Monday, 13 October 2014

Study Task 01 - Analysis & Comparison - OUGD401

'The Uncle Sam Range' - Schumacher & Ettlinger (1876).

Famous WWI poster by Savile Lumley (1915).

The above two posters in question have been discussed in detail and are now going to be compared to see what subtle differences they truly hold. Whether it be the colour’s used, typeface and in the end what kind of socio / historical impact it had on the population at the time of publishing.

The top poster, ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ was observed first, as it was the first poster to be produced out of the two back in 1876, by advertisers Schumacher & Ettlinger. The product in hand, which can be a little distorted when looking at the poster as it does not truly focus on the oven (Which is what the supposed selling point is), but more of the environment it would be used.

Additionally, the advertisement does seem quite forced in how the creators have tried to convey its meaning. The use of bold stripes and stars in the colour’s of the United States’ flag is extremely prevalent and is about as patriotic as it gets.

In terms of the communication of the two they are completely different. The war poster is trying to convey a propaganda message to guilt trip the men who did not go to war. Yet on the other hand, the Uncle Sam Range advertisement focuses on translating a more modest message, a celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the USA’s independence.

In terms of detail, they are from two different ends of the spectrum. Uncle Sam’s is highly detailed and looks as if it uses more of a scene to translate its message, which is to give the audience (in this case, quite clearly the population of the USA) a feel of patriotism and pride. Furthermore, the war poster is trying to convey guilt and shame, yet praise those who did go to war as the scene in the poster shows.

Illustrating a young daughter and son near by as they ask their father what contribution he has made to WWI, this is purely trying to persuade, the use of an old style western typeface combined with the use of red, white and blue shades makes it clear that it is aimed at the western forces, primarily to engage the viewer to join the army. The capitalization of the ‘you’ emphisises how it is speaking out to the viewer, the underline makes it so it cannot clearly be missed.

Although both posters show complete different concepts they do have quite a lot of similarities, in terms of their use of colour, type and most importantly setting. Both posters make it so the viewer can instantly relate and apply the situation to their own lives.


To conclude, my findings that reveal the two posters’ strategy are not quite the same, yet have very fine similarities that can very easily be visually picked out. But when you look further in the meaning of the two posters, it becomes clear that they have two completely different intended meanings.

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