Get Started! Point your iPhone or iPad toapp.clichespotting.com No iPhone?Download the PDF

Top Cliché Art Schools

RankInstitutionCount
1stUniversity for the Creative Arts, Maidstone Maidstone28
2ndNorwich University College of the Arts Norwich21
3rdWrittle College Writtle20
4thUni. of Dundee Dundee16
5thEdinburgh College of Art ECA12
6thWinchester School of Art WSC12
7thGray's School of Art RGU11
8thUni. of the West of England UWE11
9thUni. of Wolverhampton Wolverhampton11
10thGlyndwr University (North Wales School of Art and Design) NWSAD10

Top Clichés

RankClichéTotal
1stHair/Moustache Body and facial hair really seem to appeal to art and design students.118
2ndHelvetica Bold Close but not touching. Or, even more trendy: make it even bolder and tighter! A 90s trend that just won't die.114
3rdInfographics Did you know? 98% of infographics are 100% pointless. See pie chart for details.104
4thHand Rendered No computer skills? Make some crayon drawings and call them “hand-rendered”. It sounds more fancy, plus bad drawings are trendy.104
5thBulldog Clips The perfect mechanism for attaching bullshit to a wall.97
6thPoor Typography The tutors don't know typography, so it presumably isn't important to use proper hyphens, dashes and quote marks.96
7thPoor technical execution Surely using a ruler and a sharp scalpel blade can't be that difficult. And why on earth is Pritt stick still so popular?93
8thPolaroids Far from dead, this photographic relic seems to live forever at art schools.91
9thFound Objects Other peoples waste turned into art. A cheap way of sourcing materials.89
10thMini Business Cards For undergraduates, a full-size business card would surely look big-headed, wouldn't it?89

Sorry, that’s it

There are no more degree shows this year. Check back next year for the 2012 Art School Cliché Spotting. Follow us on Twitter to hear about new awesome projects.

Let us know what you think!

We'd love to respond personally but we can only do that if your e-mail address works.

CAPTCHA Image

(Please enter the text in the image. Text is not case sensitive.)
Refresh Image