RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA POSTERS

These are three examples of Russian propaganda posters used for advertising a worthy cause, including the support of Communism. It is likely that these posters were illustrated, printed or have some photography in into them, such as the second example by Alexander Rodchenko. Since this is a major inspiration for two of my final outcomes (Animal Farm and 1984), I will analyse these kind of posters.

From these designs, it's likely that these were made during Constructivism movement, a style of art that originated in Russia in the 1910s. The movement is characterised by geometric forms, arranged in an organised manner, which is clearly seen here. One of the easily noticeable features of these posters is their limited use of colour, ranging from black red and yellow.As I stated in my earlier post about colour psychology, these colours are good for making the audience alert and calling their attention. But black gives the impression of heaviness and density, and gives the posters and aggressive look. Furthermore, as seen in the above examples, a lighter colour against the black makes it the cause seem serious. Overall, using a minimum of colours is beneficial in achieving this serious and rather aggressive appearance. Another noticeable feature is the lack of objects, as this may from obscure the viewer from getting the message, so it needs to be as minimalistic as possible to allow a mass audience to understand it. The typeface is bold, simplistic and noticeably in upper case, not only for it to be understood effectively, but also to grab the audience's attention.

I like how simplistic the designs are, as well as their limited colour use to convey the message effectively. The simple typeface is good for this too. The only problem I would have using these features, is that it may conflict with the Chris Parks influence whose works are the opposite of Constructivism- complex and colourful. So it may a matter of incorporating both aspects in a way that looks good.