Friday, October 16, 2009

posters of pathos

When I showed another student my original collage with be a tutor hidden in the undiscernable message, she did not understand it as a literacy campaign poster. Maybe I just need to insert my protect a future message with a defenseless baby in the background; or maybe I need a new and clearer message. In the collage on the right, I attempted to add a message within the nonsensical text—so far it's not the right copy. The process is consuming to create, destroy, wrap and photograph, so I am pursuing the perfect copy prior to reapplying.

this or something like:
Even simple choices become complicated for the illiterate.
become a tutor (rather than be a tutor.) I would also add that this copy is actually the unspoken message contained within the hidden be a tutor poster, so maybe, just maybe, I am overreacting.

(above) A rendering style, I am pursuing for these (hopefully) alarming posters is a combination of photos of people, prescriptions and hands I happen to know—combined with richly colored and textured paper. By applying this glorious method of collage, I am able work with my hands to fulfill the call for raw and human imperfection (I feel the cut paper promotes the edginess of my message) and to establish a hierarchy through color by highlighting danger.

In order to roughen up the type, in the center collage, I actually rubbed it on concrete—I now agree that was not my best idea to remove the stiffness of the vector structures. For the collage on the right, I photocopied the type several times to remove the stiff edges. Next I wrapped the label around a bottle and photographed it to achieve the correct dimensionality.

Below are examples of my original iterations with different bottles, hands, as well as, with and without the addition of people.




1 comment:

jamie said...

the call to action:
"be a tutor" is vague and doesn't help clarify that this is in fact a literacy campaign. A tutor for what? Be more specific - actually use the words "adult illiteracy".

"save a future", however, does make sense with the baby/medicine concept - can keep this.

Try some different type treatments (perhaps digitally generated) for the "call to action" portion. Can it be visually separate from the image but still be stylistically cohesive? How big is this poster? Big enough that you can use smaller copy - to allow for more room. Test at actual size. Seems appropriate for a wheat paste campaign plastered around a city.

The tele number (or maybe is should be a website?) blends a bit too much with the label too, and cutting it out (middle image) is not working visually.

the image:
The collage on the far right works best. The tie-in of the child's medicine and showing the baby in the background really helps clarify your campaign - keep this. The baby doesn't look in danger, however. Should be a bit more ominous (maybe another graphic element to help?).

Highlight "can be" as well as dangerous. I don't think "decisions" is the right word - reading is more of a task in this scenario.

Don't have to disintegrate the type so much (as the middle one), but the right poster is certainly looking realistic.

The crude collage/photo rendering style is fantastic, as well as the low-fi type and bright shocking colors. I think Sheila de Bretteville would be proud.