In 2010, SmartShanghai posted 2,410 fantastic events in our listings database, the vast majority of them with pretty, pretty pictures to go along with the basic event information.

Of course, the direct purpose of events flyers is promotion, but along the basic function of getting ass in the door, we feel there is still room for originality and artistic expression with these things, and so at the end of every year, the SmSh graphic designer and myself sift through the lot and pick out the ones we liked best.

Yeah, there’s no professional judging panel for these, and no scientific system for rating them. And no cash prizes. No prizes of any kind. Basically, we were looking for aesthetically proficient design (him more than me) and / or amusingly clever concepts -- good jokes, really (me more than him). At the end of the day, it’s a subjective thing, so if you take umbrage with the list below, feel free to bitch and moan in the comments section.

Congratulations to whoever you are, whoever designed these. Very nice. Thanks.

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The Sub-Culture kids -- they do a dubstep monthly at The Shelter -- are the prime example of what we mean when we say, “still room for artistic expression.” For the year, they were throwing it out to local, Asian, and internationally-based artists and graphic designers to come up with whatever they wanted, and then they were getting Shanghai-based artist Nini Sum to screen print them in poster size, making a short run available to the public. Anyways, they’re really quite nice. You can for realz frame them up and put them on your wall, and it’s like you’ve got a little piece of Shanghai history there or something.

This one in particular was done by a pretty well-known UK-based designer called Zeke Clough. He does all the art work for all the other Skull Disco stuff as well.

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And then what you got right here is the flip-side of that coin, which is the celebration of what we referred to above as “amusingly clever concepts”.

So what we have here is a big cock. And if you look closely -- yeah, just go ahead and press your face right up against the screen there -- you got your “hip hop”… that’s the balls. And you got you “wonky” -- that’s represented by the shaft region right there. Your “trip hop” is sort of north of the shaft proper, just on this side of the bell end. And to round it off, your “glitch” is just the head of the penis.

Yep.

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Here’s your obligatory Antidote flyer inclusion. This is the one we liked most at the office this year. You can always count on something off-the-wall as the central image for these Antidote things, from designer/DJ/producer, B6.

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And here’s the man on the other side of the camera. Even though this one is just a promotional image for a night featuring two DJs, the sort of local (and national, to be sure) celebrity of B6 and Ben Huang themselves makes it an interesting picture. Here you go -- two of this country’s most well-known and respected DJs, hanging out at 3am on what looks like some street in Zhabei district.

"Industrial and Commercial Bank” is a good name for a DJ duo as well.

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And speaking of local celebs, of course we have to include that terrific Peta picture, featuring as it does, music writer, label impresario, and in this instance, social activist, Andy Best, graphic designer Kane, and members of the performing band, Candy Shop. This was for a show raising awareness on issues of animal cruelty in China.

Their main point: don't be cruel to animals.

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This was our favorite poster from the UP (Urban Planning) hip hop/dub step crew in 2010. As opposed to simply playing out their stuff every month, these guys put together larger, thematic contrivances to offer a more conceptually cohesive whole to their performances. Said themes played a role in the visuals, imagery, flyers, costumes, performances, and even their music itself. Their aesthetics tended towards the post apocalyptic and the dystopian, and this one was something to do with religion as tyranny. Or something like that. It’s a pretty arresting image.

Would you drink with this man?

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Acid Pony Club, beating a dead horse.

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This is a flyer from "DIAN", a minimal techno night that pops up from time to time in clubs around town. Like most of the people on this list, this designer, who I assume is DJ/producer Skinny Babou, has a joining aesthetic to his images, which are these seemingly unremarkable European cityscapes.

When you're posting events with flyers of tits all day the unremarkable becomes pretty remarkable.

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This one's promoting the only Shanghai show in 2010 of Beijing-based indie rock band, The Gar. When a Beijing band makes it down to Shanghai, it's usually a pretty big deal, so they usually put some thought into their promotional material. The Gar is on the label Maybe Mars as well, which, as a company, makes some pretty conscious attempts to convey a certain arty weightiness and import to their acts. Nothing wrong with that and besides it all: cool picture, cool band.

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Again: cool picture, cool band.

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Beat Buffet. These are done by local DJ, blogger, promoter, producer (?) Heatwolves for these eclectic live music-mixed-with-DJ nights around town. The hand-drawn flyer thing is something that got carried over from his stint as one half of Baijiu Robot, but with these, he usually draws out a full shitty-but-ironically-so comic. I can dig it.

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And the other half of Baijiu Robot, Mau Mau. So this is an alright gimmick -- a flyer made up of other cut-up flyers.

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And the masters of the gimmick, Bananas. Take away Bananas...

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Another Beijing one. This one was for a January showcase of Maybe Mars bands, including one of their more popular acts, PK14. Think this flyer hit right at the time 3D movies were dazzling the shit out of people in the theatre. So here you go... a 3D flyer. Dance!

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This one is a hand-drawn one from the REHAB night at Dada bar. Kind of an interesting style. Reminds me of comic books from the '70s with the thick black lines and washed-out bold colors. You got a guy wearing a rice hat on the decks there, some people making out and a yeti thing. Sure, why not.

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Yeah, he ripped this cartoon off the internet somewhere but the information placement in the frames is pretty funny. And it's just that simple, my friends.

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The graphic designer liked the concept and design of this one. Yummy Yummy. Bright colors and all the information in someone's stomach. Sort of implying where there night is headed.

To ass.

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And here's some photoshop wizardry. Apparently, photoshop is a bit of a difficult thing to master and it's tough to do these collages without having it turn out looking like someone just piled the shit on there. This flyer has some nice little touches and small details that must have taken a while to do. There's little lizards here and there and hey, what that?

Grace Jones hiding in the bushes, yo.

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Not much to say about this one. It's well executed. It's pleasing to look at. Did I mention I stare at photoshopped tits all day? This kind of thing is a nice change of pace.

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We'll finish this list off with another from the Nini Sum Idle Beats factory, with this one from the Halloween movie marathon. Pretty sure she designed this one herself. Yep, it's indeed neat. Again, it looks like something you want to frame and mount on your wall, thereby basking in your own sense of inner worth and significance. Something like this would impress guests when they came over, I would think.

"Oh this old thing. Yes, I picked it up in Shanghai -- local artist. Can I get you beer or wine?"

That's the shit right there.

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And coming up later this week-ish! WORST flyers of the year!

BRING THE HATE.

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