If you were to request a description of my life in one word, that word would most likely be "ellogofusciouhipoppokunurious," which is an artsy-fartsy-fancy-schmancy word for good. Notice the use of artsy and fancy. This "goodaliciousness" reflects in the designs I create. Nothing artistic is ever truly spontaneously and originally conceived. It is all inspired by what the artists sees, hears, feels, experiences and thinks. 

Christina working her magic in her office  at 106 N. 3rd

 I draw my ideas from, well, LIFE, in all its glories and grotesqueness. Sometime ago, a friend effectively stopped my barrage of griping about an annoying incident, by reminding me it is all just the grit in my rock polisher of LIFE. If you don't have grit, you will not have a beautiful stone. I apply that same philosophy to graphic design.  

So, just how did I create the season posters you see?  First, I was provided the images and information about each of the booked acts. Was there a common theme to connect all the acts together in a season? The answer is yes, the common theme was jazz or jazz age based. When I think of jazz, I think first of the early days of Vegas and performers there - the Rat Pack, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, Phil Harris, etc. That led me to think how in which these performers were referred - hip, cool, boss. Hum, "The Hippest Season . . .Ever." OK, I can work with that wording, but what image do I see. People in a lounge with dark lighting, a small jazz combo and the ubiquitous martini. Bingo! Now I find the perfect martini image and find the perfect 50s-60s style of font to complement the image.  

Having set the general tone or concept for the season, now I look at the acts and think of how each individual act fits into that concept, taking into consideration the genre of the act.  For The Alley Cats, they are a fun, high energy, doo-wop group and they flirt outrageously from stage. So I used the really cool cats from last year and put in the silhouette a of "babe blowing a kiss" to them. Oh, and a martini in her hand! For Jazz in the Night with Cheryl Fisher and Eric Allison, the picture of her with the Lauren Bacall hairstyle and old style microphone immediately brought up an image along the "film noir" lines; the dimly lit alley behind a smoky little jazz dive with posters on the brick walls and some graffiti. The font I used in that was an art deco font style from the 40s. Franc D'Ambrosio is returning this season and I saw him last season. When he performs, he always seems to have just a bit of boyishness and a twinkle in his eye. Hence the twinkle added in the poster. Since this time D'Ambrosio is singing numbers from classic Hollywood films, I just had to use an image of the iconic Hollywood letters, and make the title silver to reflect "Songs of the Silver Screen." And it goes on from there.

Now the final piece of the design aspect: all the elements that must remain the same and how to "brand" or create a continuity that immediately registers "Poncan Theatre!" in the mind of the customer (sometimes I do go the mental scream, not just the register). If you notice, the Poncan Theatre logo is always in the same color scheme, always in the top and the contact information with all the credit cards, sponsorship logos, etc. is at the bottom. I have trained the Poncan fans to recognize a Poncan Theatre event poster, and to always look in the same place for the pertinent information. Anything in the poster directly pertaining to the Poncan is in the certain font style of the logo, all the images and information pertaining to the event is in a font for that individual event design. Again, training the fans. Good fans, good. Whose my good cute little fans.

Here is a little note about the Poncan Theatre logo. Notice that it looks similar to the old style marquis lighted letters? That was a deliberate choice to create the subtle connection to old Broadway and Vaudeville. In fact, the font is actually an old art deco font used in the 20s, the same era as the Poncan itself. I then altered and tweaked until the look I wanted was achieved.