Menotti Operas (Poster Design Project)

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Menotti's Operas

Poster Design

For this project, I worked with a team to design a poster for a show that was being put together by the SF State Orchestra and School of Music. They were performing two operas that were composed by Gian Carlo Menotti, The Old Maid and The Thief & Amelia Goes to The Ball.

Inspiration

We looked for art styles that were very popularly used either during or close to the set time period that the operas took place in. For Amelia Goes to The Ball, we looked at Art Deco posters, typography from the 1920s, and background/wallpaper. For The Old Maid and The Thief, we looked at WPA (Works Progress Administration) posters, typography used for those posters, and background/wallpaper that was commonly seen in the early 1900s.

Early Concept

Both operas were going to be performed on the same night, and the client wanted both operas to be advertised onto one poster. However, to help us get started on developing concepts, we first imagined what the poster for The Old Maid and The Thief would look like, and then made a similar poster for Amelia Goes to The Ball. Both of the operas carried a similar message, so it felt appropriate to make both of the layouts the same.

Later on, we would come up with a layout where we could successfully display both concepts on a vertical poster.

Character Development

In the process of designing the poster, we developed two versions for the main characters in the operas. The 2nd version ended up being the final version for the poster.

Poster Iterations

Originally, the poster layout was designed this way to allow the client to display the poster in two different ways. They could have Amelia Goes to The Ball being featured on top, or have The Old Maid and The Thief be featured on top.

The poster iteration on the far left contained the first version of the background, and the other poster iteration contained a less intense version of the background.

Final Poster (including Banner)

In the end, we positioned the operas upright to make it easier for viewers to read without having to register what the title for the other opera read. Also, we included a URL of the website that people can visit to purchase their tickets online rather than in person.

After designing the poster, we made a banner.