PSA: Overheard a senior designer say 'just use a drop shadow for everything' and it made me rethink everything

I was at a coffee shop in Chicago last Tuesday and heard this guy telling a junior to just slap a drop shadow on any element that feels flat. He called it a "designer's crutch." I walked away thinking about how I used drop shadows on like half my projects last month. Now I'm trying to rely more on spacing and color contrast instead. Has anyone else caught themselves overusing one trick and had to break the habit?

2 comments

2 Comments

evand654d agoMost Upvoted

Were you as EMBARRASSED as I was when you realized you'd been doing the exact same thing? I caught myself putting drop shadows on every button and card for a solid three months before a coworker called me out on it.

barnes.kai4d ago

Three years ago I watched my neighbor spend an entire summer painting every single piece of outdoor furniture he owned the exact same shade of gray. By August his whole yard looked like a parking lot. That's what you described but with shadows instead of gray paint. We all get stuck in these little design ruts where we find one trick that works and just hammer it into everything. Next week you'll probably see someone's new app and notice they're using the same drop shadow on every single element and you won't even care anymore.