STEAL THIS POSTER
A remediation
This is a book about a project Put together by Chelsea Choi, for Brad Tober’s Intro to Graphic Design class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The project started on April 4, 2013 and ended on April 29, 2013. This is a breakdown of the project, called Words + Image = Action.
the project the idea the posters the action the outcome
the project
MAKE A SERIES OF POSTERS USING THE FOLLOWING METHODS Separation
Fusion
Text and image are on different planes and do not interact with each other. This can include placing text over an image, or giving overlaid text a background color/region so it is distinctively on a different layer than the image. Creating windows in space help to further separate text and image by giving them their own place. On a 3D space, type exists on a different plane than the image. Contrasting the type and image split the two apart, visually.
The type and image are blended together seamlessly to create an illusion of them being on the same plane. Type and image can exist in the same perspective/dimension/ surface. Texture is often used to unify the two by overlapping, blending, etc. Text becomes part of the image and not just an overlay by use of motion or light. Using images with the same visual qualities to the type help the two come together. There can be a conceptual and visual connection between the type and image. For example, the type can mimic the compositional structure of the image.
Fragmentation
Inversion
This method involves the breaking up of type. This can be achieved by zooming/scaling in on different parts of the type. Individual type and image elements are on separate motion paths. The use of collaging also helps. Windows and frams crop the type or image. Type can frame or shift the image. Fragmentation involves some compositions that are overwhelming in terms of the number and complexity of elements used . Sometimes type and images are confused for another but there is still distinction over what is type and what is an image.
Type and image are reversed. Letterforms are treated like any other physical forms in imagery. Type begins to replace parts of an image. The image and type begin to flow together textually. Type can be a photograph or a direct object of the piece. Inversion pieces can be difficult to read solely as either type or image. The type becomes abstract. Images are constructed by letterforms.
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WORDS + IMAGE = ACTION
Purpose The posters created must have a message for the viewer. This message can be anything of the designer’s choice but it must make the viewer do something the designer wishes. There are four phases to this assignment.
Design Create a series of 4 posters, each exploring one of the four approaches to integrating type and image (all imagery must be original) described in Type, Image, Message, that aim to elicit some sort of action/response from viewers. Your posters must consider the spaces which they will inhabit, the type of audience that will be present in those spaces, the message you wish to communicate, and the type of response you hope to elicit.
Production and installation Print multiple sets of your poster series and install them in different locations across campus.
Documentation Record evidence of your installation and the viewer interaction with it. Consider using photography, video, audio, viewer-generated text/handwritten content, interview transcripts, etc.
Remediation Remediation is the making of new forms out of existing ones. Design a way to interpret, reflect upon, and interpret the documentation of viewer interaction with your installation.
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the idea
STEAL THIS POSTER
Why?
Execution
I wanted my message to be something that was a little bit taboo. Stealing is a crime and I feel that the majority of the people in this school have the notion instilled in them that they shall not steal. So a simple little poster begging to be stolen might spark their interest since it’s just a piece of paper. If they have a will to rebel against the “stealing is wrong” notion, then I will see results. Additionally, the poster says to steal it and following instructions would lead to stealing that poster.
In order for a poster to grab someones attention enough that they would want to steal it, it needs to look “cool”. That is, bright colors, bold text, and modern, young design. A design that can speak to college students.
Record
Progression
For the place to record a response from people, I needed something that the viewer could do instantly and without hassle. I figured that almost 100% of the student population has a cell phone on them at all times and a good number of them have texting. I set up a Google Voice account and said on the posters to text the number that was on it. The suggested message is, “I stole your poster”.
As the posters went from Separation through Inversion, the posters’ legibility went from clear to almost unclear. One thing that I wish I had done was create four individual numbers, one for each method. That way, I could keep track of which poster had the most impact since I was pretty sure it is really hard to read the Inversion poster and that would impact the number of responses it gets.
That said, I tried to keep a “cool” factor running through all of the posters so they were appealing.
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the posters
SEPARATION
Text “I stole your poster” to 401.236.4807 11
FUSION
Text “I stole your poster” to 401.236.4807
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FRAGMENTATION
s t e al
40 1 2 3
t e xt 6
4
& s ay i s t o le yo u r po s t e
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0
r 13
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steal tsteal h i s poster tsteal his INVERSION
text 401-236-4807 & say: i stole your poster
text 401-236-4807 & say: i stole your poster 14
the action
POSTER PLACEMENT
High Traffic Areas It would make no sense to put my posters up in areas where no one really pays attention to or not a lot of people walk through. The goal was to put my posters in areas where the majority of the student population walks through, whether it is between classes or any other time.
Inside Inside some of the buildings that I put my posters in, there were bulletin boards. A lot of these boards were overwhelming with the number of fliers that were already posted. I figured that if there were that many posters on the board, it would make it a harder competition between my poster and the others. So when there were really crowded bulletins, I opted not to put my posters there. Instead, I put them on walls where people would be looking at as they turn the corner, or come down the stairs.
Outside Things like building signs, maps, and doors are all something people look at or place their eyes in front of so those places were ideal spots to put my posters. The building signs were especially good for the posters because they are black and my posters pop off of that surface since they are bright.
Poster count I put up 20 posters on April 22 and another 12 posters on April 26. These posters were dispersed across campus and the visual can be seen on the next page.
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POSTER MAP
Nugent Hall - 1 poster
BIF - 2 posters
Bus stop - 1 poster
Alma Mater - 1 poster
A+D Building - 6 posters
Wohlers Hall - 1 poster
Greg Hall - 1 poster
Windowfront - 1 poster
Flagg Hall - 1 poster
David Kinley Hall - 1 poster
Foellinger - 2 posters
Illini Media - 1 poster
Huff Hall - 1 poster
Campus map - 1 poster
Illini Union - 3 posters
Starbucks - 1 poster
Armory - 2 posters
UGL - 3 posters
Altgeld Hall - 1 poster
Potbelly’s - 1 poster
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PICTURES
In the A+D Building, third floor bulletin board
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PICTURES
On an empty storefront window
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PICTURES
On a campus map near the UGL
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PICTURES
On the Alma Mater
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the outcome
BREAKDOWN
April 22 posters I received 16 text messages regarding the posters I put up for April 22nd. Of course, I can’t know for sure if the texts I received a week later were still from the posters I put up on this day. However, I can say I got 15 immediate responses over the course of two days and one more after three. That means of the 20 posters I put up, I received 80% of a response.
April 26 posters For this set of 12 posters, I received 39 messages. Twenty-six of those text messages were all received at the same time, with different phone numbers. Obviously, some people decided to mess with me by having a multitude of people send me texts. Despite this, at least they were doing what the poster said and texted my number.
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TEXTS Examples of some of the texts received
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ODDITIES
One text...
Two texts....
...telling me they put the poster somewhere else
...calling me a bitch
...saying “I totally jacked your poster”
....telling me they didn’t actually steal the poster
...calling me a dick
...asking what this is for
...saying they have the poster and where should they drop it off
...along the lines of “Yo, I stole your poster”
...calling me a motherfucker ....asking if they can really steal the poster
One very enthusiastic stranger
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