Post-lecture (5) Thoughts: Elements of fear

In order to know how to make my poster scary, I did a research on how other posters induce fear in people. It is important to understand the mind of a human being and what it fears instinctively so that fear can be induced in a natural manner. Sometimes fearsome photos can integrate (black/sadistic) humour as well, and people's action will be "EEEEEE... HAHA!".

1. Dehumanization - Usage of gross inhumane images which will be translated into the emotion of fear in us. We fear because the images direct us to think about how people became so "inhuman" which is usually a cruel process.




(this is a demotivational poster which are quite common. some induce a mixture of fear and humour effect at the same time).


2. Cruelty at a socially unacceptable and deviant level



3. Appealing to basic human desire to live. Pointing out the dangerous consequence of their current actions.



The numbers of ways posters can induce fear in people are numerous, but there is one fundamental element which never changes. Fear is induced when people are exposed to inhumanity, discomfort, or terrible consequences of actions (not limited to this). Every individual have different fears and what's important is that the target audience of your poster should FEAR the topic of your poster. This amplifies the fearsome effect of a poster.