Social Concern Posters

Social Concern Posters

One thing I noticed when looking at posters dealing with social concern is that they tend me be very simple and straight to the point. They also often use clever re-workings of things we see every day in order to grab the viewers attention. Below are some examples of great social awareness posters.

I find this poster to be extremely effective, it is done

for the Women's Aid Organization. When you first see these posters you simply see beautiful women's lips.

However, the first image is really fists, and hidden in the second image are images of men beating women. It is subtle but it clearly and effectively shows its meaning. Underneath the first poster is says "Lips aren't punching bads. Nor are other parts of the body. If you know someone who is suffering from violence or abuse. please call Women's Aid Organization at.....Speak Up. And silence those who speak with their fists. Underneath the second poster it says, "Silent lips mute the sound of beatings. And muzzle unspeakable pain. Give voice to victims or violence or abuse....Deep as the wounds may be, healing begins by being heard." The simple subtle messages in the imagery combined with the powerful words create a very strong social concern poster.

This second poster is another example of the subtle message that works really well as a social concern poster. Soccer player Loco Abreu is "kicking away racism" by wearing two shoes of different colors (he also played in a soccer game with these shoes) It is just a simple image but it received a lot of feedback from the press and had a huge impact.

As you think about social concern posters think about the context and the message that you are trying to bring across. It does not need to be an elaborate poster in order for you to get your idea across.

One final example for you to look at :) Have a great Monday :)

logo design

Logo Design;

Through designing logos I have learnt that the best logo is not always the most beautiful logo. It is the logo that represents the company/client and symbolizes what they are about. Below is an article I found about the process that went into designing the very memorable Nike logo.

The origin of the mark goes like this: Knight wanted to differentiate BRS's custom product from the ones they were importing from Onituska in Japan: "...so Knight turned to a graphic design student he met at Portland State University two years earlier." One day in 1969, the student, Carolyn Davidson, was approached by Knight and offered $2 per hour "to make charts and graphics" for his business. For the next two years Davidson managed the design work on BRS. "Then one day Phil asked me if I wanted to work on a shoe stripe," Davidson recalled. The only advice she received was to "Make the stripe supportive of the shoe." Davidson came up with half a dozen options.None of the options "captivated anyone" so it came down to "which was the least awful."

Well, the rest is history. And the Swoosh emerged from "the stripe" and is one of the most recognized logos in the world.

http://imprint.printmag.com/branding/swoosh-40-years-fly-by/

- I find it interesting that no one particularly liked the logo that Davidson came up with at first, but now the Nike swoosh is well known all over the world. While perhaps Davidson could have created a more "beautiful" logo, the logo she created was memorable, it worked. I enjoy looking at the pictures below and seeing how she played with the placement of the swoosh and with how many swooshes there were. In logo design it can be helpful once you have the general design you want, to play around with it, its positioning, ect. because that can help you come up with something even better. Input from others can also help a lot!

(if you go to the website you can see the images in a larger size)

Typographic Syntax;

the process of arranging elements into a cohesive whole. The point of typographic syntax is to not rely upon illustration in order to give meaning to the word. Rather, it is bringing meaning across through the arrangement of the elements, the type.

The two logos below are excellent examples of typographic syntax. The arrangement of elements (letters) or lack of letters, helps further the meaning of the word without the use of illustration. Both of these examples show the type of stuff you should be doing for class.

In the first example, blank space the lack of the a in blank and space create an empty space,

thus bringing visual representation to the word without using illustration. Simply just leaving the letter out works great.

The second example, minus takes the I from minus removes it and flips it on its side to create a minus symbol. This combined with the the empty space that is now left from where the I was also helps enhance the meaning of the word.

An important thing to remember, which I mentioned previously, is to not use illustration to bring about further meaning. You should rely on changing the arrangement of the letters to help enhance the meaning of the word, not using illustrations.