Simplicity: Koinonia Posters

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you dig?

  • sweeet!
  • nope, not feeling it.

0 voters

hey i jus thought i’d share, i came home from my tests today and while i was checking mail, my dad asked me whether i could do a poster for a program in church.
i tried to look at this as a slight improvement over the previous poster (for the last session) that was just a word doc with different fonts.

so just straight off did two three combinations, keeping the old simplicity with a little more flavour, relevance (symbols etc) and style!
here they are, hope you enjoy!

anything you think i should improve on in future poster design projects?




if you want to know why i did what i did, ask away! pls comment…

also, this seems to be a monthly thing thats going on, so theres always room for improvement on the poster next month.

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Hmmm- I am seeing sharper contrasts in my head, perhaps vectorized close-ups of members. I am not going to say “sweeet” just yet, It is still too simple. Try some different palletes- something with a bit more punch. Keep iterating. Perhaps the service is mellow, but I think that the poster can have more visual detail and reflect the character of the service.

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Yenomoris-
Don’t take this the wrong way. But for me, thought this would be the fastest and best way to get a crit on your posters. I am not trying to call you out on anything with arrows or things just thought maybe this could help…

I haven’t voted yet, because I think you can push this and at the end of the day if its 'sweeet" looking or not shouldn’t matter. I think what we should be voting on what info are we seeing first what is easy to read, what jumped out at us what didn’t type of things… It would also help us put this posters in context if we could kno who will be seeing them, only the people at that church? of will it be mailed to other local churches/ members…etc- is it mailed, posted up, handed out? scale would help, because your type size might be too big or small depending on these variables.

I think you have some strong things working for you with the use of negative space.

also for a program, i look at it kind of like a corp. ad campaign. they might visually look slightly diff. but are giving at the end of the day the same message. Have you thought of a program of how this could be, and how it would be executed every month? maybe color could play a factor?

my comments seen below in orange:

800×532 9.3 KB

Mm

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this seems to be a time when a group of very different people with musical backgrounds (pipe organ, electronic keyboard, piano, acoustic guitar, electric bass, acoustic drums) gets together to lead the congregation in worship.
i think they are trying to do it once a month or so, so its not after every evening service DV.
this is in a 190 (or so) year old church in chennai, where i live.
its known by both “St. Andrews Church” and “The Kirk” as its origins are scottish (kirk is a scottish church)
most of the church materials (bulletins etc) say both names, in two lines, so i just kept with it.

yeah i agree the alignment and choice of colours was quite sloppy. if i was doing it again i would make all the blues blend more with the pale blue on the sides.

only a few of these have been made i think (not my job lol) and will be posted on various other churches (in the city) ‘s notice boards. so primarily church goers will be the posters’ audience.
oh and its printed on A4, i thought the size was big enough to read from a notice board and the text was not too cluttered.



i might do the “after the evening service” slanting for the next poster. hmm…

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i did the three dots for a more subtle reference to God, rather than the cross, and used the cross as a background (the lines/shades)
with the slanting “top text” was something like a spire, remember to look to the one up there, you know. this seemed to be the only actual reference to worship on the poster, ill have to put some more next time.

the brackets… i really don know. it seemed nessecary when the line was so far from the title. then when i integrated it more it looked slightly unnessary esp. because of the different colours and sizes.

oh and the middle is in three lines not two, to maximise font size because when your reading from a notice board you stand a bit further no? the “an hour of” IMO is quite relevant because it keeps the invite more casual than formal, more like a friend inviting you for something he enjoys…

man DV your comments are really good, thanks for taking the time!

i hope i could explain alll the things that are going on behind the poster.

oh and is there any good online resource on colour matching? maybe i should just buy a book. any reccomendations?

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and DV, thanks for the crit…
i did not want a case of praise for the dancing dog, not because he does it well, but because he does it at all.
always looking to improve!

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color lovers site

maybe this could be of some use with color/choice for the next poster.

uno

Mm

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Yenomoris…


I am glad to see a faith based design study… I agree with DV’s comments… There has to be a balance and hierarchy to your designs…

Here is a great book that will help you with future graphics projects…
Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition (Paperback)
by Kimberly Elam

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just some practice.

hmm… i dont know if the bright green is justified though…

tried to introduce some pi, sadly only in an angle, so its not really counted?

also, dint spend enough time on the lower text… so im still unhappy about the placement (i had to chop off a little of the h) and the font size is not quite right…

again, please comment…

stil learning…
sheesh i feel kinda bad… i shoulda worked on all these skills a looong time ago… when i was busy cartooning… never too late…

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hi. the koinonia program has been goin on, once a month, and i have been contributing for the posters.
im going through a tough time right now, design wise-stylistically as well as functionally. i do not dare assume knowledge of good and bad, and therefore im unable to condemn my work. which is quite egoistic in itself…

along the way my simplicity also got redefined. or should i say, i disagreed with my definition, and am yet to come up with a better one.

so anyway, i thought id post up the couple of posters that i have done, and maybe you guys could share your thoughts on it.

a word of caution- simplicity in visuals changed to simplicity in process- so many of these posters have a non aligned look to them. i want to get back to striving for alignment, with meaningful positions and all, but i need to be able to answer my own question of “why?” first.

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it might be easier to view the images in a separate window.

for june4th:

first set

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second set:


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third set

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final versions




and the final poster which was printed:

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I ain’t feeling it too much. I don’t like the typographical treatment throughout. It seems too plain and has no visual hook. Just my 2 cents :wink:

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sorry, not feeling it. dont wanna be all negative, but think maybe some comments could help.

  1. typographically a lot lacking. if you are going for a full on typographic thing, you really gotta be tight and pay attention to the details. looks too default for font, kerning, leading, etc to have the sophistication needed to pull off a full type thing. try some different fonts and browse around lots of typograhic sites/books and i think youll see what i mean. i understand and the intent, but the execution is key.

  2. more importantly though, im feeling a huge gap in medium and message and design. i dont know the target audience (age, location, etc), but to me, i feel the design is so standard “lets do some ‘modern’ graphics” in color, treatment, etc, i just feel the design you made would have been the same if you were doing it for a funeral home, dog groomers, etc. kinda default. i would guess the church target is likely an older, non-designy crowd…is this going to comunicate to them? i’d guess from 20ft away most would think its for a new organic spa or something. not a good thing, if you want people to get closer, read, and remember the audience.

just remember that a designer cant force their own style/likes on the user, but should rather communicate to the user in a language they will understand to solve a problem.

hope this helps. just my 0.02$ worth from an outsiders perpective.

R

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I thought that the first versions were visually stronger/more balanced than what was printed, but then again I’m an industrial designer, not a graphic designer - and I’m also not the target audience.

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this was at almost the peak of scrappiness- note the misalignment, general “not caringness” of quality…
will post more tomo…

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id like to make it clear that while there was a debate goin on in my head about the need for quality, and how quality reflects “goodness”, there was NO debate as to the communication of emotions, the need for a purpose of design. for this project at least.
through the clouds i was trying to communicate the need for God in our lives, and since in my culture i believe heaven is above, (i think eskimos have opposing beliefs- hell is where it is cold, heaven is nice and warm underneath. could be just a rumour thought. ) the idea was “gloriously uplifting”. above the clouds.
there was also a bit of word play- looking higher both spiritually and visually :smiley:

in junes poster the text underneath is aligned so that the topborder (between the lines “come share” and “june4th” is smaller than the distance between “an hour of worship” and “sing praises” for example. the idea was to make the text leap out, like a bubble. like a cloud.

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i’ll post the poster that was done at the peak of my quest for reason when i get home, but maybe i should explain how it came about…

this post will be a long rambling of some unconnected thought trains, so feel free to skip.

the whole argument became clearer to me only once i had resolved it once and for all.
i guess the basic issue can be explained in an anology to music.
these past few months have been a time when i reflected on the meaning of life, why are we here? i would reccomend the book of ecclesiastes : )


so my philosophical doubt became a theological doubt, which finally was resolved in my only meaning for life is my religion- now that is my belief, and is not backed by any proof/argument.
if there is no meaning to life, that is, if there is no “perfect” life, one which has meaning/ purpose, is there good art?

so the question is, what is art? what is good art? who are we to decide what is good and what is bad? why should alignment ( i took that as a representative of Quality) be the beautiful? why should it be the “right” thing to do?

ah yes the music analogy (not a very good one, but still).
there are two organists in a church. both play music ONLY as an act of worship. the musical talent is a gift from God. (you may differ on that, but assume that both organists believe so)
SO, if God gave them the talents, and they use it to thank him, worshp him, why is one better than the other?

but wait- the music was for God, not for me. so how do i (the observer) decide who is better. what if they both are equally good?
this leads to- what is good art? which leads to - what is a suitable background to my poster?

how am i to decide what is good and what is bad?


yes, in retrospective the argument seems very silly and a little like i was trying to escape good old hard work. but at the time, it seemed VERY important.

it strikes me now that i should not be critisizing OTHER art. but my art / design is MINE to critisize… im free to decide what is good and what is bad- and i have decided that quality is good, scrappiness is bad. hard work is good, easy way out is bad. i have decided that for my design projects. my art projects are a whole ball game alltogether.


so, i shall post the last poster (july end), and then hopefully i can post my next poster, which reflects a better ethos (i feel) than the previous ones, seeking for perfection in Quality.

a good result of this whole debate that ive been worryin about is that i am more tolerant now, i dont judge other design work. perhaps their priority is not quality, that is fine by me- i just wont buy their product :smiley:

im quite happy with my conclusions. i took some photographs recently, and at last i was at peace, because i now feel that quality in composition, lighting etc IS important : )
which i wouldnt have done a month or so ago.
take care,
thanks
arpith