The A-Z of Visual Ideas

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Juxtaposition

To juxtapose means to put side by side. When two objects are placed together they are automatically compared. ‘Before and after’ images work in this way; they imply that if the viewer uses a certain product they will become thinner, less balding or have clearer skin.

johnson banks, Britain, 1998Design group johnson banks perfectly select old and new images in these posters created for the British Council. They juxtapose an evocative nostalgic black and white playground picture with an image of today’s multi-racial schools and a glowing old master painting with one of Damien Hirst’s dead sheep in a glass tank of formaldehyde – Hirst ...