Cell Phone Symphony final crit

This morning we completed the final crit for Cell Phone Symphony. This was a very compacted project, as we only had 4 days of studio practice 4 weeks ago now! Obviously we have had a bit of independent time to allocate in which I largely collected my ideas and thought of the possible developments but it now feels like such a long time ago and this crit came as a bit of a shock. Over a few nights this week I've been trying tweaks and amalgamations of the more successful posters from the original crit notes. The tow posters bellow received the best feedback due to form, originality and the fact they had a concept of dimension and weren't merely 2D graphic posters. 



After my Golan Levin superimposed 'meme' poster I decided that the all round humorous idea would be the concept I could get behind the most. I enjoy anti-graphic posters or even well designed memes that are seen littered around instagram on a daily basis, so tapping into this jovial yet informative structure was an aim when brushing up these poster designs. I started with the Golan Xylophone man edit as a rule and then saw how type might fit around that.

Using the original typeface I designed on Monday, I developed this poster using the complimentary colours of blue and orange. I enjoy how the visual planes clash as the back and foregrounds are very much so separated despite their over lapping nature. The main problem I had with this orientation was that it isn't justifiable. The blue does have a case due to its part inclusion within the concert but orange is a bit off piste. Also the mirroring of the text is a bit weak and although the repetition could be argued to imitate multiple numbers and phone, I didn't want to go down this very obvious route. There were certainly positives to take from the composition but it was time to find alternative solutions.

I opted for a 50/50 split between the two chosen poster from the first crit, culminating in the poster above. The synergy between the two was actually surprisingly very easy on the eye with the grayscale tones mixing nicely with the slightly off white background and large collar on Levin's appropriated shirt to form a dated aesthetic that suits the early naughties technology vibes well. Upon further peer guidance I was advised that the straight 50/50 mix that included the floating numbers was perhaps the stronger out of the two but that it would be a shame to lose my original typography. This lead to the development of the final piece, bellow.

This culminated in the final poster (left) being produced. The only tweak from above left being that the original type face isn't included. This arguably doesn't allow the elements to flow together as well, however it contributed to the general, jovial, anti-graphic aesthetic. I feel all of the design decisions can be justified and the continuity in the poster is very pleasing. Information is to some extent side lined as it is written sideways and quite small, however this contributes to the genre defying nature of the poster. It doesn't conform classic perceptions of a poster and as it is not clear for displaying information. I wanted to continue in this vain so as an experiment yesterday evening I stayed in until late to try and imagine one of the original development ideas. In the first week I mentioned that I'd like to create a playable xylophone poster but it always felt a little far fetched until I had the idea for the developments bellow.

I decided to once again remove and abstract the poster further from traditional poster design and therefore add a playable xylophone to the bottom of it. Without a lot of materials available to me, I fashioned keys of different widths out of tin cans and made a xylophone mallet out of a pencil and masking tape. Whilst very much so a prototype I feel like the late development added the extra edge that the poster needed to make it as successful as possible. Maybe even the handmade, hotchpotch aesthetic added to the overall design.

In terms of peer feedback from the crit the responses were almost all positive and a pleasure to read. The xylophone was celebrated for being a unique idea that emphasises the element of interaction from the concert well. The original typeface also received plaudits with people saying it was a good fit with the rest of the poster. The overall unorthodox style was said to draw attention which is exactly what I wanted. The areas for improvement largely concerned production as people said I could have explored paper stock or vinyl or embossed text to further the tactile experience. Someone else commented that maybe the body text could gave been done differently which is something I agree with as I could have played around more with that. Also one person said about it being to cluttered however I think thats sort of the aesthetic I was going for and another asked who the man was and said I should explain more but this can be completely disregarded. 

The way I see it I'm happy with the posters now and bar actually creating a xylophone which is beyond my means and time I think I am happy with the outcome.