The primary and secondary hooks that I first noticed in this poster are the “thinking” in black in the background, and the “thinking big diagrams, mediascape, and megastructures” placed on top of it.
There are four levels of type, with maybe an additional one for the “Y” in a circle on the right. There is a large, bold typeface for the background, a smaller yet more slender typeface nested on top of the huge background letters that is used to indicate the event for this poster. Next, the name of the person who organized the event and the year it happened. Finally, there is the last level of type with information about the event and details about who is hosting/participating. The “Y” may count as an extra level since it has its own typeface, size, and position on the page, but doesn’t disclose any information.
The way the eye seems to navigate this poster is interesting. Mine starts at the bottom and travels up to read the word “Thinking”, then travels right back down to read the white words on top of it, trickling down to the right to scrutinize the fine print, and up again on the far right to land on the “Y”.
There is energy coming through the page from the contrast of the big black letters on the white paper, and more contrast coming from the white letters that imperfectly lie on top of the black ones, yet is still legible, and adds an element of figuring out what the hidden letters are, an interactivity that creates an energy exchange for the viewer and the artist.
The white space is handled interestingly, since there is no space outside of the area of the letters; only the inside-negative space remains. I think the style is handled really well due to how the letters are clearly legible despite not being totally clean.
What makes this poster work is the contrast of type scale, interwoven text, and epileptic-esque maximalism notes, which give it a fair dose of charm.
