Barbershop Harmony Poster: Singing Valentines
January 2019
Summary:
The Senecaland District of the Barbershop Harmony Society is home to a variety of quartets and choruses. Within my community, there was the New Horizons Chorus and their smaller branch, the Upstate Harmonizers. Through a mutual connection, the New Horizons Chorus asked me to design them a poster to advertise for their annual fundraiser, Singing Valentines. The idea is that a person can book a quartet to sing for their sweetheart during the week of Valentine’s Day, equipped with chocolates, a flower, and a card. All the proceeds directly benefit the chorus so they can cover the cost of costumes, risers, the spring show, and more so they can continue to share music with the region.
Brainstorming:
The chorus gave me their previous poster as well as the updated information to make sure it was put together. The biggest thing they were looking for was a visual to replace the clip art they used in previous years. You can see this poster below. I was eager to create a custom illustration for them of a barbershop quartet. Referencing photos I had on hand of their members from previous works, I tried to create a quartet that was more faithful to their demographic: cheery older men. I also took inspiration from their signature red vests, though the color was picked to match the red in their logo rather than the real vests. The illustration was sketched by hand first and then traced and colored in a digital format. Because I was watching some tutorials for Clip Studio Paint at the time, I decided to use that program for the digital rendering to further my skills.
Formatting:
The formatting the information was straightforward from there. I stuck to a typeface with a serif to make it easier to read, and I denoted the most important words with either red text or larger text to establish hierarchy and flow. I also created a minimalist heart vector in Adobe Illustrator to spread throughout the design for visual interest and reinforcement of the Valentine’s theme.
Conclusion:
Overall, it was a fun design project to do, and word reached my ears that they did well with the fundraiser, in part thanks to my work.
