Blurred Lines: When the tie doesn’t make the man

They say “the tie makes the man,” but too often the tie competes with the man.

Ties with small patterns cause movement and appear blurred on screen. If a man wears a small-patterned tie, he risks shifting the audience’s focus from his main message to his “dancing” tie.

The technical term is “The Moiré Effect,” but the important point is that small patterns cause big problems on the TV screen. Thankfully, this problem is easy to avoid: Don’t wear a tie with a small stripe, dot, or pattern. Wear a solid, or keep the stripe but make it large.