Space Monkey's New Job

Principles of Design:

Rule of Thirds- All three posters use the rule of thirds for balance.  For each, the monkey is located on the first line that divides the poster into vertical thirds.  The monkey’s face is placed at the intersection between the horizontal thirds and the vertical thirds.  This creates a sense of balance.  At the same time, gives it a more unique and professional look as I feel it’s much more common to a see photographs shot with the subject in the very middle.

Proximity-  The headline and the NASA logo are purposely placed next to each other so they feel grouped.  In this way, the viewer groups them together in their mind.  After they read the headline, they naturally transition to the logo as it should feel like the next element in the group.  I was assuming the viewer would go left to right as is common in western culture, therefore starting with the headline then going to the logo.  But even if they start with the logo and move to the headline, the message still works the same.

Contrast-  I chose small headline text as opposed to large text that is common for headlines because I believe I was able to make the headline stand out by using contrast.  I composed the posters so that the headline’s black text would go over lighter areas, making them stand out.  I think this also helps the entire piece contrast from a majority of ads does as it seems it is still more common to have a large, bold fonted headline.

What I was trying to achieve

I wanted to position “closing NASA” not as a monetary issue, but an issue of what we are losing out on.  Focus on how we are losing potential and dreams that so many have spent their entire lives working on.  However, I wanted to do this in a humorous way that stood apart from all the other posters with children on them that say “I was going to be an astronaut.”  It’s not that these ideas are bad, I just felt they’d been done.  The Space monkey, seems to be something that many people find humorous and intriguing, yet it still gets the overall message across.