We were tasked with designing a calendar poster for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts (at Washington University) Fall 2017 events, I looked to the artists for inspiration. I chose bright colors from Lisa Anne Auerbach's paintings, and used modular, geometric forms found in many of the visiting speaker's work. The poster was printed at 20 by 27.5 inches, and the front and back of the poster are shown above.
PROCESS
In the visual research that I gathered, I was drawn to the large type and bright colors, used both in background/foreground and in the legend. However, in many of my initial thumbnails, I did not consider color yet, and instead focused on text placement, and different treatments of display type. I was drawn to the idea of using a small color palette, with strong contrast.
I focused on how I could manipulate the back of the poster so that the information was not a static arrangement of columns. However, I was drawn to the organization that comes with the use of the grid, so I kept myself from straying too far from that structure. I knew I wanted to use large type to create a strong visual statement, so I began to play with color and distortion. On the calendar side of the poster, I focused on nailing down a good system for each event.
Once I had my typographic system mostly settled, it was easier to play with the back of the poster, and move around columns and fit in images. However, I struggled with linking the front and back of the poster. However, I started playing with the numbers of 2017, and began to move in a stronger direction. On the calendar side, I brought images back into the composition, varying their length to add visual interest and to help balance the composition. The vertical orientation of the images also added to the vertical movement created on the front of the poster. I also linked the front and back through margin size, using similar typographic treatments for title and display text, and by using the same color scheme throughout.
