Oz magazine created controversial yet amazing front covers to feature on their articles. The image featured on the cover above was taken during the Vietnam war. It portrays a solider to be heartlessly threatening the citizen, as the viewer we have to knowledge of what may have happened next. The ink splatter across the page builds a dramatic and shocking view of what could have happened. I like the use of two colours within the cover as it focuses on the aim of the designer. This style of designs intrigues me and i believe they are a great way of expressing world problems through art.

The second Oz cover looks into using shapes, colour and typography to create an image perspective. This technique interests me as it takes a lot of planning and thought to create this kind of outcome. The style of font and repeated circles create a hippy design perfectly represents the era of its creation. The colour yellow was popular within design in the 60’s as it signified positivity. This design appears hand rendered but professional and neat which can be a hard thing to create.

‘Mobilize against the war’ was created in 1966 as an anti-Vietnam war poster. This design attracted me as I loved the use of layering different colours and shapes. Illustration mixed with typography creates a great effect especially when aiming to create an impact. The designer has made the purpose of the poster clear as he has included the word ‘Vietnam’ and the American flag. The font used on the poster is bold and strong like the message the words are portraying.

Magazine covers and posters designed within the 60’s were very controversial and definitely create an impact on the viewer. Problems within the world at that time were highly reflected into the artwork and used for negative and positive reactions. As time has gone on and adventurous art is now more socially acceptable Oz have been given the chance to re-show their controversial yet amazing magazines. The guardian share this within their article of Oz magazine covers,  “Oz is a record of the cultural revolution. Many of the issues it raised, such as the environment, sexuality and drug use, are no longer contentious. In fact, they have now become mainstream.”

bibliography

‘Return to Oz: The most controversial magazine of the 60s goes online’, March 2016, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/shortcuts/2016/mar/06/return-oz-most-controversial-magazine-60s-goes-online

http://ro.uow.edu.au/ozlondon/10/ 

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/anti-vietnam-war-poster 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/sep/09/magazine-cover-design-in-pictures