Field Journal #9: The Polish Poster

From this week's reading I was intrigued with the polish poster, more specifically the film poster for Rzeczpospolita Babska by Jerzy Flisak. Now doesn't that title just roll off the tongue. According to the book, it was "an almost casual collage approach, (...) created from torn and cut pieces of colored paper and then printed by the silkscreen process.

http://www.filmweb.pl/film/Rzeczpospolita+babska-1969-9303

It's not common to see a publicized film poster made simply from torn colored paper, which could be due to it being a lot of work when less effort could be put to use by taking a picture of the actors/actresses in the film with a certain background. This can relate to my previous post about Saul Bass' "The Man with the Golden Arm" poster, however this was done with torn paper. It is very unique because it's not what is ordinarily seen on film posters, as well as the skilled "tearing" of paper to form such an image. It may seem simple at glance and others might think "Who made this!? It looks like a child's arts and crafts project," however this poster could be one of the many pioneering reasons that teachers incorporate projects with collages having torn colored paper and making an image, scene, or event from it. 

When I first saw this poster, I thought about a well-known show that involves children, vulgar language, explicit content, comedy, and parodies of politics, pop culture, social issues, conspiracies, etc. Do you know what I'm thinking about? It's the animated show known as South Park. Now I know it's not a poster or stilled image, but the roots are very similar. Before the creators moved onto production using the computer when technology had advanced greatly, they used to make their earlier shows using pieces of colored construction paper and shot the show frame shot by frame shot. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6279830/South-Park-shows-Michael-Jackson-and-Patrick-Swayze-in-purgatory.html

I'm not too sure what other shows or well-known images contain torn pieces of colored construction paper, but using torn paper for a film poster to an animated show that is still currently airing is an accomplishment with such a simple technique. The problem is what I stated briefly, which is the creators don't make the show with torn paper anymore. With how technology is now, the use of torn colored papers could be rendered as obsolete due to time consumption. The amount of time it takes to make something out of torn paper in 15 hours could be reduced to 2-3 hours with a graphic design program. I believe that the type of style used with torn paper (character design, shapes, backgrounds) may still be used, but piecing torn pieces of paper together would remain only in the classroom for arts projects. I say this because it might not be appreciated as much as other art forms of posters, portraits, murals, that contain more details and are more realistic.

Field Journal #8: Film Title/Logos

As I was reading through the chapters, I stumbled upon the artwork of Saul Bass. The book describes his work as "reducing his designs to a single dominant image," yet what I get from it is more than just simplicity in a dominant figure (Meggs 395). Here are the examples for his logo and titles for a drug addiction film titled "The Man with the Golden Arm."

http://designhistorylab.com/sp2010dhl/wu/pages/bass.html

http://brykhlee.wordpress.com/tag/saul-bass/

For a logo and film titles, these designs look more ambiguous and abstract than simple, even for a film. This caught my attention as soon as I saw these pictures, putting me in a deep trance, thinking about what the film would be about or consist of, excluding the cast and producers mentioned in the titles and logo. Now, if this was to be posted outside of a local movie theater without a commercial with its name, it might be a hit or miss with those passing by the poster. People either might be intrigued because of it's design or they could just walk away, not grabbing anyone's attention due to it lacking "flashiness" or a fan base. The book even mentions that motion pictures utilized "traditional portraits of actors and actresses in promoting films and mediocre and garish typography for film title" back then, which ironically, is used today in the poster designs of current and future films being shown at movie theaters. Whether it be the cost, the time, promotion effectiveness, this would be very interesting to see in the present day.

Now, I did mention briefly how the present designs for movie posters are no different than how they were back in the 1960's and before. Let's look at some movies that are out in theaters currently and/or will be showing. 

http://collider.com/hunger-games-2-catching-fire-poster/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/

http://www.impawards.com/2013/iron_man_three_ver11.html

Yes, these are TOTALLY different from Bass' work, but they do follow along the lines of the post designs motion pictures consisted of back in the 1960's and before, add in a couple more actors/actresses with a matching setting/theme in the background and voila! In my honest opinion, Bass' design is original, but would be obsolete and not as marketable in today's society due to what's technologically available to the market. A successful advertising campaign will help bring in money for the producers, directors, everyone involved with the movie, and hopefully have the viewers leaving the theaters saying the movie was worth their money and that the poster design looks "cool." Ambiguity and simplicity does have its market, but I'm not too sure if it would do well in the present day entertainment industry where people want 3D and high definition graphics (with some exceptions of course), with the addition of profit-margin. In the end, I'm still interested in giving "The Man with the Golden Arm" a chance to watch just because of the film poster's ambiguity, as well as Frank Sinatra being in it.

Field Journal #7: Prototype for the modern map

From this week's reading, the one thing that stood out the most to me was the prototype for the modern map made by draftsman Henry C. Beck of the London Underground subway lines. What I found interesting about it is that it hasn't changed much in comparison to some of the maps that are readily available for public transportation in the present day.

London Underground Map http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/2443.aspx

BART map http://zyxyvy.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/the-bart-map-to-scale/

With the BART map above, it is similar in it's color coded railways, legend/reference box, map name, city/street stops. It's not as geometrically angular like the London Underground and it's more detailed, showing parts of the ocean, green areas, surrounding highways and cities, etc. There is another map of the BART route that is more simplified without some of the details shown in the map above and is more angular in comparison to the BART map above. This demonstrates that the subway map for the London Underground's design has been the standard model for public transportation to this day. In some designs it can be seen as stagnant in comparison to everything else in graphic design, with the exception of maps in digital form, GPS, etc.

Transit map http://sanjoseuu.org/AboutUs/publicTransit.html

This is a portion of the light rail/bus routes in Downtown San Jose. What is notable aside from the color coded routes and the names of certain buildings/places are the bus numbers, grey spaces for buildings, and bathroom locations. Similar to the BART map, this however can get a little more confusing due to the fact of all the numbers, crossing colored routes, basically a lot of things going on the map. It might be because it is downtown which can seem cluttered, but nonetheless, has carried the same attributes as the London Underground map.

Now the question is how come the layout of public transportation maps haven't changed much, outside of the intricate details? My assumption is that it's already efficient as it is. Any more additional details would confuse viewers, making maps difficult to interpret. I guess it's along the lines of the saying "Why fix it if it isn't broken," which is true to a certain degree. A map is supposed to help/guide those in need of it, and these transportation maps fulfills that goal. Adding any other things would stray away from its purpose. 

Field Journal #6: Plakatstil

Plakatstil, poster style, is a type of design that incorporates flat background colors, large, simple images, and product names. While this may seem simple enough, some rejected this type of design due to its lack of complexity, but within time and positive superior influence, it was accepted. Plakatstil, from my understanding, follows the phrase "less is more," meaning that there doesn't need to be a million things, objects, or shapes going on in a portrait in order to be considered good, even great. Now what successful companies have utilized this same technique in their logo/trademark?

http://entertainmentagentblog.com/2010/06/20/in-the-immortal-words-of-gary-gilmore-and-nike-just-do-it/

http://50report.com/2013/05/16/sony-sets-1-4b-african-electronic-markets/

Although these were not painted and there are no pictures, Nike and Sony incorporate plakastil as their advertisement. These logos have been established for many years and very little to none has changed, aside from the shining light behind the Sony logo in commercials/videos and sound effects with matching animation bringing in the "swoosh" and "Just Do It." Now, these are the only companies that utilize this style as their logo, but the point I can see is that the more direct and simple the image is, the easier it would be to recognize it after minutes, hours, days, months, years, and even to memorize. No, I'm not saying that flashy and complex images aren't bad, but using plakatstil as a marketing tool/advertisement for companies is very efficient, well most of the time. Playing devil's advocate, there is a limit to how many companies use this technique if it only consisted of words, and plakatstil does use pictures as well in the present day.

http://onceuponasketch.com/2013/06/disney-animation-and-story-building-a-look-into-the-process/

http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/what-to-watch-for-now-that-disney-owns-lucasfilm

The first image is Walt Disney Pictures plakatstil and the next image is the same logo, but obviously not plakatstil. This example demonstrates that sometimes evolving away from it's original outlook, plakatstil in this case, can be better not just for the company, but for the consumers and viewers due to the technology available. 

In retrospect, plakatstil is still incorporated today in some ways, but can be looked at obsolete, even using the variant sachplakat, which is more concise and hyperrealistic. Some things can remain simplistic, whereas others are more direct through other methods and techniques.