Back in the summer of 2020, I ended my tenure as the graphic designer for the local community theater. The whole staff got laid off in March when the doors were closed because of COVID. In July, after volunteering to design art for two virtual events and not receiving any thanks for it, I decided to step back and try to find other work. At that time, nobody knew how long the place would be closed, and I didn’t want to feel obligated to volunteer my time when nobody really appreciated what I was doing. I was met with “we can’t do this without you” from at least FOUR people in decision-making positions. I told each one of them that they should hit me up when the theater was close to reopening to see if I would be available. Everyone gave me the impression that this was something that would happen.
Fast forward to the summer of 2021, and they reopened with a new “designer.” I was never approached about returning. This designer then spent the next several years ripping off my work and passing it off as their own. It was pretty infuriating and frustrating to see that nobody could tell that my design work (that I took great pride in) was being recycled and downgraded.
The art for each production also suffered. I can’t speak about how much time was now being spent on that art. What I can speak about is how much time I spent and the thought process that went into the art I did for each show. I was being paid a pittance for the amount of work that I was doing, but I took my time because I wanted the theater to look good.
Every new season announcement would make me crazy because I would see the art for each show, and I could see how I would have done it. I might have even gone so far as to do my own artwork for each of the shows in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons. Insanity, right? I was told as much by the few friends that I told I was doing this. I started managing to control myself and didn’t do my own versions of art for the 2025 shows. It was tough, though.
The 2026 season was announced around this time last year. Again, that urge to try my hand at show art reared its ugly head. I managed to control this urge again … except for the last show of the season. For some reason, the art for that show really bothered me because I could see so clearly what I would have done instead. So, in January I spent a few days doing my thing.
Here’s the current art for that show. While the idea isn’t necessarily bad, the execution is not great (IMHO). The Art Deco border is too detailed and busy, with too many fine lines, and the show title lettering doesn’t match the border’s feel. It just doesn’t work well.
And here is my design. I kept the Art Deco vibes and used a font that wouldn’t clash with the art. I also used images of cocktail glasses since the whole show is set at a Roaring ’20s party. I used three glasses in each grouping to represent the love triangle in the show. The idea behind the coloring of the glasses comes from the show as well. The yellow represents the lead character, Queenie (who is blonde). The red (and the glasses being upside down) represents the upheaval and bloodshed that happens at the climax of the show.
So, there it is. I like to think what I did is good and advertises the show better … but who knows. I have seen a ton of “let me redesign this bad art” posts across the internet, and they all generally strike me as the designer being full of themselves. I guess I am too. But it does make my eye twitch a little to see the place I spent years making look good settle for the kind of art that is being put out there since their post-COVID reopening … especially since someone made the decision to not approach me about coming back as their in-house designer.
So. Yeah. I’m bitter about all this and still fucked in the head six years on.
