Bombarded on a daily (okay maybe weekly) basis with run-of-the-mill famous actor headshot focused movie posters, my faith in originality and ‘art’ in movie poster design is nearly sapped. The only thing that keeps hope alive are the times (although brief) that I see something that looks less like a star driven, money machine flyer and more like a work of art.
I had seen the trailer for ‘Away We Go’ some time ago and it felt like one of those grassroots, feel-good new age films like, ‘Garden State’ or ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ or ‘Juno’, you get the idea. So the poster floored me with how animated and fascinating it is. It’s the poster I would have loved to have seen for something like ‘American Splendor’ or ‘Crumb’ but alas, I guess a big image of Paul Giamatti is a crowd pleaser.
The illustration is fantastic and paired with dulled and limited color, the poster breaks the mold of what we’re used to seeing and established itself as a piece of design. Hand-done (probably not but it looks like it) typography pushes away from the imagery and the void between the two character’s legs provides a perfect space for all that miscellaneous type that ‘has’ to be there.
While I don’t know the individual designer, the poster was designed by Mojo LLC. It’s not surprising that the poster is so good when you consider that Mojo designed the poster for ‘Burn After Reading’, with the design a clear homage to Saul Bass, and they also did the seldom seen campaign for the mystery ‘Brick’, with the characters literally ‘torn’ out of the scenes.
Some will say the poster is cluttered and some people feel uncomfortable with change. I for one welcome the change and for a while my faith in design, as it pertains to the film industry, is restored.
Although…there’s another ‘Harry Potter’ coming out so I’ll be sickened soon enough.
