Custom Poster Design
Express your vision with a custom designed publicity poster.
As a performance maker, time is your most valuable asset. Why not outsource one of the dozens of tasks that you need to accomplish before opening curtain? We think to hire designers, directors, choreographers. How about a specialist to help fashion the primary visual metaphor for your work that you use to communicate to audiences?
In hiring a poster designer, however, you want someone who understands the performance process, who has fluency in performance history and can contextualize your work within the sweep of styles. To some degree creativity is creativity, but on the other hand, sometimes it isn’t. The skills required to make a book cover that generates sales, or an ad for consumer products, do not necessarily translate into designing publicity for the theatrical space. We are our own species.
I would like to have the honor of helping to articulate your artistic vision in a graphical format by bringing together the experience of a practitioner, the insight of a dramaturg, and the skills of a digital artist.
Let’s work together and make magic happen.
A unique intersection of insights:
Has been making posters for live shows for twenty years.
Has been a part of dozens of productions across performance genres.
Has terminal degrees in both Theater and Dance, and performance experience in Musical Theater, Opera, and Performance Art.
Has taught performance history in higher eduction for many years and therefore can situate your production within a compelling thematic context.
Is easy to work with.
Has extensive experience on both sides of the stage: as a performer across forms, as well as a director/performance creator.
Portfolio
Here’s how the process works:
Click on one of the links below, which will take you to an order form that will provide me with the information I’ll need to initiate the design process.
We can communicate through every step of the process if that’s helpful, or I am happy to honor your time by working independently. The first draft usually takes around 1-2 weeks, depending on my current workload.
Give me feedback on the completed rough draft of your poster so I know I’m on track to fulfill your vision.
I will incorporate your notes and provide a final draft, usually around an other week.
Sign off on the final draft of the poster. I will provide a download link for you to access your files. The poster will be ready for distribution, though if you need additional file formats, or would like to adapt the Photoshop file for your own use, that’s fine as well.
That’s it!
Poster Design Services
“Poster Design” Package
$150
This design package includes:
The creation of an original publicity poster for your event.
Deliverable in .JPG, or the file format(s) of your choice via Dropbox link.
Royalty-free stock images, as needed, at no additional charge.
Custom fonts, at no additional charge.
Changes between rough draft and final draft.
Final tweaks before final draft.
“Two-Show” Package
$275
This design package includes:
The creation of two original publicity posters for your season.
Deliverable in .JPG, or the file format(s) of your choice via Dropbox link.
Royalty-free stock images, as needed, at no additional charge.
Custom fonts, at no additional charge.
Changes between rough draft and final draft.
Final tweaks before final draft.
“Season” Package
$415
This design package includes:
The creation of three original publicity posters for your season.
15-20 minute concept discussion Zoom call.
Deliverable in .JPG, or the file format(s) of your choice via Dropbox link.
Royalty-free stock images, as needed, at no additional charge.
Custom fonts, at no additional charge.
Changes between rough draft and final draft.
Final tweaks before final draft.
If you are interested in ordering more than three posters for your season, please contact me via email.
F.A.Q.
I see you have a concert dance/theater background, but I am producing a band/dance team/dinner theater/performance art /opera/musical/puppetry/live music event/staged reading/something else. Can you work with my genre?
Yes.
We have only a vague idea of what we want.
The order form has space for you to provide links to examples of posters/imagery/artwork that you like, as a point of departure, and also fields for you to provide a narrative of your idea. Alternatively, I am happy to learn about your production and based on my experience, can work independently to create the most effective visual metaphor to promote your piece.
Can I send you a photo to use as part of the design?
Absolutely. Please be sure to provide a photo credit.
Do I need to worry about image copyright, fonts, etc.?
No. Assuming you’ve secured rights (if needed) for the piece itself you’re producing, you shouldn’t have any issues on my end. Any stock images I use I pay for from DepositPhotos.com, and custom fonts I buy from a variety of sources. I don’t pass these costs along.
Do you offer a social media pack add-on?
Coming soon!
What is your workflow timeline?
After you complete the order form and submit payment, I engage with the project right away. The initial draft generally takes 1-2 weeks, and revision for the final draft typically require another week. The entire process takes under one month. If you need a deliverable in under a week, you can pay for a rush order as part of the check-out process. However, I will note that the design process tends to work better with more lead time rather than less.
Do you allow revisions? If so, how many?
Yes. Within reason.
Do you have a visual arts background?
Not specifically. I have been creating work for performance since 1996, first as an independent modern dancer, then as an experimental theater artist, and later as a theatrical director. I teach dance composition. I direct plays. I write novels. I devise new works. I am a performance historian, versed in styles across time and cultural space. As an independent artist, I have always made my own posters, but during COVID-19 quarantine, I deepened my knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, as well as marketing concepts.
What file formats do you provide?
I supply a high-resolution .JPEG, as well as the original Photoshop file if you want to adapt the design for anything else. Other formats, such as .png or .PDF are available upon request.
What size are your posters?
I cut my teeth on 11”x17” format for print-and-hang, so I still default to those dimensions. If you’d like something else, just let me know on the order form.
Can you make social media promo materials?
Yes, the order form includes an option for an add-on social media pack, which includes a website header, and graphics optimized for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
If I order more than one poster, can you link them thematically?
Yes. The posters can each have their own aesthetic, or I can create a “through-line” that links them together. You can also order multiple designs for the same production if you want more than one poster design, or one poster per production in your season.
Can I order more than three posters designs?
Yes. Send me an email so we can discuss the project first to determine a quote.