S P ECI AL REP O RT

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A!poster!by!French!
design!team!Helmo5!
for!Pronomade8s9!en!
Haute-Garonne5!the!
national!centre!for!
the!arts!ofthe!street5!
in!>?@>

PICTURE PERFECT

R!"BL AC K
Ma s s #Non - Vi ol en t# D i rec t #Ac t i on#
www3rblack3org

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blocky1$constructivist$design$for$Occupy$has$
thestridency$and$urgency$of$a$brick$lobbed$
through$awindow3$November$AB1$CDAA$was$an$
international$day$of$action$organised$two$months$
aEer$the$first$Occupy$Wall$Street$demonstration3$
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massed$ranks$recalls$the$Chinese$man$who$
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inALML3$This$memorable$poster$is$all$over$the$
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ortablet$than$encountered$as$a$print3

Germany and Russia, with strong showings

from Iran, France, Switzerland and even the
US. Most of these posters come from the
cultural sector (theatres, art galleries,
concerts and festivals) or from social
campaigns and causes.

CONCEPTUAL LATITUDE
The poster is the graphic medium that is
closest to art and it is likely to struggle in
any setting where marketing considerations
take priority. To achieve the most striking
graphic imagery, the designer needs to be
free to interpret the material with a high
degree of aesthetic and conceptual latitude.
Prescribed systems of any kind, based on
settypefaces and formats or sponsors logos,
are in the end almost invariably restrictive.
It would be worrying to be able to
saythat we can see dominant trends in
poster design because this would suggest
that posters were becoming formulaic
andpredictable. The posters exhibited
atinternational festivals tend to be
highlydivergent in style, and this is the
bestindication of vitality and invention.
Nevertheless, many contemporary designers

question the long-held conviction stemming

from the posters origins in advertising that
a poster design should present a simplified
message in an easily graspable graphic form
for immediate consumption. Many posters

THE PO S TE R IS THE
G RAP HIC M E DIUM THA T
IS CLOS E ST T O ART , AND
I T S LIKE LY TO S T RUG G L E
IN ANY S E TT ING
W HE RE M AR KET ING
CO NS ID E R AT IONS
TAKE P R IO RI T Y
now fracture and distort the content or
present the viewer with a playfully complex
field of elements to explore and decipher.
In France, there is a tradition of artful
poster-making and regional arts centres
often employ designers to create highly

W W WNCO MPU T E RA RT S NCONU K

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individualistic poster identities for

theirtemporary seasons of concerts,
performances and exhibitions. The
designteam Helmo Thomas Couderc
andClment Vauchez has a regular
relationship with Pronomade(s) en HauteGaronne, the national centre for the arts
ofthe street, in the southwest of France.
In2011, Helmo designed a series of
quirkyposters with a circular viewing
areaonto which the studio collaged
differentkinds of imagery photographs,
cartoons, pie charts and engravings.
The visual theme in 2012 was a
complete change of direction a series of
black-and-white photographs of faces seen
through frameworks formed of spindly
white line drawings of buildings, winding
roads, or a stadium. In one of the strangest
images in this charmingly eccentric series,
atiny, sketched figure is caught at the centre
of a labyrinth over a genial-looking middleaged mans winking eye. The handwritten
lettering floats down the poster in a series
ofgently rounded black panels.
Beyond the sphere of subsidised civic
culture, there are two areas where the

S P ECI AL REP O RT

AU GU S T 2 01 3

Another'of'Helmos'
Pronomade1s2'poster'
series5'featuring'a'
red'circle'as'a'motif''
which'is'then'adapted'
into'different'scenes'
on'each'design

PICTURE PERFECT

JU RGEN MA EL FEY T
KAS K#Ci n em a #* +, *#
www.jurgenmaelfeyt.be

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Belgium#$runs$an$independent$cinema$showing$
everything$from$film$classics$to$experimental$
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in$this$style#$conveys$the$programmes$plenitude$
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posters$lack?$The$jumble$of$elements$manages$
thesubtle$trick$of$seeming$slightly$artless$and$
knowingly$contemporary$at$the$same$time?

poster is making a comeback and neither

has much to do with the commercial
concerns or marketing agendas of
mainstream design. The first of these is
therock music gig poster, which is usually
printed in silkscreen for maximum visual
impact. The website GigPosters.com, a
tremendous resource, has alphabetically
organised contributions by hundreds of
poster designers from the US and elsewhere,
and shows how digital platforms can help
togive a new lease of life to a seemingly
moribund form of analogue communication.
The phenomenon is most fully established
in the US where poster designers or artists
either term seems equally valid such as
Art Chantry and Frank Kozik have long
beencult figures.
The energy of this movement has
spread to the UK. In July 2011, the Flood
Gallery opened in Greenwich Market in
London, selling posters by American
designers such as Kii Arens, Rob Jones,
Vahalla Studios, and Burlesque of
NorthAmerica. The posters are special,
collectable yet affordable, and are a gateway
drug for music fans wishing to bring more

art into their lives and on their walls at

home, states the gallery on its website. Its
an exciting space, dense with vibrant new
images, and well worth a visit.
British poster designers have
responded with initiatives of their own.
Poster Roast and the Brighton Rock Artists

THE AP P E AL FO R THIS NE W
W AV E OF GIG P O S T E R
DE S IG NE R -ILL USTR A TO R S
IS THE CR E A TI ON O F
T ANG IB L E , OW NAB L E , NO NDIG I TAL T O KE NS O F T HE
M US IC S P OW E R
Group are collectives of poster artists
formed to make their creative activities
more visible. The UK Poster Association
aims to support and promote the work of
UKposter artists such as Luke Drozd,

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AdamPobiak and Jemma Treweek. Since

November 2012, it has maintained a
permanent gallery at the Black Heart pub
inCamden. This time around, the poster
isboth advertisement and artifact, acting as
a unique artistic interpretation of a bands
music and limited edition merchandise,
says the UKPAs mission statement. Todays
gig poster art has its own superstars, and
artist collectives are springing up all over
theworld. The appeal for this new wave of
designer-illustrators, inspired by an earlier
generation of 1960s and 1970s poster
artists,is the creation of tangible, ownable,
non-digital tokens of the musics power:
Agig poster serves as a memento of a fans
experience at a live gig in a way that cannot
be downloaded or shared digitally, it adds.

COLLECTABLE YET AFFORDABLE

The other area where the poster shows
renewed signs of life is in the sphere of
activism and protest, and in the expression
ofpublic concern about a gamut of issues
that includes climate change, Palestine,
child labour, womens rights, exploitation of
migrant workers and nuclear power. The

S P ECI AL REP O RT
Helmos'poster'
series'for'a'fashion'
promotion'entitled'
Btes'de'Mode'was'
based'on'the'idea'of'
animal'instinct'versus'
fashion'instinct

PICTURE PERFECT

PA L EFR O I
Seal $ of$ Qu a l i t y /Joey $Fou r r/ P a pa y e
www3palefroi3net

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experimental%than%Knochenbox%in%Berlin%%it%
occupies%a%crypt%under%a%chapel:%Fi<ingly%then=%
Palefrois%design%is%a%gig%poster%with%a%difference:%
Many%posters%in%this%burgeoning=%American-led%
genre%borrow%from%time-tested%graphic%styles=%
evoking%memories%of%rock%musics%earlier%glories:%
Palefroi%%designers%Damien%Tran%and%Marion%
Jdanoff%%produced%a%screenprint=%from%an%edition%
of%just%IJ=%with%the%meandering%line=%splotchy%
composition%and%eccentric%digressions%of%an%art%
print:%This%is%a%playfully%indirect%communication%
from%the%subcultural%fringes%for%musicians%who%
command%a%small%but%intensely%loyal%following:

Occupy movement provoked aflood of

posters by designers infuriated by gross
inequalities, the effects of the economic
downturn on ordinary people and the
urgent need for radical reform. R. Black,
already successful as an American rock
poster artist, was a willing convert to the
cause, as he explained: Revolution, like art
and artists, is full of passion; its impulsive
and crazy, it hates to obey the rules and
wants to piss off the status quo. Many of the
Occupy poster designs could be downloaded
from specially set up websites for anyone to
print out and use indemonstrations.
In a similar online development, the
UK-based charity Green Thing, which claims
to have reached more than 11 million people
in 209 countries or territories, has been
running a weekly series of posters, Do the
Green Thing, intended toencourage an
environmentally sound lifestyle.
Contributing designers include
theillustration duoHuntley Muir and
Pentagrams Marina Willer, Angus Hyland,
Domenic Lippa andHarry Pearce. Its
possible to buy the inexpensive posters,
which tend to be highly direct in idea and

execution, as the cause perhaps requires,

andthe proceeds go into funding the
charity.Again, this shows how asymbiotic
relationship between networked

M ANY D E S IG NE R S S TIL L
RE COG NIS E THE TE S T OF
V IS IO N AND S KILL PO S E D
B Y THE P O S T E R. IT
W OUL D B E A B O D Y B L O W
TO G R APHIC D E S IG N IF
T HE M E DI UM W E RE
TO D IS APPE AR
communication and local output on paper
can work to give new relevance to a medium
once thought to be pass.

DIGITAL POSTERS PROLIFERATE

It is highly unlikely that the paper poster
isdestined for any kind of large-scale

W W WLCO MPU T E RA RT S LCOLU K

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publicrevival in Britain. In the London

Underground, for so long one of the posters
last strongholds, digital escalator panels
now colonise the spaces where framed
posters used to hang. These screens are
often programmed in unison to display
multiple copies of the same moving image
sothat an advertiser can monopolise the
entire viewing area. This is a heavy-handed,
advertising-led approach to communication
and, so far, the DEPs have not offered
opportunities for graphic invention: the
visual aesthetic, like the content, is closer
toTV commercials. In the near future,
poster-like advertising screens of this kind
will no doubt proliferate in public places.
Meanwhile, local authorities take an
increasingly hard line on fly-posting, which
they see as an unsightly public nuisance
rather than a healthy, alternative form of
visual culture. With communal display space
no longer accessible to many without
breaking the law, the highly designed poster
is becoming a private statement that people
choose to make by displaying them on their
walls like art works. Some critics mourn
theloss of the poster as an urgent message

S P ECI AL REP O RT

AU GU S T 2 01 3

Schers'posters'in'the'
box'office'of'The'Public'
Theater'in'New'York'City

POSTER EVOLUTION
Pentagrams Paula Scher discusses
howthe field has evolved, and why its
about the love rather than the money
aimed at a mass audience and encountered
by chance in the street.
When did posters become such
wallflowers? asks design writer Alice
Twemlow on the Design Observer website.
The true essence of the poster, she argues,
isthe invisible but palpable contract
between a designer, the commissioning
institution, organization or company
thatfunds a posters distribution, and
theviewing public who engages with it.
Without this contract and reason to exist,
the poster is drained of its full meaning
andsocial power and becomes only a husk.
That may be so, but many designers
still recognise the test of vision and skill
posed by the poster and many viewers
stilllove them. It would be a body blow
tographic design if the medium were to
disappear entirely and a sign that the
discipline was severely reduced. One way
oranother, the poster must live on.

Do.you.encounter.the.same.demand.for.posters.that.you.experienced.
in.the.past8.andhowhave.things.changed?
I!am!usually!hired!to!design!identity!programmes2!Sometimes4!with!cultural!clients4!there!is!
anoutdoor!promotional!campaign!that!emanates!from!the!identity2!There!are!many4!many!
posters!on!the!streets!of!New!York2!They!are!in!bus!shelters4!subways4!on!buses4!on!phone!
kiosks4!on!flagpole!banners2!There!are!many!more!posters!outside!in!a!city!than!digital!forms!
of!communication2!The!problem!is!they!are!mostly!ugly4!so!you!ignore!them2!They!are!big!
adsdone!by!ad!agencies4!not!graphic!design!firms2!Things!have!changed!very!liAle!here2
How.much.of.a.brief.is.there.for.each.season.of.Public.Theater.posters.
and.what.is.thethinking.behind.the.ABCA-CE.season?
At!the!beginning!of!each!season!I!meet!with!Oskar!Eustace4!director!of!The!Public!Theater4!
to!determine!the!spirit!of!the!campaign2!He!usually!has!a!view!about!the!season!and!I!try!
tofind!the!appropriate!way!to!express!it2!It!is!very!collaborative2!I!am!currently!working!
onmy!HIth!season2!They!trust!me!to!push!them!in!the!right!direction2!I!am!very!lucky!in!
thisrelationship2!I!try!to!reinvent!each!season!of!posters!a!bit!every!year2!This!past!year!
wasmoreextreme2!The!posters!were!an!extension!of!the!lobby4!where!I!had!incised!the!
typeintothe!building2
Are.you.still.commiGed.to.the.printed.poster.and.what.is.its.place.
in.a.culture.increasingly.dominated.by.digital.media?
Environmental!graphics!have!become!a!major!part!of!my!work2!I!make!large-scale!
interventions4!sometimes!dimensional4!sometimes!with!digital!components2!Sometimes!
theyare!purely!painted!on!buildings2!But!they!are!all!physical!things!that!live!in!public!
spaces2!When!I!couldnt!make!posters!on!paper!any!more!I!started!making!them!on!
buildings2They!go!around!corners4!light!up!and!talk!to!you2!They!are!fairly!permanent!
andIfind!that!more!satisfying!than!something!digital!that!is!gone!in!an!instant2!Occasionally!
someone!asks!me!for!an!individual!poster!for!an!event!or!cause2!These!are!usually!freebies!
and!I!still!enjoy!designing!them2!But!Id!starve!if!I!tried!to!design!posters!for!a!living2!

The new minimalism. In recent years a clean, pared-back approach to graphic design has been cu6ing through thenoise and bringing
themessage rather than the medium to the fore. Emily King, design writer, curator and design editor of Frieze magazine, givesasideways
glance at what this really means for designers, profiling a selection of leading studios that favour an ultra-minimal style in their work.

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