Design a poster to promote transport

Roger Broden is also creative in his style. On one of his posters he loops the text which I thought was a great touch because, like Cassandre's poster, it is unique. He knows how to use colours well adding a third dimension to the mountains using white in the right places. He also uses orange and yellow well to create a sunset like feel to this poster. Compared to Rodchenko and Cassandre he uses colours to add realistic and interactive feel to his work. His drawing skills are second to Cassandre however he uses great detail on one of his posters.

                                The Comparisons

        

After analyzing the select artists and comparing their styles to each other, I have decided to implement Cassandre’s style into my work. I feel that his style better suits my style of drawing. I prefer to be creative with my work with the use of colours and shapes just like Cassandre does. His work is the one that most appealed to me. By reading my comments on his work you can see that I favoured him the most. His work was just as creative as I can be. It may look very simple but it is very effective and presentable.

Research

To help further my knowledge about the type of transport that existed in the 1920’s I visited the Transport museum. It had lots of models of various transport such as trains, trams and busses. There were also some posters showing the various types of advertisements that existed in those days.

The following pictures show what I came across in the museum:

The Bullet Train

Since I decided to do a poster in the bullet train I had to find some sort of information on it. All I knew about the train was that it was really fast and the shape of the train had a point at the front. This wasn’t enough information so I used the internet and it gave me a better perspective of what this train is all about.

Japan was one of the first countries to realise the problems of the car. With very dense city centres such as tokyo and being such a densly populated country it was realised the motor car was not the way foreward. The Bullet train could be thought of as the worlds first high speed train. Services started in 1964 with speeds at 210km/h or 131mph, the fastest trains went at the time, and many countries (including the USA) still have no trains running at this speed. At the time the concept of "high speed" wasn’t really established as it is now. Indeed many say it was the success of the bullet train which lead to Europe taking interest in making trains go fast. Since then the trains have been going faster and faster.

Speeds Today

Along the Tokaido line series 300 trains operate at a top speed of 270km/h or 168mph (since 1992).
Along the Sanyo line series 500 trains operate at a top speed of 300km/h or 186mph (since 1997).
Along the Tohoku line series 200 E2 + E3 trains operate at 275km/h or 170mph (since 1997), the rest at 240km/h or 150mph (since 1988).
Along the Joetsu line series 200 "F9x" sets operate at 275km/h or 170mph (since 1990).
Along the Hokuriku line E2 trains operate at 260km/h or 162mph (since 1997).

The Bullet Train

I also took the liberty of finding some images of the bullet train at different angles. This was mainly done for the benefit of my poster. I will use some of these images to design my poster.

Initial Ideas

         Here are a few ideas I have done to get an idea of how my poster will look. They are just pictures of trains old and new. I have positioned them at angles I may incorporate in to my final designs. I have done two sketches of trains and on sketch of and actual poster influenced by Cassandre. This poster will probably prove to be the blueprint of my final design because it has many of the features I plan to implement into my design.

Evaluation

        

When it came to designing my poster, the brief said that I had to research other artist’s styles to incorporate into my final design. I didn’t see the point of this because if we were going to advertise modern day transport, why should it look as if it were created in the 1920’s. But after doing the research I was glad I put the time into looking at the different artist designs because it allowed me to see their perspectives and roles in transport advertising.

        I looked at three artists starting with Cassandre. I saw his ship posters and thought they were very well done. But it was when I saw his poster of the train that I knew it would be his style I would use. His creativity and use of basic shapes to create the train is what drew me to his work. It unlocked many ideas in my head that I thought I could never think of. Also the little diagram of the train track was an excellent touch.

        I’m sure you could see the how bias I was towards Cassandre when I compared all three of the artists styles. Broden also had a very good idea with his use of the looped text which the car traveled on. I though the way it looped with the picture of the town in the middle was a nice touch. Also the text of the different locations gradually getting smaller in the loop gave you the idea that the possibility of the locations didn’t end. However, the use of flat colours (although used well) didn’t appeal to me and the direction I wanted the poster to go.

        I was very bitter towards the Russian artist Rodchenko. I was very optimistic towards looking up a poster form a Russian because I have seen posters done in that time during G.C.S.E. History. The people in the posters looked almost life like. I could’ve sworn they were photographs rather than paintings but the caption proved me wrong. I couldn’t find any posters of transport he had done and thus settled for the poster you see in this book. As you can see the poster seemed very unimaginative but I did sate that this could’ve been done for a reason. Maybe it was a propaganda poster to emphasize a point. But once I saw this poster, I didn’t take me long to decide that Rodchenko’s style wasn’t going to be used in my poster.

Evaluation – The Making of the Poster

Once I had settled on what style I was going to use I decided I was going to advertise a train. It couldn’t be any ordinary train for advertising sake. So I decided to advertise the fastest train in the world – The Bullet Train. I decided to look up the bullet train on the internet to see; what it looked like, any special features such as its speed, and to see if I could advertise this as a poster.

Once that part was done, I decided to visit the London Transport museum to get a first hand look at how transport looked and was advertised. Equipped with my camera I took what I thought were the necessary pictures to aid me in my designs. They mainly consisted of models of busses, trains, trams and carriages.

Once this was done I decided to jot down some initial ideas of how my poster was going to look. I drew mainly trains since it was what I was going to advertise. I drew old and new ones for a better perspective. Once that was done I decided to do a rough sketch of a poster including the bullet train. You can see clearly it is influenced be the creative style of Cassandre’s ‘Nord Express’ poster using the boarder and the little diagram. Now that was done it was time to create my poster.

I felt like the initial poster I had done was ok. It was just an experiment of using Cassandre’s style into a poster. At the back of my mind I knew my eventual poster would look like similar. What I had to do was make sure there wasn’t much detail in terms of writing on the poster. Facts about this train couldn’t cover the entire poster no matter how fascinating it was. The words on the poster had to be short and to the point.

So I thought to myself what type of advertisement will be short, to the point and also leave the person looking at the poster optimistic about this form of transport. So I decided to make it into a little preview poster advertising the Bullet train’s arrival to London. So as you can see the main information of the poster was ‘The Bullet Train’ and ‘2005’ at the bottom. I hoped that this would get the viewer excited enough.

Evaluation – The Making of the Poster (Cont.)

I also decided to add a border to my poster. Just like Cassandre he added some details to the boarder which surrounded it. This was very clever because it allow the designer to add the little extras about the form of transport creatively. Instead of it crowding the centre of the poster, it surrounds it instead.

I obviously had to include a design of the train. The image I drew is used from one of the images I found of the train during my research. It wasn’t what expected the ‘fastest train in the world’ to look like. It looked like a normal train with the exception of the pointy front. I thought that this basic design would take away the angle of what I was trying to advertise – the speed.

Around the edges of the poster you can see I have added some facts about the train i.e. its highest speeds and an example of just how fast this train is. I figure these details will make the viewers optimistic about this train.

The colour scheme is taken form Cassandre but not entirely. I borrowed his idea form the colours used on his text. Where the colours change when the white of the text clashes with the white of the background. I had to implement this idea because I thought it was very well done. The colours are mainly bright ones so it makes the poster stand out.

Cassandre’s style was a big help in my final idea. It opened my eyes to advertising and gave me a choice of different aspects to use in my design. Because of this I feel that my poster is effective enough to be used in advertisement.

My Journal

Week 1

• After collecting my brief I decide to look up some 1920 artists. I collect some pictures of there work and get and idea of how posters were done in those days. I also look up the ‘Constructivist Movement’ since it was what these posters reflect.

Week 2

• I draw a couple of rough sketches of trains. It is this form of transport I will implement into my final design. I also look at the images of trains from these 1920 artists to see how they advertised trains.

Week 3

• I take I trip to the London Transport Museum with my camera en tow. I look at and take photos of the models they have presented there. I also pick up a couple of leaflets of information about the transport system in 1920.

Week 4

• I now begin writing up my essay of 1920 transportation. I begin with the Constructivist movement and also begin analyzing the artist and there styles. After this is done I compare the styles with each other and decide to use Cassandre’s style in my poster.

Week 5

• I look at my initial designs and look on the internet for information for the Bullet Train. Once I have all this in front of me I draw my poster.

My Journal

Week 6

•  I finish my poster by adding colours and I also begin my evaluation to finish this project.