Introduction: The design of Iranian movie posters underwent significant transformations in the early 1990s, shifting away from the theme-based and director-centered approaches dominant in the 1980s. This shift marked a move toward a more conceptual and visually engaging approach to cinematic poster design. As one of the most influential filmmakers of this period, Abbas Kiarostami not only revolutionized Iranian cinema but also introduced a distinct style to the design of his film posters. These posters transcend their basic promotional function and serve as semiotic texts that establish a deeper connection between the films and their audiences.
Purposes & Questions: This study investigates the semiotic structure of Abbas Kiarostami’s movie posters produced in the 1990s, employing Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic model to analyze how visual and textual elements—specifically form, composition, typography, and color—construct meaning. The study identifies these semiotic features and examines their effectiveness in fulfilling communicative and promotional functions. Furthermore, it assesses the extent to which these design elements correspond to the thematic essence and content of the films they represent. By addressing the formal characteristics of the posters, their functional operation within an advertising context, and their correspondence to cinematic narratives, this study provides a comprehensive semiotic evaluation of Kiarostami’s promotional visual language.
Methods: This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach within the framework of Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotic model. A library-documentary method was employed for data collection. The research sample consists of four movie posters from Abbas Kiarostami’s films produced in the 1990s, selected based on their visual distinctiveness and semiotic richness. The analysis was conducted using Peirce’s tripartite semiotic framework—Representamen, Object, and Interpretant—to decode the visual and textual signs embedded in the posters. Each poster was examined based on its dominant semiotic features, considering the interplay of iconic, indexical, and symbolic signs within the design. The study also compares the posters designed by Kiarostami himself with those designed by other artists, particularly Morteza Momayez, to highlight stylistic and conceptual differences.
Findings and Results: The findings indicate that visual elements predominate over textual components in Kiarostami’s posters, with typography playing a secondary role. The posters primarily employ iconic, indexical, and symbolic signs, with indexical and symbolic signs playing a crucial role in meaning-making. In all cases, the posters’ visual elements are directly related to the films’ core themes rather than serving as explicit representations of their plots. For instance, in The Wind Will Carry Us, the winding road and the lone motorcyclist symbolize the film’s themes of journey and self-discovery. In Taste of Cherry, the solitary tree represents existential dilemmas and the choice between life and death. In Through the Olive Trees, the positioning of the characters reflects the tension and emotional distance in the film. In Life and Nothing More, the cracked wall serves as an indexical sign of destruction and resilience. The results suggest that Kiarostami’s posters function not merely as promotional materials but as semiotic bridges between the films and their audiences, reinforcing the philosophical and thematic essence of his cinematic works. These insights can help contemporary graphic designers refine their approaches to movie poster design, ensuring that promotional materials are not only effective marketing tools but also meaningful artistic expressions. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of Iranian graphic design history and its evolution in cinematic poster design. They reveal that Kiarostami’s posters exhibit characteristics of the Polish school of design, emphasizing minimalism, painterly aesthetics, and conceptual storytelling. In contrast, the poster for Through the Olive Trees, designed by Morteza Momayez, reflects a more American-style approach, focusing on character depiction and direct audience engagement. The study highlights the unique role of semiotics in Iranian film posters and its impact on audience perception, cinematic branding, and artistic expression. Additionally, the findings emphasize the intersection of visual arts and film studies, suggesting that Kiarostami’s approach challenges traditional advertising paradigms by privileging artistic introspection over superficial commercial appeal. By demonstrating the usefulness of Peirce’s semiotic framework for interpreting non-Western visual narratives, this research connects classical semiotic theory with contemporary Iranian graphic design criticism. Ultimately, this study posits that such posters function as autonomous cultural artifacts that preserve the historical consciousness of 1990s Iranian cinema, thereby offering a framework for future scholarly inquiries into the evolution of cinematic branding and graphic semiotics within the Middle Eastern context.