Week 6: Rationale

My Final Posters were designed to reflect the idea that New Zealanders should vote for changing the flag, based on the idea that the New Zealand flag is too similar to the Australian flag.
The rhetorical approaches I've used in my first poster are pastiche & juxtaposition, borrowing the comic book layout style and juxtaposing this & informal kiwi language with an old 18th century painting. These elements together create humour which gets the viewer to read and argue with the point made in the posters dialogue. In my second poster my rhetorical approach was to use subversion, replacing some of the stars on the New Zealand flag with the stars found on the Australian flag, highlighting to the viewer the almost unnoticeable difference between the two nations flags. In relation to Ihi + Wehi, my aim is for my posters to attract the viewers attention through either one's familiar comic book style, or the others strong graphic visual style with elements of contrast.

Week 5: Lightbulb moment/Development

I took the previous posters focusing on the statistics around misrepresentation and changed it to align with another approach: the idea of the New Zealand flag being too similar to the Australian flag.
In this version I've subverted some of the stars in the New Zealand flag with stars from the Australian flag, with the rest of the flags elements belonging to both. This effect I believe shows how easily the two can be mistaken for each other as immediately you might not even notice there's anything wrong with the flag. I've decided to highlight the vote for a change with red as an eye catching way to emphasise the main message of the poster without just making it the tagline and boring viewers at first sight. The tagline I have used "Identity Crisis?" is a way to engage viewers - to ask them a question and make them wonder what they're looking at and stop to find out. People passing by who stop to have a look may not even notice the stars are mismatched until they stop to consider the poster.

Week 5: Development of Comic Concept

After feedback that my use of humour in my concepts was successful (particularly in this one) I developed the composition to be more like a comic book spread with multiple cells instead of a one page cell. It makes the composition more dynamic and interesting to look at. It leads the eye over the composition in a logical format as well. Most of the developments after that just focus on altering the type at the top to create context without sounding too complex or losing the viewer's interest.

For my final iteration of this poster I added a tagline down the bottom of the composition as a call to action, and to link the idea of the New Zealand and Australian flags looking similar to the need to change the flag in the upcoming referendum. I used the phrase 'no it ain't' as a continuation of the colloqiual/informal language used in the rest of the poster. A sort of reply from the viewer to the statement by the subject of the poster.

Week 5 Feedback

In class I gained some feedback from Matt where my 2 final choices and their ideas/slogans ("changing more than just the flag") were too ambiguous in regards to what standpoint I was taking on the flag change. Instead it was suggested that I develop my more humorous comic style poster which uses homage, subversion and juxtaposition to get my point across. The message is also a lot clearer on what standpoint I'm taking. The only issue now is to find an image that suits my poster's style - an old picture/painting of men who are talking and preferably have paper with them (to portray the current nz flag as a draft) - that's also big enough to blow up into an A2. I was told checking out archives at the library was a viable option. I'll try to also refine the comic book style I've subverted into the composition.

Week 5: Interim Presentation 2

These are the two posters I chose to present for interim presentation, I got feedback which I'll post in the next blog post

Week 4: Different approach to Aussie vs. Nz Flag concept

I did a few developments of a new approach to my concept (of needing to change the flag because it's too similar to the Australian flag and isn't immediately distinguishable from other flags). In this approach I've subverted Tasmania for New Zealand as a reference to a well known misconception among foreigners that New Zealand is a part of Australia. Then further developments were simply adjustments in the type on the poster and then including imagery from google maps to play on that visual style and use something familiar.

Week 3: Development

For some development on my chosen poster from our interim presentation I used the posterised style of image from the Obama hope posters and merged it with the idea of changing more than just the flag and retained some of the communist propaganda fundamental design principles. I've subverted the classic fist (sometimes alone but sometimes waving a flag) and changed it into a disgusted pinched hand holding the flag like a dirty rag/tissue. The Type 'Meh.' is meant to be a play on kiwi slang and add an element of humour into the composition. The full stop in place of a exclamation mark often found in type on propaganda posters highlights the difference between the typical inspiring propaganda poster and this half-hearted uninspiring image of our current flag. 

Below are some development/process screenshots.