Advertisers give the poster the cold shoulder
The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) honors the best Swiss posters of 1999 and wants to rethink the competition
The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) awards the best Swiss posters of 1999 and wants to rethink the competitionThe Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) awards the best Swiss posters of 1999 and wants to rethink the competition By Luca Aloisi
Even in the Internet age, the poster has lost none of its appeal, with a share of around ten percent of the advertising media market. But in contrast, interest in the DHA's design competition is declining noticeably. The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and sponsor APG are already considering a redesign of the competition conditions.
Whereas the four-member jury repeatedly identifies new approaches to solutions for cultural posters, especially in the B4 world format, and interest in participating in the competition is increasing, it is declining among designers of commercial posters.
In 1999, the share of commercials dropped from about half to about one-fifth. "The lack of interest in the competition is growing," regrets Othmar Casutt, director of the Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) and member of the jury for the 59th Swiss Poster of the Year 1999 competition. Casutt sees the reason for this in the judging criteria, which measure the works exclusively in terms of how they have been designed and what graphic qualities they exhibit. The novelty and originality of an idea as well as the ability to convey a message are also taken into account. Other criteria, however, are excluded, such as the degree of attention a poster has achieved.
In addition, the guard rails for poster designers from the commercial sector have become much narrower, as they increasingly have to break down implementations that were mostly created for electronic media to the advertising medium poster. In such cases, the requirements are different than when the poster is used as the main medium of a campaign. This is why the EDI award is not as prestigious as an ADC award or an Effie prize, where these conditions are taken into account, says Casutt.
More awards despite loss of customers
The second bitter pill that the jury, chaired by president Pierre Keller, director of the Cantonal School of Art, Lausanne, had to swallow was the decline in the number of works. In February, 711 posters (1999: 758) were judged in the halls of BEAexpo, but this was still a better yield than the 646 submissions from 1998. The shrinkage was noticeable in the world format, which exists only in Switzerland. In this category, which is very popular with poster designers, 309 entries were submitted, almost 50 fewer than in 1998.
However, the stagnating response corresponds neither to the economic nor to the cultural significance of the Swiss poster. This contradiction was reflected in the number of award-winning posters. Despite the decline in the number of participants, 27 posters received awards in 1999, three more than in the previous year.
Those responsible for the competition - the organizer and sponsor APG and the patron Federal Office of Culture - want to counteract the stagnating interest with a package of measures. "In principle, the competition as it is now in terms of form and content will be reconsidered because it no longer meets the requirements of the times," explains Casutt. The annual event, which was born in 1941 and then tours Switzerland (info phone: 031 991 37 37), is to be given new impetus.
Today, posters from the cultural sector are most likely to tie in with the visualization art of the great poster artists such as Herbert Leupin, Celestino Piatti, or Donald Brun. In 1999, Niklaus Troxler and Ralph Schraivogel were among the contemporary graphic artists who, with their amazing realizations, are voted into the group of the best posters almost every year.
Hopefuls of high poster culture can be found in the colleges of design, where students mostly develop posters for their own exhibitions and for non-school clients. The Lucerne School of Art and Design won two awards this year.
A new development in the cultural sector was the creation of entire poster series on a single theme. Gerhard Blättler's four-part poster for the reopening of the Kunstmuseum Bern, for example, won the interest of the museum aisles and the favor of the jury. The poster for the Lucerne Theater, which originated from the Lucerne agency Velvet, is also based on the series idea.
Even in the Internet age, the poster has lost none of its appeal, with a share of around ten percent of the advertising media market. But in contrast, interest in the DHA's design competition is declining noticeably. The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and sponsor APG are already considering a redesign of the competition conditions.
Whereas the four-member jury repeatedly identifies new approaches to solutions for cultural posters, especially in the B4 world format, and interest in participating in the competition is increasing, it is declining among designers of commercial posters.
In 1999, the share of commercials dropped from about half to about one-fifth. "The lack of interest in the competition is growing," regrets Othmar Casutt, director of the Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) and member of the jury for the 59th Swiss Poster of the Year 1999 competition. Casutt sees the reason for this in the judging criteria, which measure the works exclusively in terms of how they have been designed and what graphic qualities they exhibit. The novelty and originality of an idea as well as the ability to convey a message are also taken into account. Other criteria, however, are excluded, such as the degree of attention a poster has achieved.
In addition, the guard rails for poster designers from the commercial sector have become much narrower, as they increasingly have to break down implementations that were mostly created for electronic media to the advertising medium poster. In such cases, the requirements are different than when the poster is used as the main medium of a campaign. This is why the EDI award is not as prestigious as an ADC award or an Effie prize, where these conditions are taken into account, says Casutt.
More awards despite loss of customers
The second bitter pill that the jury, chaired by president Pierre Keller, director of the Cantonal School of Art, Lausanne, had to swallow was the decline in the number of works. In February, 711 posters (1999: 758) were judged in the halls of BEAexpo, but this was still a better yield than the 646 submissions from 1998. The shrinkage was noticeable in the world format, which exists only in Switzerland. In this category, which is very popular with poster designers, 309 entries were submitted, almost 50 fewer than in 1998.
However, the stagnating response corresponds neither to the economic nor to the cultural significance of the Swiss poster. This contradiction was reflected in the number of award-winning posters. Despite the decline in the number of participants, 27 posters received awards in 1999, three more than in the previous year.
Those responsible for the competition - the organizer and sponsor APG and the patron Federal Office of Culture - want to counteract the stagnating interest with a package of measures. "In principle, the competition as it is now in terms of form and content will be reconsidered because it no longer meets the requirements of the times," explains Casutt. The annual event, which was born in 1941 and then tours Switzerland (info phone: 031 991 37 37), is to be given new impetus.
Today, posters from the cultural sector are most likely to tie in with the visualization art of the great poster artists such as Herbert Leupin, Celestino Piatti, or Donald Brun. In 1999, Niklaus Troxler and Ralph Schraivogel were among the contemporary graphic artists who, with their amazing realizations, are voted into the group of the best posters almost every year.
Hopefuls of high poster culture can be found in the colleges of design, where students mostly develop posters for their own exhibitions and for non-school clients. The Lucerne School of Art and Design won two awards this year.
A new development in the cultural sector was the creation of entire poster series on a single theme. Gerhard Blättler's four-part poster for the reopening of the Kunstmuseum Bern, for example, won the interest of the museum aisles and the favor of the jury. The poster for the Lucerne Theater, which originated from the Lucerne agency Velvet, is also based on the series idea.
