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Consumerism (poster 1) - The Process #process #DES101

  • Writer: Emma
    Emma
  • Apr 9, 2020
  • 4 min read

The assignment: Create a poster based off a key theme from a haiku.

The guidelines:

  • Grayscale

  • Geometric shapes only


I could do that. Right?


The haiku:


Catch me if you can

Hurry up, search for treasures

A sandpiper’s game


Morrill, J. (2017, May 16). Pens Love Ink. Thought, pen, ink and paper for May 15 to 19,



The themes I picked out were, Chaos, Snatch and Consumerism. I imagined dirty pirates digging for treasure, which somehow led me to think about how we live in a materialistic world. I drew inspiration from Barabara Kruger. Her works on consumerism fascinate me and I’ve always been drawn to them.





I got fixated on an idea. I imagined this mouth with angular teeth consuming things with it’s skeleton hands. Naturally I spent the next two weeks playing with this. You can see my various versions I tried, it was never right. I finally realised that this design wasn’t the right setting to use it for. For this design to work it needed to be simplified, have more thoughtful composition and perhaps text or colour. I failed to see this while I was creating it. It didn’t help that this was my first time using a digital design platform and I was struggling.


I revisited the drawing board. Looking at my original sketches I took another idea I liked the look of and started tinkering. Something good had come out of doing the first design, I had some basic skills using Illustrator, so to create the next design was far easier. Within an hour, I had the drafts of my poster.


Second idea I went with

I played around with the composition, I wanted this poster to express the concept of always wanting more. I used the rule of thirds as a guide for where I wanted to draw focus and make a visually pleasing poster. (Dabner & Swann, 2014). I liked the asymmetrical look as it was clean and left a lot of negative space which represented the emptiness of consumerism. (Wong, 1972) The line of eyes and exclamation points are positioned to the far right, in close proximity to each other and the edge of the page which make it seem as though they are pushed up against the edge, and evoke a claustrophobic feeling, “...layouts based on an off-centered axis, creating tension and dynamism.” (Dabner &Swann, 2014 p. 44) I did this as living in a consumerist world, having a materialistic mindset is hard to escape from. The pattern of exclamation points running vertically down the page make it seem like they are in fact running off the page and create a cycle, “Each repetitive unit form is like the beat of some kind of rhythm.” (Wong, 1993 p. 51) They represent the cycle of consumerism as well as the excitement that comes along with it. An exclamation mark is commonly used to express excitement and the cycle pattern expresses the cycle of consumerism. The excitement of a product encourages a consumer to buy it, then another product looks exciting and the cycle is repeated. (Scott, 2017) They also remind me of supermarket lights further enforcing the consumerism concept through shopping. The eyelashes on the eyes add a small detail which I like as it adds a touch of complexity as everything else in the poster is very stripped back.


In my final prototype I had multiple arrows instead of one. I liked this as it looked like the arrows were pushing the other shapes off the page. After gathering some feedback, a singular arrow makes more sense. It balances and creates even more tension. The arrow is almost like a finger about to push everything off. The arrow is in a position of power. It is placed using the rule of thirds and pulls focus. It also has a spatial hierarchy over the rest of the shapes being the only shape that lays outside the right third of the page creating the illusion it has freedom. (Dabner & Swann, 2014) The other objects are grouped together, it seems like they are stuck in their pattern through repetition, whereas the arrow is by itself and has no pattern. The arrow symbolises our choices, we think we are trapped in a consumerist cycle, but we actually have power to choose how we live and can get out of that materialistic mindset and focus on intrinsic values, “Intrinsic goals tend to be ones that promote greater well-being and act as a kind of ‘antidote’ to materialistic values,” (Kasser)


I am really proud of what I created, however I think I could’ve come to this design a lot sooner if I had been more decisive in the beginning. Our design teachers are always telling us to be decisive in our designs and not get caught up in an idea just because you like it. Deep down I knew the first design wouldn’t work with these guidelines, but I didn’t want to believe it. I need to think realistically and not get emotionally attached to my ideas, “A designer requires honest feedback and real criticism.” (Monterio, 2015)



Reference List


Dabner, D., & Swann, A. (2014). Graphic Design School; the principles and practice of

graphic design. Unit 2: Fundamentals of Composition. (5th ed., pp. 33 & 44). [Talis version] Retreived from https://content.talisaspire.com/auckland/bundles/5e4595170cb4c31d9325cfa4


Kruger, B. (1987). Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am). Retrieved from


Kruger, B. (1987). Untitled (You’ve Got Money To Burn). Retrieved from


Monterio, M. (2015). What Is a Designer?. Retrieved from


Sunbright Lamp Distributors. New World Store Ceiling Light. Retrieved from


Scott, M. (2017). What You Need To Know About Consumerism. Retrieved from


Wong, W. (1972). Principles of two-dimensional design. Chapter 2. (pp. 9-14) [Talis version]

Retrieved from


Wong, W. (1993) Principles of Form and Design. Chapter 3, Repetition (p. 51) [Talis version]. Retrieved


 
 
 

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