Monday 27/1/20 - The Poster Concepts and logo

The first concept of the posters took influence from my older ideas throughout the project so far, I am a huge fan of the repeating text background as it creates an overwhelming message giving off the idea that the poster is trying to force this upon you, that they aren't exactly telling the truth.

The repeating phrase I had in mind was "Keep calm and have a happy face", a parody of the classic "Keep calm and carry on" which has repeatedly been parodies and used especially in marketing. These concepts focused on mental health and the heavy stigma that still revolves around it. They are to show the common aspect that people suffering from issues you can't necessarily see are constantly having to repress this. They feel forced to hide theses issues behind a 'mask' hence why I have a mask as the face of this project. I want these posters to bring these issues up because so many people, both young and old, suffer from many mental issues such as anxiety and depression. The idea in life that these shouldn't be talked about make those who suffer from it feel isolated.

Before the posters were made I settled on the logo for this propaganda, different from what logos usually are because I want this campaign to feel heavily anti propaganda.

I previously talked about this concept, inspired by a youtube series where the characters wore masks much like this. I really liked the style, it looked like a theatre mask and the bright smile really sold me on it. It was a coverup, gave off the impression of happiness and comfort when in actual fact you don't know what's underneath. This fits with the focus of my project with mental health and the lies people are told throughout life by larger authorities.

I decided against using colour for these concepts, whilst it makes them feel less bold I didn't want to take away from the very plain and minimal feel. The lack of colour helps accentuate the unsettling atmosphere I wanted for these posters.

I created a light and dark version, both unsettling but the darker more so. The lighter is meant to be the masked propaganda, a poster repeatedly telling you to stay calm and be happy. The mask half in shadows is a not so subtle nod to the idea that this poster isn't exactly trustworthy or something you should listen to. The dark is from a more personal perspective, meant to represent the mind trying to reassure itself repeatedly. I decided to make the mask cracked and broken to be a visually representation of the person's true self. They are broken but keep trying to cover that because they feel the need to.

I made two alternate designs that were more minimal, only one large line of text directed at the viewer. This time both were directed instead of having one from a different perspective. However, the text on the darker poster is scratched, as if someone tried to destroy it.

I also considered how I would animate these posters, make them feel more dynamic. One idea is to have initially just the lighter poster with the text coming in. The dark poster would repeatedly flicker in and out with the light poster with static and other effects to give off the idea that it's on a broken screen.

The only criticism I have with these is that the shading on the lighter mask feels off, it's meant to be angular but the shading still feels off. The light is meant to be coming from the right side however I don't have much experience in terms of shading and drawing in general.