Class | Design Layout
Assignment | Design a concert poster and accompanying ticket.
Inspiration | Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures in an Exhibition (1874) is a piece that I really enjoy for its varying emotional hues… it’s like Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals grown up.
Mussorgsky’s good friend and artist Viktor Hartmann died suddenly from an aneurysm in 1873. The sudden loss of the artist shook Mussorgsky along with others in Russia’s art world. An exhibition of over 400 Hartmann works was organized in the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg. After attending the exhibiton, Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition in six weeks. The piece is organized to evoke a tour of an art gallery, and each movement is based on one or more of Hartmann’s works. Read even more
My challenge was to translate the musical concept back into a visual expression appropriate to a concert poster.
Behind the Scenes | I began with the all-important step of recording ideas with small sketches.
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In this idea, each square represents a movement of the piece. Simple colors and texture evoke the mood of each part. |
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Here, a portion of a gallery wall, with a brochure stand where the title goes. M’s name is stamped into the floor, as if to say that he once stood there. |
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An architectural view from above. Little glows of color emit from spots on the walls to represent the inspiration that M feels in front of certain pictures. |
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Looking down a long corridor of the gallery rooms with doorframes in perspective. Title and composer written on the floor. |
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Same as before, but with words popping out from behind each doorframe. |
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Inspired from a photo of Collin in Lacoste, France, M stands looking at pictures. |
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Same, but M is now standing in a depressed floor tile. Metaphorical. |
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Reflecting while genuflecting. |
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More of same. |
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The close-up emo idea. Title etc. is over the forehead. |
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Pure type. I just realized I misspelled his name, because I was so excited about the ear on my lowercase g. |
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This idea excited me – it’s a 3d box unfolded (not a scorpion) with a musical score on the walls. So it conceptually combines space and sound. |
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Similar, a close-up, this time a box pattern that would actually fold into a gallery-looking space. |
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Four of these I chose to turn into roughs, which were critiqued by other students and the teacher before I started on a final version.
I gave up on the top two, mostly because of my inability to illustrate what I was imagining in my mind. The only redeeming part of the top right one was my discovery of a good engraving technique for text,* which I ended up using it in my final product. The bottom left option was working fine; I just hadn’t taken time to come up with all of the interpretive thumbnails yet.
It was the the bottom right one captured me, however, begging me to perfect it! I had accidentally happened upon a quiet, whitewashed look that reminded me of vintage picture books that I grew up with. Plus, the architectural illusory nature always appeals to me.
After very useful critique and revision, I ended up with a final product. Although I conceptually miss the words “popping out” from behind walls, this seems to be the best compromise of quirk and readability. My favorite part is definitely the subtlety of the floor and the Didot typeface engraved in it.
And then I made the accompanying ticket. Considering the logistical details thereupon, I realize that this concert takes places in some kind of strange transatlantic context… but hey, that’s where I live.
* Engraving: I created two identical shapes (text). The back shape is a darker brown and has a Multiply blend mode. The front shape is a lighter brown with a Soft Light blend mode and nudged slightly down and to the left.
