This week for Visual Literacy class, we were asked to analyze the effectiveness of a poster at conveying its message. In keeping with the subject matter of my individual poster project, I picked an environmentally themed poster for Robert Stone’s Earth Days film which I was fortunate enough to see last week. The film chronicles the birth of the modern environmental movement from its humble origins after WWII to the widespread and successful adoption of efforts to ‘go green’ in contemporary mainstream culture.
Earth Days - Now in Theaters
While it has several positive and negative aspects, overall the Earth Days poster is effective at motivating moviegoers to see a powerful, engaging, and educational film. The poster is particularly captivating in its unique use of repetition. The dozens of buttons promoting countless environmental causes from banning nuclear weapons to wilderness preservation come together to form a beautiful yet chaotic Earth. Symbolically, this has the effect of illustrating the unity of all fields of environmental activism to work as one to save the planet. The repetition of the buttons has the added effect of showing viewers the depth of the environmental movement and its multifaceted agenda. Critics may dispute the merits of this visual concept in terms of policy however, as solving complex environmental problems requires much more than potentially polarizing sound bites and bumper sticker slogans.
While the font choice of Earth Days is effective with subtle touches of green and the leaf forming the letter ‘A’, I wish that the font size was larger to attract viewers who may not have enough time to read the entire poster. Also, grouping in the poster could be improved with “THE SEEDS OF A REVOLUTION” title moved from the top and placed below the “Earth Days” type at the bottom of the sign. This would create more visual harmony in the poster, improve flow, and guide the viewers eyes through the design.
Earth Days is a compelling film and has a solid poster accompaniment to promote it. While certain elements could be improved such as the placement and size of typeface, overall it is a visually interesting and persuasive design.
More Information on Earth Days: http://www.earthdaysmovie.com/
