WPA Poster

WPA Poster Breakdown

The artist's reasoning behind creating this exotic, warm, and inviting setting, might have been to encourage tourists from all over the world to travel to Puerto Rico.  With the color blue representing the ocean, we can determine from the other small figures in the design that there is depth.  The angled-cannon paired off with the ocean goes hand in hand, distinguishing and showing the different areas of depth. We see a few villas on the cliff and a building that resembles a lighthouse. Further back, there are two white figures that look like sailboats.

Perhaps the artist wanted to encourage Americans to be open about getting to know its history and ties with the Hispanic culture. Believe it or not, many Americans don’t know that Puerto Rico is actually an unincorporated territory of the United States. Light plays a key part in highlighting the cannon and cliffs. Although the light source is not actually visible in the illustration, we can probably come to the conclusion that the light is coming from the top right of the poster. For example, the different browns in the design encompasses and highlights shadows and different areas on the cannon, as well as on the cliffs.

If there wasn’t any text in the design, the poster’s message would still be able to get it’s point across. The exotic, beach scene is alluring. Implementing figures out on the shores playing volleyball, playing in the water, or riding on sailboats would be a great way to evoke similarly without any text. I think the addition of a dog and its owner could possibly give that warm, inviting gesture to come and vacation in Puerto Rico.  Adding an overcast or thunderclouds off into the horizon would definitely change the whole mood for the poster. While we see a warm setting, we can also see the dark clouds and the trouble approaching nearby.

3 Abstracted Objects

Testimonial

I'm pretty sure everyone knows who this guy is - the infamous Subway spokesman, Jared Fogle.  We've seen many of his before and after pictures in magazines and tv ads, which display his significant weight-loss thanks to the "Subway Sandwhich Diet".  If he can do it, everyone else can too.

Glittering Generalities

This poster displays a few advertising techniques, but I believe Glittering Generalities stands out the most.  Here, we see a Marine with a smile on his face and he's offering out his hand as a way to say that the only action you'll ever be able to receive is through enlisting in the Marine Corps. Marines are usually expected to have this tough-guy exterior and they don't look very friendly, but this guy does.  I'm pretty sure everyone knows that war is nowhere near what we usually see in movies, but for some reason this warm and inviting Marine is saying otherwise.

Plain Folks

This WPA poster illustrates the advertising technique - Plain Folks.  For the longest time, women were not supposed to have a modern day 9-5, but were expected to be housewives instead.  This meant that their "wifely duties" were usually subjected to keeping the house clean, taking care of the children, keeping themselves up to par, and preparing a nice meal for their husband to come home to after a "long and strenuous" day at work.  Here we see an ordinary woman mixing up some kind of concoction.  Her facial expression is almost too hard to read, but apparently she's not too thrilled.  It almost looks like she's saying, "Get off your butts and bake for these soldiers, women!".