Further Research

Although I haven't yet specified what direction I want to go in with this brief, I began researching posters that I like to gain some inspo. 

Ficciones Typografika

Ficciones Typografika is a project dedicated to typographic exploration in a public space, their Tumblr is one of my favourite sites for typographic inspiration. 

One of the projects I like on the site is seeing I . It was created for Mark Farid, “a social-artistic experiment that questions how much of the individual is an inherent personality and how large a portion of the individual is a cultural identity. For 24 hours a day for 28 days, artist Mark Farid will wear a Virtual Reality Headset through which he will experience life through another person’s eyes and ears.”

The project is all about being connected online even when we're hiding away. Its about the illusion of companionship without the demand of a relationship, reduced to text rather than talking to one another. These simulations blur between Fiction and reality. Its about being a spectator as well as spectacle, are our identities eroding away? as we've grown up with technology, we assume technology has grown up too. We've become more isolated as technology progress's. The distinction between physical reality and its simulation is blurring and if our consciousness is experienced through the perception of sight and sound and our conception of knowledge. To what extent is it really our own. 

This is a topic area I am interested in doing, we rely way too much on technology and we forget what its like to truly be alone.

 

The poster below is designed by Elisabeth Workman following gun violence in her community. 

Typo/Graphic Posters

typo/graphic posters is a platform for inspiration and promotion of good design through the poster culture. Their main focus is exclusively on typographical and graphical posters, especially those that challenge type, colours and shapes to express a message. It is almost a curated gallery with a graphic design point of view. I am always scrolling through these posters as a source of inspiration. 

Current: Je suis Charlie

I thought it would be useful to look at some current campaigns going on at the moment, Je suis Charlie is a slogan adopted by supporters of free speech and freedom of expression after the 7 January 2015 massacre in which 12 people were killed at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France. It identifies a speaker or supporter with those who were killed at the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and by extension, a supporter of freedom of speech and resistance to armed threats. Some journalists embraced the expression as a rallying cry for the freedom of self-expression

Provocation, satire, and commentary are some of the sharpest tools that graphic designers possess. The ability to pair words and images to create a dialogue—however controversial it may be—is at the core of what we do. Cartoonists across the world are standing up to terrorism by drawing their outrage at this attack on freedom of speech.

Others, like Bill Donohue, president of the US Catholic League, have angered many when he issued a statement saying that the Muslims have a right to be angry. Donohue also said the killing should be condemned, but that we should not tolerate the actions that provoked the attack.

Studio Brief 01: Issue Oriented Design//Initial Research

To kickstart this project I am going to begin researching posters and looking at potential directions for Design Practice 2. I want to create an expansive archive of creative outputs that have responded to issues within society. You are required to undertake your own research to uncover material that reflects your own interests.

I thought I would start my research by looking at the iconic Barack Obama ‘Hope’ Poster designed by Shepherd Fairey, 2008. It consists of a stylised stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, beige and (pastel and dark) blue, with the word "progress", "hope", or "change" below. The design was created in one day and printed first as a poster. I was fond of it when it was first released, however after so many imitations its lost its charm. ha. 

I love these french one colour screen prints. The police were interferring in art schools, and the art students took to the streets. Thee posters are symbol but have a really clear message, I love the aesthetic. 

Continuing from the screen printed French posters I looked at Grafika Fidalga, a printing service. I've been crawling through their work, I love the lettering and the gradients used. They are really eye-catching. I think letterpress has been used as well. 

Breathe

Really clever campaign poster, I guess its on domestic violence. The element of working duct tap into the design, by tapping the poster to the tree, to show he has been made to stay silent is really clever. 

I love this this Attica Brigade Anti-War March Poster (1971) The paper cut look, I guess it is a two colour screenprint, two colours perhaps because they needed to be produced quickly. I love the aesthetic of the paper cut illustrations and the type in the top corner.