Barack Obama’s iconic presidential campaign poster has illuminated the power of graphic design. Obama’s campaign poster completely overshadowed any visual elements that his opponent John McCain brought into the race. When thinking about past presidential elections, I cannot remember any other presidential candidate who had a poster that became as widespread as Obama’s. While in Washington D.C. this past summer, streetcars selling political t-shirts and memorabilia were filled with merchandise that contained this image. Barack Obama successful utilized the field of graphics in order to reach out to advertise his campaign and reach out to voters.
Upon being assigned the project to create a poster for a non-profit organization or event, my mind immediately flashed to the Jimmy Fund Poster for the Boston Red Sox. Being a huge Red Sox fan as well as from the Boston area, I am very familiar with the design of the poster. I am able to visualize this poster in my head without even looking at it. I believe that if people are able to formulate the image of the poster, without actually seeing it in front of them, then the poster effectively executed it’s purpose. Without even reading the text on this poster, I am able to to look at the image and know that it is for the Jimmy Fund. The light green color and the font represent elements from Fenway Park as well.
I found this poster to be visually inspirational. At first glance my eyes focused on the shark and the fish. After carefully examining the poster I found that the poster is not really about these characters but is instead focused on the tiniest object on the poster, the worm who is facing danger from two sources at once. The designer used sharp angles and shape to create the body of the shark. The vast empty space surrounding the characters creates a an eerie feeling of aloneness. The all-capitalized, large yellow font makes the word “ambition” pop out to viewers. The alternating usage of blue hues helps to dramatize the image and make it seem like a spot of action. In my opinion, the simplicity of this image spoke a loud message to the viewer.
This picture reminded me of the movie we watched in last class. The video showed someone running through a particular neighborhood. Prof. Harper told us that its little details such as these which allow the viewers to feel a connection to the body of work which they are viewing. This picture above is set in a small town. The explosion of color I thought was just so cute. This poster to me an example of something simple becoming complex. These are simple box houses, milti-color stars and rainbows, and they have turned into a blast of color! The website where I found this picture has some pretty amazing graphics if anyone wants to go check it out. JUST CLICK HERE!
I recently came across this Chanel poster advertising Chanel No. 5 perfume. When examining the poster, I couldn’t help but notice how simple the design was and how it effectively conveyed both the name of the company and the product that Chanel had targeted to advertise. I also liked how the poster contained two contrasting colors as well!
What do you see when you look at this image?
I was attracted to this image because of how complex it was. There are so many things going on in this image that you are easily drawn to it. The colore scheme is very dark and mysterious but somehow fits together. An excellent source of inspiration for our poster project.
I came across these crazy speakers today on Engadget, a technology blog. Glass speakers are not a necessarily new concept, as companies like Brookstone selling them for a few years now, but I thought the design of these were very inspirational, elegant and, most importantly, simple. The curvature of the glass reminds me of some of the new architecture in Dubai, and I find glass to be one of the most popular new materials to use in architecture due to its simplicity
Most importantly, though, is that these speakers have taken a normally bland object and transformed it into something that borders on a piece of art.
The World Wildlife Fund is a great example of good non-profit advertising. Their work is simple, straightforward, and attention grabbing. Since part of their campaign is the protection of animals, some of their images can be quite graphic and borderline offensive. However, when an organization is trying to sell a message, rather than a product, it seems their advertising should pull on the viewer’s emotions.
This weekend I was fornuate enough to spend time back home, in Massachusetts. Today, I spent the day shopping with my family in Boston! While driving home from Boston, I looked up and saw one of the most stunning sunsets overlooking the Boston skyline. Unfornuately, I left my camera at school so I was unable to take a picture. However, I believe this image illuminates how beautiful and inspiring something as simple as a sunset can be!
