Are interactive, digital posters set to overtake the printed poster?

We are now living in the age where digital media totally co-exists with reality. The creative industries have to rethink ways of representing objects in present time. One of the emerging ways to do this is with interactive posters. With a format that sticks to the international paper sizes, interactive posters are not so far removed from the traditionally printed poster, but offer a more appropriate means of communication for the LED screen that have popped up everywhere, including the local bus stop. PangPangPang is a Korean graphic design studio utilising interactive posters for the International Typographic Biennale: Typojanchi saisai 2018-19 in Seoul.

PangPangPang consists of the graphic designers, Chaehyn Park, Hwara Jo and Naeun Han. For the highly anticipated Typography Biennale, the studio designed a series of posters for the official festival’s use under the theme “typography and objects”. The studio tells It’s Nice That that “in the process of the creation, usage and consumption of ‘objects’”, a relationship is formed between consumer/user and the product.

Even after the object is consumed or dissipated, there will always be some kind of trace or imparting imprint of the connection between consumer and product. The studio analogises the existence of typography in a similar way. Typography connects with our sight senses and is read, processed and understood; which inherently leaves a mark on ourselves even after we finish reading the letterforms.

The studio’s understanding of the significance of typography in our daily lives is what informs its output. The series of posters draws on our consumption of objects and typography and the two visual components playfully interact to create a memorable campaign of posters for the typography festival. Additionally complying with the theme of this year’s biennial, the interactive posters “consist of redefined objects in three different methods — jumping around, spinning around and opening up.”

PangPangPang’s use of gifs within the interactive posters gives a fresh perspective on everyday objects which in turn, create “unusual artworks with a variety of combinations” that emphasises the lasting impacts of objects and typography on us consumers. The set of three posters treats motion in a variety of ways. The movement of the objects applies different characteristics to the objects that move, and as a result, the graphic designers become more like character animators. For instance, the jumping up and down traffic cone and bubbles create humour and comedy, as opposed to the poster of plastic garden furniture that glitches and deconstructs, evoking sensations of futurism and the metaphysical.

These interactive posters feel distinctively different to the rest of the PangPangPang’s static, printed posters. Although their posters in print showcase the talents of sophisticated and well-informed designers, their interactive posters possess an undeniable edge with the added dimension of movement. Interactive posters will undoubtedly become more visible within our everyday modes of consumerism and PangPangPang are successfully making the transition in an intriguing and creative way.