Ok, it’s really not that hard to grock.

ashtanga, language, art

advertising ashtanga
10

9 February 2008lukeart, bangkok, photography, thailand, yoga

it’s no secret that i find most yoga advertising boring to say the least. yoga ads generally have a photograph of the teacher doing some difficult pose and way more text than most people will bother to read. another problem that i find in thailand is the lack of bilingual advertising, it’s often in english only for some reason. i guess photos of difficult yoga poses might have been exciting twenty years ago when few people had seen them, but by now pretty much everyone has.

i created these two posters to promote our mysore classes within the studio. i tried to use things like design, colors and font-choice to create something that had a calming feeling but was also eye-catching. the background photograph was shot with a pinhole camera along a snowy road in vermont. in the english version, i used soft healing colors like green and blue along with the non-serrif font helvetica. i also made sure to use some pink as it is our corporate color and then added our logo along the bottom. when creating the thai version, i decided to just invert the colors (with some adjustments). they will be displayed side-by-side with no gap between so the color opposites should be rather obvious.

i’d love to hear comments from people on them (they are 10” square). let me know if you get the concept, think it’s lame or just too arty for a mysore program.

click the image to view a larger format version, especially if you want to read the text.

10 Responses to “advertising ashtanga”

Pueng 9 February 2008 at 19:16

สวัสดีค่ะ ดีจังดูเป็นเอกลักษณ์ของครูลุคดีค่ะ มาช่วยแก้บางคำนะคะ

ตรง…มีเอกลักษณ์ที่ใช้อาสนะและการเคลื่อนไหวในการนำอ๊อกซิเจนเข้าสู่ร่างกาย

แนะนำว่าใช้ เพื่อการนำออกซิเจนเข้าสู่ร่างกาย ดีกว่านะคะ(ปกติเขียนOxygen ทับศัพท์ว่าออกซิเจน ถ้าทำเป็นโฆษณา น่าจะเขียนคำให้ถูกต้องดีกว่านะคะ ถ้าภาษาพูดก็คงไม่เป็นไร)

“ครูจะให้การดูแลให้นักเรียนปฎิบัติท่าอาสนะได้อย่างถูกต้อง” น่าจะเป็น “ครูจะดูแลให้นักเรียนปฏิบัติท่าอาสนะได้อย่างถูกต้อง” (จะได้ไม่ดูเป็น passive voice มากไป)

ตรง 20 ก็เติมลักษณะนามว่า “ปี”ด้วยเดี๋ยวคนอ่านไม่รู้ว่า 20 อะไร ^^

ตรงเวลาก้อ 7.00-10.00 น.
8.30-10.00 น.
9.00-12.00 น.

ส่วนอื่นถือว่าเขียนได้ดีมากเลยค่ะ
pink 11 February 2008 at 3:22

interestingly different. totoally love english version. Blue makes the world goes around. However, red Luke seems like a little devil O.T
Johanna 11 February 2008 at 8:54

Hi Luke! I like the layout but agree with Pink that “red Luke” is a little too devilish, especially since you’re levitating in the frame! Ditto that I like blue Luke. The background photography is cool in that to me it implies the independence and solitude of a mysore practice - but I would be concerned that for a beginner without knowledge of mysore, it would just look bleak. Moreover, if this is targeted at Thais who do not encounter snowy landscapes in their everyday lives (or maybe ever), how does they perceive it? Is snow something from a fascinating romantic other-world or does it represent frightening frigid desolation? I personally have no idea - but it would be good to know!

In the copy, where you descrbe mysore, I would suggest including that the asanas are in a set series to be memorized, and that each practitioner practices and progresses independently at their own pace without the instructor’s voice to lead them, which allows for greater inner focus and introspection. Maybe refer them to a website for more information on the philosophy of the practice.

Overall, these are supercool, and I hope my comments help! Hope you are well! xo
Craig 11 February 2008 at 11:19

You have such a hot ass! :)
rick 12 February 2008 at 0:29

Very nice pictures, and eye-catching design, but the message I get is that ashtanga mysore is similar to sitting meditation or gentle yoga.

To convey the vigourous and dynamic nature of the practice, maybe you could use some of your own amazing pictures in various asanas. And perhaps change the background picture to your mysore shala, empty or filled with practitioners.
kev 12 February 2008 at 23:28

some eye-catching designs yes!

i once browsed through your vast collection of photos, came across the few of you in some impressive poses.. great lighting showing your luminous skin tones against the dark brownish backdrop, and you inverted or in various advance poses looking strong yet perfectly calm and at ease — that would appeal to me. then simply drop the txt in somewhere.

but that’s just me.
Mom 13 February 2008 at 1:23

Such intersting comments. What interests my 60 something friends about ashtanga is that it is unbelievably strengthening, yet meditative at the same time. Also, finally, after taking classes for so many years here is a practice you can learn and do on your own. But doing it with a teacher is the best of both worlds.Ashtanga promotes breath, strength, inward looking and joy. Now, thats quite a recipe for happiness. Do you need me to come over there to Thailand and use a microphone? Mom
jamie 16 February 2008 at 10:14

at first i thought it was a rave poster… and then i thought, ‘but luke, you’re levitating…’(could make that level 5 class- levitating?)
and then i just looked at it and thought about how nice the colours were… it made me want to stop and look.
and i know that making another standard mysore class flyer with the teacher doing some ‘amazing’ pose was just what you didn’t want to do.
who knows what people will think but it’s an eye catching and original piece of work. and i think you should write that piece you mentioned, although good luck…remember that indian pranayama teacher that came to absolute and gave a demo class? and then at the end someone said, ‘but, yeah, can you do handstands…’ ha ha. too much,eh?
Little Brother 19 February 2008 at 4:59

I think making yourself look like the devil fits quite well. Goes along good with your name from San Fransisco lucrisious McEvil
นักเรียน 11 March 2008 at 21:04

ไม่ได้เจอกันตั้งนาน หวังว่าคงสบายดีนะ คิดถึงใียซอร์ตอนเช้าๆจัง ไมไ่ด้ไปเล่นซะนานมากเลย