Iron Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2022
Richard III Poster
- A' Design Award 2022 Iron Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Create Theatre Poster
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 11,367
- Verification code 45A73B0229 · Verify this award
About Richard III Poster
This poster represents strong human emotions such as despair, desire and screaming. Richard III is a fascinating villain. He is noble and also fragile, like a Japanese castle wall. These stones in the poster seems the fragments his broken castle and heart. The blue background and embossing print emphasizes fluctuations undulates like a coral reef. Richard's ambition have sunk into there. The typography of his name are entwined with these stones. As if his complicated fate.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This poster shows the strong emotions of human beings. Richard III is a fascinating villain. He is noble, like a Japanese castle made of stones on the foundation. But he is also fragile. The background of the piled stones is the image of the seabed, and it undulates like a coral reef. His ambitions have sunk. And the characters of Richard III and Shakespeare express typography in an entwined manner like algae and seaweed.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 728mm x 1030mm
vertical - Tags
- poster, theatre, theater, Shakespeare, play, stage
- Production Technology
- Offset printing
Embossing Effect - Design Challenge
- It is a work that has been visualized innumerably so far. In order to revive it as a fresh work that I have never seen, it was necessary to deeply interpret the work itself. However, the original text was a non-native language and had some difficulties. On the technical side, it was necessary to create a delicate embossing effect in order to add depth to the work. For that reason, the print plate is divided into multiple parts.
- Project Duration
- This work is one of Shakespeare's series, which started in Tokyo (Japan) in 2015 and continues as now. Especially This poster was constructed for the creation of the series "Love and emotion" announced in 2020.
- Operation Flow
- Although it is a poster for domestic events, it has been introduced all over the world and has a strong presence through the participation exhibitions of many international competitions.
- Research
- This project is part of an academic study of Shakespeare's classical drama. Even today, the goal is to reinterpret the works of the most influential playwrights in line with the times. Both the original English and the Japanese translation are used for the research. It is the role of this poster to visually show the new charm, and it is required to be modern and novel in color and composition. As typography, both English and Japanese used in the research are fused.
- Inspiration
- Shakespeare's play still excites, saddens and impresses us. When reading and looking at his play, we are not facing a difficult classics. His work is full of the fundamental human truth. In his plays, strong emotion and love who we forget is overflow. This series is an attempt to reconstruct that secret with contemporary posters.
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Jisuke Matsuda, Optional Image #1 : Jisuke Matsuda, Optional Image #2 : Jisuke Matsuda, Optional Image #3 : Jisuke Matsuda, Optional Image #4 : Jisuke Matsuda
- Patents
- Created by Jisuke Matsuda
Colors of Richard III Poster
Grand Interview about Richard III Poster
There are wars and conflicts all over the world, and both Japan and the United Kingdom have been involved in them. This participation reflects the inherent foolishness of humanity—a foolishness that, of course, includes the Japanese as well. This foolishness gives rise to sorrow. Sorrow, in this case, represents the way the rocks that people have carefully piled up can be so easily toppled by those who stand above. This is what I wanted to depict in the poster for Richard III.
I wanted to depict the sinking of a Japanese warship, a symbol of our involvement in the war, and the crumbling stones of the wall, the remnants of a foolish conflict, sinking into the beautiful sea. To achieve this, I used the embossing technique to create the ups and downs.
When attempting to convey a message, if English serves as the common language for multiple nations, then blending Japanese and English allows us to reach and be understood by more people around the world. As I mentioned before, both Japan and the UK were involved in the war, and so, for atonement and to honor those who lost their lives, the languages of both nations are significant elements in this expression.
Richard III also waged war. War itself is nonsensical—where people kill each other, seize land, and ultimately destroy what they have built. For Richard III, it was equally absurd to dismantle his own kingdom. This reflects not only the foolishness of Japan’s military leadership or Richard III himself, but also the foolishness of the people led by them. This is symbolized by the image of ruins and shattered stones returning to the sea.
The more I delve into Shakespeare, the more I see reflections of the frustrations and burdens that individuals in today’s society carry. The challenge is how to clear away some of that weight through a single poster. My approach evolved to focus not just on the technical aspects, but on making the message strikingly clear—so that the viewer can vividly remember their own shared foolishness. This clarity in the poster’s expression aims to leave a lasting impact on those who see it.
This blue color expresses Shakespeare's “blue” emotion. In Japan, a pale complexion is described as a blue face. Blue is not a simple color. It is a color that signifies complex emotions such as irritation, heightened emotions, discouragement, and melancholy.
Three versions are available: one for embossed areas, one for black ink, and a conventional four-color version. In order to create the embossed and black ink versions, complex paths had to be combined and separated, which was a very difficult task and took a lot of time here.
I’m not necessarily aiming to influence the future of performing arts advertising, but in Japan, attendance for theater, film, opera, and similar arts is declining. Because of this, I believe that if we don’t capture attention through bold, striking approaches—something glamorous, vibrant, deeply sorrowful, or wildly intense—people may stop coming to the theater. In that sense, perhaps this project serves as an experiment that leaves an impact, a stone cast into the water to spark change.
The foolishness, envy, anger, and desires of humanity are indeed quite absurd. That said, I am a very foolish person myself, and when I reflect on this, I am left with pain, fear, and a faint glimmer of hope. As I immerse myself in the works left behind by those who came before me—music, novels, films—I feel as though I’ve learned a philosophy from my self-study when I see, hear, and eventually articulate these ideas myself.
Just like with King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King, I sometimes buy records based on their covers before even listening to the music. I’m drawn to books with stunning bindings, or titles that catch my eye. The impactful visuals of artists like Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran blend poetry and music seamlessly, incorporating elements that attract young audiences. From this perspective, I aimed to create a poster design that uses a mix of distorted and emotionally resonant typefaces to create an expression that bursts with emotion.