Think Previous Posters / + Poster inspiration

I have gathered previous 'Think!' posters to investigate the composition, content and message. All of the posters have powerful imagery that play with the conscience of the viewer and make them think about their driving, waking drivers up emotionally and physically behind the wheel. The posters use knowledge to warn road users in advance. This message is communicated in a horrifying and stimulating way to challenge people to think about their own behaviour and question themselves. Although, the designs brutally communicate powerful messages, the manner they are carried out is caring. It is caring, because it has your best interests at heart and the aim is to advise, protect and prevent you from danger, keeping you safe.

The composition of the Think posters communicate powerful messages through large images at the centre of the poster, being the focal point to engage the viewer towards the design. Each present the scenario of death or fatal injuries and suggest how it impacts their life and others around. No bright colours are used, a lot of the content is photographed. Think will use photograph footage to create the sense of a real world application, this is something to consider for my outcome. The more digitised outcomes are also used and seem to demonstrate a story that explains a negative impact the incident has had on their lives. Creating the sense of hearing the voice of your conscience, usually through powerful typography or audio narration, in either animations or posters.

Further Inspiration Found Along the Way

As I am intrigued around the idea of illusion and misperception for my 'Think!' campaign, these designs above caught my eye and gave me an idea for a 2D poster. Both posters are composed in a way that made me think of an emerging headlight of a car in a gloomy night, due to the white circumfrance against the dark backgrounds.

I like the idea of the skull illusion on the left, with two ladies dining and conversing and connecting this to the indication of an emerging headlight of a car. To me, it creates the sense of death waking in the presence of an uncontrolled car and communicates the unseen aspect of the two ladies seemingly enjoying their evening. This would be a good way to illustrate a story of how the car approaches uncontrollably towards the women dining in a restaurant, with the scull connecting the sense of death awakening, next to the scene of the ladies and the headlights of the car. Before the car crashes into the restaurant and kills the innocent victims. I imagine the idea to be what you would see in the build up to the 'Final Destination' deaths, almost like you are envisaging a death before it happens.

My idea for the design on the right also communicates a similar story, envisaging a death before it happens. But, in this case the monster in the design can represent the car and communicate the danger of the fearsome vehicle when uncontrolled. In the headlight of the car, shadows of the two children enjoying themselves communicates a different scene, to tell a story as the car approaches. With this idea, it would be necessary to create a background story for the young victims to engage the audience to create a more significant fall to the concluding message in the design.

Poster Development 1 / Think!

I have developed upon my idea of a poster in reverspective. I have began to arrange communicative elements to express the message and how the visual demonstration the reverspective effect offers. Using a phone at the top of the design, I tell the viewer to read the message within the phone. The message typed in the phone is purposely in a small scale, to engage the viewer to move close to the design to read it. This is when the illusion of the reverspective display takes effect. As, the viewer is up close to the phone in the design, they will no longer be able to see the road in the 3D reverspective. This demonstrates the distraction of using a mobile phone while driving and notifies the serious and frightening consequences that can happen.

To further communicate my idea, I have created a visual demonstration from the viewers perspective. I have established the angle a viewer would see up close the the poster, reading the message in the mobile phone. From this perspective, the viewer will not be able to see the road beneath the reverspective and will not see the child in the middle of the road.

For the message within the phone. It would be a good idea to take a screenshot of a typed message in my phone, creating a real effect to the poster. I have experimented with this idea and I feel it help reinforce the communicative nature. I typed different words and phrases that I could possibly use, I think the most effective message would be, 'Think!, can you see the road'. From this point the viewer will try to look down at the poster and realise they can no longer see the road and create a sense of shock that will stick with them. Now, with this unique sense of engagement they viewers will more likely retain the information.

Video Media Channel / Think Project

I can get the reverspective effect to work in video by applying the same effect as what would happen in physical form. A step back from the poster, the camera will have a full perspective and see the whole image of the road. Up close however, I would position the camera at eye level of the average person and would only see the top half of the reverspective and not the most important part, the road.

To create this effect, I could move the camera steadily towards the design at eye level to walk the viewer through the illusion of the design. The view is as if the audience are the driver of the car and by moving closer to the phone, the video demonstrates the distracting aspect of using a phone while driving. I could see this advertised on TV with the aspect of public reaction to the poster on city streets, observing the intrigue it may have upon them. I will look to create a short advert, demonstrating the process and to reinforce the application of my posters.

Poster Idea / 2D + 3D aspect / Think Project

Above, I have visually communicated how the reverspective illusion will work. Take a step back and the viewer will see the whole perspective of the design, however engaging with the phone and moving closer to the 3D design the viewers perspective of the poster will change and no longer be able to see the road. This will visually demonstrate to the public the danger of using your mobile phone and how it takes your eyes off of the road, leading to horrific consequences.

As you can see, the person further away from the poster gets a full perspective of the illusion, but when closer only sees the upper half of the reverspective and can no longer see the bottom half, most importantly the road. I would situate the posters in car parks, city centres and other places where there will be a high influx of drivers. To get the viewer to move closer to the design, I could write above the phone quoting, 'what does the phone say'. In the phone I could write in a small scale, so the viewer has to com closer, 'can you see the road'. In which they cant, because they are engaging with the phone distracting their attention off of the road. This would hopefully create an impact upon the viewer.



To end this post, I have embedded another reverspective visual example to reinforce my idea.

Social Media Idea / Interactive Application

An interactive application would be well suited to target the audience of young male drivers. This generation have been accustomed to digital technologies throughout their lives and are spending hours a day browsing through their news feed. So, this media channel will be a great platform for them to stumble upon. I will create a video that quotes do not touch the phone, intriguing them to touch the phone behind the play button to discover what the video is about. Once the play button is clicked the inverted reverspective view of the driver would demonstrate how using your phone distracts their attention off of the road, with the indication of a child stood in the middle of the road that they could hit.

Another interesting approach through the channel of social media. A lot of images on social media are now becoming 3D interactive applications. Using a special camera to move around an object or environment and allowing the capacity to export into social media for the world to observe and enjoy. This technique could be transferred into my road safety idea. By scrolling up to the phone and being unable to see the reverspective road and child, demonstrating the danger of this action.

These are methods of communication that I will look to create. I think maybe the video channel for social media would be the route I could manipulate into an advert appeal. I am not exactly too sure about how to create a 360 object image that you can interact with on social media. But, I will research how it is done and discover if I have the equipment and capability to do so.

Reverspective Visual Ideas

For the reverspective visual content, I could take either photographs in a similar grid structure to the reverspective template, or I could illustrate the scene of a road. Above, I have collated images that have been taken is a similar grid system that could possibly match my reverspective template. All of which, are in a built environment and express the type of scene I want to recreate, whether it be illustrated of photographed. I feel the application of a photograph would be most suited to create a greater impact, as it brings a real world aspect into the design and makes people think this way.

Here I have created a rough idea of how I imagine my reverspective display to appear. I have used Photoshop to create the scene using transform tools such as, perspective, scale and skew tools. This is where I came across my first indication of a problem. The photograph that I take will have to be in perfect line to the grid structure of the reverspective. If the buildings rise above the upper diagonal lines the buildings will flow over onto the upper surface of the reverspective. It is less of an issue if the sky falls into the side surfaces of the reverspective, as there is less visual detail that would effect the reverspective illusion.

To further communicate my idea, I have demonstrated the reverspective change of the road as you move up to the phone with the mock scene with my manipulated image of a city street. Because the reverspective design is the structure of a pyramid, when the audience moves above the pyramid they will not be able to see the other side of the 3D shape, where the road will be. This is the message I intend to communicate, I just need to fit visual content into this display to create a though provoking impact upon the viewer.

Creative Poster Inspiration / Think Project

I have found and collated posters that think out of the box and strive away from conventional 2D. These posters come into our world and connect with us in a unique and memorable. I will use the idea behind these posters to engage and audience, the more memorable the visual display is the more chance the audience will retain the information. Whether the audience likes the communicated message or not, designs like this make the audience remember and retain. If the design makes the audience retain the information intended, it is doing its job.

ANAR Foundation have created a very clever design that alters with perspective. It is a poster design with a face of a child that appears like a normal, healthy child at the average height of an adult, 1.75m. However, from a child's perspective, the poster is viewed from a different angle and the image of the child appears bruised and beaten. The intention of the poster is to communicate a message to children away form the adult, abuser, they are with, telling them how they can seek help with a number to dial and a message to advise against prolonging the agony. The way this effect is created is through a lenticular effect.

A lenticular print is small bumps or spikes on the surface, allowing the image to reveal different effects from two different perspectives. It is similar to the reverspective design used by Patrick Hughes, in terms of the balance between perspective and illusion. This is how the ANAR Foundation create the design to communicate to a children who may be mistreated and need some form of help and guidance, with the hidden message seen from a low view away from their adult abuser.



With this kind of mindset I want to create a poster with an interactive message. Using my reverspective idea, I can communicate the danger of using a mobile phone while driving and how looking at your phone alters the perspective of how you see the road. I could do this by engaging the viewer to interact with a phone gesture situated above the design in the poster. The change in perspective by moving up to the phone above the design would alter and restrict the view of the road seen in reverspective. This would be a clever way to demonstrate the danger of mobile phone use when behind the wheel. I could create more of an impact by creating a child character on the road to communicate the horrific consequences that may arise in this situation.