Hollandsche Teekenmij. Tentoonstelling. Pulchri Studio. September.
The pattern
This still is filed under Event symbol poster.
Define
A symbol or allegory that makes an event feel like a destination. Not a timetable. A magnet.
Mechanism
Attraction by emblem. Date and venue ride under a picture that already means come.
Verdict
We are filling a room, a night, or a run of dates
Why it works
The lettering is fitted to the geometry rather than the geometry to the lettering: letters are condensed, extended and ligatured so each line exactly fills the width available at its height, which is what gives the sheet its locked, inevitable look. Working in chalk on stone keeps the poster in the medium of the exhibiting society, so the announcement demonstrates the product instead of describing it. The narrowing stack of PULCHRI, STUDIO, SEPTEMBER forms a funnel that drives the eye to the point of the triangle, so the practical detail is read last and the mood is read first. Closed eyes and strict symmetry remove any narrative, leaving a symbolist emblem that cannot be mistaken for a commercial product ad.
Steal this when
Use this when you are advertising a craft and can make the poster out of that craft, so the sample and the announcement are one object. The funnel stack of narrowing lines is right whenever the venue and date must be read last, after the mood has landed.