PROBLEM & TARGET AUDIENCE
Chapman University’s Theatre and Dance department needed a poster for their play, "He Who Gets Slapped", a Russian play written by Leonid Andreyev. The challenge was to convey the tragicomedic atmosphere of the play. The target audience is the community living in Orange, California, drama enthusiasts and students from Chapman University. These people may have an interest in Russian history with the first world war.
CONCEPT & SOLUTION
This approach uses circus posters as collages, portraying the sad story and the overwhelming impact of the frenetic circus lifestyle. The 1914 Russian drama concerns a brilliant scientist who suffers from betrayal in life. Crushed and tormented, he makes a career of it by becoming a clown who convulses his public by permitting himself to be slapped in the face, because life has become a slap in the face to him. He falls in love with another circus performer, and those who betray him enter his life yet again. In the center of the poster is HE, the clown with a heartbreaking and sorrowful expression.
The most prominent figure in this poster is HE, the central focus of the play. The layout of this poster is very symmetrical which brings good visual hierarchy. The use of the burst of lines, the circle, brightness, and contrast brings the clown to the foreground. The other clowns as silhouettes bring about a comical, ambiguous, and mysterious side.
RECOGNITION
My design earned a place at the highly selective end-of-the year exhibition for the art department, and I won two awards for "Best Poster Design" and "Best Overall Design" at AIGA OC's annual design competition.
Chapman University’s Theatre and Dance department needed a poster for their play, "He Who Gets Slapped", a Russian play written by Leonid Andreyev. The challenge was to convey the tragicomedic atmosphere of the play. The target audience is the community living in Orange, California, drama enthusiasts and students from Chapman University. These people may have an interest in Russian history with the first world war.
CONCEPT & SOLUTION
This approach uses circus posters as collages, portraying the sad story and the overwhelming impact of the frenetic circus lifestyle. The 1914 Russian drama concerns a brilliant scientist who suffers from betrayal in life. Crushed and tormented, he makes a career of it by becoming a clown who convulses his public by permitting himself to be slapped in the face, because life has become a slap in the face to him. He falls in love with another circus performer, and those who betray him enter his life yet again. In the center of the poster is HE, the clown with a heartbreaking and sorrowful expression.
The most prominent figure in this poster is HE, the central focus of the play. The layout of this poster is very symmetrical which brings good visual hierarchy. The use of the burst of lines, the circle, brightness, and contrast brings the clown to the foreground. The other clowns as silhouettes bring about a comical, ambiguous, and mysterious side.
RECOGNITION
My design earned a place at the highly selective end-of-the year exhibition for the art department, and I won two awards for "Best Poster Design" and "Best Overall Design" at AIGA OC's annual design competition.
