500 Word Critical Report

Throughout this module I have really taken my poster design skills to the next level, I may not have looked into the research and histories of posters as much as I would have liked to or analyse pre existing posters. But I have been more focused on the production side of testing and trying out many different methods and approaches to crafting a poster.

I reflect upon the posters I have made so far and the absolute most successful are the Blair witch screen print, The Last Of Us mixed media and The Town That Dreaded Sundown mixed media also. With these posters I really put my knowledge of what elements and factors I can manipulate in crafting the perfect image. The use of text are very unique in each one, wether its reserved like the last of us, or jagged and intimidating like Blair Witch they are all successful in their own way. The Text used in the dreaded sundown poster is a bit more special, the design and placement of the type was really interwoven into the foundation of the image structure. The striking imagery of The Last Of Us really helped in channelling the terrifying factor into the page, the sheer disgustingness of a broken gum line and fungal, damaged skin is extremely disturbing, yet successful this level of unsettling is the heart of the viewer which I want to entice into viewing the format I'm showcasing. The Blair witch imagery is a little bit more graphic in an old school sense, it takes a component of the film, the stick effigy, and uses that as a base for the intense placement of the attention catching font, it is technically put together better than the last of us but not as successful in a sense.

I did create a lot of less successful poster images throughout the module, but all were necessary stepping stones towards discovering new processes and adjusting text etc. Text has turned out to be as big of an factor as the image itself in poster design which I did not expect when starting the module, although it has given me a new appreciation for it, and it’s very important now in my ongoing art. 

 Less successful posters are the Train to Busan, V/H/S digital, The shallows digital. I think I struggled more with these posters as in the beginning of the module, I was not thumb nailing enough and would have already had a pre conceived image of what I wanted to make and then the final image was not critically strong enough for my research question. Throughout the module, I have been taking type placement positioning and design as well as thumb nailing more often, and more consistent to a point where that is as important as making the final image, as this is the base of what to make, so if the base is not well thought out, the final piece wont be.