Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Some of the posters on display in Dublin Central. The Journal
Pole Position
Who’s winning the poster war in Dublin Central's by-election? We asked a graphic design expert
Graphic design expert Paul McBride says most election posters are “conservative and repetitive”, but a few Dublin Central candidates are breaking the mould.
ELECTION POSTERS ARE already appearing across vast swathes of north Dublin as the Dublin Central by-election campaign gets underway.
But which of the posters has the best design?
The by-election will take place on 22 May, alongside Galway West, after the writs were moved in the Dáil this week. The contests will return two new TDs before the summer recess.
According to one design expert, most of the posters for the wannabe TDs follow a painfully familiar formula.
Paul McBride, co-director of Dublin-based Detail design studio, told The Journal that Irish election posters are typically “conservative in design and layout”, relying on a standard mix of candidate portrait, name, party branding and a call to vote.
We caught up with McBride, who previously assessed last year’s presidential election posters for us, to hear his thoughts on the by-election posters.
“It’s really refreshing to see one party break from tradition and play with the form,” he said, adding that most campaigns tend to rely on repetition “in a tight space where clarity is key”.
McBride was given early campaign posters from several candidates to assess, and his verdicts range from “fresh and contemporary” to “standard fare”.
Greens lead the pack
Janet Horner’s Green Party poster scored 9/10, the highest among the bunch.
McBride praised its “bold, colourful design framework” and “vibrant variable palette”, saying it gives “a sense of movement, progress and energy”.
“Congrats to the Green Party… this feels contemporary, fresh and very different to all the competitor set, clearly signalling a new positioning for them,” McBride said.
A minor criticism was that the party logo is “probably too recessive”, potentially affecting visibility at a distance.
Left-leaning parties at mid-table
Daniel Ennis’s Social Democrats design scored 8/10, with McBride noting its use of angled panels that create “upward momentum” and a sense of progress.
“Overall the graphic framework works really well, integrating the candidate portrait within a clear hierarchy of information: branding, call to action, candidate’s name,” McBride explained.
Ruth O’Dea’s Labour poster received 6/10, described as “simple and well-balanced, but slightly overcomplicated due to multiple shapes and framing elements.
“The layout could have been streamlined to work harder, there’s possibly too many shapes – boxes within boxes with the border, an inset white panel, and a circle and wedge shaped logo making the layout feel unnecessarily cluttered.”
At the time of our chat with McBride, we’d only seen Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin of the PBP’s older poster and it was rated 5/10, with the designer saying it works “as a counter-balance” to more crowded designs and benefits from its “stripped back” approach.
However, he added that mixed alignment styles make the layout feel “a little clumsy”. Ó Ceannabháin’s newer poster with the celtic font is seen above on the right.
Mainstream parties seen as ‘standard fare’
Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam received 4/10 for his poster, with McBride praising the typographic ambition but criticising the execution.
McBride joked that the yellow sky behind McAdam could suggest “either brand colours or the apocalypse”.
Fianna Fáil’s John Stephens scored 3/10, with McBride describing the poster as “standard fare with the smiling suit backed by the blue skies of better times to come”.
“The hierarchy of information works well, but it’s the same old, same old”.
Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan fared no better, also scoring a 3/10.
McBride said Sinn Féin’s design communicates clearly, but does not “do anything different to cut through the noise”.
Finally, Aontú’s Ian Noel Smyth also scored 3/10, with McBride noting that party branding competes with the candidate name, making hierarchy less effective.
‘Same language, different faces’
Across the board, McBride said Irish election posters continue to rely on a consistent visual formula.
“In fairness, it’s a result of having to communicate in quite a tight space where clarity is key, especially as viewed from a height but they rely on repetition to communicate,” McBride said.
Posters have yet to appear for independents Malachy Steenson and Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, though Hutch has previously attracted attention for campaign merchandise.
have your say