65. MODERN DOG
“A splinter is so small, yet it’s all you can focus on,” says designer Vittorio Costarella. “It takes over everything on your mind.” The Crocodile Café has that same sort of hypnotic pull about it.

Pete Greenberg of the Crocodile is the ideal client, as far as Modern Dog is concerned. He gives them complete creative freedom in designing his posters. So Costarella sat and drew a guy pulling out a splinter. “It made sense somehow,” he says. “Hurts so good.” Citing what he calls, “tightwad design,” Costarella says he likes to concept with limited colors. “I’m always trying to be thrifty so I want to get the biggest bang for my buck,” he says.

“My favorite part of this poster is the guy’s face, because his ear and eye and nose all look alike so it looks like he’s really staring at that splinter. He’s kind of messed up and sideways,” Costarella says, adding, “That’s my personality.”

Deciding on an image was the challenge. “I did four or five comps for it. I hope somebody took one off the wall; that would make me feel good,” Costarella says.
Dana Rouse