Newport Fine Arts Program Website

Newport Schools Brochure Rationale

When Kay and I first began our brochure design, we were hoping to achieve a fresh, exciting and new image for the Newport Public School Fine arts Program. We noticed that many brochures, websites, etc were extremely boring and cheesy when they attempted to promote their school's programs, and used out dated pictures to demonstrate the programs, which doesn't look aesthetically pleasing. We wanted to use fun colors, bright pictures and a fun yet informative font to create a brochure that people would find noticeable and pick up and read.

Some decisions we made were how to split up the project, and what colors we used. We wanted to use typical primary colors to demonstrate "art" and school, so we picked a purple because it was not a primary color but it sends a powerful message because it's a bold color. Other decisions we made were which fonts to use that were fun and childish to demonstrate the k-12 school, and the amount of type vs. graphic to use were very important. Because this brochure represents a school, we wanted to have lots of pictures of students and artworks; however, we needed to sell the school through writing out accomplishments, school names, contact information, etc. Balancing the two and using the right amount of white space was important to us.

In this project, I found importing or placing pictures challenging. I wanted to add our logo to the front of the brochure and also wanted to add multiple pictures on one of the panels; however, I could not figure out how to size the the picture the right way where the gradient was not harmed. I realized that it was simply scaling the picture the correct way that would fix the problem, and cropping out the logo created in photoshop that did the trick.

Some problems I encountered were, like I said before, figuring out how to place pictures into the brochure, along with figuring out the correct typography and placement of graphics and words so I didn't have too much white space. To solve the white space issue, Kay and I used other, smaller paint splatters to fill up extra space and add some extra color. We had a lot of purple background, and we felt like the brochure needed some brighter colors, so we used different colored paint splatters.

I am most proud of the logo and how it was incorporated into the rest of the brochure. Kay and I worked extremely hard on incorporating the ballerina, music, paintbrush and theatre faces into the logo and brochure, and the black silhouettes of each graphic made it look great on the cover. We used those same silhouettes to be a graphic beside each of the arts inside the brochure, so the graphics inside tied the brochure to the logo on the front. It feels more fluid that way, and I like how it all blends together.

If I had more time, I would have figured out if any other purples would be a good background color, or if I could add some more graphics to it. I think it looks great, but perhaps experimenting would allow me to find an even better fit for my background.

Concert Poster Design Rationale

I created this design for a Public Relations plan I am creating which focuses on increasing awareness of fine arts in public schools. This project's vision was created to promote an "honors recital" event for the Rogers High School in Newport, and throughout completion of this design, I had hoped to create a poster that was sleek and professional because it is promoting a recital of the most talented High School music members in the district, but also demonstrate that it is a music recital and give all the information in a visual, organized and aesthetically pleasing manner.

SOme decisions I made centered on color schemes and the placement of the typography. I understood that Rogers High School colors are burgundy and gold, but I wanted to create a poster that stood out; not only because it is a special event, but because it breaks away from all posters of the past that focus on school colors and cheesy pictures. I decided to go with the dark blue because it makes the type stand out, it is a somewhat formal and professional color which demonstrates that it is an event that is worth paying admission to get into, and because the dark blue connotes that it is an event taking place at night.

WHat I found challenging was importing each image into the design, and all of the detailed steps that were necessary to include. My pictures were especially difficult because, unlike an artist you can simply eliminate the background and import them in, I needed instruments htat I could eliminate all color and only use their outline in my design. That involved much photoshop work, importing and re-aligning my type multiple times, but it proved useful in the end.

Some things I definitely found challenging were trying to photoshop the images enough that they lost all of their color and were completely transparent, but also that their outline was clearly visible. I attempted to draw with the pen tool a cello and trumpet, but the anchors would not allow me to draw an instrument I thought would fit well into the design. After much googling and searching on flickr, followed by much trial and error with the background eraser tool in Photoshop, I believe I created a background I am proud of. I was also nervous about the paint splatter. I love the design, but placement of such a design was somewhat hard. I decided to place it in the middle of the page and the trumpet on the bottom instead of vice versa, which was my original idea, because the "z" idea of an eye looking at a poster made me think that the trumpet was more important and relevant. ANother huge challenge I encountered was how to post the concert poster onto the blog, which I obviously failed because the poster is not up yet.

I solved these problems simply by trial and error, and taking breaks to look back at my progress and make changes. It was easy to see what I wanted to change or what I liked/didnt like after taking a step back and critiquing myself.

I am most proud of the cello image inside the design, because it took me forever. I really wanted to create a design that was professional and portrayed music without writing that it was a music recital, and I think i did that well. If I could do some things differently, I would have worked on placement/outline of the trumpet to make it more transparent, like the cello. I also would have looked into dance during the recital as well.