This collection looks at 30 comedy movie posters and examines some patterns that have emerged in their design. Comedy movies make up a huge part of the movie poster printing design genre. What’s interesting is that trends in the industry specific to comedy posters can be spotted and haven’t changed much over the last decade.

Focus on People

With few exceptions, comedy movie posters focus on people, or characters as in the case of Shrek. The Airplane! movie poster is the only one in this collection that doesn’t feature a character of some sort. Since most comedies are built around an actor or actors, this is no surprise. Still, the theme certainly jumps out in a collection like this!

Typography

Another theme that jumped out to me is the focus on typography. As you review this collection, notice how much focus is put on custom fonts and layout of the typography. In some cases, the fonts are buried into the design, such as 27 Dresses, The Assistants, or A Thousand Words. More often than not, the title of the movie is clearly set off in a high contrast, strong font face.

Selling the Story

Finally, notice how each poster teases you with a piece of the story. Can you tell, without having watched one of these films, what the general premise will be about? Will it be a funny love story, an action movie, or a parody? In some cases, the story is told with a sub-title. Knocked Up and Easy A are two prime examples. Still others rely on telling the story with the graphics.

What other patterns emerge? Are there any more subtle themes that you can identify?

A special thanks to IMDB for making all these poster images available!