Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

This is a poster designed for a Miami book fair.The 25 book covers are grouped together and are the most prominent part of the poster.  If the books were randomly placed all over the poster and were different sizes, it would imply that some books are more important or better than others but with all the books placed side my side in nice neet rows, all seem equally important which helps contribute to the message that all books of the last 25 years are being celebrated equally with this book fair.  The arrangement of the books also creates balance and gives the sense of harmoniousness which is a very appropriate feeling to extract from viewers when representing a book fair that is celebrating books.

In this poster for National Poetry Month, the red letters dominate the poster but the way they are laid out poorly communicates that the poster is about poetry.  Poetry usually has district rhythm or pentameter.  It is usually a very structured and organized style of writing, or in other words, it has rationality and balance.  This poster on the other hand has a lot of stress in the way the letters are arranged.  The letters are different sizes, they are presented at different angles, and they are not on an even plane of existence.  This demonstrates kayos and disorder which is the complete opposite of the kind of writing that poetry is.  The way the text is displayed gives the illusion of movement that would be more appropriate for a poster about a preforming art like dance but not really for poetry.