Design Principles and Application

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 Using 4 Design Principles


The use of the 4 design principles of Alignment (& proxy), Space, Colour Choices and Hierarchy are integral parts of visual design when it comes to things such as posters for movies and television series. Although there are many more principles to consider when creating a piece of media, these four are some of the most important to consider when composing your composition.
                                                                                                                    Shin Godzilla (2016), Funimation Film & Toho Co.

SHIN Godzilla (2016) - Funimation Films and Toho Co.

A poster that I like that displays these four principles extremely well is one of the posters used to advertise the movie "Shin Godzilla" back in 2016, a monster movie produced by Godzilla's parent company Toho in collaboration with Funimation Studios. The way this poster utilises space is one of my favourite aspects of the composition. With an enormous gap of space filling the centre of the image with the looming maw of Godzilla's lower law hanging ominously over the tagline "God help us". This framing helps to show the sheer size of Godzilla in a way that both intrigues and unsettles the viewer, especially since at this point in the film's ad campaign the full design of Toho's latest Godzilla had not yet been revealed. 

The colour choice in the poster is also incredibly eye-catching, almost entirely relying on dark grey, black and crimson red. The red being the dominant colour of the poster helps to emphasise the emotions both the film and Godzilla himself seem to express through the connotations with the colour. These namely being; fear, anger and danger, with red also being a way of showing power or strength. The other assets of the poster such as the text and Godzilla's jaw being black and dark grey also help them stand out from the purely red background of the image.

The alignment of the poster is almost entirely in the centre of the image, the tagline being in the dead centre of the composition. The jaw of Godzilla being angled the way is it can also appear to make it seem like a crooked arrow of sorts, which points the viewer's attention down to the tagline should they miss it. The alignment being focused around the dead centre of the poster makes it seem chocked, which helps to exemplify the fear and intensity that Godzilla brings, almost like the poster is holding it's breath in.

The hierarchy of the poster is also excellently well done in my opinion. Godzilla himself is almost as overwhelming as the red background, demanding the viewer's attention. The tagline in the middle is visibly in a bolder font compared to the release date text and other details such as the website link and copyright, though more squashed in. All these make an excellent poster for quickly grabbing a viewer's attention and relaying all the information needed to them, thanks additionally to the poster's intentionally limited number of assets and striking red background.

To summarise, the 2016 Shin Godzilla poster uses the design principles of Space, Colour Choice, Alignment and Hierarchy in a simple yet genius way to help grab the attention of viewers towards the terror that Toho would show to the world.

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