25.08 Week Six / Session Two

Rationales

In New Zealand, students are taken advantage of financially. This creates inequality between students and the government. My intended audience is students and graduates who don’t realize they are victims, this is to create resistance to my issue. I have related to them by visually realizing the significance of feeling weighed down by debt. In this poster I have used paint to create pathos and depth, and a street art style figure to give it a rebellious feel. I have used a dramatic contrast in scale to create the sense that the student is overwhelmed and helpless. I have used red for my heading and anchor as it is powerful, sinister, and contrasts with the blue. The heading is partially submerged to create a sense of suffocation, claustrophobia and sinking. The viewers’ eye is guided down the page in a sinking motion to reinforce the idea of drowning.

In New Zealand, students are taken advantage of financially. This creates inequality between students and the government. My intended audience is students and graduates who don’t realize they are victims, this is to create resistance to my issue. I have related to them by visually realizing the significance of feeling trapped by debt. In this poster I have used a handmade, sketchy style to create a sense of anger and rebellion. The painted background is gloomy and gives a sense of being trapped. There is a dramatic contrast in scale between the dollar sign and the student, showing that the debt holds the power. The barbed wire dollar sign is red, as it is a sinister colour. I have used yellow text as it is an ironically happy colour, creates contrast, and is visually engaging. The white light behind the student creates contrast, which defines the figure.

22.08 Week Six / Session One

Final Critique 

In response to my final critique I have made my text stronger, and tried to strengthen my first poster by giving it some colour and stronger, handwritten text to tie into the illustration. I think this makes it more visually engaging and less passive. 

Looking at my posters on the wall of posters I can clearly see that my 'drowning in debt' poster stands out more amongst the other posters and is more successful. This is because I have gone for a dull and gloomy style in my other poster. It is also more easy to identify the issue from far away in the 'drowning in debt' poster. I think it is too late to make any major changes now, but this is something I have learned and can consider next time. 

20.08 Week Five / Session Two

Critique of Details

In my critique, I discovered that my type face was too small, my heading/ subheading/ body text were too complicated, and my anchor needed to be bigger. I have responded by simplifying my text and making it 'punchier', changing my logo to a hashtag, and making my figure and anchor larger. My posters are now more effective. 

15.08 Week Five / Session One

Response to Interim Two

Here is my initial response to the feedback I was given from Interim Two, outlined in the previous post.

I have re-done the student figure using a more appropriate style.

I have incorporated the waves more into my loose style, lowered the text and tilted the words to convey sinking. 

I have made the anchor red to link the colours and draw attention to it, as well as changing the placement of the figure to create eye movement for the viewer.

I have shortened my text, created asymmetry within my composition and created my own logo.

15.08 Week Five / Session One

Interim Two

My main feedback from my peers was that the central issue was more easily identifiable in the drowning poster. They thought the idea could be made more obvious. Someone pointed out that the anchor would be difficult to identify from a distance. I also realised that 'DEBT' would be difficult to read from a distance, and the student in the other poster would be difficult to identify. I need to work more on this by using scale, placement and by playing with opacity.

My peer feedback also revealed that people found the posters visually engaging. This was because of the contrast against the dark backgrounds and the use of pathos. Reasons why people thought they were not so visually engaging were because the figures need to be bigger to be more easily identified and someone said that they weren't sure about the light in the '$' poster, which they thought was a halo. Someone also thought that the dollar sign was awkward, so maybe I need to change that. Someone also suggested that the 'DEBT' could be tilted to show sinking.

 I also found out that the association that I am using the logo of actually needs to be fictional, so I need to design my own logo.

The feedback from my tutor gave me more specific ideas of things I could alter to make my posters more effective. My body text is too small, and also needs to have one clear message, maybe one punchy line with one message/idea. Also, in the '$' poster, the black vector style student is too cliche and contrasts with the style of the rest of the poster. I need to try making it grainy/painted or somehow link it into the gritty and loose style that I am using. With this poster I also need to try with different colours to make it more punchy and make it asymmetric.

With the drowning poster, the clean vector style waves are too contrasted with the rest of the style I am using, I should try loose brush strokes and choppy waves to be less cliche and more effective. The ocean also needs to be brighter as my colours are very dull and gloomy. I should make the drowning figure not centred, if it was moved to the right and the anchor was maybe pulling them to the centre, there would be more visual flow and show pulling/weight. I would then also bring the logo to the left. The red from the 'Student Debt' should be linked in somewhere else, probably a red anchor would be effective in visually connecting the poster as well as making the anchor more obvious. Also perhaps if I moved 'Student Debt' down, the poster would be less top heavy and convey the idea of sinking more. Someone also suggested to me that maybe it would look interesting if 'Debt' was tilted. 

It was very interesting seeing everyone else's posters. I think the ones that worked the best were the ones that were clear and simple, but made visually engaging by using relevant colour, style and shock factor, as long as these were secondary and complementary to the issue. 

13.08 Week Four / Session Two

Starting to Refine 

I have been working on the two posters I have selected, focusing on grid, layout and things like kerning. For the first poster I have exaggerated the contrast in scale between the text and figure to add a sense of power. I have also created a glow behind the figure to make it stand out with the aid of contrast. For the second, I have tightened up the text, as well as making it bolder and kerning it, to make it more powerful. I have centred the figure so it is more noticeable, and lifted it up from the bottom of the poster to create a sense of movement. 

I have also decided on an association to make the poster for; NZUSA (New Zealand Union of Students' Associations). And have begun to explore more body text that will add to the information of the poster and state a call to action, which is to stand up for student rights. 

At the moment I definitely think that my second poster is the stronger of the two because of the strong concept and negative space. This is something I will need to work on. 

12.08 Week Four / Session Two

Deciding on Posters to Refine and Develop

After printing the posters that I liked the most in A2, I decided to work on these two and refine them for the interim two presentation. It is a lot different seeing them A2 size, I think it is easy to tell what they are about from far away, but some things are hard to distinguish such as the figure of the students in both posters. Seeing my posters next to everyone elses also made me realise how reliant on the text my posters are, I am unsure as to whether this is good or bad. I also need to bring in a grid.