Kanata Theatre
Print + Web Graphics
A few years ago, I was commissioned to create a set of unique, eye-catching poster designs for Kanata Theatre for their 2018/2019 season.
The goal for the poster designs was to create a cohesive, identifiable visual language for the season’s graphics while still illustrating key points about the plot of each play. I also wanted to catch the attention of a new audience – people who might not have season tickets every year, but who could be drawn in by a bolder, more graphic look.
Concept
Each play had a completely different tone and theme, and it was a challenge to convey multiple ideas into one central image.
With Nunsense, for example, I wanted to show a single nun who wanted to be a star. I had to think about what would show that the play was a fun comedy and convey the nuns’ love of the spotlight. The solution? Deck her out in star-shaped sunglasses to show her blinding star power.
PROCESS
I have a background in printmaking (mainly woodcuts and linocuts) and I wanted to use the bold, black-and-white style of the medium and my unique carving style to catch the viewer’s eye. I also thought this would create an identifiable visual language for the posters since they had such a wide range of themes.
I created the central image of each poster by carving a linocut, inking it, photographing it, and then digitizing it. I kept the layout of the posters minimal and developed a colour palette that assigned a single bold colour to each play - something that would catch the viewer’s attention as they drove past the theatre’s large billboard on Terry Fox Drive.
