Graphic Design
2023 Cincinnati Music Festival Program
Jaelynn Mitchell - 2023
The Cincinnati Music Festival is an annual celebration of R&B, jazz, and soul music. It has been featuring legendary and up-and-coming artists for the last 8 decades, creating an unforgettable experience. In 2023, I was given the opportunity to create the cover art that the festival used on its programs, posters, ID passes, and t-shirts.
Process
Jaelynn Mitchell | digital design ideation
Ideas
When coming up with ideas for how I wanted the cover to look, my first idea was to showcase a celebration of hip-hop, as the 50th anniversary of the genre was that same year. My first design was a group of young people, showing off the many facets that make up hip-hop music. When showing my original concept to P&G, they requested something a bit more general for the audience that would be coming to the show. Client feedback was crucial, guiding me to refine concepts and align with their vision. After a few other ideas, we landed on the design of this DJ that would then go on to be utilized in the final
Jaelynn Mitchell | character sketches and color blocking
Character Design
After I got some more feedback, I went back to the drawing board and started with rough sketches to explore some more character concepts, then refined details, using bright and contrasting colors initially to block out colors, then using a more limited pallet to bring more unity to the design.
Jaelynn Mitchell | character layout composition
Composition
I then played around with the characters I created, changing the sizes and orientations around on the canvas and sending these ideas to the clients to see which compositions they were connecting with.
Jaelynn Mitchell | Final Design and Clean Up | 17x27in
Final Image
After a bit more correspondence, we finally landed on this layout of the characters. I decided to add back the Cincinnati skyline design from one of the previous designs to the background and the foreground to fill out the negative space and add representation to the cover. I then used the company's color pallet along with some yellow to add a pop of color.