CREATIVE/ART DIRECTION | BRAND/UX/UI DESIGN | PRINT/DIGITAL MARKETING | COPYWRITING | WEB DEVELOPMENT

The Challenge

The show needed a professional brand and marketing materials. The team wanted to cater to the composer’s fans and supporters who were aware of a smaller, festival production, yet attract new audiences. And we had about 40 days to do it all on a part-time basis.

My Role

I collaborated with the show’s creator and production team to develop a brand, marketing, and digital strategy. I acted as creative and art director on the branding, key art, all digital and print advertising assets, and developed the website. I also contributed to the social media strategy and execution, including designing content for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The Completed Website

The website acted as a single place for people to learn more about the musical and how to buy tickets across platforms.

Competitive Analysis

I performed a competitive analysis of other show sites, both direct and indirect competitors. I examined UX heuristics, including information architecture and readability.

Survey of 163 Potential Theatregoers

I designed and ran a survey to determine the primary and secondary tasks they perform before and after going to a performance. Insights from this survey helped form the information architecture and content hierarchy.

Brand Questionnaire and Content Inventory

I got a sense of the desired brand and audience—the aesthetic that the producer and director want to convey in the future. He wanted a dark and gritty aesthetic, channeling Tim Burton. I also assessed the marketing content used in the earlier festival production.

Mood Board for Inspiration

I collected ideas to inspire possible design directions, based on the themes (drink or dream), character descriptions, lyrics, and aesthetic of actual production—how it looks, how it feels, and how it sounds. I attended the first production photoshoot to see the costumes and get a feel for the actors in character. I listened to recordings of the songs.

Possible Design Directions

I delivered to the team several logo/key art visual directions, exploring different concepts. I then worked with them to narrow down the options to select the final key art, which is variation of the last option. The key art established framework for other assets going forward.

Final Artwork

I created all of the assets needed to promote the show with Adobe CC Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These assets appeared in emails, as banner ads, social media ads, Time Out New York (print and digital), the TodayTix app, flyers, business cards, the investor packet, and posters.

Outcome

I quickly learned the parallels between theatre and designing digital experiences—focusing on the product, understanding your audience, having empathy, having a conversation, and having an impact. I really enjoyed collaborating with the creative team to attract audiences to an original musical with a digital presence and marketing that acted as an extension of the in-person theatre experience.

In the end, I was able to deliver a cohesive visual identity that was used across digital and print, which elevated the show’s image as a professional production. And my client came back to me to collaborate on their next show.

Branding & Marketing for a New Musical