RSC Posters

So, I'm sorry to say it's been a while. I've been a busy little bee at uni, but want to keep this blogging stuff up. I thought I'd start by showing some of the work I've been up to!

This brief was very open, and done mostly over Christmas with the least tutor contact - and some how happened to be my favourite work I've done so far this year... Our instructions were to create 3 posters for the Royal Shakespeare Company, choosing from a list of plays. We had the freedom to use any media and style we wanted.

I wanted to simplify the plays. I feel like the thing that puts young people off Shakespeare is the old language that is difficult for us to understand, and so felt choosing a minimal and modern style may appeal to this younger audience. I took the main visual ideas of the stories that could be visualised using simple shapes.

Romeo and Juliet shows the star-crossed lovers, with the paint splatter texture representing stars on the black background, but changing to blood drops on the red background.

Macbeth shows the three witches that create the basis of the story. The blood drop represents the trauma that happens within the play that the witches predict.

I struggled most with the Hamlet poster. I begun looking at the phrase 'there is method in the madness' and using dirty, mad typography, however this did not fit in well as a series. Instead, I went in to research more and found the use of flower imagery within the play. I chose fennel, which represents strength in the play, but added red falling petals, showing the death of the kings.

Red and white is not only the original colours of RSC logo, but also fit into my designs. The red shows the blood of the three tragedy plays, and black represents the darkness. The use of purely only 3 colours kept the style as minimalistic as possible.