Anatomy of Design

31

ANATOMY OF DESIGN

Most human emotions are given their vivid outward form through facial

expressions. While eyes convey a lot, nothing is more demonstrative—or more

deceiving—than the mouth. This most malleable of orifices can shift instantly from

sorrow to joy with just an upcurled lip and evoke sarcasm or sincerity in the flick

of an instant. Even when mute, the mouth increases emotional volume. Graphic

designers use it to speak volumes; as a printed visual, it is the mimetic that sings.

That “The Abuse You Yell at Your Kids Stays in the Family for Generations,”

an upsetting cautionary advertisement against verbal abuse created for the

Children and Younger Persons Service, employs a mouth as its primary image is

something of a no-brainer. What better way to convey the immediate sense of

uncontrollable parental rage than by showing a tightly cropped, frighteningly

angry scream? Seeing is hearing, and hearing is believing. Who can ignore it?

Although not original to this advertisement, the raging mouth is one

timeworn concept that rarely loses impact. Even after seeing it a hundred times

the power is lasting, and if reproduced in multiples (on a long scaffold or poster

hoarding) its forcefulness exponentially increases. When the screaming mouth is

combined with another frequently used graphic conceit, the repeated miniaturization

of the same image layered on top of another, even without the disquieting

headline a viewer cannot help but viscerally experience the implied violence. This

gesture is made even more indelible because the mouths fade into the abyss.

A venerable art historical method that in the 1930s became a

frequent Surrealist conceit, the diminishing horizon line often has been

employed since to suggest eerie dimensionality on otherwise flat planes. The

cover of

Show magazine is a good example of how this optical illusion

transforms a simple landscape into a mysterious environ. In the 1960s, Pop

Art superimposed repetitive patterns to underscore the concept of mass

production, with which Pop artists were consumed. Likewise, in political and

advertising posters decreased repetition is iconic reverberation that increases

both the visibility and memorability of the polemic message. In the abuse

advertisement, the multiple mouths both increase the metaphorical intensity

of the scream and symbolize its deep psychological root, which is born of

emotions that dwell deep inside.

One last graphic trope that seals the power of this advertisement is

the ad hoc lettering stuck under the photograph. This untutored type is

reminiscent of a felt letterboard sign, the kind found in luncheonettes,

churches, and other everyday settings. It is stylistically vernacular but

viscerally pure. If this headline were set in a clean and elegant typeface,

could the message be interpreted the same way? Doubtful! In attacking the

problem of abuse, the charged words must be conveyed in a manner as raw

as the subject itself. The emotional type treatment for a petrifyingly emotional

idea is the only way to convince the viewer that abusive might makes wrong.

The Abuse You Yell at Your Kids Stays in

the Family for Generations

Designer: Saatchi & Saatchi, New Zealand

1995 The Abuse You Yell at Your Kids Stays in the Family for Generations, poster

ad: John Fisher s: Saatchi & Saatchi, New Zealand

This poster for the Children and Younger Persons Service uses a mouth-within-mouth

imagery to suggest the generation-to-generation legacy of child abuse.

Images shrinking inward

Open mouth

“Hardware store” typography

1995 Rozsdatemeto

—

Rust Cemetery offse

t

d:Peter Pocs

c:Imre Csiszar, Thali

a

Budapest

1992 Notorious book cover

d:Tibor Kalman with Emily Oberman

s:M&Co. Design

c:Herb Ritts/Little Brown

1989 Let Me Have Happy Dreams?

theater poster

d:Andrey Kolosov & Valeria

Kovrigina

1982 Pink Floyd The Wall movie

poster

ad:Chris Burke, Clinton Cavers

d:Peter Curzon, Storm Thorgerson

c:MGM Films

Directed by Alan Parker.

1981 Furious Pig Album cover

d,p:Furious Pig

1995 Cinema Brasileiro O Resgate

(Brazilian Films—The Rescue) poster

d:Felipe Taborda

A festival of Brazilian films.

1987 November menu board ad

advertisement

d:Tibor Kalman s:MN&co

c:Restaurant Florent

See Chapter #21

1921 Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!,

12 Satires

book cover

d:Raoul Hausmann

1969 King Crimson: In The Court of The

Crimson King album cover

d:Bary Godber c:Atlantic Recording Corp.

1975 International Scientific

Symposium: Fascism and

Neofascism silkscreen poster

d:Boris Bucan c:University of

Zagreb, College of Political Sciences

1970 There's a Future for You in

a Health Career poster

ad:Patricia Sussmann

d:Milton Glaser

c:American Hospital Association

1968 Spread Eagles movie poster

Produced by Kirt Films.

1968 Day of the Heroic Guerilla

offset lithograph

a:Elena Serrano

1962 Show magazine cover

ad:Henry Wolf p:Mel Sokolsky

1958 Three Flags oil painting

a:Jasper Johns

See Chapter #4