TYPE POSTER: MADONNA
Challenged to create a portrait representing a famous person using only type, I knew who I had to choose! Madonna is someone who has inspired me ever since I was a little girl, and is well known worldwide for her costumes, iconography, music videos and songs that have defined every decade since the 1980's.
I created posters for an upcoming Madonna Fashion Retrospective exhibition, to be held at the 'London Fashion & Textile Museum' this Summer.
I chose to focus on the era of Madonna's 'Express Yourself' image, and particularly her 'Blonde Ambition' tour costumes from 1990. This is a collage mood-board from my sketchbook showing my design inspiration for this project.
DESIGN ONE: THE PONYTAIL
From the Blonde Ambition tour, there are certain costumes and accessories that are now synonymous with Madonna's performances of iconic hits such as 'Express Yourself' and 'Like a Virgin'. One of these memorable items was a blonde ponytail hairpiece which swished about while Madonna sung and danced.
The colour of this hairpiece inspired my colour palette- a bright 'blonde' yellow, white, and black. I also created an alternate design with a yellow background to be used for other promotional materials such as postcards.
Using the Envelope Distort tool on Adobe Illustrator, I manipulated lyrics from 'Express Yourself' into the outlines of the ponytail extension, and used bold colour blocking within the design. I also incorporated the logo of the 'London Fashion & Textile Museum' in these colours- my chosen exhibition venue.
DESIGN TWO: THE CONE BRA
I like the variety of typography scales within this design- some of it large and clear, some of it hardly noticeable. The exhibition information is depicted within the lower line on Madonna's left arm.
The image that most people think of, when they think of Madonna, is probably her wearing the Jean Paul Gaultier designed 'Cone Bra' in the 'Express Yourself' era of the late 80's. Nothing unites Madonna's sexuality, powerful femininity and subversive nature more than this outfit. The many seams, panels and constructed sections of this lingerie were ideal for filling with phrases and lines of text.
Here, I chose to create a detailed outline of a photo of Madonna in the cone bra on Adobe Illustrator, and then filled sections of shadow with colour and key areas of Madonna's body, face and costume with lines from 'Express Yourself' using the Envelope Distort tools. I also used small-scale music lyrics to outline some of the shadows, and offset these deliberately.
I really like the use of different type tools within this design, and the way that Madonna is stylised, but still recognisable. It also links in well with the 'Ponytail' poster, but has a different look.
DESIGN THREE: CONE BRA REPEAT PATTERN
Finally, I took some of the elements from the first two designs to create a more minimal, repeated representation of the 'Cone Bra' made entirely from text.
I incorporated information about the upcoming exhibition within the rounded shapes, and used a bright yellow colour to add definition to these lines of text.
This design would be striking when used on other promotional material for this exhibition, such as postcards, prints and digital graphics. Alongside the other two posters, the shapes are clearly linked to the 'Cone Bra' but in isolation they are simply a geometric pattern.
