graphic design

Inspiring Gig Posters

I’ve recently discovered a great source of design inspiration, it’s called gigposters.com and, as you’ve probably guessed, features poster art for gigs for big and small bands alike.

What I like about the posters at gigposters.com is that they represent a nice cross-section of independent design that sets out to appeal to a young and outgoing audience.

There seems to be no rules, designers don’t appear to follow bands’ brands or indeed even use their logo – I’m not even sure the bands have to approve. As these posters are transient, existing only in a brief window of time, the designers can afford to take risks. The only restriction, in some cases, is probably that imposed by the printing budget, so certain posters are limited to a couple of colours. That’s often the case.

This is such a refreshing cocktail of ideas, so distant from the commercial designs, mercilessly re-iterated and clinically refined. This is not the sort of thing you can find, heavily branded on bus shelters and billboard advertisements. These are spontaneous acts of art, an excuse to design.

I would love to see them in their natural habitat, placed within walking distance from the very events that they seek to promote, on street corners, cafes and student unions. Indeed if it wasn’t for sites like gigposters.com we might not even know of their existence.

I’ve created various ‘event’ posters myself and I greatly enjoy the medium, often the text is secondary to the concept – the art being part and parcel of the message, the larger part of which is ‘look at me!’ It’s this widely unregulated environment that makes this medium such a joy to design and behold. A breath of fresh air in world of mass-market corporate advertising.

And so I present a selection of some of Happyworm’s favourite posters which also include incidentally, some of our favourite bands.