I The Before Times

The flashing pixels on a screen telling a story and pulling you in, keeping you in your room for an entire day. Or the layered notes and instruments creating a feeling of euphoria within you — a simple discovery that shaped our minds. What if it was all gone?

For this project, presented by Dawid Jecek, a junior film director, we explored a visualisation of escapism and human emotion, drawing from music and film. The story follows a young woman, Daisy, who introduces her friend to music and VHS tapes for the first time in his life, in a post-apocalyptic world where these things are unknown.

The poster style is inspired by the Polish School of Posters during the Cold War, which challenged Western design codes and values. This groundbreaking movement encouraged viewers to “read” the poetic storytelling beneath the surface of the image. These artists were among the first to combine hand-drawn imagery and typography into a cohesive visual language.

The hand-painted illustration conveys a sense of hope through the cassette. In a cold room, with sickly green light spilling in from outside, the VHS tape becomes a symbol of hope for future generations — a promise that they may one day experience the euphoria we all naturally know.