Poster, Poster on the Wall: CTS Class Two

• karoelisa22

Overview

In CTS week three, we focused on storytelling and applying primary and secondary research skills to an object we chose as a group. Taken from Andrew’s personal collection of graphic design, we chose a poster given to him as a gift from a student and completed a series of exercises surrounding it, culminating in a narrative written from the perspective of the object itself.

The Object

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Primary Research

Why did your group select your object?

  • Typography, colour, the radically different content matter
  • Collaging and how it is printed
  • The layout and composition
  • It was similar to the style of the Sex Pistols
  • We all thought it was visually interesting

Describe the object through a drawing (Drawn by Jay and digitalized by Karoline)

Describe the form of the object in words.

  • It is a punk multimedia collage of the objectification of women

Describe the function of the object in words.

  • A gift from a friend who knew Andrew’s artistic inclinations (based on the statement written on the back of the poster)

After having taken a photo of the object, what are the differences and similarities between the photograph and the drawing above?

  • Similarities between the two were the colours and colours contrast, composition, the idea of collage and layering
  • Differences between the two were that the poster itself was much more visually articulate with tones, shades, and clear images, versus our abstract representation of layout and physical foreground and background. In addition, the photograph is slightly darker and shows the typography of the poster, which was not included on the drawing.

Who do you think may be the audience for this graphically designed object?

  • Men
  • Punk rock bands
  • People who appreciate the style of the 70s and 80s
  • People who appreciate the vinyl era
  • Sex Pistols fans
  • People who like the style of Jamie Reid (designer for the Sex Pistols)

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Secondary Research

Find out as much as you can about the history of the product or brand that the object represents. What information is noteworthy?

  • The poster was a gift given by a student in 2016
  • It was a project and was the second of nine copies, as indicated next to the signature on the front
  • The student’s name is Joshua Faux
    • Mainly a photographer
    • Specialized in concept and editorial design
    • Graduate of LCC GMD programme
    • Worked at a studio in Amsterdam recommended to him by Andrew

Examples of BuroBraak work: left, design for social change at https://www.pintaram.com/u/burobraak/1741543307030467572_2302272107 and right, book design at http://picdeer.com/burobraak

  • The poster was not at all related to the Sex Pistols
  • Andrew met Josh at the Colchester School of Art, where Andrew was teaching and Josh did foundation

Who is the audience?

  • Contemporary artists and graphic designers
  • Either directly targeting progressives and creating a movement or attempting to create a stir
    • The second is more likely because of his inspiration from Gilbert and George, who do exactly that
  • Designing for himself and his personal views and experimentation

Is your answer similar or different to your answer from your primary research?

  • Different; we thought it was an older poster inspired by a Sex Pistols style. However, it is a contemporary poster inspired by Gilbert & George and a part of a 10 Commandments series. However, we were correct in saying that the black and white images on the poster had been collaged.

Can you find out who the designer is? Is it important that the designer is credited?

  • The artist is Joshua Faux
  • It is always important to credit the artist to give credit where credit is due and establish who the artist is; otherwise, you may end up in a situation where no one can name the original artist

How did you find out the answers to these questions?

  • Interview with Andrew Slatter
    • This told us the artist’s name, occupation, interests, and relation to Andrew. From there, we asked more aout who he was and visited his site.
  • Joshua Faux’s website at http://www.joshfaux.com/
    • This told us a lot about how the artist worked on this poster and what his personal style is. The website also led us to Gilbert & George, who the artist credits as inspiration and to the studio he worked for in Amsterdam.

Josh Faux Website.png

GilbertGeorge.png

  • The BuroBraak website at https://www.burobraak.nl/
    • This showed us another side of where the artist worked and was inspired from

BuroBraak

Every designed object has a brief, including graphic design. Write the brief for this object, imagining that you are the client.

  • Create a multimedia poster using analogue techniques based on any subject.

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Our Object’s Story

‘ello! It’s kind of hard to see from down here, but I’ll try my best. Oh, hold on, put me on the wall where I’m supposed to go. See? There, that’s much better. So, let’s try this again.

Hi! My name is poster. Well, my real name is Here’s How to Take Sex That Challenges_BOYo.cook, but it’s kinda long, so let’s stick to poster. So, as you guys are all sitting here staring, I might as well kill time and tell you a bit about myself.

Like I said, my name is poster, in case you’ve already forgotten. I’m a mean, lean, yellow, inspired-by-Gilbert &George machine and I was born in 2016. And hey, for a poster, I look really good for two years old, not a scratch on me! (don’t take the rough typography and pixel-based, black and white sexual collage into account for my age. People say it ages me and makes me look all 70s punk or Sex Pistols style, but that’s there on purpose). So anyways, as stories tend to go, I’ll start at the very beginning, which is, thank you Julie Andrews, a really good place to start. But first, I’ll need you to grab a chair, because the beginning is kinda a crazy story.

So I was actually the second of nine (I know, super big family, not to mention we’re nonuplets), and basically, I was screen printed, then hand collaged and then letterpress got mixed in somewhere – don’t ask me how or why (Faux 2018). But anyways, when I was done, I got a new look and a new meaning: I became the first print in a series about the Ten Commandments (Faux 2018). So far so good. To be honest with you guys though, it was kinda boring at first. Being the second oldest is great (I even have the signature and the fraction in the corner to prove it), but you end up on the bottom of the pile, which isn’t that fun. But it got really interesting really quickly when I left my crew and Josh (UAL grad Joshua Faux to you), presented me as a gift to a teacher he’d had in his foundation year at another college, Andrew Slatter (Slatter 2018). He’d even left a little note on the back in graphite, it was really kinda cute (Slatter 2018). Anyways, there’s a lot of time I can skip over from that beginning to where we are now, and man, so much can change in just two years!

For starters, I actually just came out of Andrew’s collection again, and today, I came face to face with you lot, and you look really different from the last crew I saw. I don’t even know where Josh and all his friends have gone, probably doing editorial design like he always muttered about during screen printing sessions (Faux 2018). Or maybe he did take that dare he talked about and go on the show First Dates (Slatter 2018). I’d have like to see that! Anyways, you lot were doing a project of some sort, and one of your group members picked me up right away and claimed me for the group. Hmm, must have been the yellow, if I could bat my eyes and flip my hair right now, I would, I’m glad you find me so interesting. You also pointed out a couple cool things about my layering and layout that I’m personally very proud of (glad you caught the right-skewed layout and the magazine type, I was starting to get nervous). You even had an interesting idea about what I mean, that I’m a punk multimedia collage about the objectification of women.

For real though, if I can give you one critique, I have never been analyzed so much in my ENTIRE life. But hey, I have to give it to you guys, you managed to tell my story line for line. I even got to see Andrew again when you interviewed him. Nice research too. Don’t I look SO good on Josh’s website (Faux 2018)? Just think of that, yours truly up on the internet. I’m really moving up in the world.

Other Commentary

  • Having seen his other work, we believe that this was a very experimental piece, as these images are highly different from his other work. However, we do believe that it was an experiment in layout and typography inspired by editorial and concept design.
  • The folding of the piece almost seems to be part of the artwork
  • The difference between our perception and the photograph is very interesting

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