Promotional material, such as posters, programs, videos and t-shirts, are all ways that theatrical performances spread the word about their show. The Louise Arbour Secondary Dramatic Arts Program put on an incredible performance of "10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse" and I was assigned to design promotional material for this occasion.
Final Poster
For the final poster I decided to go with a human head molded with a zombie head to show that they were at war and that they were on opposite sides. The overall feel of the poster is cartoon-ish, but it still gives off a scary sense as zombies are meant to be terrifying. The blood in the background and the angry facial expressions of the human and zombie adds to his effect. The text is simple, but still catches the attention of the audience as it is in block letters.
Final Program Cover
The program cover is the exact same as the poster, except it is in black and white. I did this because it creates consistency and harmony between the different promotional materials. The program cover helps the audience see what is going to be coming up next and they can get excited for their favourite performers to come on stage.
Final Video Wall Animation
The video wall cover would be displayed while the audience waits for the program to start or to passers-by who want to see a new and exciting play. The video wall contains the same information as the poster and program cover, but the layout is slightly different as the video is animated to transition from slide to slide. The blood in the background and the human/zombie head stays consistent throughout the animation as it is the main focus and the texts change from scene to scene.
Final T-Shirt Design
For the t-shirt design, I stayed consistent with the design and kept the background and graphic the same. The texts also stayed the same, but not all of the information displayed in the previous materials are displayed here. Since this is a t-shirt design, I wanted to keep it simple, but still match the rest of the promotional material. That is why on the back it only says "Sears Ontario Drama Festival 2017 and Louise Arbour Secondary Dramatic Arts Program". This shows who has put on the play, but does not overcrowd the design.
Sketches and Brainstorming
To start designing the promotional package I first made a list of all of the main ideas and themes covered in the actual play. Once I had that, I started to brainstorm ideas around zombies, apocalypses, and comedies. These were the three main themes I found when writing out notes for the play, which is why I decided to think about them a bit deeper and associate colours, objects, and images with these words. The next step was to write out any and all of the ideas I had for the poster. I came up with around 6, but ultimately picked my top three and sketched them out to see what they would look like. In the end I picked the very last sketch because it encompassed everything the play was about and the overall theme.
Inspiration
I researched theater posters to inspire me for mine. The ones that inspired me the most were very simple, but portrayed the message very clearly. There were simple shapes in most of the designs and the main focus was always on the graphic in the middle of the poster. I used this as inspiration for my poster as I created the human/zombie face as the centerpiece. The colours in the middle poster on the left was the main inspiration for the colours on my poster because zombies give off a dark and grimy feel and the colours help portray that image.
