As part of an series of events in the Stone Street historic district, I was asked to create advertising to help draw the crowds and set the tone for the day.
Stone Street is one of the original cobbled streets of Manhattan, and the bars themselves are housed in buildings which have stood for over 300 years. Its roots are as a storehouse and trading venue for merchants who would sail into the ports around the tip of Manhattan. For these posters, which were for all the bars on the street, I decided to show off the more fun side of the street, which is known for being the only large-scale outdoor seating area of its kind in New York. The bar themselves are known to be high-end both in entertainment and in their food, catering primarily to residents of the Financial district and workers from nearby Wall Street.
Oysterfest: For this poster I decided to focus on the oysters themselves, combining them with a wave motif as a nod to both their source and to the history of the district. The overall tone and design is created to portray a sense of fun and quality (always a consideration when dealing with shellfish!), while also seeming down to earth and more organic. The typography plays off the illustration, bringing the viewers eye to the beautifully drawn oyster dish and whetting their appetites. The poster was printed at 36” x 48’ size, and certainly fulfilled its duties as the street was jam-packed on the day.
While it is always tempting to do ones own illustration work on these types of projects, I felt that this project offered an ideal opportunity for collaboration, and so I turned to the very talented Megan Pendergrass, of The Daily Foodle fame. She specializes in beautiful illustrations of food (and many other things of course!) and I was very happy to work with her on this project… it certainly made the difference.
Oktoberfest: Hot on the heels of Oysterfest came Oktoberfest, a day-long festival of sausages and beers and lederhosen! For such a fun event I decided to just run with the most recognizable symbol of Oktoberfest, the St. Pauli girl. The typography builds on the theme, being one of those rare assignments in which the use of Fette Fraktur is appropriate. I designed a custom pattern for the background texture, based on the bavarian diamond symbols, mixed with a nice texture to give the poster some depth. The overall color-scheme is aimed at being eye-catching and fun, and again, resulted in a large turn-out on the day itself.
Hallowe’en: The patrons of Stone Street are not known for being a shy and retiring type of people, and Hallowe’en is one of the highlights of the social calendar here. Everyone gets dressed up in impressive costumes based on the theme of the year. For this years event the theme is ‘Heroes and Villains’, a title that leads to all sorts of associated imagery involving capes and superpowers! However, because the event is known for its glamour most of all, I felt it was better to take a higher road with the poster imagery. Rather than showing a Marvel-style hero, or a skimpily dressed villain, I thought a more sophisticated and ambiguous approach would create a nicer sense of excitement around the event. The typography is based on ‘Affair’, a beautiful script typeface which was perfect for setting the tone. The image gives the sense of ‘Be whatever you want to be’ and sparks the imagination. I also wrote the tagline ‘It’s going to be frighteningly sexy’ which is a fun way of letting people know exactly what it’s all about.
The poster was created with two versions, one in landscape for printing in large format to be displayed in the windows of the bars, and the other version in portrait for use on Facebook and other social media to advertise there.
Super Bowl 2011: The Super Bowl is one of the main parties in the American sporting calendar, and Stone Street was certainly not going to let people down. Focussing on a fun theme for the day, they wanted to show the teams involved and get across the sense of whimsy and playfulness for which they are known. Pittsburgh Steelers (black and gold colors) and the Green Bay Packers (dark green and gold colors) were the two protagonists, so I felt it would be interesting to use an illustrative pattern to show the clash between them, as well as the overlaps. The poster is all the more tongue in cheek for the fact that neither team in fact has a cheerleading squad, though I’m sure that didn’t prevent the ladies of Stone Street from getting dressed up in the colors to support the teams on the day!
The poster was created with two versions, one for printing in large format to be displayed in the windows of the bars, and the other version for use on Facebook and other social media to advertise there.
Six Nations 2011: Hot on the heels of the Super Bowl was the (more important!) European 6 Nations Rugby tournament, which began the day before the Super Bowl and runs till mid-March. This venerable competition features 5 rounds of winner-takes-all rugby between Ireland (green), England (white), Scotland (grey), Wales (red), France (dark blue) and Italy (light blue). Stone Street will be showing all the games, since they have a large Irish and European customer base. For this poster, I wanted to emphasise both the pedigree and the competitiveness of tournament rugby between these nations. The illustration is formed by dynamic waves, one set in each nations color, each overlapping and combining in competition for space on the poster. The typography comprises a call to action for Stone Streets customers, urging them to come and support their country for coming weeks and months. A helpful listing of all the games and their kick-off times is also included, which helps to make the poster into a useful resource in the bar.
The poster was created with two versions, one for printing in large format to be displayed in the windows of the bars, and the other version for use on Facebook and other social media to advertise there.