On the 9th Day of Christmas...

... this blogger gave to thee...

... nine simple posters...
... eight great old movies...

... seven shoes to choose from...
... six party frocks ...

... five gold rings!..

... four micro art forms...

... three tubby little cubbies...

... two fancy pens...

... and a lego man made of a tree.

*** Okay, looks like I may have accidentally published this before I was finished writing it, so if you saw that version blame my inability to touch type correctly and my browser trying to bounce me off my page before I was ready to post. I seem to be quite cack handed at the moment! Anyway! Finished now, properly, read away and my sorry for being a bit rubbish! ***

Yesterday we had movies, so for day nine I've gathered together a selection of movie posters done in a minimalistic style. We're talking as few colours as possible, preferably silhouettes, very basic shading (if any) and yet still recognisable as the particular film they're trying to represent. 

It would be fun with this particular set of posters to play guess the film, but seeing most of the posters have the name of the film emblazoned, fairly prominently, on what is otherwise a pretty stark design, we'll have to stick to the traditional show and tell shtick.

The Breakfast Club (1985) designed by Matt Owen. Six circles and six rectangles and with a bit of colour and tartan, you have an iconic eighties coming-of-age movie. Simple, effective and results in an ear-worm and the obligatory urge to thrust your fist into the air in triumph. Own up, you did it too.

Juno (2007) by Bretty Thurman, and all he needed was two colours, five lines and a curve to illustrate the pregnant belly of Diablo Cody's lead character, Juno MacGuff. It's based on the original poster artwork, but in a really refined and simplified design. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) by Andonis Moushis, based purely on the smile of the lead character, of Tim Burton's dark Christmas stop motion musical - Jack Skellington. There's even the feeling of the characters wicked side, with that slight smirk. You know he's got a plan and Santa's in trouble.

Star Wars (1977) designed by Eder Rengifo. This one seems apt, give the release of the most recent film in the Star Wars franchise, and you really can't get any simpler than a grey-scale Death Star.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (2005) designed by Mads Hindhede Svanegaard, has a little more dimension to it with the grey-scale layered landscape, allowing the computer Deep Thought to almost let out a sigh of boredom. You also can't not have Don't Panic somewhere on a poster for Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide. Plus, can you spot the very quizzical and confused sperm whale?

Life Of Pi (2013) designed by sivadigitalart on deviantArt. I think this really quite beautiful representation of the bio-luminescence scene from this film. With the night sky reflected in the water and aqua glow from below the waters surface as ill-fated shipmates float on a thankfully placid sea. Though this is a little more detail heavy, it's still a very effect and simple design for a minimalist poster.

(Can I just say, I did not fancy this movie at all, but my family put it on one Sunday afternoon and I was proved completely wrong by it, it's was wonderful.)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) designed by Brandon Schaefer. If you haven't watched the film, this one may not make sense to you. Why is a bloodied bunny sitting in the grail? Watch the movie to find out, because it's one of my favourites and I'm not giving you any spoilers! For those who have watched this movie before, this is hilarious flash back at a particularly exciting moment in the film. If you don't want to watch it and get the joke, "Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person!"

Big (1988) designed by Matt Owen, shows a static moment of a very active scene of this Tom Hanks movie. Again, if you've seen the movie you know what this is and you definitely want to join in and have a go!

Sunshine (2007) by The Art Lounge UK on Etsy, as a poster does somehow manage to get across the tension of Alex Garland and Danny Boyle's sci-fi thriller, or at least the heat of the ever nearing sun on their mission to reignite it and save the Earth from a solar winter. All with two circles, two colours and a lot of texture. Last year on the eighth day I told you this was among one of my favourite movies, so for me this is a really good representation of how one particular scene in the movie looks and feels. Plus you can buy it as a poster! Yay!

So that's nine minimal movie poster, and if you search Pinterest, for example, you'll come across an absolute slew of wonderful examples of this type of graphic design. There are loads of Pixar based ones I would have loved to post, but one of the sites it linked into had had to remove its images (as had the artists page) by request of Pixar. Which is fair enough, and I didn't think it wise to post them here, but it's also their loss, as they were terrifically simple and easily recognisable as to the films they were intended to pay homage too.

Which is what minimalistic posters are supposed to do, be representative with as little fuss as possible. It's the old K.I.S.S. theory. Which is always nice to see.

Happy New Years and a Merry Christmas! Part ten tomorrow...


Link || The Breakfast Club (1985) Poster designed by Matt Owen

Link || Juno (2007) Poster designed by Brett Thurman

Link || The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Poster designed by Andonis Moushis
Link || Star Wars (1977) Poster designed by Eder Rengifo

Link || The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy (2005) Poster designed by Mads Hindhede Svanegaard
Link || Life Of Pi (2013) Poster designed by sivadigitalart on deviantArt

Link || Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Poster designed by Brandon Schaefer
Link || Big (1988) Poster designed by Matt Owen

Link || Sunshine (2007) Poster by The Art Lounge UK on Etsy

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Listening: Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell