Deconstructivist Activism Poster Case Study

Prompt: In this project for my graphic design class, I will create a poster about a cause that I feel passionately about (the cause against air pollution killing nature/trees). This will be expressed through postmodern design and the juxtaposition of art found through research.

Preparatory Exercise:

Research:

• Postmodern Designer // David Carson: He was nicknamed the “Godfather of Grunge” as his designs used distressed textures, rough layouts, and layers. He created art with collages, reverse reading, and forced justification that was popular in the ‘90s.

2. Postmodern Design Style // New Wave Graphic Design: This style of graphic design focuses on pixelated type, bold contrasting colors, repetition of designs, and are overall meant to look “messy” and colorful. It goes against the use of typical grids and combines with characteristics of Swiss Modernism.

3. Modern Design Style // Bauhaus Graphic Design: This design style uses clean designs, functional shapes, abstract shapes, simple colors, and industrial materials (such as glass, concrete, and steel).

Discovery & Chance:

I went to Artifacts in Iowa City to see what potential images I could find through antique books, posters, postcards, maps, and other forms of printed media. I found 24 images in the time that I was there. I was looking for things that were unique, one-of-a-kind (pieces with most likely no copies), and that could relate to the environment for my cause. I flipped through books and bins of vintage/old prints and pamphlets. I also found some printed images on Wikimedia Commons.

Breadth Explorations:

Depth Explorations:

1. In the first exploration (left image), I changed the coloring to fit a monochrome green aesthetic because green fits the representation of the environment. I faded out the “Restore” part in the top corner to make it more visually appealing, and flipped some of the words around. I re-focused the rest of the words to fit the page better. Also, I did these two posters on two different computers, and the second one did not have all the fonts I used (for each of the posters) and would not let me move the picture to where I wanted, so I had to do some last-minute replacements. I kept the radial style.
2. In the second exploration (middle image), I changed the colors to simplify the look of the poster. I moved the image further down the page and rearranged the text. I kept the random text style, but changed some of the fonts and styles of the fonts.
3. In the third exploration (right image), I changed the text style to another form of radial so that it looks more organized. I made the colors more bold and bright to increase the visual appeal and resized the image. Lastly, I added new font wraps to add something more to the poster.

Critique Iterations:

1. In my first iteration, I loosely changed the poster according to the critiques I received. I made the font simpler, added different words, changed the colors, and applied more of a contrast. The radial design, photoshopped image, and warping were kept.

2. In my second iteration, I scrapped the solid background and instead edited it to resemble a newspaper. My computer was having issues loading text, so I had to get rid of the extra words in the radial text design, but I think it made it look a little cleaner. I made the font black to match the theme of the newspaper.

3. In my last iteration, I opted to use an old newspaper as the background, opposed to the one I crafted myself for a different look. This helps the words stand out more. For the image, I kept the cartoonish design, but changed it to include more detail than the style previously used. The font has two colored layers with shadows added for depth, helping it to stand off the page. I switched the layers around so the text goes over and under the image in the center.

Final Poster: