The task was to design a minimalist poster for one of the special days that are celebrated by the United Nations. The challenge for this project was to express the topic using minimalist illustrations and text. International Jazz Day was the chosen theme.
Through my research, jazz performances in the 1920s were not only popular to listen to, they were visually appealing to watch with the vibrant purple and yellow/white lighting on the stage. The main instruments associated with jazz are the saxophone, piano, bass and drums. It was a popular genre of music in New Orleans, America and derived from African culture.
The final poster included colours such as purple, yellow, brown and black. The colours itself represent the entire mood of the topic. Along with the colour palette, are simple illustrations of two musicians: one playing the saxophone and the other playing the piano. To make things more interesting, the long ovals represent the spotlights shining down on the stage. The musicians clothing represents the fashion of the 1920s. It was only required to incorporate the informative title and the date of the celebration. On the bottom-right side of the poster, the United Nations logo is placed. Overall, although the illustrations were not very detailed, the minimalist appearance is enough to convey the message to all viewers.
In addition to the poster design, a promotional motion graphics video was created. This piece includes up-beat jazz music, simple shape animations that move to the beat and a logo reveal. The same colour scheme and illustration style from the poster was applied in this video. I was inspired by animation films such as Monsters Inc. and Ratatouille. Both movies have a scene showing expression with animated shapes and colours. This 30 second video could be posted on social media or broadcasted on TV. With both the video and print piece, this promotion would definitely reach out to a wider audience.
