Sum-sum-sum-summertime!

I have the pleasure of always being mentally ahead a few months at work so even though we're in the midst of somewhat chilly spring weather I am right smack in the middle of preparing for summer events at the library.

I've recently designed posters for two of our big summer events: BookFest, a one-day event in conjunction with Grand Rapids' Festival of the Arts, and GR Reads, which is our adult summer reading program running June through August.

I have a set color palette derived from our logo (dark blue, bright green, orange, purple) with one additional light blue that I use as the background shade on brand pieces. When it comes time to do event specific pieces I often will narrow that palette down and pick a few of those colors to use. For both of these posters I removed the darkest colors and used our logo in solid white. What is left is a bright, airy, set of colors that shouts summer fun.

The BookFest poster needed to give people an idea of what to expect on our stage, especially considering this is a new program for us. I liked the way the images were integrated into the vertical spaces. There were too many in too many different styles to use them any larger. I was also able to play with scale and emphasize the bigger names.

I love and adore the GR Reads poster. The theme gets changed up every year so it is always a good creative challenge for me. All the details are yet to be revealed so I can't explain the design too thoroughly yet. I will say there is a reason for the arrows. They're not just for pretty.