Communication Design Fundamentals Project 4
Poster Series
Project Introduction
The objective of this project will be to create a series of three marketing materials that visually introduce FYF Fest which is an annual multi-genre music festival that features popular and established musicians. Using various typographic variables, hierarchy, form, and color, I will be able to create a final poster, Facebook event banner, and Instagram Ad for this festival.
Before starting the project, I conducted a short illustrator exercise to better understand how to use the pathfinder and pentool tools in Adobe Illustrator to create various forms.
Illustrator Exercise: Shapes & Illustrations
10/20
This exercise was a great way to practice using the pen tool and pathfinder tool since those are tools that might be useful for the final poster series.
Creating the robot in the pathfinder tool exercise took multiple steps. First off, I made the eyes by placing two circles on top of the square and using the minus front tool. To make the mouth, ears, and feet, I put a rectangle on top of a circle and used the minus front tool to create a semicircle. To create the 2x3 grid of squares on top of the rectangle, I put 6 squares on top of the rectangle and used the minus front tool. To create the hands, I placed a small circle on top of a big circle and used the minus front tool to make a hole. Then I put a square on top of that and used the minus front tool again to create that “c” like shape. After creating all the individual parts of the body, I then used the unite tool to make the whole body into its own shape.
To outline the penguin in the pen tool exercise, I used multiple anchor points to make straight or curved lines.
Research
10/21
Content Development
Since FYF Fest is a real event, I did some research on Google about what artists usually perform at FYF, where the event is usually hosted, and the general price of admission. Then, I did a short write-up of the content that I will include on the poster.
Title: FYF Fest 2021
Headliner musicians: Two Door Cinema Club, Wallows, BROCKHAMPTON
Other musicians: flora cash, girl in red, Omar Apollo, The Black Keys, Miguel, Flume, Clairo, Still Woozy, Anderson .Paak, alt-j
Date, time, location: July 7th, 2021 at 6:00pm PST, Los Angeles Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA.
Ticket Information: $145USD for General Admission. Available for purchase at fyf-fest.com
Short paragraph: Since its debut in 2004, FYF Fest has been a major part of the Los Angeles music scene. This July, we will bringing to you FYF Fest 2021. Our headliners Two Door Cinema Club, Wallows, and BROCKHAMPTON are sure to turn your head. Other than the headliners, the rest of our lineup showcases many different genres of music and will provide you with an experience that you won’t want to miss. We’ll have good food, drinks, and music so bring your friends and come enjoy FYF!
Moodboard
Before diving into the ideation stage, I wanted to construct a moodboard to get some inspiration on what type of feeling I want the audience to have while looking at this poster series. Since FYF Fest is a multi-genre festival, I wanted the colors and illustrations to show an inclusive music scene. Some of the poster examples that I found use a lot of bright colors and freeform illustrations to invoke a festival-y feeling.
1:1 Feedback Session
10/22
During our 1:1 today, I showed Anna and Ji my content write-up and moodboard to get some feedback on my ideas so far. Some of the comments I got were:
- The short paragraph description could include a hook line to get the audience excited about the event
- It is best to stick a new color template instead of using the existing FYF Fest event color palette
- When thinking of a color palette, consider legibility and how to balance those bright colors but still allow the audience to clearly read information
Ideation
10/25
Typeface & Color Palette
After the feedback session, I began thinking about what typefaces and colors I might want to use for the poster series. On Adobe Fonts, I was able to find four sans-serif typefaces (Balboa, Underground, Gibbs, and Termina) that I thought would work well on posters because of their easy readability and legibility. After comparing these typefaces by using the different content I came up with before, I liked the combination of Termina and Gibbs the most.
To choose a color palette, I first tried four combinations of three hues. For all the color combinations, I chose bright colors that would complement each other and represent that bright, strobe light feeling at concerts. Out of all the choices, I liked the third column of colors the most after trying to see how the colors would look with text.
Sketches
After establishing the color palette and typefaces I will be using for the poster series, I began sketching different ways to layout the content and exploring different hierarchies for the poster, Facebook banner, and Instagram ad.
1:1 Feedback Session
10/27
Today I was able to get some feedback on my choice of color palette and typefaces from Ji. Some of the helpful advice she gave me was:
- Experiment more with body typeface options since Gibbs might not be suitable with Termina
- Look at more posters that might have used similar colors that I chose to see how they utilized those colors together
- Gather all the materials I need such as illustrations that I will be using on the poster before starting to digitize my ideas
Digital Iteration 1
10/28
After developing the color palette and typefaces that I want to use as well as sketching out various thumbnails, I started to digitize the different ideas that I came up with. When designing the first digital iteration, I experimented with various places to put the content and placed shapes to represent that I’ll be adding in illustrations in those areas later on. In terms of hierarchy, I wanted the title of the event, FYF Fest, and the musicians that will be playing at FYF to be on the highest level of the hierarchy. After that, the date and location might be the next most important thing for the audience. Then, the short paragraph and admission price.
1:1 Feedback Session
10/29
Today’s feedback session was helpful to get feedback from Anna about which posters have the most potential so that I can continue iterating on those. Out of the six directions, I mentioned that I liked the bottom middle and bottom right posters the most and Anna voiced that she most liked the top left and bottom middle. Some of the feedback she gave about those three posters were:
- Explore the placement of the date, title, and admission price more. The size of the admission price content might need to be increased since the price is a pretty important factor to consider for the audience when deciding whether to attend this event or not
- Start experimenting with color and see how that plays out with these different layouts
Digital Iteration 2
11/2
After getting feedback from Anna, I decided to work more on the main illustrations for the poster and start adding in color. In the top poster concepts, I wanted to explore illustrations that represented Los Angeles by adding in a circle that kind of looks like a sunset and a palm tree. In the bottom poster concepts, I wanted to create illustrations that represented music and how music is very free-flowing. I thought a direct way of representing music was a boombox and I experimented with using color for the illustrations as well as colored backgrounds or colored titles. I also tried using clouds in the posters to represent the free-flowing environment that festivals have.
Email Feedback
11/3
At this point, I was a bit stuck on what direction I should head in for the poster so I emailed Anna to get some feedback on my current iteration. The main pieces of advice that she gave were:
- Could experiment more with the placement of content such as in the right poster, move “FYF FEST” to the top left and then move the bottom content to the top right
- Could use the boombox illustration as the centerpiece and move text towards the sides of the page
- She mentioned that she liked the boombox illustration because it makes it more obvious that FYF FEST is a music festival
Digital Iteration 3
11/4
From the feedback that I received via email from Anna, I began working on the next iteration. For the top posters, I experimented with more free-form shapes to represent the feeling you might have when listening to electronic or hip hop music. For the bottom posters, I experimented with different places to put the content around the boombox so that the boombox serves as the main centerpiece.
In terms of typeface, I decided to pair Balboa with Termina since Termina is a more wide typeface that isn’t as suitable for longer pieces of content while Balboa has a narrow structure that is better for reading. This pairing also worked better than Termina with Gibbs.
Group Feedback Session
11/5
Today’s group feedback session was very helpful to hear a variety of different perspectives from my peers. Some of the overlapping pieces of feedback I received were:
- The left poster represents a “music festival” better — seeing the boombox lets the audience know right away what the event is about
- Could experiment more with the layout of the content at the top (short paragraph, location, and ticket information) by moving it to the bottom of the page
- Overlapping title over the boombox doesn’t work that well, push it back upwards
- Try different color for the “Featured Artists” text and try having it in all caps
- Experiment more with the background of the poster so that the boombox can pop out more
- Could size location and ticket information text up more
Digital Iteration 4
11/9
After receiving very helpful feedback in the last session, I decided to iterate on the poster with the boombox illustration. I experimented with different shades of the blue that’s included in the boombox to bring out the content and illustration more. In terms of the layout, I also tried out different places to put the location, date, and short paragraph content. Out of the different explorations, I think the last one (bottom right of all the posters) has the most potential since there is a good sense of balance. Other than work on the poster, I also experimented with different layouts for the Instagram post and Facebook banner by using the same assets from the poster. My goal for the Instagram and Facebook ads was to create materials that had a consistent visual language as the poster.
1:1 Feedback Session
11/10
Today’s feedback session was very helpful to get advice on which poster, Instagram, and Facebook layout to continue refining. Some of the important pieces of feedback I got were:
- For the last poster out of the poster options, there is a good sense of balance. To iterate on that, some things I can think about are shortening the paragraph, breaking apart the location + date into two lines, and increasing the leading for the list of artists
- For the Instagram poster, I could try moving the location + date to the top right to create a more balanced and unified composition.
- For the Facebook banner, I could try removing the paragraph from the banner and see if that could go in other areas of the template (such as the event description)
Digital Iteration 5
11/11
After receiving feedback from Anna and Ji about how to iterate on the different marketing materials, I went back and worked on improving the layout and different typographic variables. For the poster, I separated the date and location into two lines, increased the leading between each line of artists, and moved the short paragraph under the FYF Fest title. For the Instagram post, I separated the short paragraph into other areas of the template and moved the location/date to the top right corner. For the Facebook banner, I moved the short paragraph content to the event description part of the template and moved the feature artists' content below the FYF Fest title. For all of the materials, I shortened the introduction content since having too much information might decrease readability for the audience.
Miro Board Feedback
11/12
For the last round of feedback, I was able to get some advice on how to better refine the poster and Instagram post. Some of the pieces of feedback I got were:
- For the poster, decrease the width of the short paragraph and artists content so that it looks more aligned with the rest of the content
- For the Instagram ad, move the illustration more towards the center so that there is a better sense of balance
Final Poster, Instagram Post, and Facebook Banner
11/13
For the final poster, the main changes that I made from the previous iteration were to decrease the width of the short paragraph and featured artists' content, center all the elements, and increase the leading between the lines of artists a bit more. For the final Instagram post, the main change that I made from the previous iteration was to center the boombox in the middle of the canvas so that the post looks more balanced. For the final Facebook banner, the main change I made was to center the boombox vertically and increase the leading between each line of artists.
In terms of hierarchy for each material, I wanted to organize the content so that the FYF Fest title, date/location, and artists would be the first thing that the audience would see. Especially for the poster, having these pieces of information be the biggest size of content would help the audience see important information from far away. For the Instagram and Facebook ad, I only wanted to include the most important pieces of information in the visual and have the short paragraph included in other parts of the template so that the visual wouldn’t look too cluttered. Lastly, by using the same assets and typography across the different materials, the poster, Instagram post, and Facebook banner look more like a cohesive set of materials that can appeal to a wide range of audiences to learn more about FYF Fest.
Final Critique Session
11/17
Today’s final critique session was really great to hear my classmate’s thoughts on my final marketing materials. Some of the main pieces of feedback I received was:
- The boombox illustration helps the audience immediately understand what event is being represented and the boombox also helps the rest of the marketing materials look linked together
- The hierarchy of the poster makes the information easy to read since the information reads from top-down
Reflection
11/18
Through this project, I was able to practice using different typographic variables together to create a consistent and readable set of marketing materials. I really enjoyed developing my own illustration for the marketing materials and thinking of ways to combine the illustration and other pieces of content effectively. In the last project, we only focused on creating one poster so this project was interesting since we got to challenge ourselves to design in different mediums. Each feedback session was also instrumental in helping me move forward in each iteration. Overall, I was able to further improve my design skills and also learn more about how to incorporate various pieces of feedback into my work to create a better final design.
