- Centered- The main body of text is centered, as if this would bring a sense of order to this chaotic melange.
- Warped photos- Thin Heads, which could be a Barnes&Barnes song. Distorted images detract from spatial intelligibility.
- Too many fonts-I think there are 11 fonts here, well probably 12. I've lost all hope. Looking at too many fonts is like hearing too many voices.
- Missing margins- The lack of definition gives the eye no respite. I don't know if the Thin Heads popped out of Yankee cap's left ear or not. Thin Head Hat Guy has shadow legs.
- Clutter- The centered main body of text is squeezed together with advertisements for what I assume are sponsors-glad I'm not one! The net effect of so many objects is an impression of a visual non-sequitur.
- Busy background-Is "ciroc" a word on that can, or a rebellious word attempting to escape a sentence? Poor readability and intersecting images leave me asking "Where's Waldo?" Crowded images cannot send a clear message.
- Tacky type emphasis-"HOUSEWERK" font is a Housewreck, communicating nothing useful. "RESIDENT NIGHT" looks like a horror movie title. Why?!? To emphasize in this way is to neutralize the impact into pointlessness.
- Bad bullets-Stars? Really? They don't improve definition.
- Trapped negative space- Above and beneath "$5.00 ALL NIGHT" is a space that is negative, yet still distracting. Also to the right, behind ghost girl, is negative space for her curly second head. The space is wasted and asymmetrical.
- Stairstepping-It's not clear what the relationship is between "Housewerk" and "Resident Night." They're separated by the date, and I think a linear arrangement would reflect some much needed linear thinking.
References:
Hagen, R.,& Golombisky, K. (2017). White Space Is Not Your Enemy:A Beginner's Guide to Communicating Visually Through Graphic,Web & Multimedia Design. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, CRC press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business.
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Hello Vince - PSYCHEDELIC - it's the first word that comes to my mind. This collage is a bit painful to look at and yet I am not completely offended by it. I do like the happy whimsical feel of the background palette. It expresses a sort of need to be free, but overall, the advert is train-wreck. I feel like each line is competing with the line before and so the message is of what the advert is trying to show-case is lost in translation. In one sense I like when print runs off and beyond the margins, but the chaotic layout of the piece runs counter to the mechanical, repetitive rhythm of house music.
ReplyDeleteHi Vince,
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud multiple times at your reaction to this poster.
"Resident Night" is representative of this "creation" in its entirety: It IS a horror show... "Resident EVIL" comes to mind!
The "Thin Heads" are interesting -- I love that you called them that because I literally went looking for the title "Thin Heads" on the poster as if they were one of the performers at this shindig!
The Ciroc bottle is supposed to imply it'll be a good time with alcohol (or that Ciroc is sponsoring, which I doubt, and they'd probably be horrified that their product is on anything that looks like this, not to mention copyright violations!), but it doesn't do anything to bring a sense of "cohesiveness" to this ad.
I think the thing that bothers me THE MOST about ads like these, are the images that the "designers" include that have borders that don't blend with the background, i.e. Axiom Studios and Sons Soul, etc.
Chrisa is right - this poster background definitely has a "psychedelic" vibe to it, and I believe if you strip the ad of all the elements on it, the ORIGINAL background could have been a Canva template that consisted of the original background orange tones, along with SOME of the spirals. The female silhouette may or may not have already been a part of the piece - that or it was added from clip art within Canva (or elsewhere) after the fact. She seems to match the overall tone of the background, but everything else added afterwards is definitely a House-WRECK.
Nicely done, Vince!
Erica