Design Comparisons

In the world of theater, those hired to design and create shows begin with a huge disadvantage. Although the market for theater may not be quite as large as film or television, its audience is every bit as varied. The disadvantage comes from the fact that every person in attendance is a person as complex as the next, with a lifetime of memories behind them and experiences that will shape how they react to each emotional stimulus they encounter. The art of theater is manipulation, in a manner of speaking, and the same goes for cinema. I worked in a movie theater for almost two years, and in our lobby we would hang upcoming theatrical release posters, roughly 20 posters at any time. I began to notice towards which posters people would gravitate, and after a time, it was fairly easy to guess which posters would be popular and which would be overlooked. But I never could say for certain what it was about that poster in particular that would attract so much attention, so I decided for this assignment I would use posters for plays to help shed some light on what works and what does not.

Assassins

The Road Company, NJ

This strikes me as a poor example of Print. It is a wild undersell of a phenomenally active and emotional play. Considering the source material, this poster falls short. the typeface is original, though not especially compelling or cognitively simple to understand. Even the use of Gestalt's Law of Continuity (the stars being bisected by the stripes) isn't used to great effect, psychologically or otherwise. the overlap of the text on the background (figure/ground) seems very sloppy, and further detracts from the already segmented and ugly layout of this poster. The warped stripes on the bottom part of the flag are the beginning of a good idea, but it wasn't executed in an affective way, and that hurts the overall design of the poster.

The attempt at contrast was a valiant one, but ultimately in vain. The symbol of the american flag is simply too common in our society for one to have it as the main symbol in a piece that is supposed to generate interest and grab your attention. Navy blue and brick red against a white background, normally a stark combination, isn't enough to catch the eye or keep me looking this direction. Unfortunately, I can't believe this poster did very well for them.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

National Theatre, Washington D.C.

My eye catches two or three gestalt principles at play in the first few moments of looking at this poster; the Law of similarity draws the eye from the "CURIOUS" in the title to the similarly colored sun spot on the floor; the floor under the boy is made up of hundreds of small squares, which under the Law of Pragnanz appears as larger squares; although the law of continuity isn't explicitly about typeface, the designer did an excellent job of creating direction and flow in the text, which controls the movement of the eye towards the figure in the middle. Contrast is heavy in this poster, and it is to great effect that the designer really saturated it with color. The gradient change from the borders to the center draws the eye inward, and the white and gold text appears clear but complimentary to the blue background. 

The figure in the poster is a 14 year old boy with an autism spectrum condition, and there are many things that happen in the play that would evoke a psychological affective response in us, and many of those things are present in this poster, such as the boy's fascination with outer space, and his obsession over the murder of a neighborhood dog. Having only premiered a few years ago, the iconography of the title alone has become famous in the theatrical community. 

All art forms are subjective, and theater perhaps more than most. Those who do design shows know that every person on the street will react differently to their poster, so it just goes to show the vital importance of making the best product you can, employing as many design principles as is psychologically feasible.

Since I wish I could've talked about the set design of Curious Incident, I decided to include a picture of the actual set from the Apollo, since it's so freakin' unbelievable. I love it. 

Gestalt Principles in a Brick Wall

Contrast, Balance, Harmony

Light creates darkness, and darkness creates light. The fact that contrast exists on a spectrum, and contrast's subsets (position, size, orientation) are relative is the theoretical basis of many design principles. This image shows a man in a dark theater with a white scrim bathed in purple light. "If you shine a green light on a red apple in a pitch black room, what color is the apple?" That's a common brainteaser my 5th grade art teacher would pose to my classroom. As far as I can remember, he never gave us a definitive answer, but I do remember I was of the opinion that under the circumstances the apple would be green. Whatever the purpose of that lesson, it now strikes me as an interesting example of the relativity of color, one of the elements of contrast. Although the purple is very pretty in this image, cascading down the vertical folds of the scrim, It is really the blacks that create the dramatic dynamic. Silhouettes like the one of the man pictured are created by a lack of front light, and without that front light, a stark color contrast is drawn between areas in front of the light and the areas behind the light. since the position of the objects in the image directly affects their color, light is a contributor, or indicator of  both position and orientation. Were the objects in the picture in a different arrangement, they would not have the same effect. The dramatic silhouette could be lost, and the contrast would lessen.

There are many other examples of contrast in this piece. There is the obvious differences in textures and size between the human curvature and the straight lines of the pillars. The vertical pillars excite the eye, and are similar to the vertical drape of the curtain in the back. The brightness ranges from pitch black to a washed out bright purple against the scrim, with the majority of values taking place on the scrim itself. That is where we can see a dramatic change in intensity. The beam angle almost creates a human form against the curtain. One can almost see a face...

Since we are largely stripped of our ability to realize position in this image, the figure and ground are recognized by the way that light bounces off of their angles. Otherwise, there is very little information given visually. One probably would not guess that the object in the bottom left is a baby grand piano with it's cover on. Dramatic lighting is one of my favorite tools in theater. Correctly applied, it can impact an audience in a very profound way. Although it's true that images like the one above can be pretty, the true impact stems from the mystique, the entrancing nature of theater and the desire for catharsis, among other things. I would say "emotion aside, this is what's working here," but I don't think that would be right. Emotion is a factor, as it should be. Much of what theater deals with is bringing to light the contrasts of our world. Anton Chekhov once said the purpose of theater was not to answer a question, but to ask one. This entire ideology is what the world of theater rests upon, it is the context of this piece.