PROMOTIONAL POSTERS
I created an audio blog on promotional posters which you can find here.
One thing that is very important to consider when it comes to creating a promotional poster is the conventions. If you create a conventional, recognisable and familiar poster, audiences will most likely associate that with something that they have previously enjoyed. Because of this, it is very important to do research on practitioners and the posters they have created to make something recognisable and efficient.
ALICE OSEMAN
Alice Oseman is an incredibly talented screenwriter and illustrator who is most popularly known for her romance series and comic, Heartstopper. What is interesting about the posters that she creates is the colours and the elements she chooses to include on the poster. Usually, her posters include something unusual happening in them (or about them), which attracts people to it out of curiosity. She also uses strong colours and high contrasts to draw you towards the most significant parts of the poster. The most significant part of her posters are usually very straight to the point and tell you what to expect from the story. I think this is a method I should take advantage of when it comes to making my own poster. I feel like regardless of the style I choose, the poster will benefit from features that draw the viewers attention to important aspects or implications that relate to the performance. However what would be best for me to avoid is the lack of order in some of her posters. Despite the cover for "this winter" being a very effective and attractive poster, there is a lack of order in which the information is displayed. This will be especially important for me to avoid because the information included on my poster will be crucial information for the audience to know when it comes to finding the venue and the time of the performance.
KYLE LAMBERT
Kyle Lambert is a poster producer and artist best known for his work on the Stranger Things posters but also has worked with Marvel. His posters commonly contain lots of information and themes that link to the performance. The characters are the main feature of the posters with a highly significant location (usually from the climax of the plot) in the background. His illustrations contrast highly which makes them more attractive because it highlights the opposing features of all the elements. This is especially evident in the Stranger Things 4 Vol 1 poster where the hot and cold contrast on either side of the main location. This is really effective because the amount of information to be processed on the poster attracts people to it and makes them look longer to see each actor and location on the poster. I think elements of this style could be very useful when it comes to creating my poster because when used correctly it can tell the story of the production without giving away the message. If people know what kind of theme and story they are going to see, they will probably be more likely to consider it. However, I think something that may hinder the purpose of my poster if I used this style of poster would be that it takes away from the information that needs to be provided such as the date and the time and makes it harder to find which is inconvenient for the people we are trying to bring to the show. Another possible con of this style is that the actors are undoubtedly the biggest draw which is why they are ordered on the poster from the most popular actor to the least. This wouldn't really have the intended effect with the poster I'm producing because the actors aren't as well known. Then again, sorting it by the most important characters in the performance could be an effective way of ordering it to present the themes and relationships between the adults and the children.
FRANK VERLIZZO
Frank Verlizzo is an artist who is most known for his promotional posters for productions such as The Lion King and Carrie. His posters are very simplistic in both colour and patterns which is somewhat unusual when taking most other posters into account. Despite their simplicity, they are extremely effective when it comes to conveying the tone and theme of the production to the viewer. For example, in The Lion King poster he created, he clearly uses the contrast between black and yellow to attract people to the poster but also underlines the title of the production with lines of another contrasting colour, red, to highlight important information. This is especially important because of the popularity of The Lion King which, as you can tell by the lack of information on the poster, is all you really need in order to bring people to watch such a notable performance, especially when paired with the Disney logo. There are even more layers to his posters, though. The art style of The Lion King poster is known as a typically "African" art style. This infers that the production has something to do with Africa and themes of African pride. As someone who has never seen Carrie, I can tell very easily that there are quite chaotic and aggressive themes in the production. The fire, the ominous shadow and the choice of red effectively convey to me that the tone of the musical is most likely very violent. I think it could be very worthwhile considering different ways to incorporate these methods into my poster. It is known without debate that the best way to provide information is simply and concisely. To this on my posters, I understand that I will have to use colour, placement and conventions to help people understand almost immediately what the tone and themes of the production are. However, what I would do differently is include more information such as dates, times, locations and booking information. It really would be such a shame to have such a compelling poster that would get attention but not have any information on the production included. Of course you could say that because of the popularity of the product prior to being musicals, people will do their own research through the internet or newspapers on the necessary information, however I still think it is important to include the information somewhere.
POSTERS THAT INSPIRE ME
After doing research on the suggested artists, I was able to get an understanding of what kind of poster I intend to create, but I felt it was probably best to find more inspiration in other examples.
MADS BERG
Mads Berg is an illustrator who makes simple illustrative posters using shapes, textures and extremely attractive colour choices.
​
Similarly to the posters previously mentioned, the colours contrast so perfectly that they attract you to all the most important parts of the poster and leave you to explore the rest. I have decided that my poster will certainly include this contrast because its not a coincidence that every illustrator has featured it in some way. Contrast is a must when creating something eye-catching. Not to mention that our research shows that people would expect a poster for "Our Day Out" to be eye-catching in terms of colour.
Another way in which this style would be a good choice for the poster I intend to create would be the use of perspective to present to the viewer a main subject and a location of importance. Our research shows that, shockingly, people would expect a production named "Our day out" to be about a day out. Helpful, I know. I feel that it would be best to present a day out using one of the more fun locations within the performance and a character having fun, too. With this style, perspective is signified by the amount of detail on an element of the poster, so for example, if I were to draw the beach and and a character further away from it and in front of it, I would apply more detail to the character than I would the setting because the character is closer and the detail will make them more prominent.
​
Another thing I like about his posters is the feature of tag line in each one. As I previously mentioned, our research shows people don't really know what else to expect from a production titled "Our Day Out". Because of this, I think it would be a good idea to include a tagline that would give just that little bit more context to the audience, it could possibly even be used to infer that there is more to the story than they think.
HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL
This is the poster for Heathers: The Musical. It is an effective poster because of its use of colour, typography and various elements.
​
Our research showed that one of the most preferred artists out of the choices was Alice Oseman, the creator of the romantic novel, Heartstopper. I think that this poster is in ways similar to hers. Similarly to Alice Oseman, the artists for the Heathers poster have included elements that are unusual in comparison to what the rest of the poster infers. This is because they want to give the viewer the understanding that there is something that lies deeper beneath the seemingly normal tone
conveyed by the other elements. I think this will be important to include as our research showed that people don't expect much else from a production named "Our Day Out" than a day out and I'd like to infer in ways such as the tagline and unusual elements that there is more to the story than the poster and name let on.
​
Once again, colour is used to draw people's eyes towards the most important elements of the poster. Red is used to highlight the fallen hand, the title, the tagline and Heather Chandler, who they want you to believe is the most important Heather of the 3. I believe that I can use this method to present information that may otherwise go hidden in my poster while still keeping it subtle.
The typography is also interesting in this poster. The poster wants to make the audience believe that the story is just about highschool hierarchy, and so to compliment the theme, a font that looks as if it was made using lipstick is used. I intend to use this in my poster to meet the expectations of the viewer so that when they notice the "unusual" elements, there is perhaps more intrigue.