Week 3

Portraits and type

We were given a list of phrases and black and white portraits to use to create posters.  All posters were full bleed, except "a man must learn to forgive himself".

I completely cropped the subject's eyes out of this picture to make it seem unnerving - if you can't see the eyes, it is hard to read a person.  There is something slightly unhinged about what he is saying, so 

I wanted to elude to that with the crop. I chose the font because it is clinical and characterless, to match his words.  The gradient on the last word is a literal interpretation.

The expression of the man, with his tongue sticking out indicated childishness and immaturity which went well with the words.  I chose Courier as it is an immature and basic typeface.  I wrote over his eyes as the whole combination of picture and text seems a bit wacky so placing the font in an unusual position seemed to fit.

This man has obviously had a very hard life - he appears extremely impoverished and neglected. I chose to make the word "why" big - like a silent shout across his mouth, and the other words small and fractured to reflect despair - a quiet disbelieving voice. I have put darker transparent blocks at the top and bottom to suggest he is incarcerated and peering through a small gap in the door.

I did a very close crop on the picture below and selected a solid friendly looking, but masculine, typeface because to reflect the man's appearance. I chose to place the text at eye level as he has a trusting face which links to his eyes.

For the two pieces below, I chose to use white space to focus on the picture, and to produce some tension or rhythm.

The girl is attractive but has no obvious character - I chose this text to contrast with that image and make the reader feel curious about the statement.  Placing the text sideways forces the reader to engage with the work as they much turn their head or the page to read it.  The suffixed word is the only unusual thing about the piece. I am Helvetica is very plain, like the typeface, but placing the image and text to the far right makes you want to turn the page.