Simple but effective?

Banksy's style of quick stencil street art lead me on to consider the effectiveness of such simple designs. Many other designers encorporporate the very simple minded approach and I often feel that this simple but suggestive style of design is more successful in drawing an audience in and sometimes causing them to question the deeper meaning within the design.

All of the above images are pieces of Banksy's work, the top and bottom images being the most recognised and popular of Banksy's work. What I am keen to highlight and take away from viewing these images is the effectiveness upon the eye of such simplistic designs. When we analyze the pieces of art, they are all very simple but done in a very skilled manner. The simple use of stencil art, contrasting a few bright colours with black and white, and a child like flower is all the above images are, but the style and effectiveness that they all carry through into the audience makes them a special design. The bottom two images, have a childlike nature to them and through this the viewer is caused to reflect upon their own memories and consequently becomes interloped with the work. For me, this is what design is all about. Although, I have to admit, I am in awe with people who can create pages of explosive patterns and colours within design, it is simple designs like Banksy's above that draw the viewer in physically and emotionally that attract me the most. The bottom image of the girl releasing the balloon is so simple, yet so ambiguous. The meaning or reason for her actions is unknown but the ambiguity draws the viewer in to question and console, and for me this is one of the best forms of design because of this.

Milton Glaser:

Milton Glaser is a renowned graphic designer that's work consist a lot of simplistic designs and colour contrasts but is consequently highly effective. Arguably his most prestigious design, and one of the greatest ever simplistic designs is his 'I Love NY' design that has a worldwide recognition. Glaser design is so simple, yet so effective that in almost every city you will find a duplicate, personal 'I love....' memorabilia.

'I Love NY'.

The above images highlight how Glaser design has taken off across the global market, in a variety of forms of merchandise. I find it amazing how such a simple design consisting of one 'smiley' and three letters could carry so much power and dominate the merchandise market as it does today.

This is Glaser other most renowned and famous pieces of design. A poster design for the Front cover of Bob Dylan's book, that consequently went on to sell over 6 million copies. Obviously not just because of Glaser eye for detail in colour reproduction in this image, but I am sure it helped. Creating a design for a book has to be attractive and eye catching and i feel Glaser captures all of this and more within this design. I am a massive fan of the use of black and white contrast, and like Banksy the stencil/ silhouette technique once again proves its effectiveness.  I also feel the range of colours in a gentle wavy motion adds a great attractiveness to the image and is a technique, combined with a silhouette that I will definitely look into myself.

Seeing all of these images brought me to the reality that something doesn't have to be an extremely complicated or difficult design to gain popularity, recognition or even meaning. Banksy highlights through all of his quick stencil work that sometimes less is more and that it is better to suggest than to put the answer or entertainment on a plate for the viewer and I completely agree and will use this idea when thinking about my designs. Much like Banksy, there is not a better person than Glaser, to prove that a simplistic design has the capabilities to take over a global trade market, much like his I Love NY design has done.