M3 2015

Maryland's annual all-day rock festival for what is primarily forgotten hair bands, M3, just occurred over the past weekend. The overall design of this poster pretty much fits the idea of what a modern-day hard rock festival poster should look like - some rusty demonic imagery, a dark background, capital letters throughout. With the exception of the headliners, who use their logotypes, all of the acts are listed in a capital, thin, sans serif font, showing that they don't exactly mean serious business, but still want to be loud and in your face. It is nice that the band names are neat and orderly rather than leaving them all as the same font size and having them stick out at the end without any invisible edge that lines them up. The host listing at the bottom, particularly with 'Tawny Kitaen & Bobbie Brown', feels off. It might be better to keep them all on one line or use two lines to list the hosts rather than mixing it up in the middle.

The box art for the complete series of Dr. Katz (the packaging of which was very nicely put together), primarily uses the Courier New font outside of the show's logo. All of the information fits well, and nothing is tightly packed into the space provided. The centered text under the bonus features feels weird when I look at it, but I suppose it looks better centering the information in order of appearance rather than "pyramid-style."

Dasani

The Dasani water bottle label is the typical blue that dons most water bottle labels. The text is all appropriately placed and uses the space well, as is to be expected from a widely known brand seen practically everywhere. As such, I can't really say I have any issue with this.

Pokémon Red

The box art to Pokémon Red features the very popular Charizard on the front. Beneath the instantly recognizable logo is the franchise's motto, "Gotta catch 'em all!" Judging from the font style and the color choices alone, it is pretty clear that Pokémon is targeted toward children. By the time the games came to the U.S., the show had already started airing 22 days prior, so kids were already familiar with the logo, meaning the Charizard slightly overlapping the title did nothing to hide its identity.

The back cover features the logo again along with an overview of the game. Nothing overlaps any text (except the player character's hand on the logo), as the text works around the images so it can be read, as should be expected. I don't really have any issue with how the box art is laid out.

Fountains of Wayne - "Traffic and Weather"

The artwork for Fountains of Wayne's Traffic and Weather is very toned down with the psychedelic style, especially compared to Drivin' N' Cryin's Songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock, so this is probably more along the lines of what the latter should have done. While the design is strange, it does not seem like too much is going on. The text is all very clear and easy to read, although the white band name is backed right up against that white star, so the star should probably be moved away from the name just a bit.

The tracklisting on the back is good, too, and it calls back to the font of the album title on the front. The space was used very well, although I would like to see another yellow star on the right side to fill in some of that negative space.

Soul Asylum - "Let Your Dim Light Shine"

Soul Asylum's Let Your Dim Light Shine, the follow-up to their mainstream breakthrough album, Grave Dancers Union (not that that even matters here; I just needed an introduction), featured yet another dark cover that graced a good portion of their albums and singles. While the text, which appears to be handwritten, is much easier to read when it falls on the darker portions of the photograph, which is pretty much the bulk of it. When 'your' reaches a lighter part, it kind of blends in and looks like "let you dim light shine," but anyone with a basic understanding of grammar should pick up on what it really says right away.

Old 97's - "Drag It Up"

The design on the cover of the Old 97's album, Drag It Up, is very interesting, looking like someone had ripped pages from a book or magazine or newspaper and pasted them together and painted on top of them. The text is very carefree, in that sense, because it does not adhere to any boundaries set by typing normally. The band name stands out a lot, which is fairly important when looking for them in a music store. The album title, however, specifically 'Drag', does not stand out as much with the blue text on top of the blue background, though there is a black stroke around the title to separate. At least with the blue on yellow, it is clear that there is an album title, so it is not all bad, and it is important that the album title be separate from the band name so it doesn't all look the same, so the designer did a good job on that part with the different colors, too.

Jellyfish - "Spilt Milk"

One issue I've always had with Jellyfish's logo is that, even though I know it says "Jellyfish," it does not look like it says "Jellyfish" because the 'y' and the 'f' are connected, so it is more like a 'y' with an added appendage to the right and it initially looks like "Jellyish." The album title in the droplet, while fitting, also faces a first-glance illegibility issue. Of course, they are still attractive designs, nonetheless, and they do not ruin the cover, but they are still hard to pick up in the first second before the viewer realizes what they say.

Drivin' N' Cryin' - "Songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock"

The third installment of Drivin' N' Cryin's recent set of four EPs, Songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock, certainly does not shy away from its name on the cover. This cover, designed by frontman Kevn Kinney, is probably the least visually appealing of the EPs. The font choice is very interesting, though also a bit illegible at first, and the album title does not stand out much in front of the design. As much as I like the music on the EP, the cover kind of comes off looking cheap and phony, and though it is clear that a lot of work has been put into, it is not really the most visually satisfactory result. I think the text would still be fine here if a more realistic, yet still "psychedelic," design had been used.

Empire Records

This Empire Records movie poster, as movie posters normally do, focuses primarily on the image aspect of the design. The title stands out, as it should, and it looks very much like a sign for an established record store. I like that the photo, title, and credits line up just about perfectly. The tagline is rather small and the photo tends to pull any attention away from it, but I like the additional touch that "Open 'til Midnight" adds to the title. The credits area is fine (though it can't really be much different from what it is), but the "featuring music by" section seems awfully cramped.

Lightning Bug

This cover for a Region 2 release of Robert Hall's Lightning Bug differs a good bit from the US release (particularly on the back cover). For starters, this cover is significantly brighter than the US cover, which doesn't fit as well with the dark tone of the movie, although the images are a little clearer as a result. The brightness of the text does make it a little hard to read, however, although even the US cover has a little bit of a legibility issue. I am not a fan of the font used on the back because it looks cheap and light and it does not fit with the theme of the movie. It also looks like the photos in the middle are pushing the text up to the top of the back cover. The cast photos on the back also seem unnecessary, and the overall design would have been significantly better had they stuck with the original US design, although I suppose different things appeal to people in different countries.

Angus Oblong - "Creepy Susie"

The cover for Angus Oblong's Creepy Susie (presumably designed entirely by Oblong himself) does not have much going on, not that that is a bad thing at all. In fact, from the look of it, because some of the same letters vary slightly, the cover appears to be hand-drawn by him, which would mean there is not necessarily any actual type involved. However, this does not mean type-related design elements are not taken into consideration here. Oblong still took care in centering the text in the subtitle (although the 'other' does seem a little close to the drawing of Susie), and it is interesting in that the text is not centered on the actual cover, but rather within the mirror frame. The only thing I might change, even though it is tiny and pretty much unimportant, is reducing the size of the subtitle slightly so the top part doesn't run right up into the drawing of Susie.

Mo Hayder - "Birdman"

In the shadow of dimmer lighting, it would be difficult (actually, it is difficult) to see the title on this cover for Mo Hayder's first book in her Jack Caffery series, Birdman. It does help a little that the title is embossed on the cover, so it stands out somewhat, but a different color (black or white, for example) would probably look better here. The overall design of the cover is very good, however. Everything is placed well, nothing else gets lost, and the cover image is very interesting and relates to the actual story. The wording on the back cover (not shown here), however, is all very close together and similar in size and style, which seems to suggest that the quotes are as important as the synopsis, but it all seems a little much.

Primavera Sound 2015

This poster for the 2015 Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain features a design at the top of keys of various shapes, whatever it means in relation to the festival. Fortunately, this design does not interfere with the most important part of the poster, which is the festival lineup. The keys are also spaced apart enough that the design does not feel heavy. As most, if not all festival posters show, the font size gets smaller as the artists through the lineup become less "big." This, as usual, makes it difficult to see the smaller supporting acts, so they are certainly banking on the headliners drawing enough interest to pull the viewers closer.

Handsome Coffee

This package of Handsome Coffee beans is very fitting with its title. The packaging is rather attractive considering how minimalist and simple it is. The type on the package has that kind of handmade/handwritten look to it. and considering its style, is probably meant to appeal to hipster types (who generally are already into coffee, anyway). I am assuming the other important information is on the back or the sides, and they are probably just as well done.

Dee Snider's "Strangeland"

The dark image and the red text make it pretty clear right away that Dee Snider's "Strangeland" is likely a film of the horror genre (or a thriller, at the very least), which it is. The "jagged" arrangement of the title, in addition to the jumbled red text behind it suggest that it will at least fit Snider's idea of a mind-boggling, thrilling horror film, and I'd say the cover does a good job of representing what this film intends to portray.

Pearl Jam concert poster

Stylistically, this Pearl Jam poster is very well-done. However, in terms of legibility, there is a problem. While the type fits with the image, it is difficult to make out the words within the image right away. I had a hard time figuring out that the show was in Montreal because the way the type is used causes a bit of distortion and leads to barely recognizable letters. As an advertisement (which this, hopefully, might not have been), this poster is rather weak for this. As a piece of concert memorabilia (which this most likely would have been), however, this type issue can be easily overlooked and the poster can be appreciated more for its overall design.

Ice-T - "The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say"

At first glance, the "Iceberg" title is difficult to read clearly because it is written in an "icy" graffiti-like style that comes off looking illegible. Even harder to see is the "Freedom of Speech" subtitle because the red blurs and blends in with the image behind it. The "Iceberg" issue is only momentary, but a different style might have fared better (although surely this album performed well for Ice-T regardless). As for the subtitle, maybe darkening the image and using a lighter/white font would make it easier to see and less painful for the viewer's eyes.

"Dreaming of Sweden" - Andrew Brown

This cover for Andrew Brown's "Dreaming of Sweden" (apparently really called "Fishing in Utopia," but titled as the former here for whatever reason) is a bit minimalist, yet intriguing. The front cover works really well. I like that the bottom portion of the title is spaced over so the ascender of the 'd' lines up with the descender of the 'g'. The back half of the fish running off the middle of the page is also interesting. The spine is fine, and I like that the fish is used again to separate the title from the author. The back cover, however, could do a better job with its use of space. It just seems unreasonably empty, and there definitely could be something filling up all of that negative space. Perhaps having the head of the fish in the middle so it relates back to the front would fix this.

Paradise Meadow organic premium dried cranberries package

The font used on the packaging for these dried cranberries, for the most part, has a sort of mature, trustworthy feeling, which should be expected from dried cranberries as they are the type of food that would only appeal to mature people who want to trust their brand. The type is all well-placed, so nothing smashes together or gets lost due to size. It is also a nice touch to add that little "window" to show the contents of the package and also separate the story from the "legal information."