Two posters I somehow missed:

133

Tan, at long last you are right and I am wrong! Your photo is rendered so much better than mine. It's Monet in 2 colours - beautiful!

I would love to know how you did it. Would I be right thinking the Threshold command was used?)

146

Marian, you know I am a big fan of your stuff. I especially like this one because it is Mr Maven responding to something I wrote.

I love the way the french curves of the figures slip seductively into the highly decorative border dramatically disagreeing with the quote.

Is there any chance this one could be printed sometime, somewhere?

Is there any chance this one could be printed sometime, somewhere?

Thanks Jeff. Yes there is a chance. I'm looking into possibilities.

Some of my faves on this page:

#139 -- I am really drawn to the etched style on this one. I think it's also proof that printing in black and white can be highly effective when with the right paper. Positioning on the page is perfect -- great balance of negative space. I only wish it would bleed. I don't know what the context of the quote is, but on this one, it just doesn't matter to me.

#130 -- this one's already been commented on, but I'll throw it in again: it has a cute sarcastic whimsy...complete with the curlicue behind the bobsled. The colors are not only fitting for the subject, but for the style as well. I like the way the offset aqua type overprint gives that text line added weight, too.

#132 -- voted #1 in the most overlooked poster category. this deserved credit. Ironically, I wonder how many people missed it because they were in a hurry to go thru all the posters! The stipple effect is a nice match for the message -- it creates a filtered hypnotic effect that mesmerizes. I think it'd have been clever if debbie's name were intrinsic to the design where you would only see it if you took time to analyze the poster.

#146 -- beautiful work marian! i love that the quote is woven into the border and complements the art, not overpowers it. There's a lot of movement in this one, an alive, rhythmic quality. details: i like how the "t" curve forms the outline of his face, and how the letters fit snugly in the lacy grid. Again, this one excels in black and white with the red paper (excellent choice), but I think it'd also have been classy in black and #8003, or a custom mixed lighter gold. if it is ever printed, i'd want a copy!

it'd also have been classy in black and #8003

actually it was intended to be black + 877 (silver) overprint. So you were close!

this is my first time doing one of these, so if im out of line, somebody tell me please...

133

tan, I love that image. It reminds me of an Evan Hecox illustration, except pointilized. beautiful.

134

I think the idea is simple and elegant, but the hair made of jumbled letters is a bit messy compared to the flowing lines of text. that, and there are some kerning issues (the e and the m in "stempel" particularly), but I think the concept is very nice.

138

The type really bothers me, and I cant quite place why (god, thats a horrible critique)...are those all from the same typeface? they look really distorted in some places. maybe thats the point with the tv on there, but it just looks awkard.

144

the hand is nicely rendered and creates a nice subtle diagonal that I think the text could play off of. the horizontal text just doesnt integrate with the image as it is right now.

146

Everyone's right, this is a gorgeous poster. And i feel guilty for saying that even if the type is stacked, but everything just works too well for me to care about that, and it makes sense the type would stack in this case. really gorgeous. sign me up for a print if it gets done too.

152

I like the jumbled up text, but there are little areas that catch my eye and are distracting (the slivers of letters in the "LY" "CO" and "CT" combos) and the middle text jst seems so odd in comparison to the the rest of the poster. maybe stick with a sans serif?

Sorry, hope i'm not too harsh (I never know how to play it) but I think a lot of these are really good.

Thanks Danielle.

The quote was from Chip Kidd...and I thought it spoke to SPEAK UP's success in uniting all of us from different corners of the world; in a sense making the world smaller. (I wanted it to bleed to, but rules are rules I suppose.)

I really enjoyed poster #121. It relates closely to my work.. so I'm a little biased, but regardless...

>(133) Your photo is rendered so much better than mine.

...ah, but yours got selected, didn't it Jeff? It's a relatively simple PS trick — work w/ levels, add noise and grain selectively, etc. until you get the right feel.

I'm shocked that no one slammed me on the stretched type on 133. But in my defense, it's in perspective, and thus, stretched for a legit reason.

Thanks for the compliments on the image.

>(132) It'd have been clever if debbie's name were intrinsic to the design where you would only see it if you took time to analyze the poster.

I liked the way her name is spot red in a field of snow — like a drop of blood or something sinister. But the placement was where I thought it'd fit best for rhythm on the whole piece.

Okay, here goes.

I've been away for a while so these are the first set I've really been able to analyse. My sincerest apologies if I'm too cynical - these are all fantastic posters.

127

nice idea - made me smile. However, I think it could have benefited if the white side of the illusion also formed a hidden image - more than just a mountainous horizon. Difficult to achieve, I know.

132

Lovely! both Melancholic and joyous.

Im my eyes, this is the better of Tan's posters. The typography is balanced serenely, and the lonely tree conjures up the peaceful, contemplating feel of the quote. Wheras his second poster shows us where we are, this one shows us where we'd like to be.

135

I used to like Gill Sans. It used to remind me of distingushed old gentlemen in tweed suits, smoking pipes and talking about a glorious future. Now all I think of are scary clowns.

Uuugh! I don't like Gill any more.

136

This could have been great if it wasn't for the hideous typography. The tree is very nice - but maybe the birds should be uglier, sugesting the terror of being trapped. Maybe a tree full of rats!

137

I know it won and everything, but I feel conned. This doesn't show 'that which is so evident as to be unseable'. It just shows 'that which has been hidden from me'. Nicely produced, though.

145

I like this. Really makes me smile! If only there was more design that wore it's heart on it's sleeve so proudly. How very true. - UNNOTICED AND NECCESSARY!

146

Beautiful. Like something from a different time.

Not sure how to read it though. Do you mean that art and desin ARE good bedfellows - the certainly seem to be enjoying themselves.

147

I'm not going to get back into this debate. Let's just say I like this poster. Whenever Marian makes a post now, I think of this sheep (sorry Marian!)

Whenever Marian makes a post now, I think of this sheep (sorry Marian!)

How long have i got to get out of that purgatory, I wonder? (baaaaa.)

132

Lovely! both Melancholic and joyous.

In my eyes, this is the better of Tan's posters. The typography is balanced serenely, and the lonely tree conjures up the peaceful, contemplating feel of the quote. Wheras his second poster shows us where we are, this one shows us where we'd like to be.

That's why the second one is best. The quote is about Seeing right where you are not about heading off to Walden.

It's a relatively simple PS trick

That's good, Tan, because I am a relatively simple guy.

The reason I think your photo treatment is so much better than mine is that yours was done for screenprinting from the get go. I on the other hand spent a few hours making the photo look exactly right, then I had to apply the halftone to make it screenprintable.

Which brings me to my big fear that Armin who so graciously put this contest together and paid for printing the posters and gave me prize money is going to be stuck with a load of my posters getting moldy in the basement.

Aaaaah! my neuroses!

Baaah! Sorry to get you stuck to the sheep Marian. You have a lovely poster by the way. How long does it take you to build the ornamentation/patterns (whatever the proper term would be). My only comment on it would be that after all the hard work put into the poster and all of the whimsical elegant detail I would have loved to have seen the womans hair given the same attention. Maybe a little less chunkiness in the silhouette or bringig more of the white lines in her hair to suggest the detail. Really nicely don.e otherwise.

121-I really dug Robb's garbage bag poster. Colors, quote, the we he built the quote from the garbage bags. Really nice. The grass seems a little off some how though. Maybe a bit to big.

129-Simple. Straight forward. Excellent quote. I thought it was executed just right. Nice job Jenny.

139-see comments for 129. This one would look great on a wall. I know there had to be a border but it would have looked better if it bled off the edge. Obviously nothing that could have been done about that.

Hope everyone is having a nice day.

121

Oh, they're garbage bags - that makes much more sense. I thought they were birds.

Sorry - this isn't a criticism of the poster (it's great) - just my crappy eyesight

> Which brings me to my big fear that Armin who so graciously put this contest together and paid for printing the posters and gave me prize money is going to be stuck with a load of my posters getting moldy in the basement.

Jeff, no fears. Your poster looks absolutely amazing. I'm sure it will not mold. (But if it does, I do want that money back!).

OK, time for some opinions.

No. 139 by Vibranium. I very much like this poster and is one that I would have personally selected to get printed. I feel the quote is a bit weak but the illustration is truly great. The spatial relationship with the poster creates this vast emptiness that contrasts really well with the small world. One of my faves.

No. 121 by Robb. The anti-gravity effect is very well executed. The little paragraph is a bit Star Warsy. And I had no idea they were trash bags, I thought they were men, like those big-bodied/little-headed men that Craig Frazier likes to do. I like the trash bag theme though.

No. 147 by Michael. I liked it from the start but I found the red type in the sheep to distracting. The sheep itself would have been enough.

No. 133 by Tan.

> I'm shocked that no one slammed me on the stretched type on 133. Actually… the perspective is nice but the characters are ever-so-slightly tall and elongated. Citizen is not as tall, so the effect could have been carried out a bit better. Minor detail though. And as an aside, I find it interesting that you are a Citizen fan…

No. 136 by TJ. It is very simple, endearing and more provocative than most posters. The passiveness of the birds does represent much of the apathy that grows from being insular. This poster is very challenging with its combination of quote and image. The roots of the tree though, I don't think they add much to the message.

What's wrong w/ Citizen, and why wouldn't I like it? If anything, I overuse it.

Now Filosophia is a different matter.....

thanks.

The choice of quotes was a bit of a stretch, and I took it out of context and bent it to work for me and my 'message'. Maybe it all worked cause I was inspired. Speak Up is very inspiring...

Citizen? Citizen is SOOOOOoooo October 1998. joking.

Nothing wrong with Citizen at all! It's just interesting… it doesn't go with some of the other work you do (i.e., those clean annual reports, elegant-fish-jumping-out-of-the-water logos and I'm assuming Microsoft packaging is not huge on Citizen). Just an off-topic observation.

>it doesn't go with some of the other work you do...those clean annual reports

...ah, but that's what I love about Citizen — that it's unexpected. But it's a very well-proportioned, well-designed, legible font. We actually did use it in an annual report in 2001 for Ostex—and not just for display text, but for everything. That annual made it into everything.

But *sigh*, yes, Microsoft is a different matter....

I like 133...but i think its a little strange that the beginning of the quote is repeated...i would have liked it better if it just went into the rest of the quote...

I liked 137 the moment i laid eyes on it...im very glad it won something...

I am also a fan of marian's piece, but thats clear and all...

i think 149 was a really well executed poster, the cuteness is almmost overwhelming, the little screened back details behind the main image really make this poster.

some that really didnt work for me...

127: I think the idea is in the right place, but both the type and illustration need much more consideration...very graphic

152: The crazy letters that serve as the illustrative aspect of this poster confuse me and i dont find it all that attractive either

150: not sure there's really anything behind your poster...i mean the quote is there, but what is your image really saying (i think we're all aware that addict can also equal needle...but...)

131: I really love the illustration, but the overuse of fonts seems like its bringing too much attention to itself.

New thought:

147, 130: i think have both been brought up in conversation...and i still am not sure if i like what they represent in terms of the face of our industry/career choice/passion/job etc...so yeah.

thats all i have to say...for now