Aesthetic Revolution, or Revolutionary Aesthetic?

Revolutions don't usually have print production budgets. And so we associate their ephemera with low-cost, one or two color reproductions that can be produced cheaply and in smaller runs. If the movement went bust, no harm done, but if it took off, print production had to scale-up at an alarming rate and couldn't afford to be held back due to photo quality or press checks.

This generation saw the commoditization of that aesthetic: Che Guevara's face, in black vector-style art, on posters, stickers and t-shirts. For decades, the revolutionary style was relegated to angry teens and misinformed college students trying to make a cheap statement of rebellion. But the power of revolutionary design is making its way through our cultural landscape once again.


What do the aesthetics of revolution look like now? Not much different.

It's present on book covers such as Dave Eggers' What is the What, a story of an African Genocide survivor. Eggers, the founder of McSweeny's, thoughtfully pulls from the past to speak to the weight of his subject's experience.



And most recently, in our current political climate. The flat, silhouetted style of American Presidential Hopeful, Barack Obama posters, design by Go Tell Mama I'm for Obama, carries with it a distinct revolutionary tone.

The earth-toned palettes reference revolutions-past, using gestalt patters of bull-horns to create sun rays circling the figure-head of the movement. The typeface remains primitive, the application intentionally loose. Reds and blues pop to excite the viewer, creating just enough positive energy to become iconic, and avoid the dreaded tag of propaganda.

Barack has been able to grab the imaginations of a young design-centered audience like no other candidate in our history. Here, that reality becomes clear, as design and color differentiate this candidate in a clear strategy to connect the youth with his message of "Change." And for better or worse, strong design seems united with politics once again.

Let Me Tell You Something: Virgin Atlantic

In a sort of softened guerrilla campaign, Virgin Atlantic has smattered urban areas with giant, red airline sick bags. Often placing these bags over movie and music posters, the ads have a subversive, irreverent feel, being just small enough to reveal the edges of the content they are so obliviously covering up. They want to be as hip as those underlying posters, but also feel like a step above, content-wise. And they mostly succeed.

Apart from the bright red color and the three-dimensional quality of the bags, the design is limited to a wall of copy. Long-form copy has made a bit of a comeback lately, as seen in recent ESPN and Ketel One ads. This isn't easy, as the copy has to be extremely rewarding to the reader, in order to justify their time and attention.

While the sick-bags, in their giant form, really appear more like grocery bags at first, the headline "How did air travel become so bloody awful," converts the image for the reader. It also helps determine the particular company ("bloody awful" + red = Virgin). And the copy is indeed rewarding. The smart, sharp narrative replicates a conversation had among the wittiest of your friends about your hatred of air travel, and more precisely, airlines themselves.
Long-form copy can work. It requires a devotion to perfect typography, and quick writing that understands where the reader is physically standing, and what else will be in their visual landscape.


Like Southwest, Virgin gets its audience, and they integrate the brand essence into everything they produce. Virgin designed these ads for the exact space they appear in: in the midst of constantly changing visual clutter that relies on large-format photography. By going with a three-dimensional object and copy-only graphics, they violate the very medium that are competing with, and win. The headline copy is large enough to read from the bus, and the body is enjoyable upon closer inspection. More than just pushing their services, they partner with the reader through a conversation, and push back against boring ads and stripped-down airline service by providing an experience, even on the side of a wall in an alley.

US Cellular - White Sox Ads

US Cellular has released their latest Chicago White Sox ad campaign. The ads, meant to kick off the season and boost ticket sales (much needed after the Sox had trouble selling out even post-season games the last few years), play off an earlier series done by the White Sox themselves. The first issue of ads from two years ago exhibit World Series winning bravado with aggressive, sarcastic copy meant to rile the self-described, humble Cubs fan.

Where this newest series of ads succeeds is in its simplicity. Built for public transport, the ads are horizontal with dramatic action shots in stark, overexposed black & white. The copy is sparse, but cocky. One reads: "I have two pitches: fast ball, and faster ball." Another: "Please don't come to the ballpark with a cold, I'll catch it."

The most thoughtful, and challenging aspect of the design is the large area of negative space in each. It can sometimes be difficult to make text feel grounded in a loose, open design. But the designers succeed by treating the text with the same rough texture as the photos. The large areas of white stand out in a cluttered ad space on the trains. By using both the exaggerated scale of the player's images, and the blank backgrounds, the ads are the first images to catch your eye when you step on board, seemingly defying their own space restictions. Anyone designing for a competitive space, such as a convienience store, magazines, or the Web for that matter, take note: less is more.