I’ve just been trying to figure out the best place to position error validation messages on a data entry grid that looks like:

I would say that a validation message under each relevant field would be the most functional and is immediately clear to a user which field needs looking at. However, because of the restricted space it’s not very aesthetically pleasing. The problem here is that being aesthetically pleasing is also crucial to the user experience and more importantly to those that will sign off the application from a brand perspective.

Maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help tomorrow!