psychedelic poster design

When I read Meggs section on psychedelic poster design in the 1960's a few different images flashed in my mind.  The first image was of my brothers room when he was a teenager when blacklights, rock music, and fuzzy psychedelic posters filled his room.

Unlike the concert posters of the 1960's this one is mass-produced and only made to look like the posters of the 1960's.  The bright colors and font style, as well as the reference to psychedelic drugs matches the feel of the posters of the same design in the 60's.

I was also reminded of living in San Francisco and still seeing this culture all around me alive in many of the little shops in the Haight-Ashbury.  I have read many books about the psychedelic culture and every once in a while I will see a poster for a concert from the 1960's hanging up in a bar or bookstore in San Francisco.  Many of the posters are for concerts at the Fillmore and I have seen many for the Grateful Dead.

The Grateful Dead and the Merry Pranksters were both major contributors to the artist movement in San Francisco in the 60's.  The artwork in the above poster has a very art nouveau feel to it with the use of flowing curves.  It is lacking in vibrant colors but has the same eye-catching font style shared by most of the posters in this movement.

 Posters from this era have a very distinctive use of fonts and warped lettering.  The lettering is its own art.  Every time I see posters with this font style I automatically think of the 1960's.  The vibrant colors remind me of day-glo, also a major influence on art at the time.  These posters are very distinctive and always make me feel uplifted.  Like something fun is about to happen.  They are just fun to look at.  Even though this was a short lives movement with few contributors I feel it had an important impact on the culture and gathering people together.  I hope someday to see more modern poster styles encompass and symbolize a culture the way these posters did. 

Saul Bass and my first love

My first love has always been film.  Which is why I am interested in all things related to film in graphic design.  From Edward Muybridge's Horse in Motion to Saul Bass and his movie poster designs.  Saul Bass' Commercial Art opened a new door for "unifying both print and media graphices" this can be seen with the synchronization of Bass' poster and the title sequence in The Man With the Golden Arm.

The film sequence involving Bass' image had great symmetry.  Bass used a lot of basic shapes and asymmetric balance in his designs.  He liked to get to the point simply and directly.  I can't help but be reminded of the first film festival I entered when I see his designs.  The logo reminds me of the logo used at the festival.  The arm and shapes are similar as well as the overall feel.  The logo used also had a dominate image meant as a metaphor for portraying a simple idea; the filmmaker. 

The image shows hands not unlike the one Bass shows in the above poster.  It is a powerful image meant as a metaphor for capturing an idea.  It shows a very basic idea many people associate with a camera.  Taking a picture.  Seeing through a lens. It is hard to see this picture as anything else.  The one main difference I see between the images is that Bass' image is more ambiguous than that of Santa Cruz Film Festival. 

While looking through Bass' other poster designs I came across Hitchcock.  The "Master of Suspense." When it comes to loving film I one can't help but love Hitchcock.  My first film class was all about Hitchcock.  Bass captures Hitchcock in his poster of Vertigo.

The image captures the suspense of Hitchcock without giving up too much about the film.  It has an attention grabbing image and has great use of shapes.  Vertigo and spirals go hand in hand.  The uses of red signifies intensity and I can't help getting a Hitchcockian feel while looking at it. 

I can't help but love this style.  And I can't help but associate it with film.  Maybe that is why it inspires me.  I hope to see more about the influence of graphing design in film as I read more. 

WPA Federal Arts Project

In a time when Art is being cut from our schools and being shutdown as not important enough for our children’s institutions it is interesting to look back at a time in our history when our nation was struggling and yet art was still a priority.  The WPA valued art enough to put money and effort into keeping artists employed.  The Federal Art Project was a big push toward helping the art movement survive, gain support, and move forward.   

 This is an example of a poster created by the FAP.  "Shall the Artist Survive" is not just a question of the time but a question throughout history.  The arts have always been somewhat under appreciated and this can be seen today as well.  The FAP gave the arts a step in the right direction by helping artist who would have never gotten together otherwise to collaborate on posters and advertisements. 

This ad promoting the WPA shows a style of Heroic Realism.  But also shows the characters as silhouettes. 

 These next two posters use a Bauhaus style common at the time.  This style was a major player in the modernist movement.  The shapes and asymmetry are very visually appealing.  The posters show the progression of art in a time of starving artists.  During the depression the WPA was able to promote the works of many artists who would have never made there name know had it not been for the help of the FAP.  

Art is always being under appreciated and put second to other programs.  Even in today's society.  I wonder how much will be lost if art keeps being putting last, especially in education.  I am glad that during a time of depression in the past, arts were still deemed important and given the resources to progress.  Unfortunately the future does not seem so bright for current and future artists.   I am however excited to see individual being able to create art on their own with cheaper resources due to technology but I am scared to see what the future will bring if we do not inspire art within our youth community. 

Sachplakate poster style

As I read about Sachplakate poster style and looked at many examples I started to really apprectiate the simplistic style.  I also got to thinking about how this idea of minimalism in advetisment is not as common anymore.  It seems that today there is more of an overload of information in advertisments trying to get as much information out to the public in the shortest amount of time.

This image of a cigarette ad has many things going on.  The focus is more on the people and less on the actual product.  The message is how the product will improve your life.  The idea that cigarettes will make life more fun.  Sachplakate cigarette ads focus on the product with a flat background.

In many current ads this simplistic product based focus has been lost.  I feel that is is due to the era of information overload.  With so many messages coming in from all over: TV commercials, internet, radio, and print ad, people are trying to say as much as they can in the quickest way possible as to not loose the attention of their audience.  But at the same time I also the meaning gets lost with information overload.

In this image of a champangne bottle at the bottom of the ocean, I have no idea what the message is trying to portray.  It is a very eye catching image but has no real meaning to me and does not make me want their product.

Recently an image that cought my eye that follows the Sachplakate style is that of many Apple ads.

This ad for an Ipod shows a sillouette of a person with a single color background and a contrasting color for the product, whch makes it stand out.  I know what this ad says just by looking at it.  Ipods are fun and Ipods are for everyone.  This ad created apeal for the product in a minimalistic way without overloading the viewer with useless excess.

Seeing the difference with ads in the technology and information era it is interested to think what the future will hold for the style of advertisements.  Will we keep heading in the direction of information overload with 3D ads?  or will we learn to keep things simplistic in an age of so much information?