I have now reached the end of the project and created two posters which both promote an aspect of social media in the style of propaganda posters from the early half of the 1900's. One is in the style of American tourism posters whilst the other is in the style of Russian constructivist propaganda. I chose both of these styles as they contrast each other a lot which would really stretch my designs. The American style is very clean, sharp and colourful. It was almost a cartoony style that was very light hearted and in some ways simplistic although the designs were sometimes complex. The Russian style is very off kilter, complex and eye grabbing. There is also a very limited colour palette to choose from so you have to be efficient and very conscious of everything you create to make sure it'll fit in to the colour scheme and work with a very limited array of colour.
My First Poster (American Tourism Propaganda):
This is my favourite design of the two. I really like how it all came together. It mirrors the original poster quite closely however, it was all drawn by eye and none of it traced so I like to think it has my own personal flair to all the artwork. I think it's simplicity is the main thing that makes it so aesthetically pleasing. There is just a view and 4 pieces of text. One image takes up the entire page and I think really works to grab the eye and make you read the text at the bottom.
The class crit and the pitch were both invaluable tools for improving the design also. They allowed me to confirm that the message is getting through clearly enough and that the design is working to it's fullest potential. Thanks to the crit in particular I added in the lake behind the trees that really helps to add depth and separation between the foreground and the background. I also dialled back the colour on the hills as it was a bit garish and out of place. Both of these suggestions were things that hadn't occurred to me until they were mentioned but the second I changed them I really appreciated the difference and found they make such an improvement to the overall design.
It mirrors the style of American propaganda from this period very strongly too I feel. When looking a it everyone recognised the era and country of origin and it matches up with the art style of similar posters perfectly. It also simply promotes the aspect of social media successfully too. The chat windows will instantly strike a chord with anyone who uses Facebook chat and I think the slogan at the bottom is simple yet effective. Overall I think this is a really strong design.
My Second Poster (Russian Constructivist Propaganda):
This is my second design. This one is based upon Russian constructivist propaganda. This is pretty close to the polar opposite of the previous poster I created as it is very convoluted, complex and intricate. I wanted to do it like this as I felt it would stretch me more in Illustrator creating a tranquil, simplistic design and then creating a hectic, off the wall design immediately afterwards. Another contrast between the two was having one which was clean and another which is worn down having been folded, creased and just generally neglected.
Again the crit and pitch proved very helpful. For this poster it was more in the pitch. I had only just begun creating this poster at the time of pitching my ideas and so I hadn't come too far with the design ideas. My original poster was very plain and con formative and the class really helped me to really get a grasp of what I wanted out of this design and helped me go forward, visualise it and ultimately create it.
This was my poster before the pitch:
As you can see it was very controlled and centred. The class suggested I play around more with angling everything at 45 degrees and playing around more with the colours and the font. I had already had these kinds of ideas in mind however, I wasn't sure if I was going to explore them for a final design as I wasn't sure of Illustrators capabilities for bringing to life what was in my head. The class seemed to really believe it was a good idea to try and explore however, and I am glad I did. I think the poster looks great all worn down and creased.
My finished poster really does reflect the style of Russian propaganda heavily which isn't as easy as it sounds. The artist I researched, Gustav Klutsis, pioneered a technique that involved blending photography and photographic styles in with colours and more abstract designs. This was a hard thing to wrap my head around as I was using a vector piece of software trying to replicate a photographic, bitmap style of image. I think that I pulled it off though. One of the main things that is attractive and immersive with bitmap imagery is clipping something behind another object. For example clipping the title of a magazine behind a models head. The audience knows that title wasn't actually behind her head at the time of taking that picture but the fact her head obscures the title somewhat adds a layer of depth and immersive-ness otherwise lost. This is what I did with the text by making it interact with the planet. I think it reflects Gustav Klutsis' style and has a look of controlled chaos. For these reasons I think it meets the brief very well.
What I Will Take Forward:
This project has been really helpful to me. I had never once used Illustrator before starting this course and it is now one of my new favourite programs in the Adobe suite. I have previously done a lot of work in After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Cinema 4D and kept encountering problems in all 4 where I wanted to create a graphic but didn't seem to have the tools to do so effectively and efficiently. After just a short period of time with this project I feel that I have already found solutions to many of the problems I have had in the past with Adobe Illustrator.
Another thing is the value of research. In college research seems tedious and like you are just doing it for the sake of having something to put in your paperwork however, with this project I found it really immersive. I was finding an art style then an artist then all their work they had ever done. It was great to delve into an art style and movement so completely and draw ideas from it that would feed directly into my own designs. I found it really useful to have an idea in my head and try and visualise it in the art style of various artists from the period to see which would work most convincingly and so documenting my research became more of a part of my design process than merely a chore.
I have also learnt about the importance of sketching out your designs and keeping a sketchbook. At the beginning of the project everyone was stuck for ideas around me. I simply told them to draw in their sketchbooks 'till something came up and low and behold it did. I found this too, if I just sat and sketched out every idea that came into my head then at least one of them would appeal to me or would open up a new avenue in my thinking and allow me to develop the idea further. I am definitely going to try to spend more time in the next project sketching ideas from the get go as I feel like I left it a little late in this project and maybe having more time would have had a lot more ideas to run with.
Overall this project has helped me with every avenue of my design precess from idea generation through to execution of those ideas. Perhaps most valuable of all to me however, is the new string to my bow that I now have with Adobe Illustrator and I can see it becoming a pivotal member of my design generation process in the near future.
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