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.