Markets and exhibitions are one of the best sources of information and market research you can ever experience.
During these events, I get to speak to people face to face and get direct feedback from my customers. Suggestions of products, new locations or slight changes that can genuinely improve what I am able to offer, and it is worth keeping my eyes and ears peeled at all times.
Accessibility is probably something that sometimes, sadly, it is not in the forefront of what we design. And the truth is that in a couple of occasions, some customers mentioned that it was hard to read the writing at the back of my cards.
I have 0 experience in graphic design, so when I first started offering greeting cards last year, I went for a 'minimal' look and made it easy for me to carry on the main layout for future designs. I chose a font that looks almost hand-written, and what in my head looked 'casual' and 'trendy' (please do notice all the quotation marks.
I am not sure if I actually gave a lot of thought to what information needed to be there and how well it could be read and in what environment they would be handled.
So yes, I chose the worst-possible font: it is thin, wobbly, and chose a silly small font size (very different to what it looks like on my screen, at 300% magnification), without considering that cards are normally handled in fairly dim environments light-wise, normally in a badly-lit hall or under a gazebo.
