Research Essay

My senior project is to create the graphic designs for the advertising for the 2008 Spring Musical here at MAST. In order to have a successful showing of the play, we must have plenty of advertising prior to the show. This advertising will be in the form of fliers, posters, and T-Shirts worn by the cast and crew. But simply having these items doesn’t necessarily mean that the crowd will be large on opening night-the designs must be attention grabbing and interesting to the audience.

No one will want to attend a production of any kind if the advertising is unattractive. These designs are like a preview to the show itself. If they are plain, hastily drawn, and simple, then no one would be drawn to the performance. These designs must be bright, attractive, and intriguing. When passersby notice the fliers and posters hanging up around campus, the brightly colored illustrations should draw them in and make them want to learn more about the show.

In order to achieve this goal, I had to learn about techniques involved in graphic design and drawing. I learned many new methods in color selection and advertising through my research. One way to create a color theme is to choose two colors and add some complementary colors. Another way to do this is using a color palette, such as a photograph, to find your main colors. Of course, the simplest way to select colors is to just go with your own feeling. All of these methods have their ups and downs, but if done correctly, one can definitely pull it off (Colure Schemes).

Graphic design not only involves advertising, but any design using text and illustrations to present information. All advertising is graphic design, but not all graphic design is advertising. This form of art is what helped to create advertising slogans and logos which are easily recognized by many people, such as “Tony the Tiger” of Frosted Flakes and the famous Nike logo (Graphic Design). Graphic design is used in education for text books, entertainment for scenery, books, etc, websites, and even road signs! It is about expanding beyond the normal extents of design and going above and beyond with a new added touch of personal flair (Graphic Design).

As of now, the musical for this school year will be The Little Shop of Horrors. This musical is very unique, as it features a man eating alien plant as the main character. Aliens plan to take over the earth and decide to infiltrate the planet with man eating plants. One is brought back to a local flower shop, where it wreaks havoc on the people working in the shop, killing all of them, along with a snobbish dentist (Little Shop...). I’ve decided to focus on the logo of the shop on all of the designs. I also want to create a contrast between the regular, cute flowers of the store, and the vicious man-eating Audrey II.

After learning about the graphic design process, I think I know what I must accomplish this school year in Systems II. I need to focus on choosing designs and colors which will create enough of a contrast with each other to be bold, while still matching enough to be attractive to passersby. I also have learned the details of the play, of which I was previously unfamiliar with. Now I feel that I am prepared to create graphic designs to the best of my abilities in order to attract a large audience for this year’s school musical.