The project title chosen for this brief was “It happened on this day” from the ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) Student Briefs. The campaign is centred around assassination and assassination attempts and the elements of chance and irony that can effect these meticulous plans, thus the project title was altered to fit the concept - It Should’ve Happened On This Day - the typography being aesthetically designed to read either titles.
The brand developed for the campaign is called Assassination Day Travel Tours and aims to educate a target audience that is interested in the history of assassination - giving more information than that which is commonly assumed. The posters are designed typographically with the intention of gaining interest from the target audience by shocking and intriguing them to want more thus buying the book and taking the travel tour. Each poster includes relevant information on the event as well as a “punch line” that is unexpected and for the most part - ironic. The intention is to place the posters in the locations of the assassinations creating markers for the Assassination Day Travel Tours. Along with the posters, a travel book was designed, including detailed information regarding the specific person who was assassinated (or not) and what the result was - ultimately elaborating on the poster. Along with the book, as the traveller pages to the back they will find postcards. These play to the irony and shock of the campaign, for example, someone visiting the loaction where Ghandi was shot would send the Ghandi postcard to a friend, “I’m standing where Ghandi was shot - wish you were here.” Therefore resulting in a full circle campaign, where this friend may also gain interest and buy the book.
Each poster is designed to communicate whether the assassination was successful or not using colours as well as making use of a visual language developed and inspired by the language of maps.
Based on the Assassination Theory - assassinations are all ultimately up to chance, and should some of the events focused on for this campaign have gone in the other direction, history would be severely altered - sometimes by something as simple as the weather. That realisation and understanding is the ultimate campaign goal.
