Throughout the course of History of Visual Commnications, we have discussed how past styles and processes can be applied to contemporary issues and subjects to create more unique and meaningful designs. This project gives us the opportunity to untilize our new knowledge of design history in the creation of a poster for someone who inspires us.
The concept that I am working on is a concert for a cause that will benefit Haiyan victims (also know by the locals as Super Typhoon Yolanda). On November 28th 2013, the tropical typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines. The strongest storm to make landfall which devastated entire region with sustained winds over 190 miles/hr. affecting more than 7 million lives. More than months have past, the government has been trying to hasten the recovery but the damage is way beyond measure. People are still left fending for themselves. Although the news died down, help and prayer are still very much needed.
With this in mind, I choose 60s psychedelic style because the elements commonly found in this genre could supplement the design I am creating. The curves and distortion of the texts project fluidity that reinforces the strong characteristic of the forces of nature - the wind and waves.
To establish an emotional appeal to the design, I included a hand that looks like asking for someone to reach out. The hand that has been struggling from drowning, tossed by waves and wind. I first wanted to have the hand placed where the sound hole of the guitar is. The hand emerges from it while the water splash all over, coming out from that hole. It looks surreal but it was more too creepy. I have an assumption that the design I am about to create will cause fear instead of establishing a right emotion of sympathy. I don’t want to manipulate other’s feelings just to push my agenda. So I did not pursue that direction. The final output is just what I really wanted.
This is my inspiration - 60's Psychedelic style concert poster
In as much as I wanted to emulate every specfiic element in psychedelic art, I prefer to tone down a bit the color palette. Base on the sample posters that I found over the net, the psychedelic colors are too vibrant, prolic and colorful. It depicts an impression of the mind that are in the state of hallucination (like someone who are on drugs). It sure will attract attention but it doesn’t push the real purpose why this event is created. An earth-organic highlighted with seemingly pastel color give me just the right match for my design.
Another issue that I have to address in psychedelic art is how they treat the text. It seems like everything is stretch in out of proportion. It also is not too legible. The curvature of the texts ushered the flow of your reading pattern into different directions. So I decided not to strictly apply the prevalent font types. Hobo STD Medium is just the right kind of font that I used for this project. I am satisfied to use one font type only. It doesn’t need to be warp excessively just to mimic from the original. This font provides additive exibility but help unite all elements together. Somehow, over the course of thorough critic from my classmates and our course director, I change the font to a more simpler one.
The design have evolve with so many transitions and revisions. The one that I submitted was the one on the right side. It was later modified.
The last thing that I need to deal in this project is to create an over-all look base on the word “remembering.” Creating another element would make the design over-crowded. So I decided to add subtle grungy look to which an audience will have an impression that the design is already come to age. In the context of this project, waiting for relief provisions and recovery seem like they have been waiting forever without no hope. The bright colors that denote bright future is marred with corroded dreams.
