School project S5 – Event posters

For this project we had to design 3 large format posters of variable sizes for a fictional event. Being somewhat of a geek, I chose an event I would like to see: Ottawa Comic-Con. It is a convention for fans of all kind (comics, sci-fi, horror, movies, TV, video games, etc).

Ottawa is a city with a rich architectural history, so going back in time graphically was an interesting idea. The overall look of the three types of posters is the “Art Nouveau” movement and the Vintage 40s with a touch of “propaganda” style. There’s a little “futurism” on the horizontal banner and triptych. These artistic styles feature many diagonal lines, perspective, movement and color desaturation. The chosen typography is the most representative elements of the time period illustrated in this poster. Although a vintage style is used, the mixture of minimalism and retro is very trendy nowadays. So this is a good marriage between the old and the new.

The parliament building has been used to identify the city of Ottawa. It is the architectural element most identifiable to Ottawa and is easily recognizable for Canadians and potential visitors of the convention. The new convention center is also represented more or less subtly on the three posters. The superhero representation is generic. It could be any superheros from Captain America to Batman

The poster

The title highly visible and the Peace Tower serves as a guideline to the bilingual information at the bottom right. The Superheros is transparent, otherwise we would have conflicted with the tower. It would also look as if it was ultraman or godzilla wanting to destroy the parliament while standing in the Ottawa river. The radiation effect brings attention to the parliament building and the fact that something is happening in Ottawa. The ground triangular texture is reminiscent of the new convention center.

The bus sign

Here, the big splash of color catches your attention and the direction of the superhero points to the title and the parliament. The irradiation is still a focus point on the parliament signifying the event in the capital. The motion effect of the flying superhero is reminiscent of the futurism style (repetitions) and the convention center is represented with its oval shape and triangular texture.

The triptych

The triptych was a good challenge especially if when you want to keep continuity between the posters but also for each part to convey its message. The title banner placed on the left draws attention and the eye follow the flying superhero (with the splash of yellow) and then goes to the convention center and the information. Then the eye goes back up to the silhouette who is looking at the parliament building closing the loop. It is a story from right to left. The hero first sees a threat, then it activates his powers and flies away.

copyright 2011