Convince, entice or direct the viewer
Commercial, political or social
Manipulating
Can be good or Propaganda
I love the simplicity in this yet the message for modern day smokers is so bold. We play it out in our heads, we see the familiar game and the result of what ‘winning’ looks like, only to realise what that would mean in this example. It looks fun at first, and then gets us to acknowledge the implications, just like smoking does to us. The very simple contrast in colours is also effective in catching our attention, similarly because of the pixelated imagery we automatically assess it to be current.
It’s persuading the viewer to re-evaluate the cost of every cigarette that is smoked.
This poster really caught me. I can clearly recognise it’s a wartime poster, but unlike much of the propaganda released in that time, this one emphases such a different message. It’s persuading us to work together, in disregard to ethnicity. The soldiers are all in uniform, all in the same position and underneath the British flag. Yet the soldiers themselves are of diverse races, which is probably why it had my attention due to today’s current racial debates and campaigns. This poster seems way ahead of its time, and makes me wonder why there hasn’t been more appreciation or understanding of who actually fought for and with the British armies. This poster could still be relevant today.
This poster really shows the capabilities of modern day graphic design and the power it can have to convey important messages. This is so clever because I think it acknowledges the selfishness of humanity, by appealing to our own survival. The hourglass is symbolic of the time pressure on us to act in changing our toxic environment, and rather than displaying the damage we’re causing to animals and wildlife, it’s threatening our own existence. Ironically it’s our existence that’s causing the ice above us in the image to melt and flood us. The imagery itself is clean and elegant and attractive, it’s neat and precise which naturally gains our attention. Then we process the picture we carry the fear and potential horror with us, hopefully making us consider our actions with more weight and consequence.
Information
Deliver information
Quick and direct
This poster is one I’m very familiar with as it’s a bus route map of my hometown, Cambridge. Like most maps it looks complex at first, but broken down with colour coding and labelling to make identifying bus routes easier. I’ve actually only just considered the fact that this would have been designed and produced by a team of graphic designers!
This is a universal symbol for no smoking. The symbol of the circle with a line through it reminded me of the example in the course with Claude Shannon and warren weaver. It made me consider why that is the symbol of restriction and who
Identity design
Association with a brand/company etc.
Persuasive design for commercial reasons.
This poster for the brand of mineral water ‘evian’ uses photography and computer generated images (CGI) to provide an energetic and lively campaign. The focus is on the well known logo in the centre of the page with refreshing water and greenery. The advert is trying to persuade the audience that the water from that brand is ‘cold’ and ‘pure’, like the iced scene that surrounds it and within the bottle there are landscapes of city skylines, thriving in the midst of waterfalls and mountains. This is to convince us that the mineral water would bring the energy and vitality of the wilderness to us in our daily lives.
This Christmas advert from a brand of mayonnaise had cleverly set graphics to bring their product into the season. The spoon has subtly depicted a ‘santa’ face with the product to make a festive statement, but the jar label itself states to ‘bring out the best’ because it is the season of luxury and indulgence. The red background besides being festive is very bright and bold, and brings out the clean white colours.
The logo on the jar is pretty striking compared to the rest of the poster as well, but again is well known and familiar, and therefore trusted as a brand.
Authorial content
Comics, graphic novels, animation etc.
Aims to entertain, satirise or educate
The artist is in more control
Quentin Blake’s is a well known artist who famously worked as an illustratorin collaboration
with the infamous children’s author, Rhold Dahl. This particular image I’ve chosen is from the original story of ‘The BFG’ a.k.a the ‘big friendly giant’. Quentin Blake has an instantly recognisable style and is easily relatable by the audience because tit appeals to the simplicity of children’s drawings. It’s ‘scruffy’ and endearing charm is still appreciated by children and now adults who have grown up with the stories and their depictions. We instantly remember the stories even if the artist has created something outside of the illustrations, but this one in particular reminds me of childhood and the stories my children enjoyed as well. The artist’s work is simple but from this picture lone we recognise the characters identifiable features, the bfg’s large ears and giant hands for example.
Audra Auclair is one of my favourite artists who has featured in magazines and podcasts, but some of her early work included commissions. I purchased this book, as a fan of hers, and love the collection of art she created for the work. I think this is a good example of authorial visual communications as the artist is trying to reflect the writer’s analysis of the deity they’re describing, but in the style she is famous for.
Interactive design
‘New media’
Interaction between the designer and audience
Game design, user interface, web design etc.
In 2000, Microsoft launched one of the all-time best selling games played on a desktop computer, and still continues to develop and be played on multiple devices even today. It was one of the first of its kind, giving players control over avatars, their appearances, characteristics and relationships and building their homes and town. The graphics today look very limited and very simple from the original version of the game, because technology has taken giant leaps forwards in CGI.
I’ve never really considered that the concept, graphic design and logo are all the results of a team of artists and designers, and it’s not just the coders and computer engineers that put these games together.
This is a photo I took of an installation in Edinburgh’s ‘Camera Obscura’ gallery of illusions. Unfortunately the photo can’t show us the intelligence of this piece ‘Robodog’, because it’s illusion works based on the perspective of the viewer. The photo makes the cardboard-cutout structure look flat, it's actually 3D. As a viewer rotates around it, the head of the dog appears to follow their position with its head. When you actually look again, the 3D structure is also built differently to how we first perceive it. It’s difficult to describe, but videos can be found on the concept. I believe that this is a really clever form of interactive design, because it’s impossible to appreciate the intelligence of its design without interacting with it even if it is simply changing our viewing angle.
Alternative messages
Subcultural, protests
‘D.i.y’ approach
Placards, pamphlets, pin badges etc.
Adopted and reinvented by mainstream
In recent years, there has been a huge rise in protests for action in regards to climate change. This particular slogan, I’ve noticed, has become more commercial. It started off as placards and has since been featured in various designs on accessories and clothing merchandise. A play on words has kept it catchy and memorable, but I wonder if the original meaning behind the phrase has been somewhat watered down as it has become more commercial.
In this last year, this symbol has been developed rapidly following events such as the murder of George Flloyd, and the protests that these incidents sparked. The black fist started as a symbol of unity among the protesters, and has been taken up by the mainstream media. It’s now a well known symbol of anti-racism across the world, from all communities and races. Even the colour ‘black’, besides being relevant because of the ethnicity of the black community, was used in protest across social media sites in the worldwide campaign of ‘black out tuesday’. The graphic design can vary, sometimes it’s reversed or featuring certain colours for example, colours symbolic of flags from countries with mainly black communities. But the symbol of the fist, in the air, not only represents protest and solidarity but the fight that still continues.
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