Gangsterville

Rarely, but once in a while, I get to reinterpret the same theme over and over and over again. Such is the case with a few event posters that we have designed. Two events have challenged us to recreate a few times. Coffee & Chocolates- the Literacy Volunteers fundraiser has had us design a poster for the last 7 years. Another one has been the yearly Joe Strummer tribute concert. This fundraiser begun the year following the Clashman's death (2002) and has continued up until this year. It was started by Clash-fan and local rocker, Chris Malachowski (Wolf Tickets). The money goes to support Strummerville: the Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music and the event features a variety of Buffalo musicians and bands playing Clash songs.

Six years in a row I have been asked to reinvent the graphics to be used for our poster design. Each year the title is based on a clash song such as: Rebel Waltz, Death or Glory or Revolution Rock. This year it was Gangsterville. It is a fun challenge to try and make the same thing different everytime. All of the posters have been punk rock by nature and feature a photo of the man himself. The type is usually manipulated to add to the punk aesthetic and the color scheme is simple-- black and another color; often red.

This is a project I love to do! The inspiration comes from the Strummer image used and the name of the event that was chosen. I love the cut and paste graphic style and the 1st draft can be completed in a few hours as opposed some design projects that get agonized over. Since basically the same information gets carried from poster to poster, I can transfer the text without having to typeset it. Since the Strummer images are off the web and are low-res, they lend themselves to over-manipulation and 'photoshopping'; again adding to the grungy graphic style.

Some are better than others- it depends on how inspired I was that year. See for yourself: there is a jpg version of each poster here. Clicking on the images will move you though all 6 versions that I have done so far. Let me know which one you like the best?

This year's event is at the Mohawk Place on December 22- come on out!