Unforgettable Gigs

Laura Greenan completes a front cover commission for the in-house magazine of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, celebrating famous concerts on campus.

"This project was fun!" says Laura of the commission, which resulted in a stunningly vibrant front cover for the college magazine.

The client's request was for a psychedelic, rock poster style illustration to accompany their cover story titled ‘I WAS THERE,’ which delves into the memories of legendary music concerts held on campus.

Laura continues, "But rather than focus on the music, they wanted the college itself to be the celebrity, and to make the cover a broader welcoming doorway into the magazine, so the main building featured in the design is Swarthmore’s original building at the center of the campus, Parrish Hall.

This was to be the Spring/Summer issue of the magazine so they also requested a very spring like illustration with vibrant color and lots of organic shapes, trees and flowers. I took inspiration from various psychedelic music posters, many of which use Art Nouveau elements of organic vines and flowers, and created a border of swirling shapes which lead up to some large soaring like daffodils at the top. The building in the center is distorted and elongated to fit the psychedelic feel.

I put together a few different compositions for the artwork, one of which is shown here that is more ornate with more swirls and leaves around the border area. The final artwork the client chose extends the border to the sides of the magazine whilst still retaining the swirling shapes of the original design."

patterns

design

editorial

music

architecture

event

psychedelic

magazine

shapes

celebration

front cover

laura greenan