What makes a piece cool is rarely how loud it is but how sure of itself it is. Dry humour, hard graphics and subjects that don't explain themselves end up here. Related registers live in street art prints and typography prints.

Rooms That Can Take a Statement

Hallways, home offices, TV rooms and teenage rooms. Rooms where you can have an opinion on the wall without it having to suit everyone. A louder neighbour is in pop art, and a quieter one in black and white prints.

What makes a poster cool?

That it doesn't explain itself. A subject with dry humour, an odd angle or a statement left unqualified lasts longer than something trying to be accessible, since the viewer is left to do part of the work.

Do cool posters work as gifts?

Only if you know the recipient's humour well. The genre rests on a tone of voice rather than on a subject, and what reads as dryly funny to one person can read as flat to another. If you're unsure, choose the graphic over the joke.

How many can hang together?

Two or three is enough. Pieces with attitude compete for the same attention, and a whole wall of statements quickly becomes noise where no single line gets through. Better to let one piece hang alone and do its work.

Which rooms take a clear statement?

Hallways, kitchens, home offices and stairwells, rooms you pass through where a subject can land quickly. In a bedroom attitude rarely works, since you don't want to be addressed right before falling asleep.

Does framing matter for this kind of print?

More than the price of the frame suggests. An unframed poster reads as temporary, while even an inexpensive frame moves the same image from something taped up to something chosen. For a first apartment it's the cheapest upgrade available.

What separates cool posters from street art?

The tone of voice rather than the technique. Cool subjects can be typographic, photographic or illustrated and share only the posture, while street art is a specific tradition rooted in spray paint and the visual language of the street.