By: Kianna Baird

The objective of this project was to create a gig poster that communicated a feeling and genre of music without using words to actually convey the specific genre. When I started sketching, I quickly realized that all of my ideas were focused on people, specifically from the 70's. I knew I wanted to create a concept that was interesting and creative. 

My concept was to use bright colors and specific elements from the 70's to help communicate my desired genre.

To begin this poster, I sketched out any idea that came to my head, whether it was a completely new idea or based off of the previous idea. Putting my thoughts on paper really helped me narrow down my concept and determine the feelings I wanted my poster to convey. 

After sketching my ideas, I chose the best one and continued to create sketches that were more exact. I took my drawings to Adobe Illustrator and began creating. I loved the idea and was excited about where I was going; however, I was having a difficult time incorporating the gig information. I wanted the band name to be a part of the design, not just randomly placed after the graphics were finished. 

I went back to my sketch book and went a very different direction. Having the band name in a specific element was something that I wanted to incorporate in my poster. I wanted to keep the concept of having a person and still use bright colors. I decided to change the genre a bit and add big glasses that could hold the gig information. I was feeling much better about this design and felt that this was a better direction for my end goal. 

I received feedback from other designers about my previous poster. Much of the feedback came down to the hair and nose. I knew I wanted my poster to have a more "cartoon" feel, so I didn't want to go into great detail with the hair and nose. I sketched out some ideas but didn't like how they were looking when I designed them in Adobe Illustrator. I opted for a more simple design for the hair, nose, and lips which helped my design look a lot more clean. I added some background elements to bring a hippie-like mood to my poster. 

My final draft came out better than I had hoped. All of the elements, including the flowers, glasses, and bright colors, came together to capture the 1970's hippie vibe in which I was aiming. The process in getting to this final draft took longer than expected; however, I am glad for all the different directions I took in order to create this end product.