For a city with so much new money, Shanghai has some of the lowest design standards in the world. I know burger shacks in Michigan with better typography than most "high end" nightclubs in Shanghai. So in the interest of promoting better design, we just went through the 7,000 party flyers we received in the 2-0-1-4 to showcase who's actually doing solid work here.
We judged thee based on artistic skill, concept (especially whether the flyer concept matches the party/venue), and originality. Taking a stock image鈥攈owever cool it is鈥攆rom the interwebs and slapping some fonts over it is not original. And we can tell.
BECAUSE YOUR FONTS FUCKING SUCK.
Especially the Chinese fonts.
Maybe Shanghai will step up its flyer game in the 2-0-1-5. Or not. Kinda doubt it. But here's some gold-star examples.
1. Hey remember that bar Regional, the one with the 70,000USD soundsystem? That place closed in six months but this flyer lives on. This was an afternoon party where folks just sat on the floor and listened to a really good record on the hi-fi. This flyer matches that vibe and it's pretty creative.
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2. We're fans of cats and space. This is a cat in space. Forgiving the logo party at the bottom because the top image is strong enough.
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3. This was for Marc Ressang's exhibition of fucked-up nightlife photography. The flyer reflects that concept really well. Simple and strong.
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4. Sub-Culture had some of the year's best flyers, all done by Kim Laughton. He 3D models all of these himself using the same color scheme. If you look at one, you immediately know it's a Sub-Culture flyer. This one was for the cross-dressing rapper Mykki Blanco, hence the mic, nail polish, and lipstick.
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5. Really nice halftone, creative typography, good colors, and it's got English and Chinese. Boom.
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6. House music is basically just a Euro bro playing flute in his bedroom with some unicorns, and this flyer expresses that concept clearly with a nice collage effect and some wonderland vibes.
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7. Nice typography application and spray effect on the borders. Strong, simple message and the colors pop. Maybe they should have had some FREE earplugs for that Lone show. OOF鈥�
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8. Clean typography, and nice arrangement of letters on the name. Fonts are stylish too. Too bad this was one of the worst shows of the year. The headliner's soundcard came unplugged, the sound cut out, and dude RAN offstage for a moment. So yeah, flyer really matches the theme of style over substance.
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9. Like Sub-Culture, Antidote's flyers have a really strong and consistent brand identity. B6 has been making these for like ten years. Plus, Shanghai getting attacked by those penis clams from the seafood restaurant. Can't go wrong there. Nice color scheme too.
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10. Semi-realistic with a comic/cyberpunk style. Really pops. Has a Chinese name. Fits the darkwave and industrial music they play. Very dope. Nuff said.
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11. Chill color scheme, good composition, clear fonts. I like the deeper message about the DJ crying at the bottom because of the Storm logo on top.
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13. Ahhhhh yes. Le Nouvelle Vague. Very c'est bon. Old school, halftone design that matches what they're doing - covers of 70s and 80s new-wave songs for Europeans drinking champagne at five-star hotel brunches.
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14. Modern/futuristic 3D vibes. Clear and clean. Decent colors. Honestly we chose this because we had too much "hand-drawn shit" and not enough "computer shit" but it's aight.
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15. Beautiful lady, cool colors, and they actually did a photo shoot for this, and I think red means passion in French. If there's a way to do tacky properly, this is probably it.
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16. Dammit, French people just all up in this shit for the 2-0-1-4. This is like the French children's book you read to your kids if you want them to grow up and smoke crack and play doom metal MP3s in moldy basements for like ten people.
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17. Yep. Just badass illustration skills. Silk screen. Our favorite of the year. Bow down, kids.
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18. If you want to do a commercial flyer with a picture of the artist, here's a decent example. It's still written in some undecipherable language, but it's pretty clean. Though it's odd that a flyer for a Chinese club is all English except the address.
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19. Fresh. Summer vibes. Vinyl..And that 3D effect...It's like her hand is coming out of the water.
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20. Had to get some evil shit in here. Dope illustration with nice light and shadows. Heavy Metal Awards man, see you there...
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21. "Hi, we're a multi-million dollar shoe company trying to tap into the alternative youth culture market in China by doing corporate-underground punk rock shows. Therefore, we can afford a proper designer." All that aside, it's a nice one. Good typography, solid hand-drawn illustration.
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22. We already mentioned Sub-Culture's flyer prowess before, but what's even more impressive is the fact that Kim Laughton did an installation to match the flyer every month. This was the wildest - a full Buddhist shrine in a pitch black nightclub.
Alright, gang. That's the best of 2-0-1-4. If you're looking to throw a party or event but don't know a good illustrator or designer, you may wanna just hire a pro. Our sister site CreativeHunt to find freelancers for that.
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