Visual Culture

Brought to you by the folks at Shiznit, this selection of posters cuts through the bullshit and addresses the essence of of this summer’s biggest blockbuster films.

Peep this series of posters which visualize musical genres using just one shape and one type apiece. While some manage to hit the mark, a few fall a tad short of their representational goals, if you will. For the complete series you know the drill.

We dig this latest effort by Ogilvy Paris. IBM’s Smarter Planet poster series use minimalistic graphics to drive home the message. On a similar note, peep this to learn about IBM’s recent centennial bash.

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Given the recent buzz Ted Williams has received from his viral youtube video we felt this homage poster to the most viewed videos of 2010 was worth a mention. For details on the designers process go here.

Valerie Pettis has just been selected as a winner of Poster for Tomorrow’s international competition advocating the abolition of the Death Penalty. Her poster, entitled “Legal Murder Is Not Justice,” was chosen from among 2094 entries submitted by designers worldwide as one of the ten most outstanding (the highest category of the competition). Pettis’s stark, black and white design replaces the Greco-Roman columns of a hall of justice with coffins.

Poster for Tomorrow is an organization that promotes activism through socially relevant design and is currently touring both the top ten and top one hundred posters in thirty-five venues across the globe.

However, the posters have sparked controversy and of the roughly one hundred countries originally scheduled to participate many have now declined. Clandestine exhibitions were mounted in many of these places, including Syria, China, Malaysia and Iran where promoters (more…)

Follow the games in style with David Watson’s double-sided poster set in Gotham. The piece was developed for Soccer Aid, a British charity that raises money for UNICEF. No doubt we will be following the U.S./England match come this Saturday.
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The poster for tomorrow competition for 2010 is now open for entries. This year the theme is the abolition of the death penalty. Learn how to participate here.

Excerpt from press release:
In 2009, countries with the highest number of executions were Iran (with at least 388 executions), Iraq (at least 120), Saudi Arabia (at least 69), and the United States (52). In China information regarding the death penalty remains a secret, but estimates show that China executes more people than the rest of the world combined.*

But there is hope—the number of people being executed around the world appears to be declining. And in December the United Nations will vote on a universal moratorium on the death penalty. (more…)

Ivan Chermayeff

The Haiti Poster Project was a call for action that brought together artists and designers from around the world to benefit the victims of the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th of this year. All limited edition posters submitted were donated by each individual artist with all money raised going to Doctors Without Borders. To view the collection go here.

Alonzo Felix

Poster 4 Tomorrow, a non-profit initiative whose mission is to encourage people, both in and outside the design community, to make posters to spark constructive debate on issues that affect us all. Their theme (Death is not Justice) this year coincides with the World & European Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10th, 2010. On that day they intend to hold 100 exhibitions in 100 cities, curated by 100 local partner
organizations. Find out how you can contribute here.

Image from DesignNotes

Dig this find by illustrator Joe Newton.