Monday, September 15, 2008

Industrial Revolution Poster

This poster combines an all-caps sans-serif font with another font that appears to be hand-rendered. It combines multiple colors and point sizes. I think that the combination of these elements adds to the poster's appeal. However, I would reconsider the use of a gradient on the words Pennsylvania Railroad and New York. The words stand out against the back image of the New York skyline. This adds to the layout of the poster. I think that a good amount of thought and planning went into this design and that is something that i can appreciate.

The poster is advertising a railroad, one of the most successful railroads in the time period. This is a common theme of posters during the Industrial Revolution. It emphasizes the "new" and "mechanical" aspect of the era. The backdrop of New York city hints at urban living. The railroad was a huge part of the Industrial Revolution because it changed how people lived their daily lives. This poster aims to entice individuals to take the railroad by making it appear glamorous and fresh. This theme would most likely develop and evolve into the advertisements that we see today for new products and technologies.


Sources: Art.com

LB

1 comment:

April G. said...

I agree with you where you said "This poster aims to entice individuals to take the railroad by making it appear glamorous and fresh. This theme would most likely develop and evolve into the advertisements that we see today..." I spent the past five years working in the advertising dept. for Schnucks laying out the weekly ad. While I was there one of the things I did was small "ads" within the weekly circular to entice people to buy certain products - whether they are store made products (deli, meat etc.) or boxed/packaged products. This poster reminds me of what we'd do in the ad, but on a larger scale (the space we'd work with in the ad being much, much smaller). I think this is a nice piece, it's almost not as "Victorian" as others just because there is only one image and it seems a bit more cohesive than some of the other ads that are more thrown together.