Swiss Design Poster

Swiss Design 

Why I chose it: 

Last semester when we originally heard about doing a design history project, I was constantly googling images of each designer as they were named and Swiss design was the only one that caught my eye. Swiss design was made up of a generic font (Helvetica) that could be minipulated many different ways. It had bright colors, as well as repetitive geometric shapes and lines that kept almost all the designs looking clean. I also liked how not only was it full of cool, bus some designs were done in black and white which is why the creation of my poster was originally very difficult. 

Research: 

My research began with a general "Armin Hofmann" in Google. From there I read his small biography and gathered information on one of the people that helped found Swiss Design. From there I began reading articles and blog post of people who broke down and analyzed what Swiss Design really was. I learned about the color theory behind it, as well as the geometric shapes and patterns it followed, and why it was an influential movement in the first place. 

Sketches: 

My pre-planning for my poster began with 20 sketches of ideas I felt would look good on a poster. I took 10 screenshots off of online which were famous Swiss Design pieces and went from there. With each sketch, I changed a couple things each time so they were all a bit different but each row stuck to the original sketch I made. The one my poster was based off of, was one of the very first ones I came up with because I wanted to keep everything aligned, straight, as well a very clean. From there, I created my favorite of the 20 sketches in Illustrator. I took my favorite one and worked with the different colors in the poster. 

Below you can see my process - 

I started with the grey color for a more dull take to the earlier creations of Armin Hofmann. From there I replicated the picture, and then added color. To the right of the colored photo, you can see that I have a lot of color themes laid out which I spent time changing all the colors of each element before I came up with my final product. All I did was created a bunch of rectangles, as I think Swiss Design looks post noticeable with bold, background shapes. I worked with the text a bunch figuring out where I wanted everything to go, and finally I was able to come up with my poster. 

Conclusion: 

I thought this was a good project to do to kind of wrap up the "Design History" assignment we have been working on for a while. Our only requirements were to make it look Swiss Design, and make it a piece that would go in an art gallery. I was able to get creative, but also keep it clean, which is how I really like my pieces to look, and with that, I was able to create a poster that it very visually spelling and fits with Swiss. 

The Function of a Poster

The Character and Function of the Poster 

The poster is meant to bring a message to our notice, publicize products, invite us to entertainment or proclaim campaigns. It is used to demonstrate the needs of the audience/costumer. Posters can be used to give information on almost anything, but is commonly known for political situations, government representatives, topical problems. It gives the audience concerns about social conditions. The poster is to vividly illustrate these things with as little words as possible. It is used to glorify what message it is portraying. It should inform, stimulate,  activate, mobilize, expound, query, provoke, motivate, and convince the audience. The viewer should feel as if it had an effect on his/her emotions. The poster should be something that reappears in their conscious time to time after only having to see it one time. 

The Laws of Poster Design 

Posters in the street should attract attention, interest, or curiosity. In order to do that, a lot has to take place. The poster most penetrate the emotional atmosphere. For a moment, it should be able to catch the viewers eye as they were to walk by and should influence the brain to not forget about it. To make this happen color, composition, contrast, proportions, quality, rhythm, dynamics, extensions, etc. need to be present in the design of the poster. The poster must be legible and understanding in the message but have maximum effect with minimum graphic means. Shops should be present in a large and bold way so it is noticed from afar. Color should be vivid, easy to read quickly, as well as placed in a way to maximize impact. The lettering on the poster should help impact information quickly and this is best done if they style is clean. The correct size will also help to see from a far and make an impact on the message. The designer should be able to examine the design and see all these elements. An effective poster always contains something in ponderous which cannot be measured and which constitutes the essential substance of the product of the creation. 

Conclusion

What I learned 

Posters should stand out in all locations. The audience should be able to take a quick glance at the piece and easily remember the information without a problem. In a busy work day, people don't have time to just stand around a read a poster on the side of a building, they are on the move to get from point A to point B and because of that it needs to be quick, vivid, and easily memorable. Posters should also stick to certain colors in order to draw their own attention because the contrast is what makes people curious. Finally, posters have the fit their atmosphere. If you plan to put your poster up in a supermarket, many people will see it, so you should make the poster accessible for everyone, children and adults that will be found in that location. 

My favorite part about the article was reading about all the secretes the creating a good poster because it gave really valuable information about what looks best on posters/what makes them more visually appealing. Those notes will be very helpful in the upcoming weeks as we start making posters because it will be something I want my class to notice. 

Final Thoughts 

Anyone who plans on creating posters in the near future should really look up what makes a poster visually appealing because the article gave really clear information on what all is needed in order to make you poster better and more noticeable. 

Professional Project Review Post (Music Video)

As second semester begins, we are starting music videos. For an additional assignment we analyzed two different music videos to see what professionals did give their songs a really unique music video. I chose Lose It by Oh Wonder and Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur for my review. As I analyzed the videos I took notes over things I noticed such as what the beginning shot/end shot was, what the midpoint, or the sentimental moment of each video was, and the theme.
The screenshot below shows you what all my notes consisted of during the analysis of the videos.
My post will be all about James Arthur's video of Say You Won't Let Go which you can watch below.

The lyrics to the song are absolutely beautiful, and I think the video goes along perfect with the message he is conveying.

I met you in the dark, you lit me up
You made me feel as though I was enough
We danced the night away, we drank too much
I held your hair back when
You were throwing up

Then you smiled over your shoulder
For a minute, I was stone-cold sober
I pulled you closer to my chest
And you asked me to stay over
I said, I already told ya
I think that you should get some rest

I knew I loved you then
But you'd never know
'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go
I know I needed you
But I never showed
But I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old
Just say you won't let go
Just say you won't let go

I'll wake you up with some breakfast in bed
I'll bring you coffee with a kiss on your head
And I'll take the kids to school
Wave them goodbye
And I'll thank my lucky stars for that night

When you looked over your shoulder
For a minute, I forget that I'm older
I wanna dance with you right now
Oh, and you look as beautiful as ever
And I swear that everyday you'll get better
You make me feel this way somehow

I'm so in love with you
And I hope you know
Darling your love is more than worth its weight in gold
We've come so far my dear
Look how we've grown
And I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old
Just say you won't let go
Just say you won't let go

I wanna live with you
Even when we're ghosts
'Cause you were always there for me when I needed you most
I'm gonna love you till

My lungs give out
I promise till death we part like in our vows
So I wrote this song for you, now everybody knows
'Cause now it's just you and me till we're grey and old
Just say you won't let go
Just say you won't let go
Just say you won't let go
Oh, just say you won't let go

The video shows not only him singing, but a stories of couples, and a big family. Throughout the video you can tell that the big family is split down into little parts and shows a little bit of each individual family. The video appears to be relayed in a timeline showing different couples at different points in their life.  There are many things about this video that I can incorporate in my video, such as the black and white to show the extra detail in the face in hands to show real emotion in the subjects. One element they use a lot in this is the use of multiple shots, such as the extreme close up/wide, wide, close up, medium, and over the shoulder. All of these shots are used numerous times during the video itself, which is something we have already learned and I can do within a video of my own.

The creator of this video did a good job of recreating the actual story behind the song, and what the meaning of the song is. This is so good for the video because you want your audience to understand, relate, and feel emotion towards what they singer is singing about. This video however could be improved if it focused primarily on one subject, instead of an entire family. If this video centered around one couple, and them growing up together, going through life together. This would improve the video because it would tell a single story which would help the audience get more attached to the "characters".

I had listened to this song a couple times before but never saw the video until today and I was very impressed with how well it was done. The video was not hard to follow, and you were actually able to feel some of the same emotions the characters were showing in the video. I plan on using some techniques used the the videos I watched today in hopes to improve my video.