Poster

Death Cab for Cutie is an indie rock band formed in the late nineties, and with a considerable following of teens and young adults. I wanted to create an abstract poster to promote the band’s latest album, entitled “Narrow Stairs”, targeted towards their fans. I took inspiration from their previous artwork, which makes use of a variety of faded colours, so as to create a sombre mood that is not necessarily dark, but dramatic. The name of the band, in itself, seems like a contradiction of light and darkness, having both the words “death” and “cutie”. It was my goal to create a poster that was a reflection of that humorous contradiction – both dark and colourful.

In order to achieve this look, I first found a scene that would be fitting for the album title and also allow me to experiment with different shapes, colours and depth, so the downward-view of a staircase seemed perfect. I coated the railing of the stairs with a vector mask using the pen tool, as well as the underbelly of the nearest staircase, and enhanced the look with shadow and bevel and emboss filters. I found the closest railing to be a great place for the band’s name, so that the unordinary alignment of the words could attract attention, and also contrast with the album title on the top right corner. The curvy, smooth font was used for facility of reading, but also to add a comical touch. In making the poster colourful, I decided to use various patchwork fabrics, adding them individually and layering them on each of the most visible floors, in order to create depth and contrast between floors, and added a shadow filter to each one to fully integrate them into the picture and make them look like carpet. The rectangles on the right-hand side of the poster are meant to imitate the album’s artwork, which consists almost entirely of red and blue rectangles, making the two colours synonymous with “Narrow Stairs”.

One of the challenges I encountered during the design of my poster was how I would go about fitting the band name on the handrail, seeing as it narrows with the distance, but still make the words legible. It was at the encounter of this problem that I decided to use vector masks to increase the surface of the handrail, fit the band’s name, and decrease the size of the first word only slightly. The end result encouraged me to balance out the picture and use vector masks on the left-hand side as well, which is good, because I underestimated the usefulness of the pen tool prior to this assignment. As for the overall content, I was happy that I could convey a mood through the use of colours and shading, and I know fans of the band would value the poster for its familiarity and consistency with other band artworks, and appeal to the eccentric nature of the poster.

In doing this assignment, I learned that composing a poster entirely without the use of the internet is not as hard as it seems, and just takes a different kind of creativity. I never specialized in photography, but I'm excited to see what else I can create with my own photos, rather than relying on the images of others. I was glad for the in-class critique, because it gave me a good pointer on how to improve my poster. I was told to include the release date of the album, so as to advertise it more effectively, and I cherished that information because it truly would have improved my poster.

Posters & Photo Manipulation

Having explored the world of design principles to a certain level, I feel I have just the incentive and creative fuel necessary to start thinking and sketching out my poster. I know I want to do something subtle, with a tone similar to one of the examples shown – the one against drug abuse, where the model is standing out, painted in suave black and white shades, from a pitch black background.

I was intrigued by the cloned tool shown in our tutorial class, and I’m considering using this for my own poster – perhaps I could create an entire visual army out of a single thing, like a bird or tank, and then discover the topic of my poster out of that concept. I also liked the example with a single guitar constructed to look as thought it was smashed in half, and this is the focus of the poster. It’s a creative path to take, since you don’t have to put too much effort into it, just make things clearly simple.

Because I took various lessons in photoshop during high school, I am already familiarized with designing visuals, but there’s a lot I’ve forgotten and the tutorials recently have really helped me refresh my mind. I’m confident that I’ll be able to do this, but for now, I’m just searching for an idea. After all, I used Photoshop projects in my portfolio, so If I can do what I’ve done in the past at least half as well, I should be fine with the upcoming summative.

Principles of Design

Source: madpod.com/show/index.php?paged=2

Contrast:The Woodstock poster makes great use of colour for contrast. The triad colour scheme, consisting of blue, red, and orange gives balance to the image. Also, the use of complementary colours, such as having green and red, makes for a smooth, relaxing image. The whiteness (tint) of the bird and text contrasts with the cold colours of the guitar.

Repetition:With the exception of the consistency of the text in some parts, the poster is very sparse in repetition.

Alignment:The alignment of the guitar neck across the page makes for a good divider between the information, and the bird's alignment with the text below is a nice addition.

Proximity: The proximity of the bird on the guitar neck is simple but effective - the viewer immediately comprehends the connection between peace and music, while the title below the guitar neck shares space with the other text harmoniously.


Source: www.vam.ac.uk/.../posters_general_notes.htm

Contrast: The different shades of black and white are the immediate contrast, of the image. Looking futher, the other signs of contrast appear to be the text sizes, corresponding with the title and information.

Repetition: Evident, but not too outstanding, repetition can be found in the font type, both in the background and up front. As well, the thinner font at the top and bottom are repeated, resulting in an image that is thoroughly consistent and focused

Alignment: As a poster that runs both in horizontal and vertical, the eye will be instantly drawn to the "Live aid" and then float to the background information, and then towards the bottom line. The alignment of the title with the neck of the guitar makes for a creative logo.

Proximity: The statistics in the background share space snuggly with the other texts, without appearing overwhelming, and organizing the poster in such a way that there is no empty space.


Source: got-ads.blogspot.com/2007/02/virgin-mobile.html

Contrast: The most apparent contrast of Virgin Mobile’s ad lies in the shade difference between the tree and the axe and ground. The larger text acts as a hook with which to catch the attention of viewers, and the contrasting small text goes deeper into the product information.

Repetition: More prevalent in this ad, repetition can be found in the cut-out styled hearts, the happy faces and patches of grass. All of these go into rendering the heart-warming premise of the poster.

Alignment: In a way, the entire poster is aligned to the left, as in the placement of the characters and alignment of the text. The outcome produces a poster that is very easy to read, as opposed to having text that is aligned to the right, in which case viewers would be taking the time to find where each sentence starts.

Proximity: The two characters and the product information are fairly close to each other, establishing an instant connection between the two and ultimately helping viewers to comprehend the message. This also allows for good use of white space on the right, so that the poster does not look cluttered.




Source: http://xicanoda.wordpress.com/

Contrast: The movie poster for Vantage Point boasts great contrast with different shades (black and white), including the faded background of the pictures. The different angles on each character are a great method of setting them apart. The red letters of “point” contrasts with the other texts, causing it to stand out.

Repetition: Conversely, repetition is also embedded in the poster – in the rectangles, or the similar fonts, and even in the repetition of guns, which creates an underlining sense of action.

Alignment and Proximity: The aligning of the credits in the center of the man’s silhouette (which then leads to the title) is a clever setup that gives the poster a more organized look, while the alignment of the slogan up top is eye-catching and easy to read. The fact that all these pictures are clustered together and aligned, below “1 truth,” could symbolize the oneness of the truth, but at the same time it’s complexity.

David Bralha

As a first year student to Ryerson's Radio and Television Arts program, I was not too sure what to expect of the Fall semester. Would I be working in a TV studio? Maybe behind a sound board? I thought yesterday's lecture would give me some direction, but I soon learned that digital media encompasses much more, and I still have a lot of thinking to do.

Our professor, Lori Beckstead, brought to the screen a variety of shows, movies, and even videogames. She told us how all information could be represented by one's and zero's, to an extent that surpassed my previous impression of the term. It seemed that, despite living in a cutting-edge society of constantly evolving technology, I never quite realized how far we've come in recent years.

Prior to the lecture, I underestimated the term digital media. "MP3 Players" were the only devices that came to mind upon hearing the words. Now, I've stretched my mind to recognize that nearly all forms of media (satellite dishes, text messages, etc) can be represented by digits. It is apparent that we live in a digital world, when a person can pull out his cell phone and play pong on the surface of a building (as shown in one of the clips during the lecture). Future RTA students should take a course in digital media, if nothing else, to recognize and appreciate how central digital media is to the entertainment world, and also to explore it's potential in the future.