Messages in the Landscape

For the “Messages in the Landscape” assignment, I chose to photograph something that we all see an almost daily basis at George Mason University, posters on bulletin boards in buildings around the campus. Most of the posters that I photographed were advertisements but a few were not. Some were posters with tabs, so that people could take the information with them. These posters are something that I walk by each day while on campus and do little more than glance at and I have often wondered how much attention other people pay to these “unofficial” messages. I would consider them to be “unofficial” because they are not sponsored by part of the university nor are they sponsored by a corporation. They are relatively non-complex advertisements put up by individuals or small groups. The designs, for the most part are very basic, utilizing little more than 12 point Times New Roman text or the like. Many don’t even include clip art or images. These postings are almost all on basic copy paper and do not require more than a personal computer and a printer or copier for their creation. I would consider many of the other postings on these very same bulletin boards to be “official” messages. While these may be similarly basic in their design and production, they are put up by departments within the university or by companies such as Kaplan. Many of them also include trademarked logos or official symbols.