Folly Jazz Theatre
Poster Series
Drake Rorabaugh, 2019Poster/Print/Marketing
I was tasked with creating a series of posters for the Folly Jazz Theatre's concert season 2019-2020. My goal was to develop a concept that captured the rich and unique history of the theatre, the personality and culture of the performing artists, and the vibrant emotions of the Kansas City Jazz Scene. To achieve this, I drew inspiration from past designers such as Paula Scher and Wolfgang Weingart, as well as the Swiss Punk design movement, which focuses on remixing and recycling old ideas – much like modern Jazz artists do with classic Jazz music.
The journey to finalizing the visual language of these posters was extensive and involved multiple rounds of rapid iteration and experimentation with different modes of image-making. This process allowed me to explore various ways to convey the emotions and messages associated with the Folly Jazz Theatre and its performers.
01 Pedrito Martinez Group
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02 Branford Marsalis
03 Luciana Souza
04 John Pizzarelli Trio
05 Stacey Kent
06 Stefon Harris & Blackout
07 Pedrito Martinez Group Billboard
In addition to the series of posters for the Folly Jazz Theatre's concert season, the venue requested a billboard design based on the selected poster for the Pedrito Martinez Group performance. This design required adapting the original poster concept to fit the larger scale and different dimensions of a billboard, while maintaining the visual language and key elements that resonated with the audience. The final billboard design successfully captured the essence of the Pedrito Martinez Group and the vibrant spirit of the Kansas City Jazz Scene, ensuring a strong and impactful presence for the Folly Jazz Theatre.
The billboard was displayed across 4 billboards in KC.
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