William Bradley Poster

Artist: William Bradley

Style: Art Nouveau

Work's name: The Modern Poster

Year: 1895

Poster LINK

William Bradley was an artist during the Art Nouveau movement, and at one point was the highest paid artist in the early 1900's. LINK

The first thing that stood out in the poster to me is the bold contrast of the lights and darks, and how they create a simple, elegant, and flowing design. The flowing design of the image leads me to the next feature of the poster I like which is its movement. The text starts you in the upper left corner, leads you directly to the upper right corner, then makes a downward "c" shaped curve to the bottom of the page, where the remaining part of the poster's title is positioned. It is also clever how he divided the title of the poster like this in that it still is readable and not just used for the sake of being cleaver.

Poster before 1950

Poster before 1950 LINK

Year: 1947

Artist: ?

This poster is one with no direction in my opinion, and for that matter, I feel it lacks in unity, is too crowded (has too much weight?), has no rhythm and seriously lacks direction. It literally looks like frames and scenes from the movie were cut out and thrown into the space, and then the artist decided to put emphasis on the main image (the giant face) by coloring it, which is about the only thing going for it. But by emphasizing  the main image, the other smaller ones just clutter up the surrounding space on the page. I just don't know what to focus on in this example.

Post-modern poster

Post modern poster LINK

Year: 1975

Artist: Charles Gehm

This poster is well balanced in that all the main elements are surrounded by a border whose layout houses the main elements well by having colors that don't compete with the main element and by bringing a sort of symmetry to the poster as a whole. Basically, while the poster is not perfectly symmetrical, it is balanced on all sides and provides grounding for the main elements versus having them float in the middle of the space used.

This Millennium Poster

This millennium poster LINK

Year: 2008

Artisit: BLT & Associates

The motion of this poster travels in a downward fashion that lead's the viewer's eye in a manner that makes it easy to read and see all of the information that is given. Furthermore, accomplishes what a movie poster should in that the layout, colors, and flow create a work that informs the viewer in a way that is not over powering or distracting from the tone or feel of the poster. For instance if the poster had used color in this design, then the poster would lose much of its dramatic tone due to the reds, blacks, and whites being blended in and dulled down from how it is currently presented. The previous sentence also shows what a big part the contrast in this poster plays.

Saul Bass Poster

Saul Bass LINK

Year: 1965

Artist: Saul Bass

The strong contrast between the background and the main image create a dramatic tone that portrays the serious nature of the film. I feel the simple design of the poster and the muted colors used also help create a look that resembles the look the U.S. Military might want to portray...sharp, direct, and strong.