The Worst of Poster Graphic Designs!

1. Get Smart

At least the graphic design artist wasn’t thinking ‘smart’! This poster is an absolute disaster despite the nice color scheme and font. Sorry, but covering Carell’s face isn’t working for me. It’s stupid!

I would have preferred Carell upfront. Also, I could do something with the font, something to keep up with the film’s undercover-agent theme. A zippy font style may have looked cooler.

2. The Ugly Truth

Yes, this tongue-in-cheek poster portrays the movie theme clearly and precisely. But the ‘ugly truth’ about this poster is well…it’s uncreative, clichéd and uses terrible font. The bold ‘ugly’ looks ugly and would have been much better were it to centrally align with the bold, black ‘pole’ dividing the poster. I would also prefer it slightly bigger than ‘the’ and ‘truth’ since ‘ugly’ is the central idea the film plays on.

I also think Butler’s shirt would look better in white and Heigl’s dress better in black. The red hearts would set off the contrast better, increasing the eye-grabbing quality of this poster. The ‘pole’ could stay, except using a gray/white gradient for a metallic finish could work better.

3. The Time Machine

I don’t mind the font at all, or the ray of light that almost seems to separate the top and bottom text. It’s well thought for a sci-fi movie poster. The Sepia tone is okay, but the really problem is the image composition itself.

The rays of light from the ‘time machine’ make up the background for this poster and are what makes it a graphical catastrophe. Too much happening all at once: there are light beams, smoke, fire and humans that obscure part of the background with lights and shadows dancing over their bodies.

I would have much preferred something completely different from the original.

4. Did You Hear About the Morgans?

This poster exploits white space like it wasn’t meant to be exploited! Probably the worst use of white space any poster has seen for a long time. Besides, this poster is a classic example of what happens when graphic designers begin acting a bit too smart. What exactly are they trying to tell us here?

I would stick to a basic cast shot for this one. Grant and Parker would sell better in my opinion. At least, manifolds than a cow and a hire-cab that…well…I am still trying to come up with an explanation for that one.

5. Bridge to Terabithia

No, this is not an animated movie but the poster would tell you otherwise. Yes, nice colors, but that’s about it. The film has none of the suspense or thrill of a treasure hunt adventure, something this poster tells (misleads) me all the time. Overall, it’s one of the worst cases of false advertising.

6. Mama’s Boy

Green spells disaster for this movie poster although the DVD cover looks decent in comparison!! Bad composition doesn’t save the day for either, which is sad because the title had potential for genuinely funny creative concepts. Also, check out the ridiculous pose on the poster. A nice tagline on the DVD cover but Heder is as irritating as ever. All in all…unimpressive design that seems like the work of someone just learned Photoshop!

I haven’t seen the movie but something tells me…Mama’s Boy didn’t go many places!

7. The King’s Speech

The original poster appears a primer to a zany comedy. Good concept on the new poster but absolutely hate the yellow ocher’ish’ background. A maroon and black gradient would have done so much better. Somehow, the whole maroon thing looks finer for a film about royals. Besides, it has undeniable gloss value.

8. The Accidental Husband

There’s just everything wrong about the first poster. Where exactly is Dean and Firth looking? Whatever happened to their hand to body proportion? Thurman’s head is so blown-out! And don’t get me started about the flowers!!

Check the second poster. Have the men just flung her in the air, or is she falling from somewhere? What is the poster trying to tell us? The cityscape in the background makes no sense either.

The third poster does slightly better but Firth still doesn’t get his look right. He looks deeply in love and is also looking through his love interest.

The only redeemable quality about ‘The Accidental Husband’ is the font itself. I quite like how it’s simple and the red ‘accidental’ is made to stand out against the black all-caps.

9. Bangkok Dangerous

The lava lapping around mid-waist makes no sense. Nor do the bullet shots unless there’s invisible glass that is ‘invisible’. “Look Ma…no guns inside my jacket or in my right hand” Do we complain about Cage’s confused expression anymore?