Research Practical

What I found was a lot of these politically charged pieces, especially student protest pieces, had a hand rendered style type on the design. They would be rough striking visual posters and would portray strength and rebellion. Again the use of red representing a clenched fist, to portray anger and unity in struggle.

Many of the old posters which I looked at, including the 'Support Prison Rebellions' poster, used hand rendered imagery to put across their point. In this case it uses fists (Another well used icon in politically charged design) to show the struggle of racism embedded in the US prison system at the time. Again they have used red as the only colour on the poster. One apparent aspect which can be seen in the prisoners support poster is a use of structure and layout the type arrangement in place conforms to a grid.

Another one which uses the regular tactics of political design is the screen printed 'Come Together In Peace' Poster, it utilises hands which are seen as a sign of strength, and in this case unity as the hands are clasping one and other as well as hand rendered bold type, in this case in black sitting on the image, the use of the black and red makes for a bolder image.

The use of a red stock or pink stock with black or a darker hue of red printed on it works really well and is something which I want to attempt in my practical.

 “Everybody talks about the weather. We don’t.” The 1968 poster was a response by the German Socialist Student Union to an ad campaign for weatherproof trains. The students were suggesting that like the figures pictured above, they had more important concerns than everyday things like the weather. The bold red image is eye catching and was very topical at the time of publishing, it would have been influential.

‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’ is a lithographic Soviet propaganda poster designed by Russian artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky. The intrusive red triangle symbolises the Bolsheviks, who are penetrating and defeating their opponents, the White movement, during the Russian Civil War. Lissitzky was a leading figure of the Russian avant garde movement, designing a number of exhibition displays and propaganda works for the former Soviet Union. His work hugely influenced the Bauhaus and constructivist movements, and he experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that would go on to dominate 20th-century graphic design.