Poster Design

Project Type: Individual (Coursework)
Activities: Storytelling, Ideation and Iteration, Poster Design
Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Figma, Canva

Process Map:

Storytelling

Background:

  • As part of the postgraduate diploma course “Design for Media,” I created a poster for a film based on a fictional story that I wrote by myself.

  • Starting the project from scratch helped me delve into how the main idea behind any story could be delivered to an audience in a visual poster.

  • The project allowed me to refine my skills in the design process and combine them with the disciplines of graphic design and communication

Name of the Film: Rivals in Rhythm

Tagline: The show must go on…

Setting: College

Genre: RomCom

Timeline: 1960’s

Main Characters: Arjun Mehra (Male, drummer, member of Band 1 in college), Sara Patel (Female, guitarist, member of a rival band in the same college)

Plot Points:

  • Arjun Mehra and Sara Patel are in the same college

  • They belong to rival bands within the same college who are trying to outperform one another

  • Theres an intercollege competition and because the two bands are from the same college, they need to travel in the same vehicle. This is the point at which interaction takes place between the two characters.

  • Attitudes are hostile at first since both bands are rivals. The characters prefer to put down one another rather than appreciating each other’s talents.

  • While practicing one of the bands loses their guitarist when he tries to plug in the guitar into the amplifier. He gets electrocuted.

  • The band is in need of a guitarist and they know that the rival band’s guitarist is insane

  • Arjun Mehra is the only person in the band who is against asking for help but the other band members decide to go ahead and ask for help

  • Reluctant to help the rival band at first, Sara Patel plays hard to get, not knowing how serious the issue is.

  • Once Sara Patel agrees, Arjun Mehra is made to go through the entire routine with her as the other band members are still in disbelief of the person’s death.

  • Bonding over the death of the ex-guitar member, Arjun Mehra and Sara Patel decide that the show must go on with or without the other members. Discovering their love for the composition, they also discover their love for each other.

Ideation

(This strip represents the colour board that I decided to use in my movie poster)

Mood board:

(This was a mood board put together using posters from the 1960’s. This provided an understanding of the style of posters and the visual elements used)

(The initial rough concept that I drew up for the poster)

Poster Design

From my iterations, I understood that the posters were not giving me a lot about the story itself. Right now it seemed like a poster for a travel-based musical rather than a RomCom with a sense of mystery and boldness. I understood that I was focusing more on the theme and visual while diminishing the importance of the purpose of the poster and the key highlights of the story of the film. I rewored the concept in ordewr to come up with the final poster for the film.

(Playing around with different elements to understand what works and what does not work in the poster. Playing around with iterations helped me gain a better understanding of how to shape the final poster)

Learnings:

  • Understanding how to translate textual content of a movioe into an appealing and eye-capturing visual poster

  • Process of creating posters for films starting from the understanding of the story and purpose of the poster, to the actual ideation and design elements of the poster

  • Using Adobe Photoshop and other tools for poster design and iteration

  • This poster captures the essence of the film - A RomCom, set in the 1960s where the story revolves around music and bands

  • The poster highlights significant details that people would generally look for such as the title, tagline, the director, the lead actors and the platform and date on which the movie will be released

  • The color scheme is far more bold and vibrant, giving people the feeling of excitement in relation to the possible storyline of the film

  • The caravan and instruments signify that the movie revolves around music and the background of the hills with hearts signifies the romantic aspect of the film’s story