found a couple amusing/irritating comments people had posted in response to a couple of recent posts on this blog. somehow felt compelled to respond....
here's the first comment in reference to the sxsw poster:
"As an artworks its nice, but as a poster its horrible. Text is hard to read hence the poster does not serve its purpose to inform about the event. Nicely chosen typography would do better in this case."
well, the poster isn't really intended to "inform" folks about the show - these posters are made to commemorate the event and will be made available the day of the show with that intent in mind. on a broader scale, i also generally reject the idea that posters and album sleeves and t shirts have to be marketing tools with overly obvious type/graphics, as opposed to more artistically oriented pieces that invoke the true spirit of the music they are intended to represent. if the bands being represented aren't writing 3 minute pop songs with inane choruses that beat the listener into submission, why should the representative graphics serve that purpose? i like to think the audience that follows these bands isn't the type of audience that requirers overly simplified/commercial imagery and type in order to draw their attention to the "product". it is precisely the type of corporate design mentality as exemplified by the statement above that i have striven to avoid with what i do in the realm of music related graphics. we're not trying to sell our music to wal-mart shoppers, so if you expect our graphic personality to fall in line with what you were taught in design school about corporate branding and "truly effective" type and illustration techniques you shall be continually disappointed. clean type has its time and place, but this poster which is meant to showcase the personality of our label and by extension the show itself isn't it. music related design can be art simply beyond the idea of selling something.... so, as far as this poster being "horrible", you are certainly entitled to your option, but please understand that it was my intent that the text be personable and artistically rendered, rather than a typeface created by someone else which has little or nothing to do with the music to which the poster is connected - but thanks for the advice.
...and that brings me to the next one - "anonymous" posted this in response to my brief explanation about the cancellation of the old man gloom tour (see last post if you are interested in the comment i made that prompted this response):
"Sounds so typical and moralistic - sorry."
listen, i wasn't trying to promote a family values agenda with my explanation, or come off as some moralistic enforcer. my explanation was vague because i was respecting the privacy of the member of OMG to which this situation pertains. if i felt i could explain the specifics and the gravity of the situation which caused us to cancel the tour i would have, but i thought what i wrote should've been sufficient for anyone with half a heart and/or loved ones of their own, family or otherwise. perhaps "anonymous" hasn't experienced anything sufficiently traumatic with someone dear to them in order to enable them empathize with the situation, and if that's the case they should consider themselves lucky. in the face of the threat that faced one of our members, the tour seemed vastly unimportant. if "anonymous" can't wrap their head around that, and instead feels the need to spout off rather than offer up some sort supportive comment they need to find some some fucking empathy in themselves, if not for humanity at the very least for those that matter most to them...
i don't generally feel the need to respond to negative feedback, but i just couldn't let these 2 go - guess i'm feeling sort of petty at the moment though i'm not sure what to attribute that to....
AT - 03/10/08
