FEST IN THE GARDEN
PROMOTIONAL
DIGITAL & PRINT
PHOTOGRAPHY / PHOTOSHOP / ILLUSTRATOR
Fest in the Garden has become an annual celebration of local art, music, and food in Peoria. Originally started by Duncan Katlack, a local artist, it has since become a collaborative effort with Mt. Moon, one of Peoria’s biggest DIY music promoters. I have had the wonderful opportunity to be a vendor here in past years, so I was very excited to help with promotional material for the event. The Luthy Botanical Garden, established in 1951, is a five-acre conservatory and garden with over 300 different plants. It’s a beautiful place with a lot of character, and I wanted to capture the home-y, magical atmosphere that Fest in the Garden creates when lovers of the arts come together to perform, listen, and celebrate local talent in such a unique space.
The title for the event pairs two typefaces, Normalidad and Erotique. Normalidad (Black) is a bold, mechanical sans-serif with a slightly horizontally-compressed attitude. It pairs sleek corners with angularly-rounded details and slight contrast. Using all caps and spaced kerning, “FEST!” demands attention with a commanding, contemporary voice while the faint glow behind it adds contrast and dimension from the background. Comparatively, Erotique creates unique movement as its anatomy transforms between line and artistic gestures, working in rhythm to create a chorus of harmony.
The muted, cool green easily identifies the foliage as a natural inhabitant in the room while the coral colors highlight the spaces where one’s presence is welcomed—a warm, open invitation to join the festivities.
These promotional materials are created using photos of flowers and areas in the garden where I spent a couple hours observing the space and finding inspiration. There were two benches inside the conservatory that felt so inviting, I ended up using them as the predominant imagery.
