Lora Cermola
Alex W White Review 

Griffith Observatory

I stopped by the exhibition on the Type Directors Club 2011 competitions in 
Communication Design, Typeface Design & Movie Title Design, currently showing at the Founders Hall Gallery. While I found all of the work amazing, the poster I was particularly drawn to was the diptych for Griffith Observatory.  

There is a story being told here and this diptych drew me in immediately with its black and white color scheme and subtle use form to create movement. I feel drawn in to the scene from the first look and I’m provided with direction on what I’m supposed to do — come look and then GO to the Griffith Observatory to see.

By limiting the color palette to black, white and gray it creates a feeling of nostalgia for a past era or a foreign place.  Like old black and white movie pictures or old historic photographs, this says to me history is here but it is changing, moving, come visit and travel visually to these places and observe. It’s not hard to get the message, which is subtle but direct. 

The letters G and O are suspended in space on top of this image, as if they were lenses on the end of binoculars, whether intentional or subliminal, it draws me in, again sending me the message “come observe, come see, come look.” My eye moves around one letter to the next, then one poster to the next.  In the top poster I am shown the skyline of what treasures I’m in store for and them I’m led to the bottom poster of people on the platform pointing, walking around, climbing stairs, moving.  Two sides to the same coin drawing the observer in and then out then in again.  Around. Circles. Constant motion.  The choice to shape out the letters G & O with small circles  (planets in space?) also allows the viewer to still see the image behind it - using actual type might have blocked parts of the image and halted any motion that is created.

Perhaps most significantly I was drawn to this poster for this sense of beauty, rhythm, movement, and overall great design.   I come from the world of business marketing: web design and print design and as a result I always tend to notice and gravitate toward those designs that I might see or use (or copy) in my own work. It is not difficult for me to envision these designs either as a logo on a website or an image in a brochure.    Great show, fabulous work.