Project
ACT Presents 2024–25 Season, The ACT Arts Centre
Scope
Graphic Design, Web Design, Social Content
Date
May 2024 (Ongoing)
Introducing ACT Presents
ACT Presents is The ACT Arts Centre's annual performing arts series, serving thousands of patrons each season with diverse and engaging programming. The 2024–25 season consists of 34 performances, each requiring cohesive promotional materials, including posters, social media graphics, website banners, and digital advertisements.
Collaborating closely with Marketing & Brand Manager Jessica Dionne, the Content and Communications Specialist, and the Patron Sales and Services Manager, I ensured that the brand vision and operational needs were seamlessly aligned. While the early months were focused on launching the season, marketing efforts continued throughout, requiring assets like social posts, digital ads, and special promotions to sustain engagement.
Preparing the Season
For the 2024–25 season, we sought to move away from the generic template-based branding of previous years, which strictly used our brand font, Uniform. Instead, this season's performances were each framed as a distinct, exciting experience.
This approach required developing individual identities for all 34 shows, a process completed over the summer prior to the season's launch in the fall.
Alongside creating these assets, I managed The ACT Arts Centre's website, designed promotional materials for gallery exhibitions, and crafted email campaigns for a mailing list of 20,000+ subscribers.
Cohesive Marketing Materials
Each show required a wide range of marketing assets, ensuring its promotion across multiple platforms was consistent and effective. This included three posters in different aspect ratios, website graphics (a banner and square format), and 2–5+ social media graphics per show (plus story versions), reels, and digital ads based on ticket sales. These deliverables had to be ready before the season launched, requiring a careful balance of creativity and efficiency. This approach was applied across all 34 performances throughout the season.
Below are the promotional assets for Harmony and Suspense, a show from the Sunday Chamber Music Series, which got a new look in the 2024–25 season. In past seasons, classical music shows had always been hard to sell. This can partially be attributed to the fact that they were originally advertised exclusively using an old photo of a composer alongside a sans serif title for the show.
For this season, rather than focusing on a face that most patrons wouldn't recognize, we wanted to highlight the themes within the music. In this case, the featured piece was Bernard Herrmann's Psycho Suite for String Quartet from Hitchcock's Pyscho. We decided the key art for the show would be a realistic adaptation of the classic cover art from the film's original soundtrack. The show’s promotional materials showcased a cohesive visual identity across all formats, from print posters to our website and social media, ensuring consistent branding while meeting the specific requirements of each medium.
Creative Constraints & Challenges
Creating promotional materials for 34 performances required balancing creative flexibility with a range of constraints. For several shows, I had to work with a limited selection of promotional assets, such as low-resolution images or strictly defined branding guidelines set by performers or their management teams. This required creative problem-solving to maintain a high-quality and professional appearance across all materials.
The TIFF film series presented a unique challenge. The only asset provided for each of the four films was an exported poster file, with no access to original working files. I adapted these static graphics into multiple formats, including social media posts, web banners, and posters in three distinct sizes, while preserving their quality and meeting the requirements of each medium.
Some show details were unconfirmed or frequently changed before their announcement. To accommodate this, I maintained highly organized projects and worked non-destructively, allowing updates to be applied efficiently without disrupting the production schedule.
Website UI/UX Improvements
Throughout my time at The ACT, I implemented a series of subtle but impactful website updates aimed at modernizing its look and improving usability. Using the home page as an example, the major changes include:
A more contemporary and readable font, Inter, was introduced to refresh the overall aesthetic.
The outdated "50 logo," marking the 50th anniversary that passed years ago, was removed for relevancy.
The navigation bar was streamlined, transitioning from its previous two-tone orange design to a sleek black-and-white palette, making it more compact and visually consistent.
The busy banner collage was replaced with a full-screen carousel that cycles through clickable images of upcoming shows and events, providing a cleaner and more professional presentation.
These improvements were guided by the goal of shifting focus away from the website’s interface and onto the events themselves. Previously, bold colors and busy elements competed for attention, overshadowing the performers and their work. The updated design allows the site to take a backseat, letting the imagery and content of the shows shine while creating a smoother, more cohesive user experience.
Before
After
Multitasking and Collaborating
While designing the season’s promotional materials, I simultaneously managed The ACT Arts Centre’s website, created and maintained arts learning programs' registration pages, created assets for gallery exhibitions, and handled email campaigns for 20,000+ subscribers.
This required constant collaboration with other departments and regular meetings to ensure smooth communication. Whether coordinating with rental clients or refining marketing strategies with the core team, I balanced multiple priorities to ensure every project met its goals.
