I chose to analyse and compared the following images in relation to my personal project about promotional posters for charity and illustration posters.
Heal Haiti's Heart and Malaria Kills promotional posters
Heal Haiti's Heart and Malaria Kills promotional posters
The first poster is part of The Haiti Poster Project launched three days after the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12th January 2010. Do Hong Phuc, also known as Kumalein – a freelance graphic designer, self-taught illustrator and animator based on HCMC, VIETNAM, illustrated it. Award-winning graphic artist Barton Damer designed the winning poster that won the Veer Creative Catalyst: Design for Change competition in 2011 for his creative poster contributing to the awareness of Malaria in Africa. Both the posters have been made to create awareness of crises in different parts of the world. The Haiti Poster project aimed to sell limited posters, including this one, and donate the money to charity whereas the Barton Damer’s poster won £2000 for the charity Malaria No More.
Both posters use symbolism creatively in different ways to create awareness for the crises they are informing the audience on. The Haiti poster titled Heal Haiti’s Heart is an illustration of an injured boy holding his chest with an open wound in the shape of the country Haiti. The illustrator said that the identity of the boy is “unknown and anonymous” making him “the best representative of whole Haiti”. The wound symbolizes not only the physical pain he and the people of Haiti were experiencing, but also the grief of their dearest country. The wound is marked with a red cross which represents his heart and the heart of Haiti need to be healed and calmed. He also uses the a red cross to replace the letter t in the word Haiti because of its significance has with healing and taking care of injured people. On the other hand, when asked to describe the concept behind his piece titled Malaria Kills, Barton Damer said: "At first glance I want it to look like the continent of Africa. Next I want you to notice a beautiful African Queen. Then I want you to notice that there are a lot of disturbing things about this 'Africa' -- malaria being a big one. So you have this tension of a beautiful African queen, but on further observation you notice some of the disturbing elements that make up the artwork." His poster has more complicated symbolism than the other poster although both posters share a common theme of charity but are differentiated by their cause they present.
The aesthetics of both posters are very different. The Heal Haiti’s Heart poster is composed of variety of colour whereas the Malaria Kills poster has been left in greyscale. The illustrator behind Heal Haiti’s Heart used a changing tone of various colours in the background he mentions that “the changes of dark to light tone in the mild spiral-like pattern signifies the raise of hope, which can also be interpreted as the effort to bring back calmness to the country that suffered from 7.0 magnitude earthquake. He also uses the colour red to highlight the crosses and word heal found on the poster. However, Malaria Kill’s has no colours and was left in greyscale which I think was used to reflect the serious causes and consequences Malaria has throughout the African continent. Both promotional posters have been designed in different ways – Heal Haiti’s heart clearly shows that the illustration of the boy is hand illustrated and scanned on and was developed further on a programme such as Photoshop to add a background and text. I think that that Kulmein deliberately illustrated the boy by hand because he wanted show to show a serious contribution to the victims of the Haiti earthquake and appeal via the symbolism rather than its aesthetics. Barton Damer has produced his poster in the best way he knows by using his award winning graphic skills to combine disturbing elements such as tried up roots, hoards of insects attracted by dead animals, and a skeleton representing the deaths Malaria has cause to provoke serious thought in those who are viewing the poster. The posters are composed in a slightly different way; Heal Haiti’s Heart is composed of combination illustration and text to portray and clarify the poster’s purpose whereas the Malaria Kills poster is composed of mostly just image but there is an added quote to support the image. The reason I believe this was done because Barton Damer wanted to show the viewer the grim nature of Malaria’s consequence.
As an illustrator, the Heal Haiti’s Heart poster won me over just by a little bit because I like the way the illustrator used simple formal elements to create such a conscious piece of work, although I do admire Barton Damer’s amazing graphic skills. Both posters are very creative and done in different ways but overall, both posters create awareness for serious worldly issues so as a viewer I would say there is no comparison between the two when it comes to their efficiency as awareness posters because they both share a common purpose. I think that Barton Damer took longer on his poster because as a graphic designer, I know the amount of time you have to dedicate to a piece of graphics work due to the little details that have to be constantly modified.
Image and source of info for Heal Haiti's Heart from here
Image and source for Malaria Kills from here and here
The image on the right is of a poster illustrated by David Sossella who was hired to help promote and advertise Ray Ban's Rare Print campaign. David Sossella also takes pride in painting and graphic design. The image on the right is poster illustrated by Sophie Henson, a freelance illustrator based in London who has experience working as print and textile designer.
Both posters share similarities and differences. David Sossella's poster was used for promotion by Ray Ban, who has been recognised for their famous Wayfarer glasses. They launched a campaign to promote their Rare Print collection back in 2010 and they are the clients who hired David Sosella amongst other artists to advertise their campaign. David Sossella's poster is 1 of 9 posters used to promote the Rare Print campaign. On the other hand, Sophie Hanson released her London Village poster as a limited edition collection.
Another difference is that the first poster hasn't been given a title as a single piece of work becuase it is part of a collective where as the other poster is tilted London Village. Both posters have two different theme, David Sassello's poster hasn't really got a theme but rather than create attention to the product on display, Ray Ban Rare Print glasses. On the other hand, the theme for London Village is London which is clearly stated in its name. The word village suggests the theme is based on the social and cultural structure of what makes London what it is today. Both posters have very different content, one displays a range of 'funky, fresh and cool' characters in a unique way which draw's attention to the glasses in an imaginative way. By this being said, it is clear that Ray Ban want to target a youthful, rebellious and artistic audience whereas the other posters content is based on social and cultural aspects of London that appeal to the people who recognise these aspects as part of their home - in other words, to the people of London. Furthermore, there, Sophie Henson's poster is typographical and David Sossella's is pictorial. This reinforces my point on how the two posters have two different purposes.
David Sossella used a colour palette of mainly red which is really provocative to the eye and naturally directs attention to where it is used. But compared to Sophie Henson's poster, you can see how provocative it is because she uses a trio of colours which perfectly complements the neat structure of the design she has used. Also, the London Village limited edition poster was screen printed on A2 (420mm x 594mm) heavyweight art paper (270gsm), which were signed and numbered by the illustrator herself. David Sossella used his graphic skills to use and created this poster on Illustrator and this I know because he shows a vector composed image on his Behance profile. The majority of her poster is composed of typography whereas the other poster is composed of characters - David Sossella places a woman wearing a pair Rare Print glasses in the centre with randomised characters on top of her head.
Originally, I preferred Sophie Henson's poster but the more I looked at both, I found David Sossella's poster more appealing because I think it is more creative than Henson's poster. What attracts me the most in Sossella's poster is the characters and his attention to detail. I am sure he spent a great amount of time creating this poster because of the time I have spent on Illustrator creating my own illustrations. I find that the detail in the Ray Ban poster gives the poster a more sophisticated design overall.
David Sossella Rare Print Ray-Ban poster and London Village
The image on the right is of a poster illustrated by David Sossella who was hired to help promote and advertise Ray Ban's Rare Print campaign. David Sossella also takes pride in painting and graphic design. The image on the right is poster illustrated by Sophie Henson, a freelance illustrator based in London who has experience working as print and textile designer.Both posters share similarities and differences. David Sossella's poster was used for promotion by Ray Ban, who has been recognised for their famous Wayfarer glasses. They launched a campaign to promote their Rare Print collection back in 2010 and they are the clients who hired David Sosella amongst other artists to advertise their campaign. David Sossella's poster is 1 of 9 posters used to promote the Rare Print campaign. On the other hand, Sophie Hanson released her London Village poster as a limited edition collection.
Another difference is that the first poster hasn't been given a title as a single piece of work becuase it is part of a collective where as the other poster is tilted London Village. Both posters have two different theme, David Sassello's poster hasn't really got a theme but rather than create attention to the product on display, Ray Ban Rare Print glasses. On the other hand, the theme for London Village is London which is clearly stated in its name. The word village suggests the theme is based on the social and cultural structure of what makes London what it is today. Both posters have very different content, one displays a range of 'funky, fresh and cool' characters in a unique way which draw's attention to the glasses in an imaginative way. By this being said, it is clear that Ray Ban want to target a youthful, rebellious and artistic audience whereas the other posters content is based on social and cultural aspects of London that appeal to the people who recognise these aspects as part of their home - in other words, to the people of London. Furthermore, there, Sophie Henson's poster is typographical and David Sossella's is pictorial. This reinforces my point on how the two posters have two different purposes.
David Sossella used a colour palette of mainly red which is really provocative to the eye and naturally directs attention to where it is used. But compared to Sophie Henson's poster, you can see how provocative it is because she uses a trio of colours which perfectly complements the neat structure of the design she has used. Also, the London Village limited edition poster was screen printed on A2 (420mm x 594mm) heavyweight art paper (270gsm), which were signed and numbered by the illustrator herself. David Sossella used his graphic skills to use and created this poster on Illustrator and this I know because he shows a vector composed image on his Behance profile. The majority of her poster is composed of typography whereas the other poster is composed of characters - David Sossella places a woman wearing a pair Rare Print glasses in the centre with randomised characters on top of her head.
Originally, I preferred Sophie Henson's poster but the more I looked at both, I found David Sossella's poster more appealing because I think it is more creative than Henson's poster. What attracts me the most in Sossella's poster is the characters and his attention to detail. I am sure he spent a great amount of time creating this poster because of the time I have spent on Illustrator creating my own illustrations. I find that the detail in the Ray Ban poster gives the poster a more sophisticated design overall.
