Dan Stiles is an artist and designer from Portland, Oregon. he has collaborated with a plethora of people from indie bands to major corporations in creating posters, identities, advertising, packaging, and limited edition collectable art. Some pieces of his caught my eye in his book ‘One Thing Leads to Another’ concentrating on the Squamish Valley music festival, which he had created posters for, three years in a row.

The three day music festival had a bear for a mascot as Squamish is located in prime bear habitat, British Columbia. This is classic Dan Stiles style, clean cut shapes filled with explosive colours you have no choice to be drawn to. As this was the first poster Stiles created it has everything in about the festival. The mascot, the setting, the acts whereas the next one is a little less literal

‘in 2013 we did a friendly bear poster, so for 2014 we decided to go for a more aggressive look’ (D.Stiles). The majority of Stiles’ work is design as art yet serves a purpose at the same time. His work normally revolves around the art and so on a communication level it isn’t the most accessible compared to a straight typographic poster.

Designed by Elyse Dodge, this may not have the same impact as the previous posters, however on a communication viewpoint it’s far better. I prefer Stiles’ take on the poster as i think its more engaging and digging for the information on his becomes more interactive.

Dodge, E. (2014). Squamish valley music festival 2014. [image] Available at: https://blog.designcrowd.com/article/491/33-poster-designs-from-the-worlds-most-iconic-music-festivals [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Stiles, D. (2014). [image] Available at: http://www.danstiles.com/mainshop/squamish-valley-music-festival [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Stiles, D. (2015). [image] Available at: http://www.danstiles.com/mainshop/squamish-valley-music-festival-2015 [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Stiles, D. (2015). One thing leads to another. powerHouse Books.