Out of the Box

Way back in January I applied for a part time job at the Melbourne Theatre Company. I had already been freelancing there for some time as a graphic designer, with plenty of Photoshop retouching thrown in.

As part of the job application, I had to design a poster for ‘The Cybec Readings’ – plays read by the actors sitting on stage. I had some advantage over the other applicants, as I was quite familiar with the established style of all the MTC’s marketing and promotional material. Of course, I didn’t want to be too rigid, but I knew the poster design needed to fit in with their existing look.

The poster would be hung in universities and cafes, etc, so it had to be eye-catching, and I wanted it to be a little bit fun. I incorporated the existing graphics (the white keyline boxes) of the Lawler Studio. It was these boxes that got me thinking. There was quite a lot of text to fit on the A3 sized poster, and I decided to ‘shake the words out of the box’ and have them tipping down the page.

Now that I’m looking at it months later, I’m still thinking, “Hmm, could do with some refining.” But you can’t piddle around forever, and at least I got the job!