The theme I decided on was Poster Designers. I chose this because I knew it was something I hadn't previously looking that closely into, but was always something I found really interesting. Posters have a lot of history and have been around for a long time. Even to this day with the rise of technology and online advertisement they till stand strong as a successful vehicle of communicating to the world.
So as I began researching the world of poster design it came to my attention how big it is!!
I took myself to the library and grabbed several books on the subject.
I was aware posters served for many different purposes. Ranging from events, musicians, movies and theatre, but also used a lot in history to communicate public messages or ones individual message. (And it would be generally impossible to cover all of these aspects of poster design.)
Propaganda posters from the 1st & 2nd world war always interested me. They really demonstrated how posters are a quick and effective way of getting a message out. But one of the requirements of this exhibition was that it had to be contemporary (with maybe historic reference) So picking a propaganda theme wasn't quite ideal.
So to narrow down my theme I decided to go particularly into music posters. Concert posters or general band/musician posters.
Two books that I used primary for reference was "Masters of Poster Design - Poster design for the next century" - John Foster, Fuszion Collaborative. @2006 Rockport Publishers. And "1000 Indie Poster Designs" also John Foster @2011 Rockport Publishers.
These books were jam packed full of loads of different poster designers. It was quite astonishing really, and took quite a lot of time to go through them and narrow down which ones I found particularly interesting. I also did a lot of research online to find some more designers.
We have to pick 6-10 and quite frankly I have a lot more than that... So that is the main purpose behind creating this blog. So I can overview each designer and thus narrow down which ones I feel are most relevant.
So beginging with "The Masters of Poster Design" the first one I found particularly appealing was
Title: The Rapture Poster
Client: First Avenue
Process: Hand screen-print.
By Aesthetic Apparatus.
19" x 25"
PAGE 13
Aesthetic Apparatus
Aesthetic Apparatus
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
Aesthetic Apparatus themselves originated from Madison, Wisconsin and started off designing concert posters. Inspired by their love of print-making and music. (Makes sense) Gaining recognition for their posters they now do a whole load of different types of work. Logos, branding, posters etc for a whole range of different types of clients.
So firstly whats great about this poster is the clever concept. Reference to the four horsemen of the the apocalypse. There is definitely a "Retro" feel to this poster. I think it's the nature of that kind of curvey rounded text, and especially in combination with the simple colours scheme.
The text itself I really like. The technique of basically using it as a background to the drawing. Yet it reads just as well as it would if it was displayed by itself. I like how the black text doesn't follow in suite to the pink, it purposefully doesn't overlap the drawing and is displayed straight and in line.
I think it's something about the simplistic illustrative style that makes this poster look so contemporary and quite fresh. The continuous line drawing style is really lovely, it's got a really spontaneous feel to it. Which I believe is probably a reflection of the band itself. The Rapture themselves as a band are a mix of different genres. They can't really bed housed just under indie, as they have a dance, punk, electronica feel to them as well, and I think this poster does capture that well. You don't look at it and stricly presume the band is "Indie" or "Dance" it's more of an enigma to those who don't know them. Which I would believe ultimatley makes the poster a sucess... because I feel drawn in to listen to them. See what they are all about.
So on the lines of things being experimental and expressive this next one from the same book is a lot wackier. But I was really drawn to it. I really love seeing sketchy, experimental, random looking artwork... and this is certainly one of them.
Title: These Arms Are Snakes
Client: Jackie Brown
Process: Xerox (1 Colour)
by Thinkmule.
8,5" x 11"
Thinkmule
Thinkmule
Peoria, Illinois, USA
Thinkmule was started by designer/artist Jeremy Pruitt. He does his own artwork and then also designs for clients inlucding posters, packing, logos and merchandise.
So the concert that this is advertising for is the band "These arms are snakes". They are known as an experimental post-hardcore rock band. The band are well known for their crazy live shows, where they get into the audience, crowd surfing and going a bit mental. After giving the band a listen I really got that experimental vibe, the vocals are quite rough and you can feel angst and aggression within them. So when it comes to this concert poster in particular I think it suits the bands nature down the ground. You can see there is several different types of processes going on here, but it's clear majority of them are hand generated (which I really love). Quoted from Pruitt himself in "The masters of posters book" he mentions that "I really wanted the piece to capture the bands vibe. I knew I had some of this art already, and I wanted this piece to be a combination of different elements, texture and grit."
The hand drawn type is well suited to the rough/raw style going on. It almost looks like a child had drawn it, or he's done it with his left hand. There is a sense of quickness/rushed look to it... a sense of urgency is felt when you look at it. The use of capitals make it quite intense too. This piece also quite illustrative, the illustration directly anchors the bands title with the character drawn having snakes as arms. A small detail I really appreciated was the arrow pointing to the venue, really subtle but nice touch. Shows that you don't need to spell stuff out to the consumers.
The hand drawn type is well suited to the rough/raw style going on. It almost looks like a child had drawn it, or he's done it with his left hand. There is a sense of quickness/rushed look to it... a sense of urgency is felt when you look at it. The use of capitals make it quite intense too. This piece also quite illustrative, the illustration directly anchors the bands title with the character drawn having snakes as arms. A small detail I really appreciated was the arrow pointing to the venue, really subtle but nice touch. Shows that you don't need to spell stuff out to the consumers.
The next designer I found has a much differerent style, and her designs are usually for a genre that doesn't quite apply itself to crazy, spontaneous style like the other two.
Title: Fiest
Client: Fiest/Sasquatch Festival
Process: Unsure
by Frida Clements
18"x24"
Frida Clements
Seattle, Washington, USA
Frida Clements is a graphic designer and illustrator from Seattle. She specialises in screen print even posters but she also does art prints, packaging and branding.
So this poster was done for the indie/folk singer Feist. Differing in music style very much to the previous bands and this is also clear by the style used in the poster. I felt this poster was really beautiful and quaint. Clearly inspired by natural elements. Her music is often very upbeat, pleasant and easygoing. This is nicely reflected in the imagery above, with the birds making you think of freedom. I think the imagery really sets you at ease. I love the corresponding colour scheme, again really natural and organic colours, greens, browns and blues. The layout of this is also really nice; the way the birds are balanced out across the page and how the F in fiest is made to be a prominent feature, like a tree. The type is incorporated in the cute little bird box, making it really part of the illustration which is really effective, as it's readable but not obstructing.
The next designer I felt obliged to use once I found out more about him. Known as one of the most influential designers for rock posters. A lot of his designs you can tell are inspired from traditional rock posters from the 60's with the psychedelic style and colours. A lot of his posters are really detailed and extremely illustrative.
Title: The Distillers
Client: The Bowery Ballroom NYC
Process: Six colour silkscreen
By Emek
16"x14"
Emek
Portland, Oregon, Cal
Emek was originally born in Isreal but now works and lives in California as a illustrator/graphic designer/artist. Very popular for his rock concert posters since the early 1990's and his work is very popular among collectors.
This concert poster by Emek is for the Los Angeles punk-rock band The Distillers 2004. Fronted Bordy Dalle, well known for being an influential female icon in the underground rock scene. She is well known for her distinct quite harsh singing voice and having that grungy, underground style. This is why this poster is so fitting. It's clear the characters are the band themselves. With Bordy Dalele at the front as she is really the front of the band. As well as this all the adornments the characters are wearing; jackets, studs, skulls, cigarettes and the hair all signify that typical punk rock genre and suit the bands style down to the ground. The typography for this poster is really great as well. The way it interacts with the characters.
The next poster just like Emek I found on the internet when researching gig poster designs. I found this designer from looking at the Pollstar Live! Awards which is an annual poster contest.
Title: The Rolling Stones; A Bigger Bang
Client: Verizon Arena
Process: Unknown
By Jamie Burwell Mixon.
19" x 25"J. Burwell Mixon
Title: The Who
Client: Verizon Arena
By Jamie Burwell Mixon
Jamie Burwell Mixon
Mississippi, USA
Jamie Burwell Mixon worked as a designer, illustrator and art director before working as a lecturer at MSU. Many of her designs have won the pollstar poster awards, and she has what I believe is a very distinct style.
I picked two of Mixon's work because I wanted to show the similarities in her work. A quote I took from her website was "One part of her says “row to the island”, the other “be true to your client”. Mixon’s quest as a designer and illustrator is to do both. And in the end, find the balance of her own creative vision." And I think this is something I find she sucessfully achieves in her posters and is evident in the two above. The flocked/floral elements is something that is often repeated in her designs and is always quite subtle and doesn't take away from imporant imagery of the band/client and the info that needs to be communicated. It's nice how she's also used her own creative flare to change the design of the rolling stones logo, and it works well because the logo is so iconic and regonized by everyone. The layout is also very nice, how the logo is central and rather big, eye catching and like I mentioned recognized. Then the typography anchors the logo with the use of the black thick lined brush stokes. The type itself is really nice and has the hand drawn look to it, which is another technique that is recognised in a lot of her posters. It's interesting to see she hasn't used this type for The Who poster, and I think it makes sense as it would completley change the feel of the poster. The Who type has follwed that 60's style. As The Who were big in the 60's Mod Scene (Quadrophenia etc) and she's follwed that imagery nicely using the union jack. What makes it not a cliche/typical 60's Mod poster is that she's changed the colours slightly. Keeping the blue and reds in there but also using orange and green and incorporated with the flocked design makes this poster more original.
With both the posters the way Mixon alignes the type around the images is quite interesting.
Title: Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
Client: Bonnaroo Manchester USA
Process: 5 color silkscreen
By Todd Slater
18 "x 24"
Todd Slater
Austin, Texas, USA
Todd Slater is predominately a poster artist working in Austin Texas. After graduating design college he created hundreds of posters for big acts such as Foo Fighters, Radiohead and The Killers.
I decided on choosing on of Slaters gig poster designs because even though his other gig posters are lovely the way he's chosen to incorperate type in this one is brilliant. A gig poster itself has to have a lot of type on it and most conventional gig posters are predominatly straight forward columns of type with the headline bands displayed in a bigger font and the other bands going down in smaller fonts depending on order. They do often have illustrations too but with the nature of how much information has to be communicated majority of the poster is largely type. So what's so clever about this one is how the typography is the illustration. Every little bit of the cockerels shape is created type, and all the type is either artists/bands or relevant information such as date etc.
The delicate little swirls combined with the typography is also really nice. And really the whole image is made up of swirls and type to create this cockerel. I think what I like most about the poster is the fact that it give the audience/readers a little mission, a little discovery process in order to work out whats on at the festival, which ultimatley engages the reader in a different way than any normal poster would.
I decided on choosing on of Slaters gig poster designs because even though his other gig posters are lovely the way he's chosen to incorperate type in this one is brilliant. A gig poster itself has to have a lot of type on it and most conventional gig posters are predominatly straight forward columns of type with the headline bands displayed in a bigger font and the other bands going down in smaller fonts depending on order. They do often have illustrations too but with the nature of how much information has to be communicated majority of the poster is largely type. So what's so clever about this one is how the typography is the illustration. Every little bit of the cockerels shape is created type, and all the type is either artists/bands or relevant information such as date etc.
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