Micro Genre: Final Piece and evaluation

My final piece for the micro genre brief is a typographic poster reflecting the music genre compositional ambient. In research I found that ambient music is used in relaxation techniques by anxiety sufferers, as it grounds them during panic attacks and 'the space between each note allows you to experience your surroundings.' This quote by Ryan Bassil, the author of a vital article in my research reminded me of a Massimo Vignelli quote 'I often say that in typography the white space is more important than the black of the type.' Inspired by this quote I decided to create a typographic outcome. I thought that a poster would be the most accessible outcome and easily placed in a place of work or area where people are likely to be stressed, as its purpose is to remind sufferers to breathe to overcome an anxious episode. The content of the poster reflects Brian Eno's iconic ambient album Music For Airports, as the dimensions of the poster, 420mm x 380mm reflect the duration of the record. The word 'relax' is used to instill feelings of calm, has altered kerning between each letter in the format 1630, 820, 1130, 600 and this represents the length of each track on the album. This kerning within the type reflects the link between ambient music and space, particularly the spacing between letters. The typeface used is Helvetica due to its simplicity and also relates to a quote by graphic designer Max Parker, who states that 'Helvetica, what it's all about is the interrelationship of the negative shape, the figure-ground relationship, the shapes between characters and within characters'. The pale blue of the poster aids with a calming appearance and the white text has been lowered in opacity so that the poster will be 'as ignorable as it is interesting', to quote Brian Eno's description of what ambient music should be.

I think that my design of the poster reflects the genre of music well and its purpose suits my research into the use of the genre within anxiety therapy and relief. The use of typeface and colours are strategically planned and have a good context behind them. If I were to improve upon the piece I may have created a 3D sculpture or similar to further push the idea that the genre uses space within its characteristics, but I think creating a poster is a good outcome for the project as it is easily accessible to sufferers, and to have it there in the background reminds them to breathe and help them get through a panic attack. I particularly like how the poster reflects the 'ignorable as it is interesting' personality of the genre, by the colours and the uneven spacing between letters respectively.