Cinematic Art

The importance of movie poster design

Author

Jon Haines
March 06, 2025

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This week’s edition:

  • Cinematic Art: The importance of movie poster design

  • Design articles i found interesting

  • Design jobs I found interesting

In what can be considered a lost art, FastCompany released an article about the movie posters from this year’s Academy Awards. It’s worth checking out.

I love movie posters. They convey a feeling from a simple 2D image that is a combination of nostalgia, adventure, and longing. Just tell me how any of the following posters make you want to watch any of these movies either for the first or 100th time.

An interesting story. Back in 1984, the movie Gremlins used their film poster as a means of teasing what exactly a gremlin (or mogwai) was. Viewers had to actually go to the movies to see what the little guys looked like.

Why movie posters still matter

So why do movie posters matter anymore? We live in 2025, where information about cinema, television, and more spreads faster than it ever has. In a world with so much to watch, does entertainment really need these?

The answer, as you may have guessed, based off of the fact that this newsletter is being written, is a resounding yes.

Movie posters, like a good book cover, add a layer to a movie that a Twitter post or Instagram story can never do.

Take this quote from the Fast Company article:

“When a designer utterly nails the brief and creates a poster that rises to a film’s artistic heights, it’s transcendent—and it often yields the singular image we’re left with in our minds long after leaving the theater.”

So why is this? The answer lies in the stillness of the image. Entertainment has sped up over the past few decades. Now, we binge Stranger Things the day it comes out and don’t feel guilty about blasting spoilers on the Internet 24 hours later (I mean, we all had 24 hours to watch the show, right?). I had a conversation about this sort of thing with my wife. I actually appreciate when shows still release one week at a time. It gives me the ability to think about what I’ve seen and understand it before jumping into another episode.

What the movie poster allows us to do is to slowly digest a piece of art at our own pace instead and understand how one two dimensional image can convey what a story is trying to tell us.

Binging Netflix cannot achieve this.

Design Articles for the Week

And the best movie posters of the year are . . .

The Oscars won’t recognize the visual art that brands cinema—but we will!

www.fastcompany.com/91286157/oscars-2025-best-movie-posters

The Human Element: Using Research And Psychology To Elevate Data Storytelling — Smashing Magazine

Effective data storytelling isn’t a black box. By integrating UX research & psychology, you can craft more impactful and persuasive narratives.

www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/02/human-element-using-research-psychology-elevate-data-storytelling

There is legitimately a reason to still use Figma

#38: Prototyping with AI is exciting, but Figma is still breathing.

www.fundament.design/p/there-is-legitimately-a-reason-to

Design Jobs for the Week

Hi, I’m Jon, a UX and Product Designer from Brooklyn, New York. I write the Design Breadcrumbs newsletter to express my own thoughts on the design world, freelancing, and career advancement. Subscribe to get this news delivered to your inbox every week.