Marriage redux

In reorganizing this blog and the tabs above, I spent time going back through the posts. One of them involved designing a graphic for the play A Contemporary American’s Guide to a Successful Marriage © 1959. It’s about two Iowa couples trying to do marriage by the book.

My early attempt meant to pay homage to the 50s, but why not something more closely related? The website abebooks.com deals in used and hard to find books and they sometimes post themes. A recent one was entitled: Fascinating First Editions from the 1950s. A very good place to start. But something else was around in the 1950s … What was it? Ah! The Kinsey report! Actually, two of them: Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, and Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.

 

Borrowing from those cover designs, you have something pretty straightforward, but let’s have it look like a book that’s been picked up and used. Going into Photoshop, I applied a variety of brushes at different opacities of white and black to show wear and smudging. Use your best judgment when attempting something like this. Remember, you can always go back a few steps and try again. Be sure to have your original file safe in case you have to start over. (Don’t think it won’t happen to you, ‘cause … You know … Karma will find you … When you least expect it ...) If you have an older book whose dust jacket has seen better days, it may help to have it in front of you as a reference.

Clean copy on the left, slightly worn on the right. 

I shouldn’t have to say this, but this graphic is most ideal for a program cover. Using the same font, at a slightly smaller size than the author, put the theatre company name above the title: ACME Theatre Company presents …