*Assignment: The project and its goals

The WORK poster was created to promote the 2016 graphic design senior show at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. The goal of this project was to attract art directors and designers from the area to our event. We wanted to both show off the design projects the seniors made that year as well as to network with those that came out. The senior show needed an identity and a feel in order to draw interest and set itself apart from other art exhibitions. The poster needed to be bold and exciting yet retain sophistication in the details. The showcase was intended to be about the content and message communicated by the work at the show. It was only fitting for the poster to follow the same formula.

*Approach: Creative process & solution

To communicate the show’s intention of content and message the poster was conceived as a double entendre. To fit the theme of “work” imagery of various car parts were chosen because of their association to labor. The images were adapted from a screenprint I created earlier in the year. The color orange was chosen to mimic other labor related items like traffic cones, construction signs, and bulldozers. Blue was chosen to vibrate against the orange. A triangular cardboard box was chosen to ship the posters because the flat faces allowed us to screen print the car parts from the poster on the box for some extra flavor. We screen printed and mailed over 150 copies to design firms, advertising agencies, and publishers in Nashville.

*Results: Success of project and/or the client’s reaction

The poster appealed to both students and professors alike. We saw a great turnout for the senior exhibition. A lot of designers expressed to me how thrilled they were to receive a poster in the mail. I actually had to leave the show momentarily to retrieve a stack for those who weren’t on the mailing list.