Lebanese Poster Design 003

Lebanese Poster Design 003

By Admin I : So it has been a while since we took you on a visual ride to the streets of hamra, featuring the numerous posters spread all around the area. Even a busy week and an empty stomach cannot keep a ‘brofessional’ from taking poster snapshots while roaming around hamra, especially that summer events are taking place on a weekly pace, and poster design is one underestimated communication tool in the Lebanese design scene. So yes, we do think posters are super hard to do, super hard to reach a good result and that you ‘creatives’ are super scared to do real designed posters; it’s always an escape towards the cheap pop, the cluttered or the Pentagram wannabe, all lacking a genuine character and a layer of design thinking.

So to sum it up I’ll start with my favorite: “Sami Hawat” at Al Madina theater and a very original reach to calligraphy. a clean layout all centered on transparent overlapping calligraphy, well centered in in white broken solid adding interest and importance to the main element. Who said minimalism is restricted to grey Swiss type on white? this poster clearly features identity, a ‘real’ feel and a well thought of layout.

‘Le premier jour’ poster leaves you passive; it is true that colors are well balanced and the layout is not that bad, but the whole thing looks like a deja vue tribute to the 90s visuals, designed by an oh-so-chicken designer that’s probably afraid to break through and do some experimentation.

The next poster is the very colorful “La fete de la musique” and a circular layout which would’ve worked better without the cotton candy pink. La fete de la musique, as far as i know, should look more edgy and energetic, unless the whole thing shifted to Ballet, or Mary Poppins!

Adonis-live in Byblos was definitely the one that screams “take me home” (talking to poster, I should get a life! I know!), a very interesting blend of typefaces, that look pleasantly random, and a clean “Le petit Prince” feel that reflects the band’s identity complemented by the right choice of craft paper for print. Lovely!

“The outbox outdoor short film festival” series of posters portray a mixed media visual with the focus on different movie characters moving on the colorful photographic cityscapes. The artwork looks interesting and entertaining but somehow too safe and redundant. Making a series of posters for one event can be tricky, so if you don’t really have different approaches, just print one visual and save some money unless your father owns the printing press!

“Ok, enough, goodbye” a poster for a new movie playing at Metropolis Sofil, a vintage hue photograph and a messed-up type treatment totally ruining the authentic feel of the composition; if you can’t handle typography, don’t call yourself a designer!

And finally, the visual vomit called “the silk museum” and the total chaos; a failing approach to color blocking and pop, accompanied by a bad choice of type for an outdoor poster and the biggest fail of it all: type on transparencies that show nothing but mediocre layout skills.

Again, we totally support the Lebanese design seen that is clearly showing improvement even if we were very selective and ditched the very bad posters (aka Mix FM and Co). Let’s all give it more thought, posters are very tricky and we might be angrier next time!