Opinions on adding drop shadows to picture-in-picture boxes in a layout for a show. Things look so flat with just the thin colored border and background.
ASKED BY · Unknown · 21 OCT 2026 · ▶ 00:18:21
Graphics must accommodate dynamic backgrounds; modern design prioritizes bold, high-contrast elements due to varied viewing conditions rather than refined drop shadows.
Drop shadows are fine if unnoticed; proper implementation is a matter of taste and context rather than a universal rule.
Drop shadows should use less than half the default amount; designers typically employ other depth techniques like three-dimensional graphics instead of simple shadows.
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From the transcript.
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17:55So, anyway, there's a lot of different things that you can get involved with there, officehours.global.com. Alexander, next question. All right. Next up is one of my questions. Opinions on adding drop shadows to picture-in-picture boxes in a layout for a show. Things look so flat with just the thin colored border and background. I'm not going to disagree with you. Bill? So, graphics changes a lot based on errors and other things.
18:24And also the environment you're working in. I got trained with graphic designers back in the print era. And so you knew once you established the size of a border, it was going to stay the same. And what was behind that border was going to stay the same. We're in the era of motion media now. Everybody's watching kind of live stuff. And I've seen – I can't tell you the number of times I've seen something that when the swirling cloud behind the type is dark, it looks fine.
18:52but as soon as the swirling cloud behind the type turns white, the type disappears and you can't read. In fact, I've actually recently had people send me still frames and go, why can't I read this? And it's because you had white type and the background used to be blue, and now the background is very light gray and you can't see it anymore.
19:10So it's a challenge for designers to understand. One typical thing designers, I think, often run into is if you don't know the environment that your type or your design is going to be in, you make it bolder and stronger. And I think if you look down the standard rolling ads on YouTube or any of the other swipe on a phone design things, you're going to see these huge blocks of type and incredibly
19:35rich contrast between the type in front and a background behind. It's a reaction to the fact that they understand the environment is somebody flicking through screen after screen after screen, wanting to catch their attention with a huge, bold message that cannot be missed so that you can carve out the few people who are interested in the message from everybody else as a billion people scroll by this stuff. It has made design less refined,
20:07less delicate, and more bold and blocky. And it's just the way this era looks. Maybe someday Someday people will watch in a different way. Maybe someday we'll have things implanted in vision goggles or something. And design will change based on how people are consuming that information in that era. But right now, what I advise you is to make sure every piece of type you put on the screen is clear.
20:34And it's clear in all circumstances, no matter what the background changes to behind your type and things like that. It's just the world we live in. Or the boxes, Ronnie. Yeah, so my designers always told me when I added drop shadows at anything, if it was text or anything. And as a segue from what was already said, if Windows could add a kind of drop shadow on the blue screen of death,
21:03made that a little bit more interesting to read. That said, my designers always told me to use less than half of what I first applied. And then they started telling me there are a lot of other ways to have something stand out from the background and not only using drop shadow. So I think drop shadow has been kind of a thing we just go to as the first solution.
21:32But a real designer would probably not do that. that, they would put this in something more energetic or a more three-dimensional type of graphic style and create depth using other techniques than just the drop shadow. Because the drop shadow is, of course, we see it as a thing that have a distance to the background, but it's so simple. There are so many other cool ways of creating cool depths into the picture.
22:09So I would suggest also diving into a lot of the other samples. Just tell your local AI or your favorite AI, what other options are there to just put a drop shadow on something? I'll tell you, Alexander, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using a drop shadow. My personal, I used to very much pride myself in good shadows. I think the trick is if you notice it, it's too much.
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