Created for GBC Art and Design
Adobe Illustrator, Procreate
April 2020
For this project we were required to design and produce a poster for a Toronto-based event that combats a current sustainability challenge. We could use a real life event or plan one ourselves. This assignment focused not only on creating a well-designed poster using gestalt theory, but also the whole process that it takes to get to the final product.
The issue that I chose for my event was queer representation in the media. This is a topic that I had heard of through social media and knew a small amount about, but one that I was interested in learning more about and one that I felt passionately about changing. I researched what it meant for LGBT people to be represented in film and television by asking myself questions, such as: why is this important? Who is working on this issue? And what exactly is queer representation? Through my research I began feeling much more connected to this issue and understood the struggle that queer people face, not seeing themselves truly portrayed in the media around them.
My research led me through different books and articles, and eventually to an event called Inside Out. This event is a queer film festival that has been put on annually in Toronto for the last 30 years. After reading through their website and strategic plan, I thought this festival was doing incredible work for funding, producing, and presenting film that was not only about people from the LGBT community, but was also created by them. I decided to create my poster for their upcoming 2020 film festival, which also happens to be their 30th anniversary celebration.
Before beginning to develop my poster design, I also researched existing posters and brochures that Inside Out had created. I studied the style of their branding and how they used line, shape, and typography to convey what the festival is. I found that the style was minimal, geometric, and bold. I decided to keep with the same kind of design that they were using as I felt it was very effective and I wanted to stay consistent with the festival’s visuals. I also researched posters from Toronto Pride because both events are LGBT and Toronto based and are happening one after another. I wanted to get more inspiration but I also wanted to ensure that the advertisement for Inside Out would stand out.
At this point I started drawing thumbnails. My goal was to incorporate the number 30 for their anniversary and to experiment with the prideful rainbow ribbon that Inside Out had used in their past graphics. I quickly realized that a minimal design like this was not as easy as I had thought. Though I didn’t want to use too many elements, I felt that the options of scale and placement of those elements to be virtually endless. I also had a difficult time wrapping my head around the behaviour of a folding ribbon. How do the lines fit together and at what angle? Which colours would meet each other? I decided to cut a few strips of paper and began to fold them into the shape of a 3, extending certain lines and playing with proportion. This helped me understand how to make these rainbows look believable and realistic. I played around with my thumbnails, moving and rotating text. I thought it would be best to keep the informative aspects of this poster (like the fact that it is advertising a film festival) in text rather than through images. I thought this would keep the poster looking clean and basic while also being easy for a viewer to understand. Once I felt I had experimented enough, I chose my top favourite thumbnails and developed some slightly more refined comp drawings with colour. While doing this, I felt like I was better able to understand the lines and shapes I was using and how every element could be balanced.
I chose my favourite design out of these four drawings. I felt that it looked the most professional (an important factor for such a big event) and that it was the most balanced, readable combination. I moved onto Adobe Illustrator to complete the final poster. I struggled at first with creating rainbow shapes in this program and used some very helpful Youtube videos to figure this out. Even though I had figured out how to create the kind of arcs I needed, I realized that the folds of the ribbons weren’t looking as realistic as I wanted them to. I grabbed my paper strips and closely examined the angles; thankfully I was able to figure this out. I played around with the scale and placement of these ribbons and of the text elements. Now that I had a real logo to work with, some adjustments needed to be made to maintain balance of positive and negative space. After this, I felt I was done.
I’m extremely pleased with the way my event poster turned out. The contrast of the colourful numbers again the simple white background and black text makes the 30 stand out as the focal point. The rainbow flag is an iconic symbol of queer pride and represents a vast a rich history of the community. These colours not only make the poster instantly recognizable as an LGBT event, but also create a lot of visual interest. Next in focus is the title of the event, ‘Inside Out’ because the scale is next biggest and the black colour pops off the white backing. Thie simple sans serif font mirrors the simple lines and curves of the rainbows. The space is mostly flat and 2D, allowing for simple viewing. The rainbow ribbons though, create a slight 3D effect. The ribbon folds in the same way that the number 3 is generally drawn and leads the eye around the poster down to the event title. I chose to have the zero partially off of the poster’s border to balance the overflowing ends of the number 3. I chose to include only flat, smooth texture and minimal range of values to keep in line with the event’s branding and to keep the level of contrast high. I believe this poster would work effectively to catch a passer-by’s eye and advertise the necessary information of this event while effectively applying gestalt’s theory of design.
In this project I learned a lot about the research process, developed my problem solving and design skills, and improved my abilities at Adobe Illustrator. Researching to the extent that I did allowed me to fully comprehend what I was designing and why I was designing it. Throughout this process I encountered many challenges that I was able to work through, and I believe my final poster is an excellent outcome.
