The poster is overall very well structured as it makes very good use by leaving a lot of negative spacing, creating a string figure and ground distinction. This distinction, coupled with the central placement of the letterforms, directs emphasis onto the letterforms.
The poster is divided in three groups of text, the introductory, “the shining” and the credits. With “the shining” being in large bold text, with heavy weight, and in a skewed position, it is emphasized and differentiated from the other letterforms, and catches the eye strikingly as a graphic form rather than being mere typography.
The slant also guides the viewer’s eyes down in one straight column, directing the line of sight over the poster’s information in a concise order.
playing with the positive space of the font shape, a shocked, horror-filled face is embedded within “the”. The image, grainy and pointilised, retains structural ambiguity about is nature and its subject. It doesn’t reinforce if the figure is a human or a spirit, or in between. This creates an unsettling image, as the viewers are left to piece together the gap.
the figure’s eyes guide the viewer’s gaze down to the letters of “shining”, further emphasizing the movie’s title and creating a striking impression.
The color of the poster is intriguing. Mustard yellow and black make for a very strong contrast. In our nature, we associate such colors with danger, as evidenced from the colors of yellow jackets, tiers and venomous snakes. The poster is trying t communicate with our subconscious and notify us of the potential horrors that await us in this movie
i really love how Milton Glaser creates graphic illustrations using color blocking. Being more detail inclined, i often find it hard to create graphic forms/illustrations without veering into being too distracting. Milton Glaser creates simplified, clean designs using good grasp of colors and the use of ground and figure.
In this poster of aretha franklin, he blocks out a positive form using squares, with one contrasting edge of curves. The squarish positive form is placed in the center and further constrained by the solid rectangular line in the negative space of the background.
The curves of aretha franklin’s hair break the monotony of the otherwise constrained form, creating an interesting visual contrast. It also leads the eye around the form.
The colour contrasts in the positive image are blocked out by edge lines and curves, further leading the eye around a line of sight down the image