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.