The Project

Create a poster advertising an upcoming show for "Fitz and the Tantrums." It must be 11"x17" and contain the required location, date, time, and website.

The Process

I was not familiar with "Fitz and the Tantrums" prior to making this poster. So, I started listening to their music to get a feel for the band. I also watched their music videos and researched photographs of them and read through a few Wiki pages. This armed with enough information to create a poster that felt like the band. I knew for this one I wanted to do a text-only poster, without images, as most of my work involves using or drawing images.

I knew I wanted the poster to be colorful with an homage to 80's and early 90's style as "Fitz and the Tantrums" has an 80's retro vibe. I started sketching out thumbnails of how I wanted the poster to look. I even started playing in Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects to start coming up with different type treatment to pursue. None of my early attempts felt right, though. There was an edginess to it but it was missing the sheer fun that "Fitz and the Tantrums" exudes. 

After watching the "hand clap" video, I decided I wanted something that had a neon vibe and utilize a touch of pattern and that's where I landed on this design. I played with primarily CMY colors and instead of making the background black, I used a dark grey. Black was too hard and the fun was lost when used. The grey seemed to enhance the CMY colors.

The Result

A bold poster that features absolutely no illustration or photography which is unusual for me. Because this was a type-only endeavor, and a successful one at that, I chose to include it in my portfolio. The poster speaks to the energy and whimsy as well as the 80's and 90's roots that "Fitz and the Tantrums" pays homage to.