Portfolio Review: James Taylor Re-Imagined Every World Cup Poster From 1930 to 2014

In his project "World Cup Posters: 1930-2014," designer James Taylor recreated all of the famous posters from the international sports event.

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Complex Original

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British graphic designer James Taylor has created the perfect project to celebrate the upcoming 2014 World Cup. For "World Cup Posters: 1930-2014," Taylor designed each poster from the last 84 years as if he were asked to create them for the actual games.

"I wanted to evoke the place, period, and 'feel' of each tournament through graphics, without making any specific reference to the competition itself," he wrote via email. "While this project involved a lot of research, most of the design references I am able to summon are quite internal, the result of having spent years paying excessively close attention to historical posters, magazine ads, and even record covers from around the world."

By looking back at past graphic design traditions, Taylor was able to conjure up each poster as if they were made in the era they represent. One of his motivations for this project was what he sees as a failure in design in some of the more contemporary posters. "While some are quite iconic, and taken as a whole they represent an interesting slice of graphic design history over the last 84 years, the posters for the most recent tournaments have been increasingly corporate, failing to inspire either fans of design or soccer," he wrote.

Taylor is based in New York and is the man behind the design firm Pennarello. His work has been featured in newspapers, magazines, and websites in over 30 countries. Check out our Portfolio Review: James Taylor Re-Imagined Every World Cup Poster From 1930 to 2014.

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Uruguay, 1930

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Italy, 1934

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France, 1938

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Brazil, 1950

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Switzerland, 1954

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Sweden, 1958

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Chile, 1962

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England, 1966

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Mexico, 1970

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West Germany, 1974

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Argentina, 1978

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Spain, 1982

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Mexico, 1986

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Italy, 1990

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USA, 1994

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France, 1998

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Korea/Japan, 2002

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Germany, 2006

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South Africa, 2010

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Brazil, 2014

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