Guest Designer for 2023 Opera Festival of Chicago
I started this project thinking driving fast and with my blinders on was truly the way. Though it's an option, it's not the only and sometimes not the best option.
Earlier this year, I had to opportunity to do graphic design for the 2023 Chicago Opera Festival. Let's take a look at this project!
Project Goals
- Creating flexible/versatile cover art for the 2023 Opera Festival of Chicago program book
- Create separate graphics for each section of the festival
- The art should be a reflection of the season's theme: Power, Glory, and Betrayal.
The Process
I stumbled upon this museum archive connected to a couple of museums, like the Art Institute of Chicago, the Rijksmuseum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and more. All of the images are free to use!
Drawing in the dark
With the museum images and a solid grasp of each piece in the festival, I went head first into designing. Using my ultra super powers: grid lines, typeface, and color palettes; the first draft of festival designs was born!
To be honest, I liked the ideas; looking back though, the flaws are clear. After consulting more with the team and getting some feedback, we ultimately took things in a different direction.
- Refining the color palette by reducing the number of colors.
- Simplifying the use of each typeface
- Increasing font size for clarity
- Getting rid of the grid lines altogether
Font choice
Take two
This design concept was so much fun to develop! Challenges like 3D designing in Figma and manually adding varying shadows proved to be extremely rewarding. I walked away from this concept as a better designer. With that being said, this concept strayed too far from the heart of the season. We went back to the drawing board after an additional round of consulting, employing the best of the previous designs to develop concept three.
Final images
I started this project thinking driving fast and with my blinders on was truly the way. Though it's an option, it's not the only and sometimes not the best option. Working with the team at the Opera Festival of Chicago was worthwhile. Getting the opportunity to not only receive direct feedback on my designs but explore and develop other ideas openly before putting a single vector in the frame, (I think it goes without saying) ultimately led to a smoother and faster process.
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