Swiss grid, stated
Swiss modernist poster on off-white uncoated stock, built on a strict six-column grid with a narrow head margin and a deliberately wide foot margin. A single enormous numeral 12 in a tight grotesque, set in black and cropped by the right edge so part of the 2 runs off the page. Three short lines of the same typeface ranged left in the lower left corner reading KONZERT, and beneath it 19.30. Flat red rule running the full width just above them. No images, no gradients, generous empty space, sharp letterform edges, 2:3 portrait.
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Letterpress impression, side lit
Photograph of a letterpress printed poster on thick cotton rag stock, lit from a low angle at the left so the deep impression of every letter casts its own small shadow inside the debossed shape. Set from wood type, the word HARVEST in large condensed capitals across the centre with visible ink variation and a few broken serifs, and SEPT 21 in smaller type beneath. Dense black ink with slight halo at the edges, deckled paper edge at the bottom. Warm white stock, tactile and physical, 4:5 portrait.
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Exhibition poster, three sizes
Gallery exhibition poster using exactly three type sizes and nothing else. Largest, the artist name ELSA VANTOR ranged left across the top two lines in a fine high-contrast serif. Middle, a single line reading PAINTINGS 1998 TO 2012 in small capitals with wide tracking. Smallest, two short lines in the lower left corner giving a fictional gallery name and the dates. A single square reproduction of an abstract painting in muted ochre and grey sitting in the lower right, well inside the margin. Warm white ground, wide margins, 3:4 portrait.
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Blackletter masthead
Poster built around a blackletter masthead, the type described as Old English Fraktur of the kind used on a newspaper nameplate, with heavy vertical stems, sharp diamond terminals and ornate capitals. The single word CHRONICLE across the top third in dense black, sitting between two hairline rules that run the full width. Beneath it a wide empty area of aged cream paper with visible foxing at one corner, then three short lines of small roman type ranged centre. Slight ink bleed into the paper fibres, 3:4 portrait.
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One word in every weight
Typographic poster showing the same word repeated eight times down the page, each line in a heavier weight than the one above, running from a hairline at the top to a solid black at the bottom. The word is TIDE, set in a neutral grotesque, each line justified to the same width so the letterforms widen as they thicken. Warm off-white ground, all type in a single dark ink. A small caption in the lower right in the lightest weight. Precise spacing, nothing else on the page, 2:3 portrait.
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Halftone blown up to rosettes
Poster made from a hugely enlarged halftone, the dot rosette around a centimetre across so the individual dots are the dominant texture and the image only resolves when seen from a distance. The image is a face turned three quarters away, cropped tightly. Printed in a single dense black on cream stock. Two short lines of crisp small type in the lower left corner, deliberately sharp against the coarse dots. The contrast between the fine type and the huge dots doing the work, 1:1 square.
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Type set on an arc
Poster with the text set on a circular path: the words FULL CIRCLE FESTIVAL running clockwise around a complete circle centred on the page, each letter rotated to sit perpendicular to the curve, with an even gap between the start and end of the phrase at the bottom. Inside the circle, a simple flat illustration of a wheat sheaf in two colours. Deep green ground, cream type and illustration. Two short lines of straight horizontal type beneath the circle. Clean geometry, even letterspacing, 4:5 portrait.
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One word cropped to the edge
Typographic poster in which a single word becomes the image. The word SLOW set in a heavy serif and scaled so large that only the S, the L and part of the O remain on the page, the counters and the curve of the O reading as abstract shapes. Deep ink black letterforms on a warm bone ground, printed with a slight ink spread at the edges as though from metal type. A single line of small type ranged bottom right reading MARCH 4. Nothing else on the page, heavy and confident, 3:4 portrait.
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Riso misregister, on purpose
Risograph printed poster in two inks, fluorescent pink and medium blue, with the blue layer deliberately misregistered about two millimetres down and to the left so a pink fringe shows along every blue edge. A simple illustration of a hand holding a folded paper aeroplane, drawn in flat shapes. Coarse dither texture in the mid tones, ink slightly uneven where coverage is heaviest, paper fibres visible through the lighter areas. The word POST in blue across the lower third. Cream sugar paper, 3:4 portrait.
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Film key art with a credit block
Film poster with photographic key art: a lone figure in a long coat standing at the far end of a wet car park at night, seen from behind and small in the frame, one sodium lamp above them. Heavy black gradient rising from the bottom third. The title THE QUIET HOUR in a wide letterspaced sans across the lower third in warm white. Beneath it a standard credit block rendered as a fine even band of pale grey texture rather than legible words. A single line of larger type above the title. Cinematic, cold and sparse, 2:3 portrait.
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Text on a single tilted baseline
Typographic poster with all the text set along a single baseline rotated 30 degrees, running from the lower left corner to the upper right. The words FORWARD MOTION in a heavy grotesque following that angle, each line stepped so they stack parallel. A thin rule running the same angle beneath them and continuing off both edges. Flat cobalt blue ground, type knocked out in white, one small block of four short lines ranged along the same diagonal in the lower right. No other elements, strong graphic tension, 4:5 portrait.
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A justified block of type
Poster built from a single solid block of justified type, flush on both the left and right edges so it forms a perfect rectangle in the centre of the page. Short words set in a condensed sans at large size, the letterspacing varying line by line to make the measure work, so the block reads as a solid grey texture from a distance and as separate words up close. Deep charcoal type on a pale sage ground. A narrow band of empty space on all four sides, one line in red inside the block, 3:4 portrait.
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Duotone in two named inks
Duotone photographic poster printed in two inks only, deep ink blue carrying the shadows and a warm bone carrying the highlights, with no other colour anywhere. The photograph shows a swimmer mid-stroke seen from above, water surface broken into hard shapes. Contrast pushed so the mid tones almost disappear. The word DEPTH knocked out of the image in a wide sans across the lower third, letting the paper show through. Slight halftone texture visible in the darkest areas, 2:3 portrait.
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Split fountain blend
Screen printed poster using a split fountain blend, with warm yellow ink loaded at the left of the screen and deep magenta at the right so the colour transitions smoothly across the page and meets in an orange band down the middle. The artwork is a bold silhouette of a mountain ridge occupying the lower half, printed in the blend. Above it, the word ASCENT in a heavy sans knocked out to the paper. Visible screen mesh texture, a slight ink build at one edge, cream stock, 2:3 portrait.
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Two inks and their overlap
Two-colour screen printed poster using only warm red and deep blue ink on cream paper, with the overlap where the two shapes cross printing as a dark plum third colour. Two large circles offset so their intersection forms a tall lens shape in the centre of the page. The word DUET set in a condensed sans across the intersection in knocked-out cream. Visible screen texture in the ink, one small area of imperfect coverage, a faint registration mark in the top corner. Flat, graphic, no shading, 2:3 portrait.
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Wood type stacked to the edges
Wood type gig poster in the style of an old letterpress bill, every line justified to the full page width so the type size changes line by line to fit. Six stacked lines alternating between a fat slab, a condensed sans and an outlined face, reading THE HOLLOW WIRE, then TUESDAY, then DOORS 8, each line separated by a thin rule. Printed in dense black and one dull orange on cheap rough newsprint with visible fibre and slight show-through. Ink heavy in places, light in others, 2:3 portrait.
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Travel poster in five flats
Mid-century travel poster illustrated in five flat colours only: cream, dusty teal, burnt orange, deep navy and a soft ochre. A stylised coastal railway viaduct crossing the frame diagonally with a small train on it, simplified headland behind, gulls indicated as three marks. Subtle airbrushed gradient in the sky, everything else flat with no shading. The word SOUTHCLIFF in a geometric sans across the base, and below it BY RAIL in smaller capitals. Slight print misregistration, aged paper tone, 2:3 portrait.
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Title built as an object
Poster in which the title is a physical object rather than typography: the word RIVER constructed from lengths of weathered timber, the letters lying flat on wet sand and photographed from directly above. Hard low sun from the left so each letter casts a long defined shadow across the sand, and shallow water reaching the base of the R. Grain, splits and old nail holes visible in the wood. A single line of small clean sans type printed in the upper left corner. Cool sand and driftwood palette, 3:4 portrait.
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An oversized date as the image
Poster where an oversized date carries the whole design: the figures 08 set in a very heavy geometric sans filling most of the page, with the counter of the 0 left open. Inside that counter, four short lines of small type set ranged left, giving a fictional venue and a time. The numerals in warm ochre on a deep ink ground, the small type in the same ochre. A hairline rule crossing behind the numerals from edge to edge. Precise optical spacing, nothing decorative, 4:5 portrait.
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Photocopied three generations
Poster that has been photocopied three times over, each generation adding damage: letterform edges broken and thickened, mid greys collapsed to either black or white, toner speckle scattered across the page, a dark band down one edge where the lid lifted, and the whole image skewed about two degrees. Hand-drawn lettering reading BASEMENT across the top, a crude cut-out photograph of an amplifier below it. Cheap white copier paper with one visible crease. Raw, urgent and imperfect, 3:4 portrait.
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