Thursday 28 October 2010

Legibility and Tone of Voice.




This advertising billboard was designed by the McFaul studio. The project information on there website reads;

 “With the new fuel efficient Audi A6 you can drive a further 107 miles per tank. BBH wanted something playful and crafted that gives you the impression there is a lot of stuff to be seen with the extra mileage.”

The intention seems to be to inform passing motorists about the economic and environmental benefits of owning an Audi A6.

The intricately illustrated typeface is used to convey the idea of travelling and looks like twisting roads. After sitting here and studying it for a while it certainly looks very stylish. But if I were driving past this advertising billboard I would find it very difficult to read.

Being an advertising billboard, next to a road, selling cars I think as much as I like this beautifully designed illustration; it might get its message across with more ease if it were more legible. But maybe that’s the point. The way we are being sold the product makes us feel good because we have made the intellectual link between elaborate design and well-crafted engineering. 

In the top corner the Audi logo is universal, at a quick glance you knows what’s being sold to you. The words Vorsprung Durch Technik have been firmly imprinted in to our minds, even though not everyone speaks German. The intention could be to sell us the idea that an Audi is well designed, beautifully engineered and just better than other cars with the use of an elaborate typeface. The more times you drive past the billboard the more intrigued you become to discover the subtle meaning.





This is an advertising concept for Beck’s beer that wasn’t used. This image is very obviously using tone of voice to help convey the message. The text looks like flames and slightly devilish, therefore reflecting what the words are saying. The intention of this image is to draw a comparison between what’s going on in the image/text, and drinking Beck’s beer. Therefore its saying that is the sensation you get when drinking a Beck’s.

The target market might be young people in pubs and clubs. The specific humour being used suggests a younger (25 –45) target audience. Beck’s is a lager beer that some younger people prefer compared to ale or bitter that some older people prefer.

The image looks like it could be used in a sight specific location such as next to the urinal or washbasins in pubs and clubs. The way the image is delivered to the viewer is by catching your eye and holding your attention with stark contrasting colours and an interesting looking typeface.

The content of the image and the words used don’t have any real connection with Beck’s beer.  By making the consumer have to think to understand what is being sold, it gives the advertisement more chance of being retained by the viewer and the viewer talking about that clever or funny advert that they just saw.

Image 1 taken from

Image 2 taken from

Monday 11 October 2010

“Through the ‘visual practice’ of observation, collecting, studying and exploring, illustration can contribute to a deeper understanding of the subject” and “The notion of ‘inspiration’ derives from constant inquiry, based on research, observation, recording and experimentation”.


These images by David Foldvari have required a collection of different resources and influences to inspire and help create an intelligent response that identifies with and engages the viewer.

The idea being portrayed in this images might be targeting people who read newspaper articles that are of a certain political viewpoint, those people might be middle class and aged between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five years old.

The image of the man pulling off a mask to reveal a mask is quite chilling, giving the impression that there’s a cold calculating person wearing a balaclava with soulless eyes behind what you thought was just an honest investment banker.

This image of a vagrant nurse is a clever and witty attempt to make the viewer take notice of the political climate regarding the health care service. This is done with a cold kind of humour that is present throughout most of Foldvari’s work.

The information being given to the viewer, such as the shopping trolley, crusty old boots and a bottle of booze in a brown paper are visual clues that instantly enable us to recognise what the intended message is. This person is not just going to Sainsbury’s for a bottle of wine.

If you take away the stethoscope from the image, the text would no longer hold the same meaning. The words ‘will work for meds…’ mixed with the visual representation of vagrancy, imprints the idea that nurses do there job regardless of pay scales almost as if they will work for free just help society, which also implies there paymasters are soulless money eating jive monkeys.  

Without the political and social situations like recession, housing market crashes, inadequate funding for health services, social and class divide there would be little need for the above images to explore and address these issues.

Interview with David Foldvari.

“It’s what I’m most into doing right now, as I get older I seem to be rediscovering and getting inspiration more and more from my past, which is based in Jewish / Eastern European roots, and with this kind of work, I’m just trying to be honest about who I am and where I’m from.”

“The plan is just to get in the car, and drive into Europe and see what happens. I will take everything I need to get on with my work with me, and collect/draw/write stuff wherever I stop…”

When asked about his artistic influences, David Foldvari said;

“Eastern European illustration and animation from the 60's and 70's. I’m generally more influenced by circumstantial stuff than by other artists.”

When asked what influences his art he replies,

“Anything that bugs me or makes me think in some way has a tendency to inspire me. I think maybe a lot of things bug me and doing what I do seems to be a good outlet for that.”

References  

Accessed on 07/10/10@

Image1 taken from on 07/10/10

Accessed on 07/10/10@

Image taken from on 11/10/10

Monday 4 October 2010

"Notions of originality" and "Cultural context within your chosen medium."


Banksy is a well know graffiti street artist using stencils and spray cans, many people believe him to be original, but others compare his style and choice of media to Blek Le Rat.

Within graffiti culture, some would look negatively at any one imitating an others style and ideas. But also the choice of media and choosing to make street art limits the creator to using a spray can and painting the streets.

“I did not invent anything. I took ideas from everywhere. The only thing I did was combine things together.” (Blek le rat)

"I’m not interested in convincing people in the art world that what I do is art. I’m more bothered about convincing people in the graffiti community that what I do is really vandalism! " (Banksy)

The French artist Blek Le Rat made stencil graffiti street art with the intention of having people view his imagery without having to purchase it, or go to a gallery and to make a political commentary that shows a discontent with society. 

Rats are a symbolic character of disease, pestilence, and vilified by the villagers in the fairy tail featuring the Pied piper. In contrast to this, the way Blek le rat and Banksy use the imagery, says we are underground, we are the street, we are a subculture you can’t understand, you can’t see me because I come out late at night and by the morning I have single handily changed your world.

“Blek started out in and around 1981 cutting stencils of rats and spraying them in and around Paris, and the sudden “outbreak” of Blek rats all over town was noticed.  He has put up thousands of these creatures around the city, and his reason is simple: rats are the only free animals in the city and that they are feared by humankind.” (Alan Bernard 2007)

As with most graffiti art, everybody is the intended audience. Some people will notice and others won’t, some of those that do notice will not take it in or be affected by the images. Equally some of those that notice will be other graffiti/street artist’s who will admire or criticise according to the cultural rituals associated with graffiti.

The lettering/typography used by Blek le rat is rough and ready, not refined and done with the intention of quickly putting the name ‘Blek’ in to the collective consciousness. Using a stark graphic, low-tech representation of a rat could relate to the idea that rats are rough and ready, quick witted and able to survive.

The stencils used by Banksy are more sophisticated giving the rats a sense of sophistication, more like a ninja, Special Forces type of rat. This sophistication gives weight to the idea/ political message that Banksy is trying to portray.


 


References


Blek Le Rat: Pioneer of Street Art, Jun 11, 2007
@ http://alanbernard.com/mayhem/diy/blek_le_rat/
accessed 02/10/10
  
Austere Chic, A random look at simplicity , April 2010  
@ http://austerechic.blogspot.com/2010/04/banskys-rats-love-story.htmlaccessed 02/10/10

Image taken from Life Before Banksy – Blek Le Rat, Dec 5th 2008
@ http://paulbaines.co.uk/2008/12/life-before-banksy-blek-le-rat/
accessed 02/10/10

Interview: Blek Le Rat: “Banksy, call me”, Aug 9, 2009
@ http://www.ukstreetart.co.uk/2009/08/09/interview-blek-le-rat-banksy-call-me/
accessed 02/10/10