Festival posters as visual communication tools: A semiotic analysis of the international Gaziantep Gastronomy Festival 2019 posters

A poster is a temporary promotion of an idea, product or event in the public domain for mass consumption. In the modern sense, the poster emerged in the 19th century with the use of lithography in posters and the development of a competitive economy. Posters can be designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters are also used for reproductions of works of art, especially famous works, and are generally of low cost compared to the original work of art. In this study, the remarkable feature of the poster, which is one of its functions, was examined. The posters of Gaziantep's "International Gaziantep Gastronomy Festival", which was accepted to the Creative Cities Network by UNESCO as a research sample, were examined in terms of their attention-grabbing functions by using Semiotic Analysis method. Semiotic analysis is a method used to analyze the messages behind the works. The research consists of four parts. In the first part, basic information about graphic design and posters, in the second part, the research method and semiotic analysis technique, in the third part, the semiotic analysis of the posters was made and as a result of the findings obtained, the fourth part of the research was formed. Key Words: Poster, Visual Communication, Semiotics, Gaziantep