Rationales

Poster One: There’s history in the fabric of our nation

My posters focus on the historical significance of the New Zealand flag.

The poster uses soldiers dressed in ANZAC uniforms and red poppies which are a well-known symbols of the First World War, which was a moment of large historical value to our country. New Zealanders fought and died under the flag, so here the technique of subversion is used - poppies and soldiers are coloured and manipulated to form the shape of the new Zealand flag. I have used the visual style of collage to show it was real, making a connection to actual people. This is  impactful as the people are relatable, drawing the viewer in.

I have used repetition of the images to show the magnitude of war and shows it as an important historical event. They are making up our history. 

The Ihi is subversion of soldiers and poppies to form the New Zealand flag.

Wehi is that you feel respectful towards them, you can empathise because the flag/history now has a face. It makes you sombre and reminds you of the important historical events of our past as a nation.

The text is a play on words - meaning both “there’s history in our communities and culture” and “there’s history in the literal fabric of our nation, the flag”. Combined with the image of the flag, we can understand that this text is a pun, and we are able to solve the visual puzzle.

At close appearance, you can see that the image is made up of soldiers and poppies in the shape of a flag, but from far away they blur together and only the general flag shape is visible. I have used the distance of the viewer from the poster to subtly change the meaning of the image - from far away you want to look closer, so it draws you in. This double-image ensures that the viewers are engaged whether they are far away or close to the poster.

The tagline “vote no change” reinforces what the poster is talking about - it’s showing the history, the past and the significance of the flag, then urging you to vote against a change of flag, because, as it implies, this will be removing all of this culture and history from our nation.

Unfortunately the final image came out a bit pixellated - this was due to warping it in Photoshop so that the image of the flag wasn’t static and flat. This rippled, more 3D looking flag made a lot more of an impact than the static flag, so even though it is pixellated up close, I decided to stick with this option over the other, clearer one.

Poster Two: New! Zealand - 100% history free

My posters focus on the historical significance of the New Zealand flag.

Here a pun has been played on the words “New! Zealand”, as the country’s name is also taken to mean an adjective. The starburst symbol and bright, tacky, cheap-shop-colour yellow are employed to further reinforce the idea of a new item being marketed as something special and different for sale and consideration. This is also backed up by the words “new and exciting!” which are also using salesperson jargon to give the viewer a sense that they are being marketed towards. Another marketing ploy is facts and figures saying things like “100% fat free”. Here, these terms have been applied to the new flag - if we changed it, the new New Zealand would be “100% history free” according to this poster. It makes a subtle mockery of the new flag as being meaningless.

I have used simple outline style and only one colour to reference cheap shop advertising and junk mail, which has negative connotations, and I’m linking that negativity of it’s cheapness to a negative outlook of a New Zealand without history as being cheap and tacky too.

The symbols illustrate simply how by removing/binning the old flag design in favour of new ones, symbols of history and culture are lost as well, leaving us with a (literally here) questionable future.

Ihi - Juxtaposition of the words ‘New Zealand’ with a starburst symbol and exclamation mark that alter it’s meaning. The main visual rhetoric in this poster is conveyed through the words rather than the images.

Wehi - The headline engages the viewer - we are automatically drawn to words like New! and bright colours, and the headline feels positive and upbeat. The tagline, 100% history free, is negative, and changes the viewer’s initial, positive outlook on the subject to a negative one that mocks the idea of changing a flag, showing that a new New Zealand will be a bad thing that we should avoid.

The poster is also linking the idea of the flag being new because of the colour yellow that is used for both the big word “new!” and for the new, faceless, questionable flag of the future. The poster questions what the future will have in store for us, from a negative point of view.

If we take away the flag, we take away the history that it represents.