Assignment 1

Stage 1

For this poster assignment, I first started out with drawing 3 different drafts before selecting the train track design for my final poster. I believe that all my designs were focused on the dark comedy aspect. (sketches)
Reason because I chose my final design because I thought that i could play more on the colors and perspective to create dramatic ominous feel. Also, the abandon railway somehow seem to give a forlorn kind of feeling. After taking pictures of the runway, I immediately picture out a tragic kind of theme for my poster which explains the red colours I used in my final product.
But the design of this poster wasn’t drafted out in seconds. I focus quite a lot on the arrangement and placement of objects to lead audience eyes ard the poster. So in a way to apply the various theories like rules of 1/3 to this poster. So after several trial and errors, I did out my first poster prototype.

Plot & prototype 1

I know its abit not accurate in terms of procedure that I develop my plot after my poster draft sketches. But I am really not v good at developing drama plots. So from my poster, i derive a kind of dark comedy plot：Sophia is an Indonesian girl who comes from a poor family. After overcoming trials of barriers, she came to Singapore in search of her dream. To her, Singapore is a dream as well as a hope to save her poor family. But she never dreamt that her career in Singapore turned into a nightmare. Imprisoning her life once more, Sophia felt unjustified to live such an undignified life. Burying her dreams, she was overwhlemed by hatred and began to take revenge on all those who made her life miserable. But just when she was about to commit an deadly act, memories of her family flashed past her. She did not want her sibilings to follow her path. In hope of saving them out of poverty, Sophia thought of a plan and committed suicide in the end.
Thinking back on my design process, I feel that maybe I should think out of the box and not try too hard to restrict my design concepts to fit the realistic aspects of the plot. In a way, I believe that the challenge lies in the balance between the surrealistic and dark comedy factors.


Here is my poster. Wasn't ablt to enlarge it though, so the wordings might seem quite small. But when enlarged to A3 size, it is readable. I realized that the printed our version really looks slightly different from the online one, will do some minor adjustments.

Poster 1

Revision of poster

In fact, I didnt really get what it means by surrealism and didnt take note of this factor when doing the first poster prototype. Was sick and did not go for my first tutorial. But the comments given by my tutorial mates in private mentioned that the surrealistic aspect of the poster is not loud enough and the ‘comedy’ factor not strong enough. They sense more of a tragedy feel rather than a dark comedy feel. The fonts also seem to merge into the messy background.
With these, I decide to change some details of my poster. Did some research on what surrealism means. And I realize that surrealism can be portrayed through minor distortions and abstract expressions.

Changes made :

1) Placement of fonts to enhance readability

2) To add on surrealistic mood, I enlarged the girl in the middle, plunge a hole through her body, with a knife sticking out from the hole. This in fact suit my plot and at the same time create a kind of unreal expression.

3) Type of font -> to enhance the comedy feel