Wild Hawaii Poster
Vintage European Posters: Lahaina, Hawaii
This is a copy of a vintage Hawaii poster from 1913 that I got from a vintage poster shop in Maui, Hawaii. I chose it for my Wild Design post because we studied many poster designs from throughout history that I thought were very interesting and I happened to already own one myself. This particular poster stood out to me for many reasons. One, I love vintage advertisements and this is one for a floral parade, which it says will be the eighth annual one in a retro sans-serif font. The layout also struck my interest as the large typeface of “HAWAII” is behind the surfers head. Furthermore, the details in the poster itself are really cool, such as the wood grains in the surfboard, and I feel like you do not see much like it these days. The use of different blues throughout is also very satisfying because of the color coordination. For example, the lighter blue outline around “CARNIVAL” matches the blue used for the sky. Overall, I like how vintage and simple it is, which is why it now is on my wall.
I love this poster, Tommy! It is very satisfying to me too. Something that I find interesting is the way that designers used to practice leading for posters such as these. Whenever I see anything with this sort of leading I think early 1900s (which gives me a good idea if I’m ever trying to design something with a classic, vintage appeal). Notice that the text all seems to sit directly on top of the line below it. This must have to do with the way that printing used to be done, and the designer wanted to fit in as much information as possible. I also wonder if this poster was done using lithography seeing as how it has such a minimal range of colors? Even the man’s skin seems to be a variant shade of the red used in “HAWAII.” The way that the color looks so smooth in some places – “CARNIVAL” for example – as compared to the splotchiness in other places is also striking. It makes the smoother printed parts seem to stand out more. I’m jealous of your wall art and will have to keep my eye out for a treasure like this if I ever make it to the island!