#DanceforPaul

Inspiration

I liked the idea of hands and handprints, thinking that it could become the background with multiple hands overlaying on top of each other. I also was really drawn to bright colors and pattern that seemed to emulate movement and joy. See More!

Ideation

One of my first thoughts for this poster revolved around this idea of “helping hands,” everyone coming together and lending a hand of support. In response to that, the first draft of this poster was actually a painting. I liked the rawness and human touch element that you would get from something hand made vs something digital.

The overall tone ended up feeling darker than expected, and the letters weren’t as polished as I thought it should be. I realized that I personally have limitations when it comes to paint, and that is when I decided that it should be brought into the digital space. Using photoshop gave me more control over color exploration as well as creating different textures through the use of transparency settings.

TYPE: When exploring fonts for this poster, I thought that the font should feel organic and be something a little less rigid. I took inspiration from stamps and chalk writing, leaning more towards it being on the handwritten side, kind of as if this is our love letter to Paul.

COLORS: In terms of coloring I wanted the overall feel to be warm and joyous, but not so bright it was obnoxious to look at. I went with a pastel inspired palette, picking pinks, yellows, oranges, and light purples.

TEXTURES: The paint splatter effect illustrate the chaos and unexpectedness of the actual event. It also was meant to represent the outpour of love and support that SPU received from all directions; not just from those living in Seattle, but other communities across the nation affected by similar tragedies. The splatter has a lot of movement to it which looks kind of “exploding” in its nature. I thought that this is similar to how dancers are “exploding” with expression and are free to move in ways that are not necessarily supposed to be “perfect” or uniform.

DETAILS: The hand print has a double meaning. It is supposed to represent the mark that Paul Lee left on the Ante Up community, and how in turn the club is making its mark on the SPU community, reaching beyond to Engage the Culture of the Seattle dance community. The second meaning is simply that it is a number 5 and alludes to the 5th of June.

Final Result

The design was modified to fit an array of pieces to help promote the event. These items included a poster for the event, banner images for Facebook and publicity on campus, social media assets, as well as a sticker.

2018 Video

2018. Since this would the first year that there would be all new students on campus, Ante Up Core talked about how we wanted this video to celebrate and showcase different styles of dance. Everyone moves differently and expresses themselves through movements that are unique to them. We wanted to show that Ante Up is more than just a student run club on campus, it has brought together a community of students from all walks of life who all share a love for dance.

Every person was recorded and asked to speak about what dance and being a part of Ante Up has meant to them. Each person’s audio was overlaid on footage of them dancing.

Edits

If I got the chance to redo this video, there would be some changes that I would make. I would want to use a stabilizer and watch overexposure during shooting. I would love for there to be continuity of color and lighting among all the shots but weather is unpredictable at times especially in the PNW. Ideally, I would want to shoot all of the clips on a sunny day, back to back if possible, or on multiple days with similar weather and lighting.

This project was purely a celebration of dance. The video clips may not be perfect, but the words spoken are real and come from the heart. There is true expression and joy that comes from every person and what have they have to say when they’re not talking.