GRAPHICALLY CLEVER DESIGN FOUND IN GRAPHIS

The Sydney Dance Company "The Director's Cut" sign, by Vince Frost of Frost Design, is an design that I find extremely conceptually interesting. It caught my eye as I was looking through a Graphis Annual (Poster Annual 2007). The play on the words "DIRECTOR'S CUT" with the dancer swinging from or trying to hold on to the large C and appearing to have been cut and bleeding is brilliant (has he been cut by the letter C?). The dancer's body makes a strong and powerful shape, and the blood gives the message that what you will see from the Sydney Dance Company is cutting edge work.

Also, the typography is very clever at the bottom, the way SYDNEY and DANCE share the letters D, N, and E. It's almost like the words/letter are dancing. The font is Futura—a great choice. Very readable.

Interestingly, a case was filed at the Advertising Standards Bureau about this image, saying that the life size billboard contained "offensive and “in your face” gore. (Read the complaint file) The case was dismissed, basically because it was being used for art/dance.

I like that the image is mostly white, red, and black. Also, the photo-typography relationship is done really well. The entire design is well-balanced, and the clever concept attracts interest and curiosity about the company and the concert (or concert series). Very cool.