Man, where to start? That was a lot of information! The video posted by Vanity Fair had so many great ideas. I was amazed when the presenter showed so many posters of similar design, and he provided great details into how the movie poster’s messages are conveyed to the viewer. I appreciate the consideration he talks about with complimentary colors. When using contrasting colors, you can use neutral colors to draw the viewer’s attention to a specific subject. His example of this was the Star Wars poster.
Color plays a massive role in visual imagery. From pg 78 of The Vignelli Canon, “Most of the time we use color as a Signifier, or asan Identifier. Generally speaking we do not use color in a pictorial manner. Therefore, we tend to prefer a primary palette of Red, Blue, and Yellow. This may seem restrictive. This doesn’t mean that we do not like colors or that we are not sensitive to them.” Knowing this bit of information will be very helpful in my designs this week!
The other article talked about a book titled, Go: A Kid’s Guide to Graphic Design, and boy, was this a good read. I connected with this article more than the previous because the author used graphical examples of the ideas they wanted to express. I liked the two pictures that detailed cool and warm colors with paint swatches. I think one of the best ways to learn a subject is to teach it from a child’s perspective. If you can break down the steps so that a kid can understand them, you will have developed a process to master any subject.
I will consider this week to keep my work focused on the center of the picture’s subject. When looking at some of the posters, such as Guardians of the Galaxy or some of the action movie posters, I felt overwhelmed. I had a better appreciation for the comedy posters and ones that had one central idea rather than a lot of motion and energy.
Kidd’s book really is awesome. Speaking as one who’s studied graphic design, I think it is just as sophisticated as Vignelli in a lot of ways, but it communicates with such clarity that non-desgners will get the point.
I really liked your point about taking a process and breaking it down to be understood by a kid. That kind of explanation is definitely a mark of proficiency. I was also surprised when the Vanity Fair person pulled out so many movies of a certain genre with similar poster designs. I hadn’t really thought that much about it before.
Yeah the comedy ones especially all looked like the same movies!