unit.2.persuasion

Though images such as the stained glass helped the propagation of Christianity, Illustration as persuasion often relies on the power of a single image, as seen in successful political posters, book covers and movie posters. Olly Moss’ series ‘Films in Black and Red’ straddles the blurry distinction between Illustration and Design as separate disciplines. As he considers himself both a designer and an illustrator, each practice inevitably influences the other. Is seems his poster for Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Great Dictator’ is a graphic design approach with an illustrative hand, whereas the poster for ‘Taxi Driver’ is the opposite. The beauty of re-designed posters is that, with time, you can adapt your posters to a niche audience. The Chaplin poster is particularly persuasive because it sells that copy of the film to the audience that understands Charlie Chaplin’s foreshadowing performance as a crazed dictator, understand its brilliance. Allot of Moss’ work relies on the duplicating and juxtaposing images, colours and text to illustrate humour or absurdity. The black, red and white all work in selling the film as a part of a set, which also includes Die Hard, Indiana Jones, The Deer Hunter, Rain Man and American History X.