Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief album cover was chosen out of 9 individual acrylic pieces, all designed by Stanley Donwood in Thom Yorke’s studio during the recording of the album. The series was created as a visual embodiment of the ideas and directions of the music.
The typography is truly hand written, and is warped, squeezed and stretched to fit into the coloured boxes. The typography is in all capitols, so the importance of each individual element can only be discerned by the size and prominence of its type, and not by the case of its letters (as we are predispositioned towards). Also, the typography appears in a variety of colours, thus statements are made through the contrast (or lack thereof) of the words against the background. Each element fits within a hierarchy of size and prominence according to its representative typography.
The dominant goal of this album was to draw the listener between political/social commentary and deeply personal thoughts and emotions. With this piece Donwood effectively does the same. He makes social/political commentary by juxtaposing clashing ideas (represented by typography in coloured boxes) through use of thier size, colour and proximity.
An example of his social/political commentary is seen between the “GOD” and “TV” boxes. The thought being put forward is that God, in our society, is arguably being replaced by TV, and that TV is of higher value to many people than God. The type of the word “TV” is the biggest in the picture. It is also the most contrasting with the white of its type against the red box, and is also in a prominent position, written near the centre of the image. Meanwhile, “GOD”, beside it, has comparatively smaller type and the red letters are barely discernible against the orange background. This parallels Donwood's social observation and creates and effectively controversial album cover though the use of typography.
iPod Billboard.
The only typography in this poster is the word “iPod” in a Helvetica font. The image of the dancing silhouette in black, and the iPod silhouette in white, against the glowing orange background is both modern and fantastical.
The message is simple: the iPod is a mystical yet attainable step towards modern happiness, and the simplistic typography makes the message all the more clear and powerful.
The product is aimed at the young, metropolitan consumer, and consequently anyone who wants to be seen as young and metropolitan, and the chique white colouring, and contemporary feel of the font make this typography effective.
Blue Steel, Dean Markley guitar strings.
The product packaging of Dean Markley's "Electric Cryogenic Activated" Guitar Strings has bold, and varying, typography that is only semi-effective.
The tracking between the letters of the words "electric", "cryogenic" and "activated" is so distanced that the words become very difficult to read. In fact, due to their spacing I did not register what the two words after "electric" were until I typed them out myself. If these words are important enough to put on the packaging, one would imagine they should be important enough to make legible. Since they are not I, as a consumer, could have overlooked this important element of these strings, making this example of typography ineffective.
The 3D shading and industrial-stamp shape of the words "Blue Steel", along with the condensation effect on the blue colouring, is effective in making the type of the words "Blue Steel" representative of the idea of 'blue steel', but nothing more. Through this typography the message of who the target market of the product is, is made no clearer. The message could easily be that the strings are crisp and clean, or sleek, or heavy duty, or for heavy music, or even for steel guitar. The typography, simply re-emphasizing the name, does nothing to clear upi the confusion.
Acey
Images Cited
Dean-Markley-Steel-Acoustic-Strings. Amazon. Web. 12 Oct. 2009.
Donwood, Stanley. Hail to the Thief. 2003. Cover Art, Album. Radiohead. Amazon. Web. 12
Oct. 2009.
Vyakman. Billboard. 2009. Photograph. San Francisco. Flikr. 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2009.
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