1987. The year I graduated high school and headed off to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to earn my degree in Graphic Design.

Call it an omen, but it was that year, regardless of the previous couple of years, when movie poster design started trying new things.  Sure, there was the recurring design convention of the paper-tear motif that reared its head here and there, but all-in-all, it was a good year. A really good year based on the number of posters that made this article.

Below are my candidates for honorable mentions in good exercises in strong design.

Fatal Attraction

Here is that paper-tear I was mentioning, but it is so relevant to the concept of the movie and the poster, that it deserves extra mention.  The nice duotone color palette of the poster is split dramatically by the red to help create the tension that this movie was known for.  The title treatment on a tilted axis also helps convey that visual tension.  Now all this layout needs is a rabbit…

Black Widow

Yes, division of the layout space seems to be a similar convention, but once again, when it is used as a creative convention to help convey meaning, it is done properly.  Here, the strong black and white creating a symmetrical feel to the piece helps convey the polarity of the movie’s characters.

Robocop

I know what you are thinking…. But while you may have a solid opinion of the movie, and its movie poster, I bet you had never come across the alternate version of its movie poster, which I think is just short of brilliant.  The large, flat color, the duality of shapes between the helmet visor and gun, and even the retro color palette.  This is just great!

Backlash

It wouldn’t be the 80′s without some residual presence of day-glow colors, but here they are used sparingly.  I love the creative use of a psuedo-collage for the top image and the subtle diagonal of the type treatment that leads the eye downward through the visual space.

No Way Out

Do you see what I mean about the paper-tear convention really dominating much of the posters of the later 1980′s?  But again, I really like how it was used to help establish certain sections of the layout to have a stronger visual presence.  Here you can see how the eye is directed to the headshots of the leading characters, but then traverses to the minor image of Gene Hackman and then the running Kevin Costnar before you get to the title treatment.  The eye is really lead this way and that way through the layout.  A nice technique here…

The Lost Boys

Aside from the poster slapped against many a young teen girls wall (tons of Brat Pack colleagues present), this poster made my list because of the dominant use of black and white imagery for most of the poster and then the strong, rich blood red used for the backdrop.  A very arresting image and helps convey the tone and subject matter of the movie.

Empire of The Sun

This poster also used a very strong color to help grab the eye, but in this case it was a nice gradient against a very drab gray backdrop.  Coupled with the strong diagonal imagery of the aircraft in descent and the hand-drawn title treatment, this poster definitely gets the Eye Grabber award.

The Believers

Among other dominant design themes for posters of this year, the color red along with black and white were among them.  But I can’t help but love the use of it here as the strong wedge formation of the upper imagery diminishes down through the title treatment and finished at the “V”.  Strong visual direction by color or elements is crucial to a good poster design, and this is no exception.

Dead of Winter

I have to love the use of the Bodoni font for the title treatment and the real simplicity that the designer chose to use for this poster.  Sometimes in a see of colorful posters along the marque wall, a lack of color can really help the design stand out.

Suspect

Well look at this.  Black, white and red.  Not the most original color scheme (as seen by previous posters here), but I like the translucency of this design to help focus the eye into the layout and the creative use of the gavel into the title treatment (even if it is downplayed).  Still a nicely designed poster.

Making Mr. Right

Finishing off my list is one that really helps to highlight some of the design conventions of the 80′s.  Bright primary colors, high  contrast, geometric shapes used for design elements, and extreme transitional typefaces. Ahhh yes…. The 80′s.