When I was taking graphic design history we looked at all these posters.  I would have to say that the way the layout is in a grid pattern.  With the people in the middle of the poster really set off the letters and the people makes it followable.  From the hand of the lady with the fan it flows in a c shape to her foot which makes for an easy line to follow.  The place is important so it is in a bold  and big so it can be seen.

Vintage Poster

I was looking for something that was vintage for a fresh look instead of the normal day to day things you see all the time.  What really stood out in my mind was the way the women is standing is like a wine glass.  It is well contained in the middle of the poster.  The award that they got is in the upper right hand corner makes a nice shadow in the background that goes with the womens shadow. 

Rainbow

 

I find this to be interesting because of the radial that they use.  The over lapping in the middle helps moves the eyes around the circle and the circle under the color pencils contants the over lapping.  I would of never really thought of to take an image of color pencils and what looks like them sitting in a cup to get an interesting compititon.

Purple

 

I found this one just surfing around on the web.  I find it to be true because if you just have a set of information on a page in one big huge paragraph, then it will be boring.  It is up to the graphic designer to make that information easier to read and less boring.  Like this picture that i found with using different shades of purple and the staggering of the words makes it more interesting then just one straight line that is black and white.

Mask

 

I think that this compostition really works cause of the grouping that is going on.  I like how the word masking is a different color and sticks out cause i think it goes along with the temple dog mask.  With the background being dark and the words and the mask being so bright you can tell what is important.  I really also like the saying.  You really are masking your ideas by all the work that goes behind it to make it unify and balance.

gum pack

 

 

This ad really works cause what needs to be important is in bold and everything else is more toned down.  With the minimal wording it doesnt get confused with unwanted saying.  The message in this ad is loud and clear.  It is also nice to see some of the things you would normally see in a pocket, and compare the size to the pack of gum.  But i dont think you can really fit all that stuff in a jean pocket. So there is some stretch of reality in this ad.

hair dye

 

In this ad from a magazine i was really drawn to the split of the pictures with the type in the middle.  It is a bold lettering to use since you dont see it on a day to day bases.  The missing lines in the a's almost gives it a since that it is washed away.  The placement of the hair dye rod is also a good because it is pointing at the sentence that goes along with the object. 

Mayhem

 

 

I really like this magazine cover because it is well structured.  The placement on of the bands names with the name of the magazine make a nice frame for the skeleton.  It is also a nice placement of the hand in the front bigger then the skull in the background.  The y in Mayhem is a nice split on the cover, to make a nice flow to the middle of the page.