Finding the invisible in movie posters — part 2

These past few months my love for movie posters (and visual arts in general) led me to exploring visual perception and geometry in design. Turns out it’s an exciting (and huge!) area which can offer pretty satisfactory explanations on why we like certain pieces of visual art, or why some work better than others.

One thing I got especially excited about was dynamic symmetry—a proportioning principle which can we used to achieve eye-pleasing compositions by aligning elements to a special kind of grid. Examples of this found in literature were always on some old piece of art. Naturally, I had to apply it to movie posters. Pleased with what I found, I shared it in a blog post, a sort of introduction to dynamic symmetry with movie poster examples.

Selecting only seven posters meant leaving dozens of good examples in my drafts. And since sharing and discussing good designs can’t be a bad thing, I decided it’s time for a part two!

Finding the grid in movie posters

The Lobster (2015)
Designed by Vasilis Marmatakis

One of the most original posters of the last decade is a good place to start. When overlaying its root 2 rectangle with the dynamic symmetry armature, we discover some clear overlaps:

Upper eye (orange circle in the armature)—a strong focus point—falls exactly on Colin Farrell’s face, while the bottom eye marks the position of the Cannes festival laurel.
Colin’s hands, floating in empty space, are neatly placed inside the rhombus shape.
All text elements (title, billing block, logos) are enclosed inside the space defined by the main two diagonals.

Tesla (2018)
Designed by Brandon Schaefer

This poster grabs our attention with its unconventional moustached face, but the armature reveals some tight compositional forces as well.

The center of this 1.5 rectangle falls on the mouth, just below the moustaches, while the rectangular eyes are locked inside the intersections of diagonals.
Another big point of focus lands right on Tesla’s “S”. The title itself is contained within verticals C and D, and the rectangle’s two main diagonals help define the title’s ornamental frame.
Horizontal line A divides the title from actor’s credit.
The billing block starts exactly below horizontal line B.
A quote placed on top is elegantly tucked between two diagonals.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Designed by Keiko Kimura

This exquisite illustration radiates with emotion, but part of its appeal comes from its tight compositional structure.

The woman figure is defined by diagonals A and B which follow the weighty lines of her arm and back. Additionally, diagonal C is the axis of her face.
Diagonal B passes over the man’s face, following the direction of his gaze.
Horizontal line D and E are marking the positions of the title and director’s credit elements.
The rough building drawing is placed on the right side of vertical F.

Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Designed by Empire Design

Designers of this visually simple photographic poster made good use of dynamic symmetry principles.

The baseball bat matches with diagonal A.
Diagonals B and C lock the helmet, while D is vertical to the helmet/bat.

Last Night in Soho (2021)
Designed by SG Posters

Eyes are always great attracting visual elements. Repeating those red/blue circles creates a nice rhythm, but in this example even placement of typographical elements contribute to a good composition.

The intersection of main diagonals marks the center of the red circle and also locks the blue pupil. The central horizontal line touches the bottom of the eye.
The tear slides down from the eye just until it touches the main diagonal.
Horizontals A and B anchor the title and billing block elements.
Actor names are placed tightly inside triangular areas defined by horizontal line B and intersecting diagonals C and D.
Horizontal E touches the top part of the eye.
The poster’s tagline is placed right on horizontal F.
Verticals G and H enclose the tagline, while also defining the width of the eye and the “in Soho” part of the title.

Cape Fear (1991)
Designed by Tom Martin

Going 30 years back, Cape Fear is a typical 90’s poster. Again—the eyes serve as inescapable focus points and most probably the first thing we notice.

One of the reasons why those eyes are so dominating is their location—on the intersection of horizontal A and verticals B and C.
The intersection of main diagonals—the center of the whole poster—falls right between De Niro’s eyes.
The central vertical reveals the symmetry of the layout; even the title is made of two four-letter words.
Horizontal lines G and H define sections for the title and billing block elements.
One of the most interesting details here is how the lightning bolt obediently follows diagonals E and F, right until they strike into the sea/horizontal line D.
Lastly, we can notice how the boat is nicely enclosed inside a rhombus created by E and F with the main diagonals.

The Old Man & the Gun (2018)
Designed by Midnight Oil

This poster does at least two brave things: abundant use of white space + obscuring the face of its main star.

On a first glance we discover its use of thirds (although this is a 1.5 rectangle so these subdivisions are not exactly thirds, which is the case in root 2 rectangles) thanks to verticals A and B, and horizontal C.
The man figure is located the middle section, stepping just above horizontal C.
Bottom part of the left section is used for the title (in an interesting vertical arrangement) and billing block.
Horizontal line D marks the place for the tagline.
Upper part of the right section holds the actors credits.

The Black Phone (2021)
Designed by Creepy Duck Design

This creepy (pun intended) tribute poster does wonders with a limited color palette, but I’m sure a big part of its lure comes from good composition.

The central eye of the dynamic symmetry grid falls on the titular phone.
Another eye—the intersection of diagonals A and B—falls on the monster’s chin, locking the face in the inverted triangle.
The tagline is tightly enclosed between main diagonals and horizontal line C.
Verticals G and H overlap the blood dripping from the hands all the way down to the title
Diagonals E and F enclose all the typographic elements on the bottom of the poster (actor’s credit, title, billing block), while horizontal line D separates the title from the text below.

The Little Mermaid (1989)
Designed by John Alvin

Is there a better way to end this analysis than with a Disney classic?

The mermaid’s figure swimming toward the light is perfectly aligned with diagonal A.
Mermaid’s position is also defined by verticals B and C, diagonal D, and horizontal line E.
Diagonals A and F with horizontal E make a trapezoid containing all the typographical elements.
Horizontal G serves as the title’s baseline.

Hope this whet your appetite for exploring more about geometry in design! If so, below are some of the resources that helped me discover it.

Kathleen Munn’s notes on Jay Hambidge’s theory of dynamic symmetry (source).

Resources for further research

The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry by Jay Hambidge
Available for free on archive.org
The Art of Composition: A Simple Application of Dynamic Symmetry by Michel Jacobs
Available for free on archive.org
Geometry of Design by Kimberly Elam
Dynamic Symmetry: The of Masterful Art by Travis Leaf Glover
Harmonic Armature by Thomas Kegler
Available for free on scribd.com