The first poster on the left is the main image of one of Iron Maiden's most famous songs, 'The Trooper'. The song is about the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. This strongly relates to the poster. I think Eddie in the middle of the poster holding the British Union Jack maybe symbolises victory and a sense of gratify or honour towards the British men who fought strong and hard in the ward and came back in one piece. The song talks about the Charge of the Light Brigade which was a group of British soldiers on horseback charging straight head-on towards waiting Russian guns. It was a suicidal decision but came out victorious.The contrast and colour used in this poster are very bright and i think its partly the reason why i find this poster so grasping and interesting. Colour usually represent happiness and joy and a grey, dull colour would usually show sorrow and grief perhaps, which could be shown in the other Iron Maiden poster on the right. Iron Maiden really show how proud they are to be a British band, the main colours in this photo are blue, white and red and i think this is an intentional resemblance to the Union Jack. The mascot Eddie is also shown wearing British Queens Guard overalls and wielding the flag as stated earlier. The Iron Maiden hugely recognised logo up the top has been shown in red which is quite common but i think in this particular event it resembles blood the British soldiers sacrificed for their country, the colour is very deep and red and completely contrasts the blue background.
The next Iron Maiden poster i have chosen to study and analyse is the main picture for the album 'A Matter of Life and Death' the poster relates to the previous poster i studied in terms of it being about war, but this album signifies a much colder and sad relation to war. Its clear that in this image, times have changed and its a lot more modern than the previous poster. Guns and huge tanks have been introduced instead of horses and swords.
The mood in this image has drastically reduced, the picture is full of connotations of death and grief related with war. The land they walk upon is barren and lonely like a destroyed wilderness, it looks burnt by fire and completely abandoned. The image brings about a very depressing mood, it emphasises what war does to this world, emotional, mental and physical disruption. Nature and environments destroyed and forgotten, bodies going into war to die for no reason but the sin of man.The usual bright red Iron Maiden logo shown in the previous poster is no longer, it is black and depressing, the biggest resemblance to the colour black is death and this poster is swarmed by a depressing blackness. The flag shown on the tank is a black and white Iron Maiden symbol, intentionally ridden of colour to further push the musty, dull mood of war. The 'Eddie' skeletons walking, show corpses walking and serving to their own deaths, I think this further brings forward the reality of war and what and who it has it's affects on and if you listen to the album this is exactly what the album is trying to put across completely.
The next images I would like to analyse are beer can designs and packaging. This was one of my first ideas for the project and find it very interesting the way they entice their consumers to buy their alcohol. The first design I would like to study is the Heineken beer can. Heineken is a Dutch beer which has been brewed by Heineken International since 1873. The company was established in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken who created the famous logo for the beer. The first thing i think when i see the logo is, its looks like its of high quality. The bold 'Heineken' in the middle of the beer looks formal and slightly masculine maybe assuming its more a man's beer than a woman's and this is made the focus of the logo by the contrasting colours black and white.A star also represents goodness and this is shown above the word Heineken. All these high quality factors, all symbolise the company's famous slogan "Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach" which was maybe their intentions. I think a big characteristic of the company's brand is the rich green colour that is shown on every can and bottle. This really furthers what i said earlier about the aesthetic high quality of the beer. It also goes well on a beer bottle both being different shades of green and i think this was taken into consideration when making the design.
This is a completely different and opposite form of beer design to the mighty Heineken, but this is equally genius in its own way. This beer can was created by beer company Rites De Pottage. The beer can on its own has a pretty cool design, its not the formal, high quality design of the Heineken, with the big bold name across the middle but it is a cityscape, its intricate, imaginative and interesting. But the best is yet to come, its even more interesting when two cans are put together, or there is a whole shelf of the cans in a supermarket! The can on its own is very subliminal and the true intentions of the brand is not revealed until two cans are put together. The image of fishnets, garters, panties and thighs and this is bound to claim the eyes of many. This definitely isn't going be the formal Heineken drink you have at a family gathering but a bunch of lads out on a Saturday night on the other hand... This amazing idea will target the eyes of many. The idea very much focuses on the target audience which is a key part of creating a packaging design.I think the colours work well too, the dark glossy peachy colour as a skin contrasting the black silhouettes of the cityscape. The design has been well thought out and has a lot of potential.
