Below are my final poster designs that have derived from my research, ideas and development-
The idea for my image poster is a syringe full of yellow liquid a drip coming out of the bottom that contains a wheel. First of a yellow relates to the Tour de France where yellow signifies the best, the leader and the champion. When wearing these colours the worlds eyes are fixed on them, they're seen as idols and receive the highest up most respect from fellow riders. Therefore by putting this into a syringe it represents the fact that drug cheats in the Tour de France don't earn these qualities, they're just injected, they falsely gain these colours and respect. By adding the wheel it helps pin the image to cycling visually. I think the image puts across the message fine but I have doubts people who have no knowledge of the Tour de France will understand the whole meaning but as long as they grasp it's related to drug use and cycling I will have done what I set out to achieve.
For the type and image poster I have approached it in a different way to the image poster, I have said it how it is and made as simple as possible with no hidden meaning. It simply says 'The Tour of Drugs', this phrase relates to the countless amount of cyclists that are found guilty each year. 2012 was the first Tour de France in 12 years where one of the top 3 riders hasn't failed a drugs test and been banned from the tour. I have gone for a quite a shock tactic with phrase and will cause controversy because people say it doesn't apply to all the riders in the tour, which is true but my statement is based on the Tours reputation and opinions that circle the sport. I have laid the type on top of a yellow altitude map which is a key feature in every stage of the Tour de France, this ties in the type with the image.
I think the type and image work together very well because the altitude map is an actual map used in the Tour de France meaning the text has been kerned to fit in to the peaks. Also the over simplicity of the design is just so clean and crisp, I think if anything else is to be added it would over complicate the design and also make it stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of my posters because the rest of them are so simple and clean.
The type poster is pretty straight forward to understand and gets straight to the point by simply stating the fact. I have filled the number fourteen with grey to show they're a disgrace, but also to draw attention to the shocking fact that 14 of the past 17 winners have been penalised for drug use. The bold yellow background again relates the poster to the Tour de France without actually stating anywhere that it's about the tour.
Above and below are my final posters printed on 2:1 A3 format antique white paper. The yellow looks dull and muted similar to a screen print which is something I didn't set out to achieve but think has really added to the aesthetics of the poster. Also the syringe poster has overlapped in parts but again that gives it the effect of being screen printed and i'm extremely happy with the final outcome.
When all lined up next to they work amazingly as a set, there is a transition from the antique white to the traditional yellow of the Tour de France which again is serendipitous. The altitude map on the type and image poster works as a great separator between the type poster and the image poster. And the stock quality has a great texture to it that i feel adds culture and history the yellow holds.
