The Flaming Lips

The typeface used in the poster for the Flaming Lips is a sans serif, all capital letters, and has very little if not no space between letters and words. Additionally, the name of the band which is the focal point of the poster was given a 3D effect that contributes to rendering the words illegible. 

This poster was found in the EV building on a bulletin board. This poster advertises a band called the Flaming Lips’ upcoming tour date. The message of a concert and band being advertised is clear due to the limited information being given of a date and the information of where to buy tickets. The target audience for this poster is students at the university. 

The font choice of the name of the band is difficult to read. The letters of the words overlap each other meaning that it is unclear what letters the reader is looking at. Additionally, the space between the words is very small, making three words appear as one long word. Upon further research into the band, I found that this typeface is occasionally found on the bands album covers and such. When this typeface is used on other posters and album art, the words stand out more than they do on this poster because the words are not the same colour as the background. That being said, I do believe that the layout of the poster is effective. The band title being front and centre and only the most important information being included makes the message of the poster clear. The colours of the poster are vibrant and in addition to drawing the eye presumably tell the viewer the general mood and feeling the band. 

What can be taken away from this poster is the importance of positive and negative space in typography. The way that the letters in this poster are backed with a contrasting colour and are themselves the colour of the background proved ineffective. The lack of space between words also led to visual confusion. 

Photo taken by myself, Dec. 9th 2018.