So I got this text message the other day… “Hey Alan, I was hoping for some help on a poster, do you have any free time this evening?” Being a sucker for cute blondes, of course I said yes and the date was set. This cute blonde happens to be my good friend and musician Therese, who gave permission and is aware of the fact I’m writing this before and after piece poking a little fun at her design skills.
So that evening, Therese made her way over with her ideas for her poster. She needed a poster design for her upcoming Valentine’s Day gig at Sandrini’s Restaurant and Bar. Sitting at my workstation, I heard and was shown some ideas for the poster on her laptop. All good attempts but of course being the nice designer friend that I am, I completely disregarded every idea she had… well… other than the idea that she wanted a cartoony heart on the poster. Sure, why not? Valentine’s Day and hearts go together and sounds easy to do. I was doing this work pro bono by the way (like I said above… a sucker) and was not planning on spending countless hours working on the poster design. So I decided I was going to KISS. Not kiss… KISS…you know, Keep It Simple Stupid.
Clipart always makes things quicker, so visiting a stock clipart website in search of Valentine’s Day art, within a few minutes Therese and I had a winner and it was time to dial in the poster design. Using the clipart and the band logo I had previously designed for her, I went to work and 30 minutes later, the design was complete, put on a disk for printing and posted to Facebook as an event. Bold, clean, simple and beautiful! KISS was what I was going for and Therese loved it!
Keeping it simple is always an effective way to spread a message. Whitespace is a big part of that and it is our friend. We all have the ability to befriend it. And if you can’t, you can always pay a professional designer to KISS… or not pay… if you’re blonde and cute.
Check out the before and after of the poster design below. What do you think?
Therese and the Sweetness with be playing Sandrini’s Restaurant and Bar on Valentine’s Day, February 14th along with special guests The Lift. If you feel like getting out and listening to good live music, get out to Sandrini’s that night.