The Luminaries at Tyneside Cinema

Client: Tyneside Cinema

As part of their 80th anniversary celebrations, Tyneside Cinema commissioned Velcrobelly to design artwork for The Luminaries: their series of eight consecutive movie seasons celebrating some of the world’s finest film directors.

This project presented a challenge to create a design aesthetic which was distinct for each director while also cohesive as part of a recurring marketing campaign.

The solution Velcrobelly proposed was a sequence of stark and striking hero images, featuring the film director surrounded by characters from their films screening in the season.

Each hero image was heavily contrasted with emphasised highlights and shadows. This created strong visual impact while also allowing images from disparate sources to sit comfortably alongside each other.

Each image was composed around a circular motif, with the director featured prominently in top center. The elements for each image where meticulously assembled to create a dynamic layout where the viewers eye would be lead around the image.

Where appropriate the underlying circular shape was modified to present a graphic form or symbol referencing the director. For example, Hitchcock incorporates Saul Bass’s graphic line motifs from Vertigo, while Kurosawa is presented in the form of a ‘mon’, a traditional Japanese emblem used to identify a family or clan.

The design permitted one distinct font and colour for each director, both of which were chosen to reference and reflect the director’s work. Each design would sit on a plentiful white background, unifying the entire set. This created a dynamic and eye-catching sequence of designs.

The work was produced as limited edition A5 showcards, standard A3 and quad posters, and as social media banner images.

If you’d like to discuss your creative design project, please contact David or call him on +44 (0) 7946 642 161.