This semester, our group was able to work with creative collaborators that would become the hero of a campaign we ideated and developed. The campaign is meant to be an original piece of work that speaks to their experience and culture. Throughout the development of the campaign, we are meant to connect with our collaborators to ensure that their name, brand, and story are represented accurately. The collaborator of our campaign was Penn State Opulence, State College’s Drag Ambassadors. They look to support upcoming drag performers in the State College area while also bringing awareness to the art form of drag to both students and locals. Their organization was established in 2018, but when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, their membership returned to zero. With more in person opportunities on campus this year, we thought this would be an amazing group to collaborate with to help them rebuild their membership while also conveying their mission. Our campaign is an awareness and education campaign that celebrates the art of drag performance and the queer community. State College and the surrounding area should know that drag is a welcoming space that encourages diversity. Drag performance is more than just a cool show; it is a performance of gender that breaks the binary between femininity and masculinity.

When approaching this project, it was important to consider not only the target audience but also the group that we were representing. Through conversations and interviews with PSU Opulence, we were able to hone in on key elements of the campaign. Choices such as the tone of the project were discussed; the president of Opulence was eager to see that we were developing a campaign around the positive aspects of the LGBTQ+ community rather than only focusing on the struggles that the community faces. From these conversations, we were able to make choices about type, color, and photographic style. Our typography is experimental, with a focus on unique letterforms that relate to the individuality of each group member. Colors werechosen as vibrant representations of not only the outfits that the queens themselves wear, but also to communicate excitement and celebration. The photographs themselves, a key component of the campaign, were directed with lots of motion and expressiveness to focus on the members themselves.

https://vimeo.com/754790116

The result of this collaboration was an awareness and educational campaign that celebrates drag performance and the queer comunity. The full campaign includes: A series of posters to be installed downtown State College, PA; Social media content dedicated to educating viewers about drag, PSU Opulence, and their shows; Video interviews with members of Opulence; and print collateral to be handed out at drag performances. This campaign highlights to State College and the surrounding area that Opulence and their shows are a welcoming space that encourages diversity. Drag performances are more than just a cool show; they are performances of gender and identity that breaks the binary between femininity and masculinity.