2014’s event was a busy week of recitals and fringe performance with the main show at Lismore Castle being Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Working closely with the festival director Jennifer O’Connell my graphic design services included newspaper ad’s, tickets, Opera programme, promotional flyers, and banners.
The Opera was presented through the theme of a circus, with all cast members dressed as circus characters and the performance staged in a ’Big Top’ provided by FOSSETTS, one of the countries oldest travelling circus’s, who were an event partner.
I wanted to reference Circus sign typography, the Big Top and the setting it was being held in and so I found a balance for all these features in a simple design solution.
The palette was a deep blue/purple and cyan, with black and white imagery used on the programme. When the time came to print the tickets and programme, both of which I regarded as premium items, as opera goers tend to retain them to mark the event, I used an Iridescent paper stock for both (cover only of the programme) to give the theme that extra ‘pop’ and it worked wonderfully.