Blog Post - Jan. 14 (Leslie Ramirez)



Klinger, J. (1918). ‘8th War Loan’ [Poster]. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004666166/ (January 14, 2020)


I used to think of any history class as the bane of my existence. Once I realized that visuals helped me retain the information, I began to appreciate history and the way visuals could instantly inform viewers. Julius Klinger's "8th War Loan" poster is one visual that I know will stick with me. At first, I did not understand how a dragon could have anything to do with war. However, once I read the description, I was awed by its cleverness. The visual representation of the Allies as a dragon, entrapped by the number eight, puts a strong emphasis on the message as well as the loan's impact. In showing the other loans, represented as arrows, Klinger can show the viewers that the other loans weren't wasted, they each did their part. I also appreciate the dragon’s design, sharp angles, multiple spines along its back, a small beady red-eye, and the dark green and black coloring help vilify the Allies. The drop of blood ensures the dragon does not seem powerful. 


Box Office Attraction Co. (1914). Gertie The Dinosaur [Advertising Poster]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gertie_the_Dinosaur_poster.jpg (January 15, 2020) 

Here is a poster that I learned about earlier this week. If I remember correctly, Winsor McCay was an animator who bet against his friends over whether or not he could bring a dinosaur to life through animation. The animation begins with McCay talking to a screen, Gertie the dinosaur then walks out and interacts with McCay. Later on, McCay animates himself into Gertie’s world and has Gertie carry him away. The reason this poster catches my attention is because of how it portrays the show. It’s the depiction of a giant realistic dinosaur carrying a car that gives the impression that the film will have some kind of fake but physical dinosaur, it could have been made of clay or been mechanical. If I had seen this advertisement, I would have thought everything, including the people, would be animated. 

Franklin, B. (1754). Join or Die [Political Cartoon]. https://www.history.com/news/ben-franklin-join-or-die-cartoon-french-indian-war  (January 15, 2020). 

The reason I chose this cartoon is that it reminded me of the above poster by Klinger. While a snake and a dragon are not the same, they are typically used to show the same element, evil. Something worth noticing is the fact that Franklin uses his snake to show that the colonies will die without unity, whereas Klinger uses his dragon to depict the Allied side as a vicious enemy. Both are simple depictions with minimal words that carry powerful messages. 

Comments

  1. Peter DJanuary 15, 2020 at 2:14 PM

    These posts are excellent examples from various points in history and geography of the book's point that graphic design often recycles its styles and draws on itself constantly. We are so hard-wired as humans to react certain ways to certain imagery, and as graphic design grows more and more, it reinforces this wiring. It makes sense, then, that even an age of revolutionary designs and the emergence of wide-scale propaganda would nevertheless refer to older concepts as points of reference.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hanna HJanuary 15, 2020 at 2:42 PM

    I'm not a huge fan of history classes either though when I came to the conclusion that if I'm interested in a certain subject it can be fun. I really like the theme you have going here where its mainly reptiles designs as well. They all have the reptile around the words or have them stand out above the words rather.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Allan GuintuJanuary 15, 2020 at 3:47 PM

    From the reading this week, it showed many different ways how posters can relay or inform society no matter how highly detailed or simple they are. The posters that you chose are great examples of this ideal of graphic design. The highly detailed poster of McCay and the simplistic poster of Klinger shows how graphic design can capture an audiences' attention and inform them at the same time.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post 1 (Matthew Donald)

Image
One of the pieces that really caught my eye during the reading was Alphonse Mucha's Job  cigarette papers advertisement. There was something very intriguing about the way he created a background texture using an element from the foreground. "JOB" is written in big letters at the very top of the poster and its accented by "job" written in little letters evenly throughout the background. I think it does a good job at creating an interesting composition while maintaining the central focus around the brand. The big "JOB" flows on top of a large ring where a woman sits. I think the overall shape of the illustration was executed very well because of its emphasis on curves. The curves of the hair and the woman are all reinforced by the circle in the center of the page. Mucha, A. (1898). "Job" poster for cigarette papers. Retrieved from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JOB_(rolling_papers)  on January 1st, 2020. In this piece of typography created ...
Read more

Post 3 - Sam Weible

Image
From the experimentation and norm-breaking designs of the avant garde movement came some of my favorite European designs predating 1940s. From this period, I particularly love the posters advertising the London Underground. I first saw some of these posters at the Art Institute over the summer and was immediately intrigued by their design, how they managed somehow be both artistically beautiful and utilitarian. The elements of each poster followed suit, text and imagery being generally separate from one another on the page yet communicating a since of uniformity. While that was the case for most of the poster I got to see, it wasn't for every Underground poster. There are actually a great variance of design and style between these mass-produced posters. This poster, "Power", from the textbook, for example, hardly has any visual unity. What it's trying to communicate is unclear and the visual ties the artist tries to make between each element isn't as unifying as...
Read more

2/5 in class reflection

I liked learning a bit of back story on Bert Stern. I like learning a more in depth about a designers history. Its interesting to see where these designers are coming from however, I know that the time frame of this class doesn't really allow for too much of that. I didn't really like watching the ted talk at the beginning because, while the message is good, this is the fourth class I have had to watch that talk in.
Read more