To represent all that Live to Shine (LTS) was hoping to achieve, the promotional poster for the event was created using mixed media to represent the mixture of mediums that would be on show on the day of the event. As part of my relationship with LTS, I was named the Design Coordinator, due to my knowledge in both the web and print field. As part of this, I was tasked with guiding a few traditional artists on how their work would be converted for print. I had the pleasure of working with Greta Warring, a traditional artists on the LTS team, on this piece in coming up with a design to encompass everything about LTS.

As part of LTS, established artists in all fields were asked to come in and mentor the up and coming artists that would be part of the event. Greta used a rabbit and a fox as metaphors for the relationships that LTS was encouraging between the established artists (the fox) and the up and coming artists (the rabbit).

The website design was kept simple due to the amount of content that would be included. Since the poster had limited information, I wanted it to be more theatrical and to really emphasise the LTS theme of “we give you the stage, you put on the show”. After discussing it with Greta, I asked if she could include a prop house (to represent the event), a prop tree and cue cards on the stage, which she did beautifully.

From here, I converted the scan sketch into vector line art where colours were added. Finally, the mixed media elements came into play. I added “real world” elements to represent the different categories of artists on the day. The curtains (from the website) for performance artists, a guitar for the musicians and a bucket of paintbrushes for the visual artists. The vines were replaced with lush grass for the poster to balance everything out. The text was then included and arranged inside the cue cards, once again, to tie in with the prop house and tree and the theatre aspect.

Overall, I am extremely proud of this piece. So before I end this post, I want to thank two people in particular: Greta, thank you for humouring me when I threw my crazy ideas your way. Stephannie, thank you for believing in me, for trusting me enough to give me free range and no boundaries on something that you held dear to you. I could not have done this without either of you.

When I asked the Live to Shine (LTS) team, the main term used to describe the purpose of LTS was “growth”.

This element was brought into the design of the website with the use of vines. Vines, according to Ecology Online, “climb by using other plants for support.” This allows them to be “flexible and capable of phenomenal rates of growth in height or length.”

This resonated with the LTS team when the idea was put forth as an extension of their identity. A stage was added to represent the LTS marketing tag line “we give you the stage, you put on the show”, as well as the musicians and visual artists who were all planned to perform and present on stages. Theatre curtains were used to frame the layout to represent the artists that would be entertaining the audience on the night.

After creating the identity for Live to Shine (LTS), our relationship extended to encompass print work and the creation of their website.

At this point, the website interface design was completed and was in the process of being coded. However, due to demand from the people they met while promoting the event on the streets, the tickets were designed and printed almost immediately after the logo was completed.

Elements of the website’s design was incorporated into the tickets so that an easy connection was made with the collateral and the event itself. For more on the design, check out the post on the website design and development. The tickets were also perforated for ease of use on the day of the event, where the LTS team were manning the door and accepting tickets.

It is a visual representation of an “epic love”. People from two worlds, so vastly different, are still able to draw parellels from each other, as represented by the triangles. Despite the odds being stacked against them, finding their way to each other and colliding is inevitable.

Just on a side note, “Collide” by Howie Day was also the inspiration for the name Collision Designs. It’s a beautiful song, so if you haven’t heard it, please do.

Live to Shine (LTS) is an event that encourages and shines a light on up and coming artists, namely musicians, performers and visual artists, in the arts within the youth of Brisbane.

As they were a new event, they needed an identity that was strong and recognisable, but was still young and fresh at the same time. The idea for the logo revolved around the phrase “shine a light” that the organiser, Stephannie Mantell, used to describe what she hoped to do with the event. I used the lightbulb as a metaphor for the arts, and the filament as the metaphor for the artists the event was showcasing; when you stand back and look, all you see is a light shining out of a lightbulb, but it’s the filament inside that gives it it’s shine.

Also, research found that a child’s imagination or an artist’s creativity can be heightened in a purple room. This was why purple was chosen as the feature colour for LTS.

It is my graphical interpretation of what I hear in her lyrics; wonder, magic and love. I wanted it to look whimsical and almost dream-like, which is what, to me, the song feels like.

I asked for a car that day. I still haven’t gotten it, but there’s always hope.

My mum was playing a CD of "classic" love songs and this came to mind. I wanted it to look romatic and "vintage" but modern at the same time, to suit the Romeo/Juliet style I had in mind.

I made this poster to inspire him to keep dancing as well as a sign of support and a way to say “follow your heart”.

This was my first foray into typeface design and was undergone as part of my university degree. We were tasked to create a typeface that represented who are as individuals.

It’s hard to condense yourself into letters, but my inspiration came in the form of onions. Yep, you read that right! My friends tell me that I have a lot of “layers” to me and it seemed to gel well into the onion theory.

I created a font that was geometric (I’m a square) and had an air of art deco to it (because I love the design in that era). I created layered stems for the lettering to communicate that even something, or someone, who seems simple on the surface has a lot more to them if you care to pull back the layers.

All in all, I think it’s a good representation of me, and for a first attempt, I’m extremely proud of it.