gaviremongervisualcommunica-blog

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First Poster - Credit: Rory Kurtz - Illustrator and Poster Artist. 

I found this poster on his website: https://www.rorykurtz.com/ 

This is an officially licensed screen print poster for the film “Drive”. Rory also illustrated the poster for the film “Baby Driver”, which is also in my visual diary as I really liked that poster too. 

In this poster I like the script typeface chosen for the film title. I like the scale of the title relative to the release information, the hierarchy is very clear and it is legible. I like how all of the typography is centered creating symmetry. I like the pink and blue colour theme, the pink contrasts well with shades of white and yellow and it contrasts well with shades of blue, grey and black. I like the contrast of darkness and light. I think the shading on this poster is really good. In particular, the pink shading on the jacket and shoes of Ryan Gosling and the blue shading on the car, road and bridge wall. The placement of Ryan and the car provides balance, if Ryan was in front of the skyscrapers it might look imbalanced or overcrowded. I like the overall concept of the poster.

Second Poster - Credit: James White - Digital Artist. 

I found this poster on his Behance profile: https://www.behance.net/signalnoise 

This poster was originally a self-initiated fan art poster but it went viral and it became an official alternate movie poster. It became a limited edition print that sold out within hours. James says on his blog that he made the cover while listening to “Nightcall” by “Kavinsky”, which is a song on the soundtrack for “Drive”. Here is a link to the music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_3Dpw-BRY

Once again with this poster I like the colour theme, of pink and blue. I like the comic book illustrative style of the poster. The concept of the poster matches well with the song “Nightcall” by “Kavinsky”, it is also similar to the song’s cover artwork which is shown in the video. I like the contrast of darkness and light, its kind of like neon light with strong saturation. I also like the hierarchy of the typography, the film title is large in scale relative to everything else, however the lead actor and director are both emphasised, with Ryan Gosling being higher in the hierarchy. I also like the grainy texture of the poster. 

Third Poster - Credit: James White - Digital Artist. 

I found this poster on his Behance profile: https://www.behance.net/signalnoise 

This poster was used by BBC Radio 1 for a rescore of “Drive” curated by Zane Lowe. With this poster, I like the colour combinations. I like the analogous use of red, pink, orange and yellow. I like the light blue leading into dark blue and purple. I like the comic book illustrative style. It also has a kind of “Miami Vice” vibe or aesthetic, with the colour combinations, the sunglasses and the palm trees in the background. I like how everything is centered and is to a grid and the use of whitespace. Once again I like the hierarchy in the typography. I also like the grainy texture of the poster. 

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Credit: BLT Communications - Creative Agency. 

I found the two of these posters on the BLT Communications company website. BLT Communications is an independently owned creative agency founded in 1992 and based in Los Angeles, California, USA. They make a lot of artwork for films, such as film posters. This is their company website: https://www.bltomato.com/

This is the link specifically to the “The Revenant” film posters: https://www.bltomato.com/project/the-revenant

The first poster is a key art poster with Leonardo DiCaprio and the second one is a key art poster with Tom Hardy. One of the main aspects that I loved was the double exposure used at the top of both posters. A background of trees is shown at the top of both Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy’s head shots. This is a really cool effect and I think that it gives the poster a real ethereal and natural quality. 

I like the use of colour. I like the bright red colour of possibly a fire beside both actors, which is also overlayed over them and then the contrast of the toned down colour of the rest of the poster. It is not black and white, it has colour in it but it is a very minimalistic use of colour, to me it has blue tints and tones. I also like the placement of both actors to the right side of the posters, this gives the posters an interesting dynamic, possibly emphasising the rawness of the photographs, centering them would probably take away from this. 

I like the hierarchy emphasised in the typography. The scale of the film title is quite large compared to everything else. I like the sans serif typeface choice, although a serif typeface might have emphasised the time period of the film more. All of the typography is clear and legible. I also like how the typography at the bottom of the posters is flush right as it matches with the alignment of the actor head shots. I like the tracking used on the typography too. 

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Credit: BLT Communications - Creative Agency. 

I found the four of these posters on the BLT Communications company website. BLT Communications is an independently owned creative agency founded in 1992 and based in Los Angeles, California, USA. They make a lot of artwork for films, such as film posters. This is their company website: https://www.bltomato.com/

This is the link specifically to the “Suburbicon” film posters: https://www.bltomato.com/project/suburbicon

The first poster was a teaser poster. The second poster was a key art poster and the last two posters were both in-theatre posters. I was originally going to just post the first poster, the teaser but I thought all four posters were really interesting and it was worth posting all of them. 

Here is a link to the motion key art for “Suburbicon”: 

https://bltwebassets.azureedge.net/production/projects/suburbicon/key-art/3ed450ae-56bd-4a25-b164-954f5d3530b3.mp4

I really like the use of colour in all four posters. The colours are really striking, especially the red in the first teaser poster. 

In the first poster I like the use of colour. I like the combination of colours used. The red, white and black all work very well together. I like the use of blood red in particular, this expresses that the film has a lot of danger/violence in it. I like the figurative graphical art used as a metaphor to depict suburbia. I like the typography hierarchy, the film title is emphasised quite well. I like the choice of sans serif typeface and I like that most of the typography is centered. I like the use of tracking and kerning with the typeface in the poster. I like the use of white space around the central art piece and I like the white space between all of the actor’s names. 

In the second poster I like the use of an actual photograph of the lead actor, Matt Damon. I like the contrast of the coloured photograph with the red, white and black colours. The background colour of the poster is tonally similar to the colour of the photograph. I also like the grid that the designer has used in general but also the one the he/she has created visually with the use of lines, squares and rectangles overlayed over the main photograph. Once again there is a hierarchy in the typography. The typeface is the same as the first poster, there is tight tracking and kerning used to a good effect. There is also a lot of white space. 

With both of the in-theatre posters I like the use of colour. They are both very metaphorical. There is not a lot of typography on either of them but the focus is on abstractly figurative art that depicts what the film is about. 

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Credit: Tyson Beck - Digital Artist & Graphic Designer. 

I found this design piece on Tyson’s Behance profile: https://www.behance.net/tysonbeck

He is a designer based in Australia primarily designing for sports leagues in America such as the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL and the UFC and he designs for sports brands such as Nike and Adidas. I am very interested in sports design and I find Tyson’s design campaigns to be very inspiring. 

This is a photograph and design of Russell Westbrook, he is a professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets in the NBA. Tyson made this artwork for the NBA and he titled it "Path of Destruction”. I like the black and white monotone. I like the contrast and balance of his image which is mostly black against the white background. I like how he is centered in the design. I like the white space all around his image. I like how the image breaks down into pieces showing his “path of destruction” on the basketball court. I like how Tyson has put his logo/watermark at the top right hand corner of the design. It is understated but obvious enough to be noticeable and it is clear and legible. 

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Credit: BLT Communications - Creative Agency and Rory Kurtz - Illustrator and Poster Artist. 

First Image - I found the first image at this link: https://joinbubble.com/for-parents/baby-driver_1653.html

Second Image - I found the key art poster on the BLT Communications company website. BLT Communications is an independently owned creative agency founded in 1992 and based in Los Angeles, California, USA. They make a lot of artwork for films, such as film posters. This is their company website: https://www.bltomato.com/

This is the link specifically to the “Baby Driver” film posters: https://www.bltomato.com/project/baby-driver

The first and second image were both by BLT and Rory Kurtz. The second image was a key art poster for the film “Baby Driver”. This is Rory’s website: https://www.rorykurtz.com/ The key art poster is on his website too. Rory has done a lot of work for film. He also made a poster for “Drive” with Ryan Gosling. 

Here is a link to the motion key art for “Baby Driver”: https://bltwebassets.azureedge.net/production/projects/baby-driver/audio-visual/bd865021-dc35-4341-b722-7e16bc7759db.mp4

I will just comment on the second poster. I like the use of colour in this poster. I like the pink colour theme, I think it reflects the name of the film quite well. I like the illustrative style of the poster. I like how the names of the actors are aligned flush right, I think this amplifies the speed of the car in the bottom center of the poster. There is good use of hierarchy with the typography, the film title and all of the actor’s names are emphasised well. Everything is clear and legible. I also like how the typography at the bottom of the poster is aligned flush left as this creates contrast with the typography at the top of the poster. I like the typeface choices, I think that they reflect the overall aesthetic and concept of the poster quite well.

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Credit: Josh Andrew Magbanua - Graphic Designer. 

For his sports design work he actually goes by the name ”Stuntmann Josh”. I found this design on his Facebook page, here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/stuntmannjosh/photos

He has more sports design work on his Behance profile: https://www.behance.net/JoshMagbanua

I also follow him on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/stuntmannjosh/?hl=en

The main things that I liked about this design were the following. I liked the double exposure. I liked how the smaller image of Conor McGregor with the arena, the crowd and the octagon in the background is placed within the large image of McGregor. 

I liked the message “When You’re About To Quit Remember Why You Started”. I found this very motivational. 

I liked the minimal use of colour with the monotone of black and white mixed with shades of green and red, which are complimentary colours. I liked the whitespace around the main image of Conor McGregor and the balance that it creates. I also liked the circle outlines that are placed throughout the design, it is very minimal and it doesn’t take away from the rest of the image. I also feel that the circles add an extra dynamic to the design, making it more interesting and geometric. The circles seem to put emphasis on his body and face and they form a visually pleasing grid. 

I liked the choice of sans serif typeface, and the different weights used to provide contrast. I also like how the typeface is blended over the imagery with an overlay, or some form of blending, through lowering the opacity or transparency values. 

Finally, I like the placement and size of his watermark/design name. It is not too big, but big enough to be noticeable and legible. It’s not over emphasised so as to overtake the design but it’s clear who made the poster. 

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Credit: Josh Andrew Magbanua - Graphic Designer. 

I found this photograph on his Behance profile: https://www.behance.net/JoshMagbanua

I liked the double exposure. I also liked the monotone and the contrast of black and white. 

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Credit: BLT Communications - Creative Agency and Steven Chorney - Illustrator. 

I found the final key art poster on the BLT Communications company website. BLT Communications is an independently owned creative agency founded in 1992 and based in Los Angeles, California, USA. They make a lot of artwork for films, such as film posters. This is their company website: https://www.bltomato.com/ 

Steven Chorney did the original illustration. This is his website: http://www.stevenchorney.com/ He has been commissioned to illustrate for Movie Posters, Book Covers, Games, Fine Art and a variety of National Advertising campaigns.

This is the link specifically to the “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” film poster on BLT’s website: https://www.bltomato.com/project/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood

Here is a link to the motion key art of this poster, I thought this was quite interesting: https://bltwebassets.azureedge.net/production/projects/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood/key-art/cb7c51eb-0e53-4425-85ab-887677665d1e.mp4 

With this poster I like the strong use of colour. I like the mix of analogous colours in the background of red, orange and yellow. I like the illustrative style of the poster. I like the typeface choices, I think that they reflect the aesthetic of the poster quite well. I like the overall concept of the poster. The hierarchy of the typography is very clear. All of the typography is legible. I like the contrast in the film title, how part of it is the colour yellow and the term “Hollywood” is white, it looks like the actual “Hollywood” sign and it creates a hierarchy within the film title itself. I like how different typeface weights are used at the top of the poster to describe the director of the film, Quentin Tarantino, this provides contrast and hierarchy of information and how tight tracking is used specifically on the director’s name, to good effect. I also like how most of the typography is center aligned creating symmetry. There is also a lot of whitespace at the top of the poster creating balance.

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Credit: Barry ‘Jazz’ Finnegan - Artist. 

I found this piece of art on the Capitol Records website: https://www.capitolrecords.com/artist-releases/only-ticket-home/gavin-james-only-ticket-home-album-art/ The label that Gavin James is signed to.

This is a large scale charcoal portrait of Gavin James, the Irish singer-songwriter, that was used as album cover artwork for his recent album “Only Ticket Home”. The artist that created the portrait , Barry ‘Jazz’ Finnegan, specialises in large-scale charcoal portraits, he attempts to make his portraits look like realistic photographs through the use of charcoal. He is an Irish artist. Here is his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/barryjazzfinnegan/

I like the simplicity of the portrait. I like the monotone of black and white. I like the white space around the portrait of Gavin James. I like how he is centered in the piece of art and the balance this creates with the white space. I also like the style of type that the artist has drawn, it is very legible. The name ‘Gavin James’ contrasts well with the type used for the album title. It is a good typeface pairing. His name is drawn as a serif typeface and the album title is drawn as a sans serif typeface, they are suitably different and this provides contrast. There is also contrast in the weights of the typography, emphasising hierarchy. I also like the contrast of the white typography against the black brief case. 

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Credit: Robert James Ashe - Editor and Creative Director at Conan. I found this logo design at this website: https://fontsinuse.com/uses/3154/conan-o-brien-tbs-show-logos

This is Robert’s personal website: http://robertjamesashe.com/

I’m a huge fan of the “Conan O’Brien” show. I really like this logo that was created by Robert James Ashe, an editor that works on the show. The typeface used is Gotham. It is a really clean, clear and modern typeface and I like the typeface weight chosen. 

I like the simplicity of the logo and how it reflects Conan’s personality really well. He is well known for the colour of his hair and the hair style that he has maintained throughout his whole career. I like the texture used for his hair, which is also used for the first two letters of his name. This contrasts well with the rest of the letters that are white, while the first two letters are orange. I like the simplicity of the vector graphic, it is minimalistic but effective. I think that the logo is well-balanced and I like that the title “Conan” is aligned flush left, creating an interesting dynamic with the vector graphic.

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Credit: Andy West - Graphic Designer and Art Director. 

I found these designs on his website: https://andywestdesign.com/ 

Andy has worked as an Art Director in the music industry for over 15 years. His clients include Island/Def Jam, Capitol Records and Converse among others. He did the design for the cover artwork for Beck’s album “Morning Phase”.

I like the choice of sans serif typeface used for the album cover. I like the loose tracking used on the typography. The typography is also very clear and legible. I like the double exposure effect of how the photograph of Beck is overlayed with another background photograph. I like the grungy texture of the album cover. I like the colour spectrum of the background photograph, how it goes from white in the top right hand corner to a multitude of colours over the rest of the album cover. I like how the typography is center aligned and how the photograph of Beck is centered too. This creates symmetry and balance within the design and shows the clear use of a grid.

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Credit: Niall McCormack - Illustrator and Designer. 

The first image is of the album cover artwork for ‘The Villagers’, “The Art of Pretending to Swim” album. I found this image on ‘The Villagers’ bandcamp page, here is the link: https://wearevillagers.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-of-pretending-to-swim

The second image is of the artwork for the single “A Trick of the Light”, from the “The Art of Pretending to Swim” album by ‘The Villagers’. I found this image on this website where you can buy some of ‘The Villagers’ music, here is the link: https://boomkat.com/products/a-trick-of-the-light-a33cba9f-2e75-420a-ac33-9afa748dfab7

The third image is of the “The Art of Pretending to Swim” album vinyl sleeves. I found this image at this link: https://realvj.com/2018/06/12/villagers-a-trick-of-the-light/

Niall McCormack is an Irish Illustrator and Designer. He specialises in music packaging and book design, particularly record sleeves and book covers. He has designed multiple record sleeves for ‘The Villagers’.

I love this album cover artwork by Niall. I really like the strong use of colour. He has used most of the colour wheel putting colours analogously together in sequence in the bar at the top of the album cover, and this sequence or order is matched with the colours used in the geometric art piece that is the main feature of the album sleeve. He goes from blue to variations of green to yellow and orange, to red, pink and shades of violet and back to blue. 

The bar at the top looks to me like an audio bar used in a mixing board or audio interface or some type of sound system. I think that the colours represent the spectrum of sounds produced in the album and that audio is playing. I also like the sans serif typeface choice. It is modern, clear, legible and matches the aesthetic of the album sleeve. There clearly is a hierarchy with the name “The Villagers” being scaled quite large relative to the name of the album. I like how everything is aligned. There is also a lot of whitespace, giving the design some breathing space and balance. I like the contrast of the black background with the colour spectrum used, I think that the mix of colours plus the beige typeface and partly beige coloured graphics contrast well with the black, and the mix of colours. I think that the geometric art matches quite well with the typeface choice, it is all very modern and contemporary. I like the overall concept.

I also like the single record sleeve for the song “A Trick of the Light”, from the album. Niall has used the same colour spectrum, just in a different sequence. I like how he has reversed the background colour compared to the album sleeve, the single cover’s background is now beige and the typeface is black. I feel this suggests that the single artwork is still using the same concept but it is distinguished from the album. The typeface choice is the same as the album. The geometric art differs from the album sleeve but it is still related to it.

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Credit: Julian Munoz Sosa - Artist. 

I found these artworks that he made from this website: https://society6.com/julianmunozsosa

I came across Julian on Instagram, here is his Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/jmzs.png/

He is an Argentinian artist. From what I found online most of his work plays with surrealism. I would imagine that he is heavily influenced by Salvador Dali, among other surrealistic artists. I love the irrational juxtaposition of the images and the big brother theme in some of them. I also like the mix of colours used, as well as the “Alice in Wonderland” themes in some of the other images too.

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Credit: Pilar Zeta - Artist, Graphic Designer and Fashion Designer. 

I found the images for my visual diary from her website: https://www.pilarzeta.com/ and from another website where she is interviewed about this artwork, at this link: https://www.coldplay.com/interview-pilar-zeta-ahfod-artwork-creator/

Pilar is an Argentinian artist and creative director. She is a surrealistic artistic. Her artworks are futuristic and she uses strong colours and a lot of collages in her artwork. Pilar did the art direction and design for Coldplay’s “A Head Full of Dreams” album cover sleeve. I found her designs to be really interesting. She has worked with Coldplay on another album cover too. She has also worked with Katy Perry for artwork for her live performances and music videos, among other music artists.

Pilar is a self-taught artist and designer. When she met with Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, and his manager, he discussed how he liked geometry and the fibonacci spiral with her and how he would like to incorporate this into the album cover artwork with a lot of colours. The artwork became a collaborative piece with all of the band members as well as their kids and Pilar contributing bits to form a massive collage.  

As the band wanted something geometric they then had the idea of ‘The Flower of Life”, that is used in geometry, with overlapping circles. It looks like a hexagon made of circles. It is a pattern used in nature and it has a really powerful meaning. So she made this with all of the colours of the colour wheel. I think that it is very striking. They ended up making the collage with the “The Flower of Life” into a kaleidoscope, and this became the final cover album artwork. I love the strong use of colours and all of the different imagery that is used throughout the collage. 

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Circle/Colour - Shape Worksheet.

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Circle/Shape - Shape Worksheet.

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Circle/Line - Shape Worksheet.