Posters & film titles for the debut feature film «People We Know Are Confused» by Lithuanian director Tomas Smulkis.
«Set in Vilnius, a modern city still in search for its relation to the past, three parallel stories with three average people marooned in a state of change, looking to the future with hope, but not letting go of constricting and reassuring fears of their past.»
The posters reflect upon the city’s identity and the human stories in it, very much like the film does. The process of designing this poster was rather conversational and in close contact with the film director. Through these conversations, it became evident that there was a strong choice by the director in his conceptual wish to have the camera so intentionally close to the actors’ skin, leading to my central idea behind the poster. The rather simple composition behaves as a sneak-peak through 9 human-windows and the three parallel stories behind, in close proximity with the characters’ turbulent state of mind. The nude, eau-de-nil and taupe tones that are also used in the credits, were all extracted from actual film stills and make a direct reference to Tomas’ and Sigita Simkunaite’s carefully crafted colour palette. The main title was set in an expressive and beautifully designed typeface that I’ve become a big fan of and already used in a couple of projects: Eksell Display, published by the foundry Letters of Sweden, originally designed by Olle Eksell in 1962.