School of Rock Cincinnati - Poster Designs!
In the spring of 2021, School of Rock Cincinnati reached out to us about designing a series of five posters to promote their upcoming summer concerts. The show themes were The Who, Heart + Aerosmith, California Sounds, Weezer, and the music of Lollapalooza. The client requested five different posters with elements that would tie the series together cohesively. Our solution was a "concert style" concept: using Adobe Illustrator (and listening to all of these bands while we worked!) we created designs featuring items of clothing a fan of that band or music genre would wear as a concert-goer. This project was an absolute blast – scroll on to see the designs and the inspiration behind each one!
For the Music of Lollapalooza, we envisioned a fan from the 90s, wearing a faded festival tee and flannel shirt, decorated with band merch from Lollapalooza performers of that era: a NIN patch and buttons from Devo, Fishbone, the Ramones, and Siouxsie & the Banshees. The repeating rock & roll hand sign completes the background.
Weezer: we think this Weezer super fan was so inspired by “Undone - The Sweater Song,” that they knitted this sweater and purposely left one thread loose! The color palette is derived from several different album covers (mainly, the Blue Album, the Red Album, and Raditude). We also incorporated the iconic glasses of lead singer Rivers Cuomo in the background pattern.
The California Sounds concert was a compilation of music originating from the Sunshine State. We pictured this fan wearing a groovy “California Sounds” tee & denim jacket with an embroidered wave pattern. We added pins paying homage to The Beach Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, No Doubt, The Grateful Dead, and The Doors. A palm tree pattern sets off the California vibes.
Heart + Aerosmith: we imagined this concert-goer cruising to the show on their motorcycle wearing a fringe-covered leather jacket. The jacket is hand-painted with each band’s logo. We carefully created our own version of both Heart & Aerosmith’s iconic lettering, and merged their logos, and added a winged heart pattern in the background to tie it all together. 
The Who: we envisioned this fan proudly wearing a vintage concert T-shirt, purchased at a show from one of the band’s early U.S. tours. We reworked their logo for the shirt design, and added a silhouette of Pete Townshend jumping and shredding, with the goal of making the viewer feel as if they're reliving a wild performance by this legendary band.
And here are the full-size posters hanging on the School of Rock building! So exciting to see our designs come to life!
