Variance

Sometimes The Simplest Solution Really Is The Best Solution…

This project demanded that I produce a steady stream of bar promotion marketing collateral, appropriate for a wide variety of venues, impactful with a variety of audiences, while keeping in mind that these posters would be viewed intermixed on a promotions calendar, so they had to look good together as well. At first, this didn't seem like it was going to be much of an issue. There were several holes in the catalog, and I was free to establish my own take on this project. The elephant in the room is of course what do I do when I hit the 50th poster, the 100th? With each promotion, the ‘has to play well with others’ requirement became more and more complex. Not only was my audience anyone who might find themselves at any bar in the US, but I had to design with every previous design on this project in mind. The 'problem' came into focus as the body of my work began to grow.

Research, and time. I found that by narrowing my focus with each promotion and putting in the time to fully research how the bar industry approaches marketing these events, I was able to find my cadence, and began churning this collateral out like clockwork. You just signed up a client in Australia, and he says that chicken schnitzel nights are big with his customers? I’ll go ahead and acquaint myself with Australian design trends. You’ve got a few bars in Jersey that are all trying to gobble up that coveted ‘single on Valentines Day’ crowd? Here’s an Anti-Valentines day promotion. You’re courting several clubs, and need to be able to cater to the various genres of EDM they play? I’ll figure out what makes House music tick and get back to you. I found that so long as each design was secure in its identity, it didn't matter so much what the other designs looked like. It's the research that goes into each promotion, and my insistence that proper time be taken, that solved this particular problem.

At the end of the day, I found that the more suited to the promotion, the better the art captured the spirit of the event for which it’s going to advertise, the better the designs played well with others. There is no place on these calendars for weak design. Everything’s got to have a strong voice, unique to itself. The solution ended up being to transcend the problem in the first place.