The Brief

I have been asked to create a propaganda poster that promotes an aspect of social media, I must make at least one poster that can be up to A1 in size. I have quite a broad range of social media to pick from ranging from facebook to youtube, the poster must be on an aspect of one of these media such as liking on Facebook. The design of my poster must be based on and inspired from old propaganda posters made between the years 1900 - 1950, so collecting and researching old posters from these years will be essential.

My poster will be made using adobe illustrtor cs4 so learning more about the program and how to use will also be essential. To go along with this I must create a blog and sketchbook where I will show my ideas, research and overall progress on the assignment.

Research into Propaganda Posters

I began looking at a range of propaganda posters taken form the years 1900 to 1950, during this timeframe I found there to be many different types of existing propaganda which varied from trying to convince people to enlist to eat more nutritious foods. 

Netherlands poster - 

The first poster which caught my eye was a piece of propaganda from the Netherlands which was used to recruit people into the "ss" Although the poster is in a foreign language I still really liked it and translated the text means “For your honor and conscience! Against Bolshevism. The Waffen-SS calls you!” and the poster is aimed at the men of the netherlands.

I like this poster for a number of reasons one of which being the typography used, I think it works really well as first off it is bold and straight giving off a assertive and serious feel to the reader. Another reason the typography works is it simple and readable on top of it's other points, the colour of the font works well for me also as the yellow colour on the blue background stands out and makes the text noticeable amongst the images on the poster. Furthermore the mix of the colours at the bottom drew me in and the change in colour on the last line make this stand out more. This was clearly intentional because as we can see from the english translation of the text the last line is the most important as it calls out the reader.

The colours in the poster overall work for me also with the different blends of blue mixing together well because none of the shades are too strong or bright on the page and as metioned they mix well together and with the white thrown in it is clear to see the make the sky. The silver of the tanks also fitting in nicely at the bottom the page from this we can see that the poster has highlighted air and land combat showing them working together.

While the warfare imagery on the poster works and creates a nice effect all mixed together the image in the poster I found really interesting was the soldier. I thought this image was really well done as for starters it is bigger than all the other imagery, whilst this is a simple thing it draws you to the soldier first and makes him seem more important than the other features on the poster. He is also central to everything which adds to the importantance of him and makes him seem in control. Another feature of the soldier I found interesting and well done was ther fact that his face is blacked out,this give the soldier an appeal that it could be anyone and the viewer could see themselves as him, add this to the fact he looks important and in control and it would be quite appealing to viewers.

The layout of the poster is also well done despite being a bit simple a generic for a poster with the imagery in the middle and the text either side at the top and the bottom it works because everything is ordered and readable. Also the layout almost creates an atmosphere with the imagery and colour range on the poster which is another reason I like it. 

Although the artist of this poster is unknown I found out it was made between 1942 and 1944 in Germany and published by the "Department of the Reichs-Kommissar" in an aim to get men to join the "ss".

U.S. Recruiting Poster - 

A very recognisable propaganda poster that was made during world war 1 the aim of the poster is fairly obvious in that it is trying to recruit people into the U.S. army more specifically the target audience would be American men. 

It is really simple in terms of its design but you can still understand how and why it worked on the viewers.  For example the colour scheme is 4 basic colours but this works and emphasises the man in the poster drawing your attention to him and this image has quite an impact as he is directly pointing at you, this makes you feel like the poster was meant for you especially when you look at it.  Another point about the colour is that although there are only 4 colours used two of these are red and blue which are colours of the american flag so they give a partriotic feel to the poster and these colours are used on the main parts of the poster, these being the man pointing and the word "you".

The typography is again simple but effective as it is big bold and not really anything fancy it gets the message across however and grabs the viewers attention along with the image of the man because of it's size and the black/red colouring which contrast to the white background it is against. This is the reason I think the artist chose white for the background colour as it does not distract away from the main points of the poster. The layout of the poster is also effective as it is basically almost broken up into two sections these being the man and the writing. 

I found the artist for this piece of propaganda was James Montgomery flagg who is a very famous artist, he was hired at a magazine when he was only 12 and had a full job when he was 15. So the artist has a really interesting background and when looking at his other pieces of work it is clear to see similar styles and themes throughout them. 

I looked at three other poster he had made and the key themes that stuck out to me were the "Uncle Sam" image which is featured 3 of the four pieces I looked at I like the way he uses this as he has created a character in his work that represents America and all Americans. For example in the "Help China!" poster instead of it being "uncle Sam" helping the family it is America helping the family.  

Another theme from his work that stood out to is the red, white and blue colours which feature in all of his work these colours are obviously patriotic and he chooses to use these a lot with stripes and stars added in as well. I think he does this as even without the uncle sam image it shows the poster is American and for Americans, a good example of this is the "Help China!" poster as there is no mention of America or the U.S. but just by having the colours everyone will know it is American or the "wake up" poster which even before reading the top line it is instantly recognisable as American from the colours and pattern in the imagery. 

This is something I think James Flagg does well in his work as it reduces the amount of text needed and makes them more visual based for the viewer which at the time would've worked a lot better.  

Curacao Poster - 

This poster really grabbed my attention because it was so different to the other propaganda I had seen, it was a lot darker and done in a gothic style with the black and red in the colour scheme of the poster. It's world war two propaganda made by the Dutch and was a lot more text heavy than other propaganda I had seen the text on the poster means "Help to remove this stain - Support the Prince Bernhard Committee" 

The first thing that really caught my eye was the red symbol in the middle of the page as the colour really stands out amongst the rest giving it a big impact on the viewer also it appears to be a picture of the nazi symbol in blood with the dripping effect on the edges this is what I was talking about when I said it had a gothic style or feel to it. It was a lot more extreme than the other pieces of propaganda I had looked and almost confrontational in it's style but this worked in it's favour to me as it had almost a shock effect. Painting the Nazi's as a blood stain acroos there country is quite powerful and without reading the text you get an idea of what the poster is about. It is qutie basic showing the Nazi's are bad and a stain on there country but then it gives the reader a way to help, this is where I think the extreme imagery comes in handy as it shocks the reader/viewer into action. 

 I also liked the typography used in this poster the tilted effect caught my attetnion as it was different to the other posters I had looked at where the text was always straight and ordered, the fact that the text here is tilted makes it almost seem rebellious. The artist for this particular poster was unknown and it was also hard to find other poster from the dutch or the island of Curacao, which is a same as I would of liked to see if this theme was common in ther propaganda posters. 





Spanish Poster - 

This poster was made in 1936 and is a spanish based piece of propaganda based around the spanish civil war I liked this poster for a number of reasons the first of which was the colours which I thought worked really well. They have a nice bright look and create a nice atmosphere and feel for the poster considering the subject the poster is covering. They a mainly pastel like colours and they are not too strong or heavy on the eyes I this is good and offers something different to some of the other posters I have looked at.  Although I am not completely clear on the message it is definately about the events on the 7th of november as part of the civil war, without seeing the poster at this it is hard to see whether or not it is a positive or negative piece of propaganda. 


The imagery on the poster is something else I like it is really eye-catching partly because of its large size but also the image of the man is very central and his colours being different to the rest of the imagery draws your attention and makes it the focal point of the poster another idea that I liked was the white outline around the image of the man as is separates him from the sky, it blends him in with the city aswell and makes him appear as part of the city.  I also liked the effect on the imagery where the lines go across the middle these create a brick or wall effect to me, in my opinion they are there to make the man look stronger.

I couldn't find out who the artist was for this particular poster but I decided to have a look at a few more spanish posters anyway looking for similar styels and it was clear that the soft pastel like colours were clearly a theme amongst the different pieces of propaganda. I like these coulour schemes as they a much lighter and less extreme black and reds of other posters. Another themes through the spanish poster I noticed which is again based around the colours is the use of light colours for background especially white and blue which add to the light effects fof the posters. 





Another aspect of the spanish posters I like is the way the images and colours blend together it really makes the poster feel complete. It is also worth noting that these posters were made around the time of the civil war so this is what the spanish posters were like at this time around 1936.

American Propaganda Henry Koerner - 

A poster based on trying to get Americans to keep quiet but the way it got this message across was what I really liked as it wasn't subtle but it also didn't spell it out for the reader. I thought this poster had some really good elements to it. Firstly I really liked the colours used in this poster the mix of colours being used was refreshing, this was mainly because of the lack of red,white and blue being on the poster as this was a theme with the other pieces of American propaganda I looked at. The colours here work well in my opinion as the orange and black background blend together crating a gradient style that doesn't take away from the main points of the poster. The black also highlights the red text so this stands out more and is readable and grabs your attention. 

Another part of this poster I thought worked really well was the newspaper being masked by the hand. I thought this was really effective and was a good way to get the main point of the poster across this being why people should keep quiet. It stops the need for more text or an extra image of a newspaper on its own with this effect being more artistic, being something I had not seen on other propaganda posters. It is also really brings your attention to the hand making it the focal point of the poster helped by the fact it is large and central.  The other part of the poster that I thought was really good was the man the hand is pointing at, it is suggesting he talked and is the reason the ship sunk from the papers report. This is clear but also I like the fact the it is a common looking man from the time so people could relate or see themselves as the one who talked. With the newspaper report over the pointing hand it is blaming him for the reported incident. 

The typography is good in my opinion and the slanted effect makes you imagine someone saying it in a shocked or surprised tone however the colour being red made me imagine a more angry tone, the exclamation point adds to this effect. Finally I liked the layout although everything was a little clustered for example the hand is touching the text saying "someone" although I thought this could also be intentional and another way the poster blames the man as the someone who talked. 


The artist for this piece of propaganda was Henry Koerner who is a Vienna born painter and is seen as a visionary artist and the master of realism. He moved to the states in 1938 and started of as a commercial artist creating propaganda poster during world war 2 for the office of war information and the office of strategic services. The above poster "someone talked" was his most famous winning an award however it was not his only piece of propaganda. I found too more examples of his posters from this time. 

The first was this poster which like the previous poster also has a very obvious and strong message. This being that if the allied countries stay united they will win. He has shown this through the use of cannons with the different flags on so each cannon represents one of the allied countries, to me this gives the impression that the allies are strong and possibly invincible. I thought this because of the many cannons and the fact they are all upright, strong and firing. It is also a pretty clear way of showing the countries and stronger together as one cannon firing would be effective but not as much as all 10 or so on the poster. I also found that the fact the word "united" being bold and in capitals to be very strong as it draws you in and makes the reader remember the word united. 

The colours are again strong here with a similar scheme to the previous poster of black, orange and grey being the main ones. In this poster however the colours used as part of the imagery and not just to create a gradient background for example the orange here is used for the explosion in the image. The different flags also add a range of colours to the poster making it more eye-catching. As well as this the font is again solid and readable, the colours of the font also fit with the backgrounds they are on. 

This is the other poster I found from Henry Koerner it is promoting using your waste fat for explosives and again I really like the way he has got this point across. The imagery is really strong in my opinion as the fat is being poured out of the pan and onto the explosives giving the effect it is directly fuelling them maybe a play on the saying adding fuel to the fire. It is really effective and makes it appear to the viewers that even the fat in the poster has a very big effect, again it gets the message across to the reader in a really clever way again and the strong imagery he uses in all his work is a key part of this.  The most eye-catching aspect of the imagery for me was the explosives all flying towards the me it is really strong in my opinion and has a big impact on first look. 

In my opinion the difference between this poster and the others is the sense of realism in part of the imagery. This being the hand and the pan it looks very realistic this contrasts with the imagery of the explosion and explosives as these are more cartoony but the drawing style is the same.  The colours again are really strong in my opinion the background has a gradient effect which circles out from the base of the explosion I really like this effect and the colours blend well. He has also used multiple colours on the text again which appears to be one of the themes or signatures of his work, it keeps the text interesting and noticeable and also stops it clashing with the background or imagery which I think is done really well.