About
Minimal Movie Posters are a series of images designed as the minimalist adaptations of posters made for popular films, TV shows as well as book covers. Such artworks typically focus on a specific object or a symbolic imagery used in the said movies and TV shows.
Origin
The project was launched by Australian blogger Caelin[1] via Tumblr site “Minimal Movie Posters”[2] on September 30th, 2010. The site is open to user submissions and requests and each featured artwork contains a link to the original artist’s website or merchandise store. According to the site’s FAQ, Caelin has accumulated a collection of 2,000 unpublished minimal-style posters since the launch of the site in 2010.
Precursors
Prior to the launch of Minimal Movie Posters, fanmade posters in tribute to classic films have been previously explored by a number of graphic designers and illustrators as early as in 2008, including Brandon Schaefer[10], Italian illustrator Mattia Meirana[9] and Thomas Ramey[11] who released a compilation book titled “Movie Posters for Movie Lovers.”
Spread
The concept of minimalist poster art has since spread through major photo-sharing communities like Tumblr, Flickr[3] as well as DeviantART[4], spawning hundreds of tribute artworks by movie fans and graphic designers alike. The Tumblr blog and the series has been covered by a number of film-related and geek culture blogs like Director’s Notes[5], Total Film[6], Uproxx[7] and eBaumsworld[8]. One of the more notable set of derivatives were designed by Polish graphic designer Arden Avett.[12] For more examples, browse KYM Gallery – Minimal Movie Posters.
Notable Examples
Derivative: Meme Movie Posters
In January 2012, artist Stefan van Zoggel launched a personal art project titled “Meme Movie Posters,” which features a series of minimal movie posters depicting imageries of various well-known internet memes and viral videos. The project was mentioned by Mashable and CBS News in early Feburary and according to the site, Zoggel is currently accepting user suggestions via his Twitter account @stefvanzoggel for more poster designs.
Prior to Zoggel’s work, Know Your Meme published a set of holiday-themed cards inspired by the style of Minimal Movie Posters and a selection of internet memes in December 2011.
External References
[1]Tumblr – Little Movie Nerd
[2]Tumblr – Minimal Movie Posters
[3]Flickr – Minimal Movie Posters
[4]DeviantART – 6 Minimal Movie Posters
[5]Director’s Notes – Arden Avett’s Minimal Movie Posters
[6]Total Film – 100 Amazing Minimal Movie Posters
[7]Uproxx – Minimal Movie Posters
[8]eBaumsworld – Minimal Movie Posters
[9]Flickr – The Minimal Movie Posters Collection
[10]Flickr – 2008 – 2011
[11]Tramey – Movie Posters for Movie Lovers
[12]Behance – Arden Avett
[13]Cargo Collective – Meme Movie Posters