After many months of subscribing to the site PhotoshopDisasters, I can no longer hold in my true feelings. I eagerly await the arrival of a new disaster each day on my Google Reader. Some of them are hideous (what was that designer thinking?), some are difficult to spot (although once the error is spotted, I can see nothing but that) and others are debatable (maybe not a disaster, after all).

Let me back up a little… there is a time and place for everything, including Photoshop. For someone like me who lives in the world of Account Services,  I don’t use the program everyday and when I do, it’s to remove crow’s feet from a close up shot or possibly to fade out someone in the background of a candid group photo. I recognize, however, that Photoshop is a glorious tool that can have (and always does at Zoom!) magical results. I’ve watched our creative team do wonderful things with this software, but it’s all within reason, or in good humor. However, the examples I see on PhotoshopDisasters are far from reasonable and perhaps the only thing they are is laughable. I am amazed at the damage that is done to these images, and then even more amazed when I see that the image was actually used in a catalog, on a billboard or as part of a multi-million dollar marketing initiative. Perhaps I’m spoiled by the level of quality I’m used to seeing here at Zoom, but I just cannot imagine any member of our creative team allowing something so obviously wrong to go out the doors with our name on it.

Without ranting for too long, you get my point. Here’s what I have come to know over the years: design is an art, far more than a software application. It is an eye for aesthetics, an image that evokes a feeling and a professional trade that goes further than just “making things pretty.” I am confused as to who is designing in such a way that their “best work” ends up on PhotoshopDisasters. Are they allowing children to edit the images or maybe they are just too busy to properly QC the work…. either way, it’s unfortunate that Photoshop is being abused in this manner.

Here’s what I can personally assure you:  Zoom Creates features the highest quality designers who know how to use Photoshop, not Photoshoppers who try to design. Enjoy the disasters below!

Things seem to look a little elongated perhaps?

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