Posts

Behind the Curtain

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Trying to bring attention to the upcoming production of ‘Meditations on Nationalism’ I had an idea. Quarry Theatre’s audience is very interested in what goes into making the show happen. They have this innocent fascination with the process of devised theatre. Since everything is pretty much created from nothing, I understand their interest. If you are unfamiliar with devised theatre, essentially it is a live performance, usually a play, that is ‘conceived’ or created from nothing. Usually, it is created by the actors, director, designers or a collaboration between them all. I decided to create a sort of ‘mini-series’ focusing on different members of the company and ensemble. We chose the first video to feature Quarry Theatre’s resident composer, Patrick, who did the composition and sound design for ‘Meditations on Nationalism.’ Recently, Quarry Theatre posted an image on Facebook featuring Patrick recording live musicians to be used for the show. The post had a lot of
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Thinking on your feet

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It’s finally happened. The workshop for Quarry Theatre’s ‘Meditations on Nationalism’ has come and gone. It was a really good turnout and no one got lost from my signage -- success! Since this was a very important part of my internship to be apart of, I’ll walk you through the day. I arrived fairly early to set up the signage to the theatre. If you don’t know what I’m talking about check out my last blog where I talk about designing the signage and postcards. After setting up the signs I helped set chairs in the theatre for audience members to sit in. I helped in any way I could while setting the theatre and reception area for the workshop. Last minute, we had an idea to set a donation basket on the table outside of the theatre. The workshop was invitation only for actors, directors, and theatre community members who had some connection to  the theatre company. We were very thankful for their feedback but being a non-profit we take any chance  we can to raise money.
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Workshop prep and more postcards

This week Ryan and I met to discuss the designed postcards and to go over the plans for the company's workshop. This week was pretty hectic with planning, organizing, and a bunch of emails. On top of all of this , I was really busy with school work and extracurriculars. I learned a lot about time management and communication tips throughout this week. The first order of business was to discuss were the postcards I had previously designed for print. Besides changing a few of the wording on the back and adding ticket prices, the company shared my enjoyment of how the cards turned out. I now needed to email the print company and hopefully, they will  be able to turn around the cards in a day so we can hand them out at the workshop. Before emailing the  print shop the final PDF print file, I was a little skeptical. I knew there weren't any grammatical errors; I was worried if I had set up the document correctly. If you’ve been following my blog at all, you know  my la
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People still use postcards?

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The majority of donors and people interested in coming to Quarry Theatre shows are in the 25+ demographic. Even with social media being a big part of marketing nowadays, these consumers still appreciate mailed letters and printed flyers. For this reason, we decided to create postcards with the information for ‘Meditation on Nationalism’ on them. These could be used in so many different ways to get people interested in the show. One way we will use the postcards are for their intended purpose; mail them. We have a small list of donors who love to be kept in the loop and possibly will donate again further down the road. The postcards are also a convenient size to hand out in bars, restaurants, events, and to passing people. Since I was going to be submitting this project to a print shop in Baltimore (Print Work), I needed to set up my document with the correct crop marks for the printer. We wanted the cards to be 4in x 6in, I set the crop marks for a bleed of .25in outs
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Gimme the most info in the shortest time

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We all know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”...but what about videos? Long-time video advertiser Robert Weiss says that “Business decision makers LOVE online video because it gives them the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time.” We wanted to explain what the production of ‘Meditations on Nationalism’ is, solicit donations, and interest people in Quarry Theatre. All of that in a video no longer than 1 minute 45 seconds. I’ve always loved creating and editing videos since I was a kid. Once I came to college, I started to recognize the possibilities and benefits of video for advertisement purposes. With an organization like Quarry Theatre, people really want to see what is going to be performed before they go. This is exactly why movie trailers exist. So I was tasked with creating a video that will entice prospective patrons and get interested in the show. The first step in this process was to interview the Artistic Director, Ryan Cla
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We Mean Business (*cards*)

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In order for Quarry Theatre to maintain a professional presence when communicating with donors, we needed business cards. With a small company consisting of an Artist Director, Assistant Artistic Director, and composer, it is crucial that these three roles are easily reachable at all times. The best way  for them to share their contact information is by handing out business cards.   Approaching the design I really wasn't sure where to start. Quarry Theatre has a pretty consistent brand image so I knew I needed to create fresh, smart designs for the business cards. I decided to start this design like I would any other; with a paper and a pencil. I used a few sketches to create a general layout that I liked. After a good 20 minutes of sketching, I moved into Adobe Illustrator. I prefer using Illustrator when dealing with vectors and simple text-based vector designs. I feel that the software offers ease of use and great tools to get the job done. I created a few samples
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There's a first time for everything...

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This week was full of new, daunting tasks. I’ve always loved learning new things that help me grow as a digital marketer and a student. This week’s big project did exactly that. I was introduced to an entirely new form of marketing; print marketing. After having discussions with my supervisor, we both decided it would be helpful to have custom greeting cards printed that we could use to send to donors and thank them for their support. Being a non-profit organization, we have to approach marketing from a donation view point instead of a sales view point. While I consider myself pretty savvy with the Adobe Design Suite, I’ve never designed anything to be printed by a print shop before. Knowing that I lacked the knowledge necessary to take on this project alone, I reached out to one of my Visual Communications Design professors for guidance. I learned so much from my conversations with her. I was able to design a file that could be read and understood by the print shop. I also learned
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