Gestalt Principles:
Figure and Ground
Proximity
Similarity
Continuity
Closure
Critique:
Figure and Ground: There is no clear distinction between figure and ground. It is unclear whether the designer wants the skull to be the figure or the emblem and school gate to be the figure.
There are two main colours used for the poster - intense shade of pink and light soil brown colour. Objects of different categories like the skull emblem, feathers and decorative items bordering the emblem are hot pink. Larger, structured objects like the school gate, the banner which states "portfolio day" etc. are a faded light murky brown colour. This complex arrangement of objects distracts the viewer and it is difficult to find a focus.
Proximity: Riding on the complex arrangement and interaction between Figure and Ground, close proximity of the objects on the poster gives rise to confusion. There is no sense of unity, or rather, too much unity literally. For example, ribbons which belong to the bottom part of the emblem overlap with the school gate. Even if the design is nice, details will be missed out if proximity is too close.
Similarity: Designer made use of circles to represent a variety of objects and it makes the viewer confused about what's going on in the picture (as it is instinctive to make sense of something by grouping objects of similar shape/colour together).
Closure: Designer made use of a spiral background to "enclose" the skull emblem. The frame of the skull emblem and the school gate "encloses" the skull as well. However, this causes the skull emblem to lose its form as an emblem. A viewer may take awhile to demarcate visually the outline of the emblem.
Overall, the specific designs of every element on the poster is good but due to conflict with Gestalt Principles, a viewer may take some time before figuring out what's on the poster. In terms of communicating a message, the poster has failed to do so as one will get lost amidst all the details and after viewing, the viewer may ask "so what's this portfolio day?" The message can be communicated only if the students KNOW what's portfolio day and that you should register for it. Details like "3 June" should be made even more obvious instead of trying to integrate it as part of the emblem design.
Class feedback
During tutorial, many people in the class felt that the aim of the poster was to grab people's attention with it's bombastic decoration and get them to take a closer look. Some agreed that it's messy but others felt that the art of this "messiness" brings out the "artsy" feel and is a form of confetti art.
Criticism and analysis of art is subjective based on different principles but arguing from the perspective of Gestalt Principles, the arguments above can be valid.
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