Concept note:

Let's make Anhalt colorful!

As a fresh student in Dessau, almost all experiences and observations are new. The buildings, landscape, people, food and the colors. The poster is a reflection of these impressions. 

The illustration is the walk from Dessau HBF towards Bauhaus and everything in between; which is the Hochschule Anhalt campus.

The winter and summer semester posters share a similar template, albeit with changes in colors, landscapes and characters. However, this post will showcase only the summer banner design. The winter banner will be revealed in due time towards the end of the current semester.

Mock ups

The poster is a playful representation of life at Anhalt with its various characters, activities, emotions, products and architecture.  The banner is located on the first wall if you were to walk from the train station towards the university. The comic nature of the canvas is sure to make you smile and maybe take more than one glance to discover hidden elements, associations and stories.

Feedback and Iterations

As with any design or project the illustration too had undergone iterations. The initial concept only had four characters whose actions were primarily recreational. The initial feedback on the poster was therefore to include more characters who are involved in design related activities.

Even though recreation is an important part of the university the primary idea was to show the kind of work done by the students at the school of design.

This feedback was crucial as it directed me to recompose the entire banner. It also made me observe more characters on campus and include them in the illustration.

The final output, thus, was a banner with a community of characters involved with the university. In order to avoid an overwhelming palette of colours the characters were therefore in white, while the built environment was in color.

The illustrations style is based on and has a mixture of my previous works. Inorder to keep a visual balance and to avoid the poster being too 'cartoony', I kept the built structures formal and the characters informal.

I thank Dr. Sandra Giegler, for providing her key inputs and feedback on the poster. They helped make the poster livelier and enhance the character and characters of the banner. :)

Did you see the banner yet? What do you think about it? Please share your feedback and observations in the comments. 

Looking  forward.