Of course! One of the things I do when looking at lettering is I try to strip away all the decorative bits (which includes color, gradients, swashes, illustrative elements, drop shadows, linear ornamentation, etc) and look at the letterforms themselves. Usually someone that is early in their career focuses way too much on the decoration (because, honestly, ornamentation is exciting and fun) and less on the letterforms. If the letterforms don't hold up without the decoration hiding all their flaws, I know the person has a lot to learn.