Design Comparison 2: Theophile Steinlen

From the Top:
Christian Louboutin, Isabelita 2011 (Link to Image Here)
Fajr International Poster, Code Name 47 2008-2011 (Link to Image Here)
Posters Like This, SmashingPlanets 2009-2011 (Link to Image Here)

Theophile Steinlen's approach was simply bold and simple designs, a nod towards Japanese prints. Looking at Cabaret du Chat Noir, you can see it's complexity is rather simple. You have an image of a black cat, with a simplistic design behind it's head. After that, it's simply text for the rest of the poster. It probably made it easier for the average viewer to take in the poster without having to 'think' too hard about the elements of arts.

For the first image, Christian Louboutin, we have a rather simple female figure standing in a pose, as if leaning on an invisible object. We have text in another language and finally the name of the poster in the bottom right. In the background, we have some shadings of trees. Overall, the design stresses most of the focus on text and the female figure. The darker contrast of the background helps bring those two elements as the primary focus.

The Fajr International Poster follows the same idea of simplicty. Here we see creative use of some lines and circles, with some text at the bottom. Using just lines and circles, we can see a person 'crying' and as we follow the tears, it leads us to the important information to deliver the message. Here, it's a simple design but cleverly uses our willingness to follow the tears to the bottom to where the message is.

Posters Like This, images like these really drive home that sometimes keeping things simple in designs is the better choice. We see a use of simple shapes and lines of red, yellow, and green which are contrasted by the black background. The text, "Posters like this don't get old", really bring it home that even old school can get the job done than the modern designs of being 'sleek' and full of imagery overload.