Wes Wilson is known to be the father of psychedelic poster design and claims that he was the first artist to create a psychedelic poster. His style paired bright clashing colours, billowing shapes, and swirling or melting type, which could be difficult to read. He designed concert posters for bands such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Van Morrison, and The Byrds.

 His posters were intended to be viewed by those under the influence of psychedelics. The disorienting posters were easily read by anyone tripping on LSD. Wilson sacrificed the legibility of the type on his posters for the visual aesthetic. To counter this, he would repeat the main information on the borders of the poster to help the viewer see the information.

Wilson has a clear influence of art nouveau poster design style which is why I used him as inspiration for my 60s Album Cover assignment. My favorite styles from the 1960s are ones similar to Wilson’s.