Type Hierarchy – Clearwater Music Festival Poster

This is a poster for the Hudson River Clearwater Festival (a big music event that I attend every year with my family). Even though there isn’t a huge list with many different dates, there is still a lot of information that is separated using color and type hierarchy. For example, the dates are highlighted in yellow rectangles, and the more popular artists also tend to stand out more because they are in white while the other bands are in yellow. They both contrast well against the dark background, but there is a greater range in value between the white and dark green, making the white stand out a little more than the yellow. Size and typeface are also used to establish a hierarchy. The popular names are in a slab serif font and larger than the others, which are smaller and in a basic sans serif font.

Rhythm of Hierarchy

I chose the Lallapalooza music festival schedule for this post. The first image of the line up was the first post I had ever saw for the advertising of this event and even when I first saw it, I didn’t love the look of it. I personally think that there are a lot of names on the line up that it is easy to get lost in all of it while trying to read it. Also, I do think that it becomes almost to hard to read as the names get smaller and smaller.

The second image of the live up I do like much better. I Like that it is separated by the dates of performances. The fact that it is separated by the dates and the headliners on each day are in a larger font, makes it easier to read. It makes it easier for the reader and it works better for the look of the poster. Having the dates and the headliners in a larger font also makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for as well.

Hierarchy Rhythm

This rock concert poster from my local venue back home is a good example of visual hierarchy through its use of fonts, colors, sizes, kerning, and positioning with its colorful, lighter shaded background and its photo of the band as well. Take for example the stretched lettering of the bands name, Yacht Rock Revue, and how it is at the very top of this group of text. It has wider kerning that has stretches longer over the much smaller, and partially italic tour name directly below it. It’s lighter coloring accents the band photo while the starkly different bold, red, font for the date and title of the venue below it draw your attention to it to the other information and details, as well.

Typographical Rhythm

When reading a lineup of a festival, one analyzes many levels of information at once. The poster below is a beautiful example of a ascending and descending hierarchy in the form of textual elements.

This piece displays many levels of important information inserted into the top half of the page like the event date, name, type of festival, and location. The large middle portion of the poster contains the artist lineup.  Overall popularity of the artist will correspond with how large the type is and closeness to the top, although many of the artists on this lineup are very well known. The bottom half shows the link to ticket sales and sponsors.

There are a variety of unifying elements within the piece. The back layer of the poster contains an orange/aqua/blue/purple gradient that is seen throughout the the body portion. The size of text vibrates visually top to bottom- small date contrasts large event title, which contrasts with smaller light blue heading, then date line.  The eye then moves from one artist name to the next from left to right, names descending in size line by line. Artist names are separated by a simple cross symbol which reveals the gradient color from the back layer. The rhythm created from top to bottom is strong and very cohesive. The color scheme chosen for this poster is lively and modern-tribal looking. I found the hierarchy to be quite clear and the typeface suits the job perfectly, giving the poster character and style.

Rhythm Hierachy

When looking for music flyers, I came across this Bonnaroo music festival one immediately. It popped off the screen due to its use of bright colors and contrast. I love how they made the most famous artists in different colors like blue, pink, and yellow etc. and made the not so known ones in all white. The black background makes it easy for the type to jumps off and makes the artists, location and such easily legible. Putting the date of the festival and the location at the top allows the viewer to know right away when and where the festival takes place. I have seen some music festival flyers that have that information towards the bottom and it can get confusing. This is an excellent flyer and a good example of visual hierarchy. The use of a bold typeface for the big artists and a medium one for the smaller bands does not disrupt the flow, if anything it adds to it.

Hierarchy Rhythm

This music festival schedule for the 2019 Beale Street Music Festival is a piece that I think demonstrates a very clear hierarchy rhythm. At first glance, this schedule is very easy to read and break down information. The hierarchy highlights the dates in massive font as well as a bright orange background which further more emphasizes the importance of the dates, which most of the time is the most important information regarding shows. The next part of the hierarchy is the emphasis on which stage each performer will be at. Not as striking as the dates, but nonetheless very much important and is demonstrated perfectly. Lastly, the performers and times of the shows are still very much emphasized due to them still being important, however you can see that through the hierarchy they are not the biggest level of concern. All in all all of the information really stands out on this poster, but just as the designer intended, your eyes travel from one line of information in a very obvious a,b,c rhythm.

Firefly Music Festival Poster

Here is a flyer for this past year’s Firefly Music Festival I went to. The white text of the performers names are in stark contrast from the dark green background, putting the most emphasis on them. The dates are also important, but they are set back in yellow because someone will most likely decide when they want to go based on who is performing. This music festival has a decent amount of performers playing the whole weekend, so even though the performers’ names seem a little crammed, I think they did a good job at separating them enough and putting emphasis on the more popular performers with the glow and bigger font sizes.

Hierarchy Rhythm

Governors Ball
Lineup Posters

These are lineup posters from the 2018 Governors Ball that I went to. One lists all the artists and bands together and the other lists them by the date they perform. Naturally, the name of the Festival is the first thing listed on the flyer while using a red drop shadow that makes it pop. It is also the largest text on the flyer indicating that the title is whats most important to this organization. Next, going from top to bottom, the designer listed the the dates of the festival in a condensed font bounded by lines. On the flyer that lists the artists by date, the designer decided to highlight the dates in yellow. Lastly, the designer put all the artist names in the same font and same color but based the size on the popularity of the performer.

Rhythm of Hierarchy

This is a poster for the Monterey International Pop Festival which happened in June 2017. It uses a palette of warm colors for an inviting feel and focuses the poster on the illustration in the middle with all of the artists playing underneath. The poster uses mostly sans-serif fonts (the numbers are serif) in order for a clean look and easy readability for the viewer. The name of the festival is placed at the top with the largest font size; however, it still can get lost because it uses the same colors as the bold illustration below it. The “Celebrates 50 years” text set within the illustration helps separate the title from the rest of the text and content.

            The designer uses dark blue for the artist list which helps accent the details within the illustration above and ties the whole poster together. The pink glyphs in-between each artist also help separate artist and tie it in to the illustration yet again. The small color palette works really well for this design and helps establish a sense of unity throughout the poster. I would’ve liked to have seen more of the light blue pop out because it was used in the illustration and not in the rest of the poster. Overall, I think this is a great design that showcases unity and is clear to read and has a clear demonstration of hierarchy from the top of the page to the bottom. 

Sasquatch Music Fest

This Music Festival poster really creates a more creative a, b, c format of type hierarchy. The title of the festival is the first thing that I take attention to, as well as the illustration but my eyes drift down to the date of the festival. Then the list of acts for the festival creates a pattern between the different type sizes, and colors allow your eyes to move through the block of text. The bigger acts are towards the top, in bigger font to draw more attention to them.

After going through the wall of text, my eyes pop back up to the top to see Memorial Day Weekend flying through the sky. It’s a really clever and concise way of providing information.