ACN 107 Journal: August 2009

As for the music festival I have chosen to make up my own event. The name I have decided to use for my poster is ‘Electrotherapy’. I decided to use this for the name of the music festival as a way to describe the type of music that will be on exhibition at it. It refers to the type of music that will be featured (Electro Music) rather than the true meaning of the word. The event is aimed at people who enjoy electro or various forms of electro music with a variety of dj’s playing. The atmosphere of the event would be that of better-known festivals like Gods Kitchen, Summerdayze and Future Music Festival. As for the venue it would need to accommodate a large group of people with plenty of space to move around, a venue like Flemington racecourse should be sufficient. The music festival is to be held on the 23^rd of August 2009.

Appraisal

In my poster I decided to go with a basic approach to the design. The main focus of my poster was to immediately grab the attention of the viewer. I tried to achieve this with the addition of the bright colours in the square like image through the middle of the page, which is further accentuated by the dark background. As for my colour scheme there was no real thought or process to choosing them. I wanted to use a variety of bright colours with the occasional gradient. These colours are seen mainly through the middle. I also wanted to use a dark background to help the bright coloured objects and text stand out. As for shape, I decided to use a rectangular based object, which runs through the middle of the poster. The fact that these are just rectangles doesn’t give it away as a music festival. It rather draws the attention to the poster making it my main focal point. As for the shape, I used basic rectangles and squares,which I then rotated the sheer in opposite directions in illustrator to give the image its 3D square shape. And added various layer effects to give the image its blur. As for the texture element, I decided to have it affect all facets of the poster. The texture affects the background through to the text layers on top. I used the blend modes overlay, screen and multiply to give an added depth with grunge textures and lens flares downloaded from the Internet. As for the text based information I decided on a simple top down approach with the name of the festival being the largest then the date and venue being smaller and the artists slightly smaller again. I felt the final result of the poster was an effective use of new and old Photoshop skills.

Good Posters

I find this poster to be quite simple in its design with the use of line to give a clear border to the text-based information held within separating it from the background. The colourful background grabs your attention and points you in the direction of the larger text at the top of the poster. I like the way that the gradient falls off to black at the bottom of the page and that is where the less important information is being held. This poster will influence my poster by using bright colours to draw the attention of the viewers.

This poster grabs your attention with bright and colourful shapes. The charcoal coloured background allows the colours to stand out even more. The use of overlay texture also adds another dimension to the poster giving the swirling shape life moving away from a flat lifeless look. This poster will influence my poster as it uses a bright colourfull image to draw attention and contains a well-positioned minimal amount of text that informs the viewers.

This is another image with interesting colour and shape, but this image lacks textual based information leaving it open as to what the design is about. The reason like this design is due to the depth that layers have created giving it a real feeling of space. I like the use of the Noise in photoshop and renderclouds and the clever use of blending options and composition that allow the image to be coloured with gradients and still have the visible elements underneath.

This image also makes clever use of layers and composition. Again it grabs my attention with the focal point being the colourful background, which is then followed by the bold white text, which differentiates it from the rest of the poster. It contains many different elements of design but it can also be hard to view do to the amount of detail and how busy it is. I would like to incorporate some of the elements to help create a visually pleasing poster without taking away from my final goal of promoting a music festival.

Negative Space

This poster makes clever use of negative space drawing immediate attention to the center of the poster. The design consists mainly in the middle of the poster with limited works to the outer extremity. It makes clever use of shape and colour and also has a limited amount of text ensuring that there is no loss in translation when viewing the poster. The only real distinguishable shape is the heart off center to the right, which takes place of the text ‘heart’, which gives a clear message as to the campaigns agenda “Vote with your heart.”

This poster also has a used negative space to its advantage with the design consisting of a large negative space. This places the main emphasis on the center of the design. It has a strong contrast between the sepia toned background and the coloured image of south America with the Brazilian flag on it which immediately draws the viewers attention. I like the fact that this image is in another language but I am provoked by the poster to stop and look at it. It’s a rather simple design with a good use of texture that is appealing to the eye.

The reason I liked this poster is due to the simplicity of the design. It uses negative space and contrast between the white and grey to differentiate the objects and details of the poster. Although a simple looking design it still incorporates the use of line, point, hierarchy and shape. The shape of the trees and mountains is he clear focal point of the piece, followed by textual information towards the bottom of the poster.

This poster design also makes clever use of negative space. The grey to white gradient background used creates a contrast within the design drawing the immediate attention to the female in the center of the poster, as it’s the largest object on the poster its usually the first thing you look at. The positioning of the chocolate in the top left hand corner of the poster is the next thing that caught my attention alerting me that this is a poster for chocolates, which then defers my attention to the text as you look for some information as to who makes the chocolate.

Art Nouveau

The name 'Art Nouveau' is French for 'New Art', peaking at the turn of the 20^th century (1890-1905). It is a truly international movement featuring significantly in France, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Hungry, Austria and America. It is seen as a connection between historicism of Neoclassicism and modernism. The style is applied to a wide range of artistic mediums; architecture, illustration, furniture, glassware, graphic design, interior decoration and jewellery. It is commonly referred to as the applied art of decorative crafts and design. Some of the key elements are long curves, undulating shapes, plant forms, flames and waves. Its main feature is highly decorative and asymmetrical style.

Below are some examples of Art Nouveau featured throughout the different mediums

Art Nouveau Posters, Painting and Illustration

A good example of decorative art in the medium of painting and illustration, showing flowing curvilinear forms inspired with floral and other plant motives.

These Aubrey Bearsdley illustrations have there own distinctively individual style, his work was mainly stark black and white which was reminiscent of Japanese prints. These free flowing images were much reused by the flower power generation of the 60’s and 70’s.

Art Nouveau Architecture

The image above is of a church in Barcelona “The Sacred Family” which was created by Antoni Gaudi. This structure shows the bold and dominating contrasts of the historical shift from the Neo Gothic art movement to the more modern Art Nouveau.

The image above is the “Casa Mila” apartment block by Antoni Gaudi. The Building includes many of the stylistic elements of Art Nouveau. These works were heavily influenced by nature making use of free flowing curvilinear lines.

Art Nouveau Jewellery

Fine examples of plant and organic forms in jewellery from the Art Nouveau movement.

Art Nouveau Furniture

These are examples of curvilinear forms in an art style that encompasses art as part of everyday life. The public bench is a more contemporary form of Art Nouveau making use of the twisting wood as a focal point replicating the roots of a tree.

Art Nouveau Glassware