Poster Project

Name: Carly Shatzkin

Project: Poster

Date: February 23, 2009

Event and Issue: My event is called “Love, Lost, and What I Wore.”  It consists of a series of readings adapted from Ilene Beckerman’s book and performed by actresses young and old, like America Ferrerra and Blythe Danner. The proceeds go to the philanthropy, Dress for Success, which donates professional attire to underprivileged women and offers them a network of support and career development tools as well.  I chose this particular event because I love performance theater and think that the event itself is incredibly empowering and inspiring.

Visual Message: My visual message is one of femininity, strength, and creativity.  I wanted to use graphics that, when combined, form one greater image t

o represent unity and a common cause.

Audience: This poster is oriented toward women of all ages who support the dreams and aspirations of other women.  They would want to donate to this cause because they recognize the potential success and influence of the female population in the professional world.        

Design Strategy:  My design is very conceptual, but I am hoping that it is apparent to those who view it.  The silhouettes of the women combine to form a zipper, symbolizing cooperation and unification.  The colors I used were black, pink, and purple.  Black because it provides stark contrast for the other colors, and pink and purple because they carry traditionally feminine associations. The text I used was meant to mimic the shape and rounded lines of the silhouettes.  I think that it was rather complimentary and not too gimmicky (the opposite of what I was going for).  The other font I used had a lot of variation in line width and a slightly artistic serif.  Also, the counters are quite round, which I think go well with the contour of the graphics and the font used in my title.  Overall, I am pleased with the visual path my poster encompasses, the hierarchy of information presented, and the layout as a whole. 

Style Sheet

DISPLAY TYPE: JustOldFashioned,12.5/15,  metrics kerning, tracking +7

EVENT TITLE: Gilongo, 69.5/83.4, metrics kerning

EVENT DATE: Gilongo, 27/32.4, metrics kerning

SPEAKERS’ NAMES: JustOldFashioned, 12/14.4, metrics kerning

Extras:  I used pink and purple because they are categorized as feminine colors.  Usually, I would try not to be as cliché, but I think that this event merits their usage, for it is meant to be an empowering performance that celebrates womanhood.  At the same time, this is why I didn’t make the background pink too.  That would have been overkill in my opinion. 

Katie McInerney-poster

The event is an annual fundraiser for the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club. The Club is a non-profit organization that provides an outlet for local children after school, on weekends, and over the summer. Programs they offer include sports, arts and crafts, computer instruction, cooking, homework help, field trips, and a games room, among other opportunities. The club charges only $25 a year for membership fees per child, and because of this they depend on fundraising and donations to run their numerous programs. The Clambake is one of their three largest fundraisers; the other two are a huge benefit concert with a relatively well-known artist and a Pro-Am celebrity golf tournament at one of the beautiful courses on Nantucket. This event is unique because it caters to both locals and tourists because of its content (the other two events cater more to the summer visitors to the island). It features local seafood cooked by locals and local volunteers staff the event. Many people who attend send their children to the club regularly.
Through this poster, I am trying to attract locals to the event by channeling the connection between the local seafood and the fact that their children have also grown up on Nantucket. Although the tickets are pricey, I hope to call upon the emotional aspect of the argument and show people that they should spend the money because of all the Club gives to their children on a regular basis.
My target audience is families that have children that attend the club. However, the event can serve summer visitors as well, so in addition to being displayed on bulletin boards at places like schools and downtown, it could run in the local newspaper.
By using two similarly-shaped graphics, along with the tagline “Locally grown…just like yours” I wanted to show the likeness between the two concepts: eating locally grown and harvested food and raising your children on the island. Initially the eye is drawn to the red lobster, which leads the eye across the page to the child, because of the color of the lobster and the placement of the graphics on the page. “Locally grown” and “just like yours” are set in such a large point that they are too conspicuous to be looked over. Also, the serif typeface is very similar to the one used in the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club logo, so that will help a viewer realize this is a Club fundraiser. I chose a completely different sans serif typeface for the body text to differentiate and show that the lower information was specific information. I chose this specific typeface, Clearface, because the large counters and tall x-heights have a clean, classic look, which is a reflection of the image of a Nantucket lifestyle. The hierarchy was difficult to do, because I did not want to have just a bunch of lines with boring, centered text. However, this is an annual event, and because it is tradition the body text does not need to be overly eye-catching; most people already know the details. The typefaces are so different that the contrast works, and implementing two was able to help me convey a very complex message through fewer words. Finally the logo on the bottom, which was necessary, is apparent yet not completely overbearing. I was nervous of that because of the color combination; I feared it would be too obvious and draw attention, so I decided to make it much smaller and put it off to the side on the right. Overall, the poster has a consistency with other advertisements put out for the Club but also updates itself with the catchy tagline and graphics.
I wanted to keep my use of color simple to further emphasize the classic, quaint atmosphere of Nantucket and the youthfulness of the Club. I chose a sand background with a yellowish-brown color underneath it to subdue the busyness of the texture. The color for the lobster was natural—red—and per Prof. Hedges recommendations, I made the outline of the lobster a darker shade of the same red to let it blend with the entire poster more. The font color, I knew, wouldn’t be anything other than black or white because of my audience. I went with black because it looked better on the brownish background. I didn’t choose white because the absence of color looks too awkward in this instance. I was, again, concerned with the logo, and I realize that because they are the only different colors that they draw attention. I tried to subdue them with the size, since I couldn’t edit the colors to fit my color scheme.