Gradients aren't automatically bad, they are simply a tool that can be easily misused. Lens Flares or Comic Sans are automatically bad, but gradients are a legit tools that novice/non-designers have an unfortunate tendency to misuse. The general rule of thumb is that gradients in hue are bad while gradients in value are fine, but there are plenty of exceptions to both.
My next step is to buy super awesome knee pads
I don't know why* but you saying that reminds me of the totally random anecdote about how I couldn't find protective pads for sale anywhere in Cairo back when I lived in Egypt. It seemed like such a stupid thing not to have there; everyone played soccer, but there were no shin pads?
*it's because I am old