Impact on the Whole Person / Design by Łukasz Kowalski
Łukasz Kowalski is this year's winner of the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw in the Golden Debut category. His interests include design, including poster and book design, illustration, photography, and painting.
He specializes mainly in visual identity design and is also the owner of WYTNIJ-WKLEJ - a company dealing with outdoor advertising.
We will mainly focus on Łukasz Kowalski's poster art, as it is most closely related to outdoor advertising.
The poster that received the main prize is part of the visual identity created as a thesis project
for the Well of Hope Foundation. We like good design, we like social posters, we like helping others.
As you can see, Łukasz Kowalski likes to do this too, having created the Foundation's identity free of charge.
Following Marketing 3.0 by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, and Iwan Setiawan, the identifying elements reach humans in the fullest sense of the word. They affect four elements: body - engaging the senses, mind - conveying ideas, thoughts and information, heart - influencing our feelings and emotions, and spirit - drawing from universal truths, addressing spiritual needs. All four were incorporated into the promotion of the Well of Hope Foundation, which deals with water issues in developing countries.
The direction of design work in the posters was dictated by the logo and basic color scheme.
When asked about where he sees the poster's place in the overall visual identity of the Foundation, Łukasz Kowalski responds that:
"I designed the posters mainly with printing and public space display in mind.
However, as it turned out later, they gained the most popularity on the Internet, where they also felt great. They were shared by Polish and international design-focused websites."
And indeed there's something to the fact that it's the posters from the entire identity that enjoy the greatest success. Below is the logo that gave character to the other CI elements.
The series of 8 posters, 100 by 70 cm in size, focuses mainly on Africa's problems. Kowalski skillfully moves viewers
through color combinations and their proportions in the posters. Blue, symbolizing water and thus life, was used as an accent color in small elements and as factual information in percentages. It expresses the current water shortage situation in Africa. Red, the color of love, passion, and life in developed countries, is a color symbolizing mourning, death, and the struggle for life in southern Africa. Red is also associated with charitable organizations. Therefore, it is the dominant color in promotional designs.
The graphic form of the posters is very linear, referencing the decorative art of African tribes.
Let's read what the Designer himself has to say about this:
“I never had the opportunity to directly encounter African culture, so I decided not to pretend anything. I juggled African ornaments very freely, interweaving them with contemporary motifs. I searched for patterns on fabrics, masks, vessels, etc. I was fascinated by their unique, geometric character. By the way, I'm curious how my posters would be received by native Africans”.
The message is reinforced by the use of commonly functioning metaphors.
The poster 1/3 OF AFRICA'S POPULATION
HAS NO ACCESS
TO DRINKING WATER depicts death through three symbols: an empty glass, a scorpion, and a dead animal.
In the next poster, we see a turtle in a bathtub with vultures lurking nearby.
In the award-winning poster, we also notice the side effects of drought, including the negative impact of lack
of conditions for maintaining hygiene and health among Africans. The insect piercing into a human brain
is a metaphor for transmitted, deadly diseases. The Well of Hope Foundation provides an opportunity
to defend against existing problems by building wells and improving drainage and water systems.
This is also why the symbol of a tribal shield appears in the poster, built
from overlapping typographic and graphic elements.
Łukasz Kowalski's posters are characterized by formal minimalism, decisive color contrasts, and very legible typography integrated into the symbolism. The balanced composition and impact on the four levels of human functioning ensure that the posters communicate their message to every viewer. They would work equally well in press advertising as in outdoor advertising.
And what does their Creator think about contemporary posters.
"The poster is gaining a new definition today: it's not just a paper print displayed on a notice board, but also an internet post.
We shouldn't take offense at such a term, for me it's a positive phenomenon. Interesting works from around the world are available with just two mouse clicks, which is fantastic.
Many of my works were never published in print, which doesn't mean they went unnoticed.
A brilliant message or interesting form will always be appreciated regardless of the medium.
The poster will certainly not disappear in its physical form as long as people don't get bored with the real world.
Thanks to the internet, it has only gained a new channel for popularization.
Regarding the quality of the designs themselves, I'm also optimistic. We are witnessing fatigue with advertising mush
and there's a turn toward well-designed posters. The times when we tolerated kitsch and quantity-oriented advertising are ending."
Can a poster still be a form of art?
Of course it can, but much depends on how the collaboration between the artist and the client will proceed, whether they will trust the graphic designer and give them complete freedom in design.
In the case of fully authorial posters, the matter is simple - here we can do anything.
The poster's subject should be just a pretext, just as it's a pretext when an artist takes on subjects like still life,
nude, or landscape. In design, you can and should smuggle in yourself, do it authentically and honestly.
Łukasz Kowalski / 2014 / Warsaw
We thank Łukasz for sharing his thoughts with us and wish him continued success.
More of the designer's works can be seen at:
www.behance.net/lukaszkowalski