FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Design

Musical Posters Combine Graphic Design with Synths and Theremins

And one of Trapped in Suburbia's posters even explodes.

Sound Poster 4.0. Images courtesy of Trapped in Suburbia

In 2013 we covered Trapped in Suburbia's very first Sound Poster— an engaging visual work that responded to human touch and created synth-like abstract sounds. But since Sound Poster 1.0, the Dutch design firm has expanded upon this idea, and created three new Sound Posters and two more related projects. The posters are a response our tech-loving culture, which keeps repeating the steady refrain that that the kindest thing to do with print media may be to close its eyelids and pull the plug. The firm rejects the idea that new technology must be pitted against older forms of communication. "New technology doesn't need to defeat old," says Trapped in Suburbia designer Richard Fussey. "Combining both produces scenarios you would never get if you were to only use one."

Advertisement

Shy Poster

Among these experiments is Sound Poster 4.0, which is similar to the project's first incarnation, but with one big difference: you no longer have to touch the poster to produce sound. Sound Poster 4.0 is played like a theremin, and its sound is controlled by viewers' hand motions in front of the poster.

Shy Poster is true to its name, and unlike its noisy cousins isn't focused on sound. Instead, it reacts to the presence of viewers, closing its shutters before any onlooker can get a good glimpse of it.

Auto Play took the Sound Posters public, and featured a parking garage installation of 25 of them, all responsive to passing pedestrians and vehicles. And Trapped in Suburbia intends to keep the poster experiments coming. Just in time for Valentine's Day, they tell The Creators Project that they're working on a Heavy Petting Poster.  They're pretty mum about the project, though its name is evocative enough. "All I can say is, with gentle touch and repetition comes reward," says Fussey.

Check out Sound Posters 2.0and3.0below.

To learn more about Trapped in Suburbia, click here.

Related:

Interactive Poster Produces Sound When Touched

Flo Rida Has Created His Own Line Of Theremins

Hear the Wind Play This Experimental Sound Art