Did bad design cause Miss Universe screw-up?

It’s every host’s worst nightmare: Steve Harvey got tons of flak for announcing the wrong Miss Universe on stage. It was awkward for everyone, not least of all the poor Miss Colombia, who had the crown bestowed on her, only to see it removed and given to the rightful winner – Miss Philippines.

Steve owned up to his unfortunate and career-defining flub. But what if he wasn’t the one at fault? Ever since that mistake went viral, people now say that Steve was a victim of a poorly designed announcement card:

The part naming the winner is certainly easy to miss. If you hold it a certain way, your thumb might even cover up the word “Philippines.”

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jeremiah Owyang said: “In communication we are taught to never bury the lede. The big winner was literally buried deep down in the bottom right with size 10 font. This results in the second line item to focus on “first runner up” which [under] pressure, he confused with being ‘first place.'”

The Next Web writer Nate Swanner also chimed in: “Shoving the winner off to the bottom-right of the card suggests its a footnote, not the most important part of the evening.”

He even came up with an alternate design for the card in three minutes:

The Hustle gave a detailed breakdown of the design fail, adding that there was too much white space which was unexploited. It came up with two alternative designs: