Poster Design - Josef und Shizuko Muller-Brockmann - 'History of the Poster'

This blog post is relevant for both OUGD505 and 503. 

The publication sets out to define the nature of the poster and indicates the laws of designing which determine form, colour and composition.

'The laws of poster-designing'

Muller-Brockmann states 'a poster in the street should attract attention, interest or - at the every least - curiosity' suggesting that the message shouldn't be too ambiguous.

Cassandre believes a poster should be 'unexpected and surprising' even though it is pasted on a wall and is immobile. It should make an emotional impact on the audience in order to break the barriers and draw the audiences attention.

General demands of poster design:

• The poster must be legible and its message understandable.
• The poster must be innovative and arouse interest
• The poster must be designed with large shapes so that it is also effective at a distance. Closer, the poster must generate a response by means of easy recognition and the sum of details. 
• The poster should remain in the memory of viewers

Lettering in poster design:

MB believes the type should be sized and placed correctly so that the type becomes a component of the pictorial information - 'Both elements then merge inseparably in the memory'. For example:

Otto Baumberger

Poster for a hatter's shop

Lithography

90x128cm

Henri de Toulous-Lautrec

Theatre Poster

1895

59.5x79cm

Theatre Poster

1892

98x140.5cm

• The lettering should help to impact information quickly, and this is best done if the style is clear. 

The infomation must be concise, simple and exactly complement the pictorial element. 

Shape in poster design:

• Forceful presentation can intensify the impression.
• Pictorial elements of the design should be correlated and ordered in order to create a compact effect.
• A diagonal composition produces a dynamic effect. Example:

Josef Muller-Brockmann

Less Noise

1960

90 x 128cm

This corresponds with my findings from the research into previous cycling posters as diagonal and italic typefaces were a consistent theme. 

Gerstner and Kutter

Newspaper posters

Screen printed

1960

90.5 x 128 cm

• Rhythmic forms also have a dynamic effect. 

Ernst Deutsch 

Poster for a make of shoes

1912 Berlin

94 x 70cm

• It is advantageous to have the optical emphasis above the centre of the poster. - Lighter and more elegant.
• Create unity between text and image

Colour in poster design: 

• Colour as the bearer of the symbol - Emphasise the subject of social, economic, political and cultural campaigns.
• Colour can strengthen a scene or atmosphere
• Colour can be a connecting element in series posters. 

'Designers generally examine their design subjectively and emotionally, on the basis of their experience with an instinctive feeling for what is admissible or superfluous.'

-MB

-p.19

Quote suggests its okay to be experimental and ambiguous with posters.

The Experimental Poster

p208

'Experiments in the sphere of design are generally the direct consequence of revolutionary breakthroughs in concepts of form which previously had fixed conventions.'

'The mainspring of experimentation - leaving the familiar, safe ways and methods and thrusting forward into the unknown - leads, at the very least, to the experience of new perspectives.'