ILLUSTRATION
POSTER DESIGN
This is one of the poster assignments I had to do for SDSU’s Electronic Music Marathon in Design Studio. Simply put, EMM is a musical performance put on by SDSU’s music students that can span several hours. There are several design challenges for the poster. For one, because the marathon’s selection can vary wildly in genre, the poster cannot depict one type of electronic music. Secondly, the image cannot feature any prominent type. SDSU has a typographic format for its poster events, so any type used in the poster cannot conflict with the predetermined layout. Finally, the poster has to be as fun as the event itself.
Because the range of the poster had to be broad, I tried to depict what electronic music would look like if we could see it. That way, the imagery could be bold, fun, and inventive just like the event it’s advertising. My inspiration for the poster is mostly from the 80’s and the Superflat art movement. I pulled from iconic Memphis Design motifs like bold shapes, polka-dots, and bright CMYK colors to pay homage to the era that electronic music was born in.
The colors of this poster are directly inspired by the colors of the 80's. Not only did I choose these colors to pay homage to the era, but also because they’re incredibly bright and loud. I wanted the poster to be eye-catching from a distance, and the colors also helped to communicate the feeling of EMM. Finally, the second row of colors were specifically chosen to recede against the bright ones. This was so the viewer could focus on the musical waves and shapes that are coming from the person’s ear in the poster imagery.
