Things that inspire...

This blog is for my Visual Communications class. You're welcome to follow my journey.

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Mystical hare always passes the vibe check. Purchase a digital print at; https://www.redbubble.com/people/sofreebohemian/explore?page=1&sortOrder=recent

Sophie Bonheim Shop | Redbubble

Sophie Bonheim is an independent artist creating amazing designs for great products such as t-shirts, stickers, posters, and phone cases.

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Oh deer...

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Gabz - Source

Love this movie poster illustration for Inception. If you’ve watched the film, it makes more sense. 

***--------SPOILER WARNING!--------***

Nearly all of the film takes place in Cillian Murphy’s character’s head, as a special team of...operatives?...break into his head and supplant an idea in his mind. This makes the poster more meaningful and purposeful, as a the artist has placed all the actors inside his head in this picture.

The font is also really suitable. The breaks in the line remind me of the breaks in a dream; how events in a dream do not always link or make sense. However, it’s also very suitable for a sci-fi type film, which is the genre I’m placing this film, because I don’t know where else to place it.

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Split Movie Poster

Saul Bass - Source

I think this movie poster really fits the film’s concept of a person with split personality disorder. The outline of the actor has been made jagged, like he is coming apart or just paper pasted together.

The actor is also literally split down the middle as the different personalities are trying to flee his body. As he’s all in shadow, the image is a little ominous. You can’t see any facial features, except for the silhouette.

The writing is also all split up like sheets of paper.

The orange background is really vivid and also, often associated with “madness”.

[visualkommunications]

Poster by Bartosz Kosowski

Having seen Gladiator, I think this is a brilliant alternative movie poster. The red lines down Russell Crowe’s face symbolizes both his helmet and the blood and gore of the film.

The writing is really simple and effective. It hints at both the Roman type letters, or the etchings on the walls you see at the Colosseum. 

I don’t like how the drew the hair on his face though. It’s a little simple, so it looks sparse.

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Poster by Olly Moss

I like the brushed outline effect on this poster. Also the colours in the forest are really beautiful and peaceful, despite the big domineering robot in the centre. Also very keen on the white space above Darth Vader’s outline. 

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Hidden Message

Currently my class are working on a film poster for our college course. I’ve been researching film posters and I really like when they have a hidden message. This one for Jurassic World isn’t very subtle, but it’s still a cool effect. 

Artist Unknown - Source

Sometimes hidden messages in a film poster are called Easter Eggs. An Easter Egg is a term used to an element in a film or the possibly the film’s poster, that hints at the film’s plot, they can play homage to the world of cinema or they can just be a fun and difficult to spot edition to a film’s poster.

Joseph “JK” Kalinowski writes how the image of Darth Vader’s mask, one of the most prominent villains in movie history, was used as a hidden motif in the latest Star Wars films. 

I would like to include an Easter Egg in my film poster design, but I think it’s a tough thing to execute well and requires a good bit of foresight. 

[gdbot]

Photo https://ift.tt/38wccDl -> Telegram Design Bot

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I really like this logo for Musee De La Romanite, however it doesn’t look like they are currently using it online or maybe it’s a concept logo. It looks like a building or rather, a set of columns. It also looks like it could be either white space or negative space, which I really like as someone who is learning about design. However, it’s just shapes. I’m starting to understand how inventive someone can be with just shapes and how more complex images can be achieved by using them.

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AIDA

AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action and is often used a basis for good film poster design according to Wed Designer Depot.

When designing a film poster the article recommends that you firstly have an attention grabbing concept. You want people to be stopped in their tracks to look at your poster. I think the Jaws poster achieves this brilliantly, but I’ve already written a post about Jaws, so I’ll give another example. 

Artist Unknown - Source

This poster is from Jordan Peel’s film Us. I think it definitely is eye-catching and it also hints at the premise of the film. Furthermore, it embodies the story’s creepy story line, so it’s not just sensational for the sake of it with no story to back up the film poster. This is really good design. If you make a poster that is eye-catching, but totally misrepresents your film, than you are just going to be disappointing audiences. A bloody poster that hints at a slasher theme, will deliver a real let down if your film is a rom com. However, there are some films that incorporate themes very well.

Artist Unknown - Source

Happy Death Day is an example of a poster that represents both of the film’s two genres; comedy and slasher.

WDD’s article than mentions that you should try and include iconography in your poster. This will help you to subtly hint at the film’s storyline without directly having to tell the audience. This is particularly useful when it comes to visual communication. You can always use a tagline, but the visual rhetoric of your poster is very important. Happy Death Day employs the use of a knife to indicate their film is a slasher.

Artist Unknown - Source

Aside from the film being called Spy. We know from the suits, guns and sideways stance of these actors that the film is an action film and we can expect some kind of James Bondesque parody.

Next up WDD recommends you create incentive to watch the film. Perhaps your film hints at a world that peaks your interest, so you want to learn more. The give the example of Inception which is an excellent one. However, you don’t need as a wild a film concept to create this interest. 

Artist Unknown - Source

In the Hangover 3 you see the characters in unusual circumstances and you might want to watch more to see how the ended up in this situation. A monkey and a face tattoo are pretty incentivising elements to get you curious about the consequences that led the characters to these circumstances.

WDD recommends you create an appeal factor from fans and non-fans alike. If you are producing a popular sequel or have big names in your film, it would be remiss not to include this in your poster. 

Artist Unknown - Source

Not only does The Hitman’s Bodyguard have to well known actors on their film poster, but it places them in an intriguing position, so that people might be endeared to watch the film and find out more. 

WDD also suggest the film poster should be consistent with the film. This is something I mentioned and is really no brainer and a fundamental element of film poster design. However, sometimes films my subvert this idea and try and throw you off the scent so that the film might take a surprising turn.

Artist Unknown - Source

Take Jennifer’s Body. It definitely hints at the gore and horror of the film, but it predominantly plays up to Megan Fox being...well, a fox.

Here are just some elements that can help improve your film poster’s design and concept. Keep AIDA in mind when you are designing your film poster, and make sure you give all these elements careful consideration before you decide on the final product. 

Happy Designing.

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Simon Pearce - Source

I really like this poster. I think it’s for a band or a concert, which is my only criticism about the poster; it’s not entirely clear. However, with a poster this cool, do you even care? Which brings me to rule breaking...

I always say, or maybe I heard someone say it before, I can’t tell anymore; You can’t break the rules, if you don’t know the rules. I think it’s important to know the fundamentals of good design, but ultimately some of my favourite designs come from designers that throw all the rules out the window and produce something so unique it stops you in your tracks. There’s something new exciting to see designs that don’t follow the rules of hierarchy or care about colour harmonies. Surrealism was absurd (pun intended), before millions of people loved and adored the artworks from the style. It’s time for a generation to embrace the rule breakers of their generation. Within reason. 

Streem - Source

Ariana Louise Villegas - Source

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Layouts

In this post I’m going to talk about some layouts that I like and why I think they work well. 

I saw this image on Medium and wanted to include it here, because I really like how it demonstrates grids and content ratios in this magazine. The writer talks about the white image juxtaposed with the thin columns of text. This is an unusual column width, but I think it works really well. The title is nice and large and as, Wade Lacey writes; “reinforce[s] good hierarchy by creating a clear starting place for the reader.” I think I will try and do this in other magazine to help really understand content ratio and grid layout.

Artisit Unknown - Source

Sam Hampton Smith says that you should create a strong focal point for your viewer as it’s an effective method of leading your reader into your page. 

The below image uses a familiar face as the focal point to good effect. It’s given prominence on the page and again we can see the large “A” creates a clear starting point for the reader. 

Illustration by Autumn Whitehurst, Blender.com

I’ve chosen the below example because of its use of white space and contrast to create an effective and inviting looking design. The design is clear, simple and uncomplicated, but the image of the man is highlighted by the opposing black page. 

Artist Unknown - Source

You could also consider non-traditional design elements, shapes, grids and layouts. Take this next example. If I was designing this myself, I would probably give it a brighter accent colour then beige, but otherwise this design layout is refreshing in it’s willingness to buck trends and vertical columns. 

Artist Unknown - Source

Here’s some examples of bad design. The below image demonstrates the issue with poor magazine layout. Undoubtedly the image of George Clooney and a bedraggled dog are not best placed beside each other and teamed with the salacious headline. Placement is important.

Artist Unknown - Source

Here’s another example of poor layout. The slanting line of the image, has forced the designer to cram text into a corner. We’ve already seen that untraditional columns can work, but it just doesn’t work here. It’s not nice to read, as the readers eyes have to readjust in unusual lines and it lacks uniformity. 

Artist Unknown - Source

Lastly, take a look at how elements of these pages have been aligned. What could be done better? You can cover elements of a text, but be mindful it text could be misread. Also, floating baby’s heads are always ill-advised. 

Artist Unknown - Source

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Artist Unknown - Source

I think this is a really effective and mouthwatering advert for Heinz ketchup. A tower of tomatoes have been sliced and combined with a Heinz label to indicate how delicious, juicy and authentic Heinz Tomato Ketchup is, even if it’s from a bottle. As you can see the tomatoes are shaped like a bottle of ketchup.

Also the tagline, “No one grows Ketchup like Heinz” further endears the brand as a natural product straight from a tomato plant. The only thing I think it’s missing is the glistening spray of water to make it appear fresh and juicy. 

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Jaws Movie Posters

The Jaws movie poster, but Roger Kastel, is one of the most famous film posters of all time. The image of a gigantic shark ascending to the water’s surface towards a hapless nude swimmer is provocative, exciting and scary. It’s be reproduced, replicated and parodied by many and it’s still a widely known image despite the film being released in 1975. 

The large red font conjures the bloody teeth of a shark. The red and blue of the water create a beautiful contrast. Buddy Scalera writes; 

“While many movie posters featured the star’s face with a catchy title and nice copy hook, movies without a bankable actor or actress had to entice their audiences differently. That was Kastel’s challenge. (First-time director Steven Spielberg was an unknown, as were its average-looking, lesser-known stars Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider.) The artwork had to sell Jaws on the promise of the story. Specifically, Kastel teased the features and benefits of buying a ticket to see a giant shark eat people, including a naked lady.”

Roger Kastel - Source

There have been several great alternatives of the film poster harkening to different elements of the story’s plot. 

Matthew Thomas on Behance

Some more character focused...

Drew Willis Source

...and some like a Drive, 2011 poster.

Flore Maquin Source

[nr1-logo-design-inspiration]

Gravity smart logo

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Really simple and very smart logo design for a company called Gravity. I’m just annoyed I didn’t think of it.

The white streak from the dot over the “I” makes the image, as it gives an otherwise simple design, movement. Some of my favourite designs have been simple and smart designs.

I think novices of graphic design tell themselves they need to add more and give more bells and whistles to show how much work they put into a design, but maybe we need to work smarter, not necessarily harder?

Reshare - Source and Artist Unknown

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Artist Unknown -Source

To me this is quintessential 70s, 80s style adventure film, even though this film was made 2017. I thought the poster was reminiscent of Apocalypse Now and on further inspection, it is actually a homage to the old war film.

Bob Peak - Source

The choppers, moon, read streams of light and the head of the gorilla with the same placing as Marlon Brando. Even the font is very similar.

Artist Unknown - Source

Here is another version of the film poster. I don’t know how you wouldn’t be familiar with King Kong as he is so cemented in our pop culture, but if you weren’t familiar with his stature, this poster might make more sense and give you a clearer indication of what to expect from the film.

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I actually don’t love this poster aesethically, but I still think it’s very eye catching. The eyes looking directly back at the viewer and the blood splatters are bold and provocative. This superposition works really effectively to get two interconnected ideas working simultaneously. Blood conjures ideas of danger, death, murder, etc and the eyes introduce the human element to those ideas.

I haven’t watch Suspiria, but this would make me interested to at least find out more about the film.

Matt Ryan - Source

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Visual Rhetoric

Visual rhetoric is effectively a way of communicating meaning to the viewer. Viewers will call upon their visual literacy to interpret the image and draw meaning. Here are some examples of visual rhetoric in images that I like and why I like them...

McCann Agency - Source

This image is by McCann-Erickson for BUND, an environmental energy company in Germany. It’s a very explicit representation of visual rhetoric, but that’s what makes the image effective; it’s amusing. 

The image has been doctored so that the boat is a banana sailing through the sea and blasting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The words, “Travelling fruits cause pollution” are written in the smoke, so the message of the image is directly written into the graphic. It isn’t subtle, but in this cause I think it works well, as the image of the banana boat is striking.

As you can see, visual rhetoric can convey some really powerful messages and respond to real world issues. Take this next example.

I found this image here, but I couldn’t find the creators name, unless it’s “SLOW” as you can see in the bottom-right corner. Is anyone knows, please let me know.

I think this is a very thought-provoking and effective image, especially when accompanied with the slogan “just do it”. The same slogan that motivates people to participate in physical exercise, is used here to highlight the plight of children in child labour. One writer explains this image is an example of culture jamming; 

“Culture jamming is the practice of disrupting the mundane nature of everyday life and the status quo with surprising, often comical or satirical acts or artworks.”

Niki Lisa Cole - Source

Artist Unknown - Source

This is a campaign for the toothpaste company Crest. I think it’s a very simple idea, but it’s been executed well. The teeth are dice and the black holes can be interpreted as both the black numerical symbols on dice, as well as cavities. The image is kind of shadowy, which is suiting as it is a cautionary message and is about gambling. It is also suggesting to the viewer, they shouldn’t skimp on toothpaste, as they will be gambling with their teeth. 

It’s a very manipulative image. however and I think the more discerning customer might be put off by it. I don’t think it would work as effectively on today’s consumers and I’m guessing this is an older advert.