“The Cool Tool” is an interactive web app, which investigates the question about what makes a graphic design poster cool.
Users can evaluate a poster based on a questionnaire, which was developed on the basis of five core characteristics of cool graphic design posters.
During the research of this bachelor thesis, five different characteristics of cool graphic design posters were concluded in empirical methods and conversations with graphic design experts. These form the basis of the evaluation process in “The Cool Tool”.
The visual nature of cool plays an important role for its perception. Graphic designers develop visual preferences for different styles of graphic design during their practice, which impacts their perception of cool graphic design. A poster may be perceived as cool in its visual appearance, based on personal taste and preferences.
The first core characteristic of cool graphic design posters is that they look aesthetically pleasing, appeal to personal, visual taste and provoke a fascination or a sense of being impressed.
Historically speaking, coolness was born in a cultural environment, mainly moving in the circles of art, literature and music. This may help explain why cool posters seem to occur more often in the cultural sector. Clients who keep an open mind about the creative direction and allow graphic designers to work freely and with fewer creative constraints, enable for the most unique and visually creative design choices.
The second core characteristic of cool graphic design posters is that they show creative freedom and self-expression, which tends to be encouraged more often in culturally rich environment or a self-initiated project, rather than in corporate or client-driven intentions.
Cool and good form two separate terms. However, coolness on its own is not sufficient to make a cool graphic design poster. in order to produce a poster both cool and good, a graphic design professional is required who deeply understands their craft. Unprofessional visual concepts or the occurrence of unintentional graphic design choices is noticed by graphic design professionals.
The third core characteristic of cool graphic design posters is that they are made by graphic design professionals, who are confident and intentional with their choices, well educated in current graphic design trends and attention to detail.
The levels of autonomy of a person or object have a substantial influence on their perceived coolness. Researchers suggest three levels of autonomy — low, bounded and extreme. While bounded autonomy is perceived as cool by the majority of people in general, extreme autonomy is perceived as cooler by people with countercultural beliefs or, in the context of this thesis, graphic design experts.
The fourth core characteristic of cool graphic design posters is that they use visual elements exhibiting high levels of autonomy and break graphic design rules in an original, surprising and creatively risky way.
A poster can be objectively cool, but may fail to resonate with the observer personally. As a result, if the content of a graphic design poster does not interest an observer, it is assumed that they may not perceive it with the same coolness as someone who relates to the content depicted. For example, a poster for a club event may resonate stronger with a person interested in electronic music, for which it is assumed that it will also be perceived as cooler.
The fifth core characteristic of cool graphic design posters is that their content is relevant to the observer, aligns with the observer's identity and resonates with the observer's personal interests.