Layered thinking and symbolism..

Click on this picture. Go on, I dare you. Expand it to as large as it'll go.

Does it inspire you? Have you seen the real thing? It looks amazing 'in the flesh'.

Well, I love this picture. It sums up all I like about art; hidden meanings, different types of symbolism that are interesting whether you know anything about the period or not.

It got me to thinking about just how I respond to visual stimuli. Now, I first saw this in the National Gallery, where you are supposed to be appreciative of the art.

Would I have thought the same if I'd have just viewed this picture on this blog? Obviously not.

My point in this post was simply to draw your attention to the fact that not all ads/comms are created equal, and why I think media needs to come back into the fold if advertising is truly going to prosper in years to come.

Sounds bloody simplistic, but in order for any message to get through, I have to be prepared to listen and pay attention. I'll look out for all the clever little bits of symbolism in an art gallery, and I may even do so online, when I have time of my own - it's why the internet could potentially be the pandora's box of communication.

The below painting is what the majority of POS work and posters do, and people don't appreciate it:

So much is going on in this painting that it's impossible to take it all in on first viewing. Yet so many creative executions try to do this, in the hope someone will simply 'get it' straight away.

They won't.

Neither painting would succeed as a TV spot because, let's face it - where do you view ads? Unless you are Alan Fletcher, it's not in a museum.

You need a message people will remember, an impactful one. It's why so many pieces of COI work make great posters - one message, and people understand and respect it.