Branding & Graphic Design Apprenticeship at Chicago Children’s Theatre
Branding and Marketing for a local children’s theatre
After graduating from university, I was immediately offered an exciting opportunity at the Chicago Children’s Theatre (CCT). There, I’ve played a role in helping the Theatre expand and grow through their graphical output. Using both my skills in drawing and my mind for design, I learned greatly about forging and evolving a brand’s identity all while contributing to a community.
Project: Walkie Talkie Maps & Packets
Programs Used: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop
CCT hosts Walkie Talkies, a series of podcasts families can choose from, wherein they’re are guided through various Chicago locations while listening to stories, fictional and non-fictional alike! These programs require maps and information about the route, as well as anything from fun pictures to information about the people who worked to make them come to life.
I was given the opportunity to work on some of these! I was tasked with creating a look that was both uniform and fit the existing branding of CCT’s previous Walkie Talkies, but also fit the specific needs and visions of the individual teams who had produced the programs. The results were gorgeous packets that are each fun to look at and unique in their own way!
With a high level of freedom, I took the initiative and creating a clear and appealing pamphlet that works both as an online and in-person guide.
A wonderful deep-dive into the rich history of Bronzeville, Sankofa: A Journey into Bronzeville’s Poppin’ Past required a detailed overview map as well as four sub-maps to feature all of its 40+ locations. To make this as easy as possible understand for busy parents and excited kids alike, a key with all the locations was made and seamlessly added to the map. Add in bios and headshots for the actors, the sound designer, and creator Tina Fakhrid-Deen, plus an in-depth glossary of terms, and you’ve got yourself a robust packet that celebrates African-American history in Chicago!
A change of pace from Sankofa, In Search of the Flag told the story of a young boy, Pedro, and his father as they explore a fantastical version of Humboldt Park while learning about the contributions of Puerto Rican Americans in Chicago! The map covered a smaller area of space than Sankofa, so a bunch more attention was paid to visualizing the specific journey of Pedro and his Papi through the park for listeners to follow along to, as opposed to typing in each location onto a maps app. A glossary at the back and an informational section about creator Luis Tubens work to create a compact and complete package for folks to reference as they listen to the fantastic voice and audio work of In Search of the Flag!
The Night Heron was almost exclusively produced by the lovely people at Night Out in the Parks, and as such, I was given direction to keep as minimal a graphical intervention as possible, using the map provided by Night Out in the Parks instead of making my own, and focusing my efforts instead to a much more detailed and extensive glossary as well as an array of images of the various animals encountered during the podcast and - hopefully - in real life!
Project: Fall 2021 Class Icons
Programs Used: Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate
In the latter half of my apprenticeship, I was tasked with creating about 18 icons to represent several of CCT’s fall classes that year on their print and digital marketing. Hardly a problem for me, at this point I was extremely skilled at illustration.
The catch? I had less than a week to produce them all.
So I got creative. Instead of my usual process of hand-sketching and drawing every last image in a painting software such as Photoshop or Procreate, which could not possibly get everything done in time, I went into Illustrator and started rapidly creating images in a brand new style, unique to CCT. I completed high-quality graphics in half the time I would have normally, that were all gorgeous, scalable, and fit CCT’s new marketing direction. The results speak for themselves.
“Producing the Podcast”
“Pre-K Performers”
“Musical Theatre Song Writing”
“Puppetry”
“Acting Adventures” Variant 1
“Acting Adventures” Variant 2
“Acting Adventures” Variant 3
“Elementary Ensemble”
“Showtime Ensemble”
“Triple Threat” Variant 1
“Triple Threat” Variant 1
“Improv in Performance” Variant 1
“Improv in Performance” Variant 2
“Improv in Performance” Variant 3
“Tuesday Night Live”
“Tumbling”
“Bubble Jams”
“Stories of the Sea”
But it didn’t stop there!
The graphics were well received! The unified design and quick turnaround impressed my employer and co-workers. Unfortunately, there was another hitch! Due to last-minute changes in art direction, they wanted to see if, given more time, I could produce a set of icons in my own, illustrative style. So, I was given the job of creating a brand-new series of icons for a slightly different set of classes, affording me more time to meticulously draw and refine everything. I happily obliged!
“Acting Adventures” Variant 1
“Acting Adventures” Variant 2
“Acting Adventures” Variant 3
“Puppetry”
“Pre-K Performers”
“Elementary Ensemble”
“Show Time Ensemble”
“Improv in Performance” Variant 1
“Improv in Performance” Variant 2
“Improv in Performance” Variant 3
“Show Time Ensemble: Problem Child”
“Triple Threat”
“Bubble Jams” Variant 1
“Bubble Jams” Variant 2
“Bubble Jams” Variant 3
Project: T-Shirt Designs
Programs Used: Illustrator
CCT was hoping to create several new T-shirt designs that would be both stylish and simple, and I got right to it! I created two separate designs in Illustrator, and from there made five separate sample color palettes based off of existing palettes that I noticed CCT liked to use. I was simply given the instruction that the designs had to have few colors so as to not be too expensive to produce, and that they must include CCT’s logo, and they could optionally include their motto of “curious, adventurous, courageous!” From there, I had fun with it!
