Tag Archives: print layout

Mother Goose

The first is for the Pantomime next year – Mother Goose.  The idea of a goose looking around an egg came from the director.  All I had to do was take the idea and run with it.  The design was sketched out and then created on the computer using Adobe Illustrator.  Using vector graphics means that the image can be enlarged to any size without degrading the image.  Initially I tried it as an all white poster but on the directors advice we went to green – a much more festive colour.  There are quite a few tweaks I can do to enhance it for the final poster design, but for the flyer (only 10cm square per event) it’s fine as is.

As with most of my posters, the final poster is produced using adobe indesign which is simply the best tool for combining images, artwork and text together and prepare the poster for final print.

Communicating Doors

The other show needing a poster was communicating doors by Alan Ayckbourn.   Looking around the web for inspirations there were quite a few rather standard posters until I saw a great poster by Cygnet Theatre Company of a futuristic dominatrix in front of a green glowing doorway.   Unfortunately I couldn’t do something along this line because the show hadn’t been cast and the director didn’t want to disappoint the audience in case the actor who gets to play the part didn’t match the poster.  With the director’s idea to have a hand opening a door, I looked through stock images from the istock website and came up with two images – a door and a hands in handcuffs picture possibly reaching for a door handle and hey presto – with a bit of photoshop magic a poster was born.  The simple colour scheme was arranged around to complement black of the handcuffs.

Simple Poster Design Tip – Use Faces If Possible

As with any theatrical poster design, it’s best if you can excite the onlooker with images involving action or emotion.  For other shows which may not lend themselves to this style of poster, then the poster needs to be quirky – something that intrigues people to take a second look and come closer to read the small print.  One of the best images for any poster is to have photos of real people with interesting faces.  This gets an immediate response from the viewer and pulls them into the poster.

However, for most posters that I have done for Hayling Islands Station Theatre, faces have not been allowed unless the show has been cast. This has good sides – I get to do all the artwork from scratch (which can be fun) – and bad sides – sometimes I think the posters lack the impact that they could have had with good quality photos.

…and so, the flyer is almost ready to go to print – I’ll let you see it when it’s checked!