While the neon-bright colors of the 80’s were just starting to get going in the color palettes of graphic designers during this time, it is interesting to note that there were a lot of good movie posters designs that decided to keep it simple and just go with black and white.  While a few of those b/w posters made it in my list, there were some others that used color and a few other innovative conventions of design to make their posters stand out from the pack. Blow Out What.. || Continue Reading →

It was the start of a decade of big hair, checkerboard Vans, and the introduction of music videos. In the realm of graphic design, it was the year of bright, neon color palettes, airbrushed illustrations, and geometric shapes that showed up in everything from album covers and magazines to… you guessed it, movie posters. However, the full effect of this shift was not yet apparent in the first year, that is 1980. However, that doesn’t mean the year was short of a few,.. || Continue Reading →

If you grew up in the 1980’s, one of the most pinnacle movies that helped shape a generation was The Breakfast Club.  And the pioneer behind it and many other great movies of the 80’s was John Hughes.  After his death, many communities held their own tribute film festivals that paid homage to the film great. Creative designer and illustrator Troy DeShano designed a series of minimalistic posters that helped promote one of these film festivals celebrating the life.. || Continue Reading →

Here is the final year of the decade of disco and what do we have to show for it in the way of nicely designed movie posters?  Fewer than I would have liked, but never-the-less, the list for 1979 is below… Agatha (1979) I really liked the simple concept of this poster to showcase a biographic movie about one of the greatest mystery writers of all time.  Utilizing the assemblage of a jigsaw puzzle to work the layout space from the promo copy to the title treatment was.. || Continue Reading →

The year is 1978.  For some reason it was the Year of Horror Movies in the realm of good movie poster design.  Good concepts and good execution. Let the list begin.  Below are the eight that I found to be worthy of mention… The Chosen (1978) First off, the organic brushwork of the title is great and the bright orange against the black help to really make this title “pop”. Follow that with the stark black and white silhouette and you have a great symmetrical.. || Continue Reading →

The good ole’ designers over at BLT & Associates have done a great job of designing the series of striking movie posters for the new Bruce Willis movie “Red“, based on the DC Comic of the same name. The stark black and gorgeous red and orange hues really draw your eye, but it is the strong horizontal bars with type that contrast beautifully with the title treatments vertical orientation.  Great execution of combining the title and a character image. Whether.. || Continue Reading →

Time for another trip into the past to review and post the movie posters that, in my opinion, showcased creative and inventive strides in the area of graphic design.  The year in review? 1977. Now I need to preface that I found 1977 very disappointing in terms of poster designs that were exceptional.  Most were true to the design styles of that time, but there were not many that pushed the envelope or really did the movie justice in enticing and calling the audience to view.. || Continue Reading →

Just because there is a great movie, doesn’t necessarily mean that it will have a great nicely designed poster to advertise it.  The year 1976 was full of some great movies like A Star is Born, Taxi Driver, Rocky, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Marathon Man and All The President’s Men.  However, it is the following seven movies whose posters I felt were doing something different in graphic design to make them stand out from the bunch. The Omen (1976) Ahhh yes.  The little.. || Continue Reading →

If you were one of the first 20,000 to enter Dodger Stadium yesterday, June 4th 2010, as they celebrated the 70’s, you would have been handed a limited edition “Dyn-o-mite” poster.  The retro-looking, Starsky and Hutch-inspired poster featured Dodger first-baseman James Loney and third-baseman Casey Blake.  Dodgers’ team photographer Jon SooHoo managed the photoshoot of the two as they hammed it up for the lens.  I love the fact that this poster is made.. || Continue Reading →

The Year 1975, for me, produced 7 posters that I felt stood out at the cinemas that regards to movie poster design.  Here is the list as I see it… Jaws (1975) Of course I had to start off the list with this monumental cinematic movie.  This movie not only scared the pants off of movie-goers, but its poster has become an icon in movie posters.  The symmetry, the proportion of the two elements really help you fear going back into the water… as if the movie itself didn’t.. || Continue Reading →