I've seen too many examples of this of late, so I feel the need to address it.

WATERMARKING/SIGNATURES

Many of you are painters or photographers who share your work online, and it makes good sense to sign/watermark your work so it can't be redistributed/used/altered without it being clear where it came from.

That's great, but everything you put in a picture has a visual weight, and having a GLARING RED NAME in a lovely cool composition literally ruins the experience. It's worth taking the time to pick a colour, size and style that will work WITH the image and not look like a blistering eyesore.

I always go for a tightly kerned Arial ciaranlucas or ciaranlucas.com in the corner for finished stuff, in a local to low tone that fits the rest of the picture. Some people use kanji, some people use initials, and all can work excellently . However, your name shouldn't be the thing people's eyes go to first, or else a name is exactly what you're gonna get.